Sharing My Bariatric Journey with the Hope of Helping Others
✓Hello!!!
Welcome to my blog …
INTRODUCTION
Hello! Thank you for checking out my blog! As you can probably figure out, I’m Betty and this is about my journey to and through bariatric surgery. I am not a medical professional so nothing I write here should ever be considered medical advice under any circumstance. Throughout my journey I have found support groups to be incredibly useful and reassuring. Listening to stories of others that have been through this, listening to what has worked for them, sharing stories of the hard parts and the exciting parts … all of those conversations have been a huge part of my support system. My hope for this blog is that it will provide others considering bariatric surgery and those that have had it another tool in their support system. Please do not hesitate to ask questions (if I don’t have a suggestion, perhaps someone else will) and feel free to share your journey if you are comfortable doing so.
This is my first attempt at a blog, please be patient as I learn to navigate this medium
01
How I Got To Bariatric Surgery
I’m 65 years old and there is no point in my life where I have not been obese, more often than not, morbidly obese. I’ve had a knee replaced and have a hip that is bone-on-bone but it cannot be replaced until I lose significant weight.
In July 2023 I started having gall bladder issues and needed to have it removed. The GI specialist referred me to a surgeon a couple towns away. The day before that first appointment , I got a call from his office saying he has a meeting at the time of my appointment and was it ok to see another surgeon. As he was specifically recommended, I told them I’d wait until I could see him. He rescheduled his meeting and my first appointment with him happened as originally scheduled.
Dr Baker was very pleasant and spoke to me, not at me. If you’ve dealt with obesity, you understand the difference. We talked about the gall bladder situation and he explained very politely that, due to my weight, he would perform the surgery using robotic-assisted endoscopy. When we finished talking about the gall bladder, in a nonjudgmental manner, he simply told that if I wanted to consider bariatric surgery after the gall bladder was taken care of, he could help me with it. It turns out, while he is a general surgeon, he specializes in bariatric surgery.
He removed my gall bladder August 4th, 2023. That morning I got on a scale for the first time in many years and was horrified at what I saw. That day I weighed 467 pounds. Yes, I knew I had gained even more weight but not getting on a scale allowed me to pretend it wasn’t really happening
I was not in a good place mentally but I was starting to feel like I was being given a life line. There were a number of things about the way he communicated with me that was so unusual to me that I started considering bariatric surgery. At a follow up appointment after the gall bladder surgery, I asked him to do the bariatric surgery. There were some circumstances that required i hold off on joining the bariatric program until October 31, 2023, circumstances that I won’t go into here.
When I had my first bariatric appointment with the Dr Baker, I had lost 12 pounds from the day of my gall bladder surgery, I thought it was a fair start. Dr Baker was as supportive and encouraging as I thought he would be. And so my journey began in earnest.
02
And The Real Work Begins
During my initial meeting with Dr B, we spent a 2 hour appointment talking about the surgical options, risks and benefits, there was no decision at that point as to which surgery I would have. Lots of time was spent talking about my specific situation, generally getting to know a bit about each other.
The list of medical appointments needed to ensure I was a good candidate for this surgery was extensive. A number of blood tests, upper GI test to see if I had reflux or an ulcer as well as hiatal hernia, a psychological evaluation, a sleep study (I have sleep apnea but did not use a CPAP). And of course, meetings with a Nutritionist. I was also given information about an education tool that I needed to complete before surgery could be scheduled. I was also given information about a tracking software to use, Baritastic.
The medical tests are not a big deal, I’m sure everyone reading this has had blood work done. The upper GI is easy as all you need to do is swallow a little liquid and stand in front of a camera so they can watch the liquid wind its way through your upper GI… not a big deal at all.
Meeting with the sleep doctor and discussing using a CPAP again was not something I wanted to do. Years ago I tried using a CPAP and it did not go well. I’m very claustrophobic and the mask I was supposed to use pushed my claustrophobia to its limits. I literally would wake up in the morning and not only would the mask be off but the machine would be on the floor with no memory of how either happened. Ultimately, landing on the floor caused 2 machines to break and I gave up. Since Dr B was clear that, in order for me to be as possible for surgery, it was important that I try again. Fortunately the new machines are almost completely silent, the mask is much softer and much less claustrophobic. I needed to use it for at least 30 days before surgery.
03
More Visits with Medical Professionals
The psychological evaluation can be a bit intimidating, even if you’re like me and have a therapist you see on a regular basis. The idea of meeting a psychiatrist for the first time, not knowing what’s their going to ask out what you should say is scary. The doctor seemed nice enough from the beginning but it was still intimidating. Yes, he asked lots of questions that I would have preferred he not ask but I decided it was best to be honest with him to ensure he recommended that I could move forward with surgery.
Working with the nutritionist, Elizabeth, is amazing! To say she has been supportive and encouraging is a serious understatement. She answered all my questions , made sure I had all the information needed, made great suggestions on things I could do to help make this journey easier.
The education tool that I was required to complete, NewTri, was very helpful. It tackled 25 topics, from making the decision to have surgery to nutrition facts to surgery to post surgery. Obviously the decision and surgery sections were in general terms, leaving details to the surgeon. Each topic was broken into 4 sections: a summary slide, a video, an article…. And then test. I needed to think back to my school days to remember how I would study for tests… take lots of notes!! There was one section that, for whatever reason, just didn’t register with me (it was Fats of all sections 😂) and I was able to meet with the nutritionist to get clarification. She explained the section to me in what I consider a much clearer way.
04
Starting To Reduce Food Intake
Prior to starting this journey, I would eat as much of whatever I wanted at any time with no concern for nutrition. Living alone, I never had to consider anyone else in my food choices. Fast food, pizza, pasta, muffins, ice cream and candy (and let’s not forget Cheez-Its) were among my usuals. Now was the time to start changing and reducing my food intake.
Don’t let anyone tell you this process is taking the easy way out! There is nothing easy about this, you have to be committed to it and put in a great deal of effort and hard work.
The first thing I did was stop eating pizza, muffins and Cheez-Its, none of which was easy. I didn’t realize until that point just how much I relied on those foods when I thought I was hungry. And I’m not talking about one serving at a time, I’m talking about a whole medium pizza, a 4-pack of muffins and a whole box of Cheez-Its.
I certainly didn’t immediately start eating healthy, there were still plenty of things that I ate that were not healthy. While I was eating salads, which was an improvement, I would have a couple cookies after the salad. My thought process at the time was “at least it’s not pizza and cookies”. By that point, the holiday season was approaching which added another layer of complexity to the situation.
As I worked through some of the required training on the NewTri app, I started paying more attention to what I was eating. For the first time in my life, I started reading food labels and, thanks to the training, I actually understood what was on them. This got me to the point of eliminating the cookies after the salad. I was recording everything I put i:n my mouth in the Bariatastic app. This was the first time I ever recorded what I ate on a consistent basis and actually paid attention to the nutritional levels. Over the course of a couple months, recording my food intake as well as reading food label became second nature.
Within two months of my initial appointment with Dr. Baker, I had lost an additional 29 pounds. I made it through Thanksgiving dinner by filling half my plate with salad before anything else went on it. While I did allow myself a small amount of potato and stuffing, I did not have gravy or dessert. I was very proud of myself that day.
But I wasn’t ready for surgery yet, I had to finish the training before that could be scheduled.
I continued to work on refining what I ate, reading more labels, increasing water and protein intake, even started doing some strength training with resistance bands (more on exercise later). And of course finishing the required training. I also started attending the months support group hosted by Dr. Baker’s office and I also joined an on-line support group.
At the end of January 2024, I had lost 48 pounds, my training was complete and I was ready to schedule gastric by-bypass surgery!
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CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE UPDATES!!