My Gastric Sleeve

Three Hundred Dollars, Two Endoscopies, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the first day of Christmas, my bariatric surgeon gave to me...okay, enough with the cutesy Christmas carol stuff. Suffice it to say that the month of December was memorable because I had not one but two upper endoscopies.

As I mentioned in a previous post, scar tissue can form after weight loss surgery and cause a narrowing in the stomach or the esophagus. This stricture makes it very difficult to eat solid foods, so patients tend to gravitate to "sliders," foods that go down easily. Unfortunately, many sliders, like ice cream, are high in calories and fat.

This means that a stricture can actually lead to weight gain because people edge away from their bariatric diet of solid proteins. Luckily, the stricture can be fixed with an upper endoscopy or EGD. This involves the surgeon passing a tube down your throat and into your stomach. He or she can then dilate, or widen, the narrowing with a use of a small, inflatable balloon. Sometimes, as in my case, the procedure has to be repeated to fully open the blocked area.

5 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My Gastric Sleeve

 
First of all, if you're considering weight loss surgery, don't let this post discourage you. I don't for one moment regret having a gastric sleeve. I'm slimmer and healthier right now than I have been in more than a decade, and it's a great feeling.

I hope, however, that this post does inform you. In spite of my surgeon's best efforts, I was somewhat naive when I had my procedure. If I could go back and have a talk with my pre-surgery self, there are a few things I would like to tell her.

Weight Loss Surgery - Watch Out for Those Nickels and Dimes!

 
As I've mentioned before, my health insurance company does not pay for weight loss surgery. That means I had to cover the entire cost of my gastric sleeve on my own. Before making the decision to go ahead with the surgery, I talked to my bariatric health center, and they quoted me a flat rate for the procedure. It wasn't cheap. In fact, it was enough to make a light sweat break out on my forehead. But it was doable.

I obtained a medical credit card and scraped together some money I'd made doing freelance writing and editing projects. Then I paid the center. It was done. My finances had taken a big hit, but at least I had paid everything that was due and could get started on the process of getting healthy again, physically and financially. Or so I thought.

Weight Loss Surgery - A Cosmetic Procedure?

 
I made it through the rest of the work week, but I was definitely dragging come Friday afternoon. I got home, fell into bed, and slept like a baby. Today, Saturday, I'm taking it easy, doing a little writing, paying bills, but most of all just resting.

Speaking of paying bills, my health insurance company refused to pay one single cent towards the cost of my gastric sleeve. When I called them to ask why, they informed me that weight loss surgery was considered a cosmetic procedure.

Taking It Easy - Theoretically

 
Overall, this has been a really good week. I got out on Thursday to do another set of errands and stopped by my workplace to visit my co-workers. It was good to see all of them again--it seemed like it had been much longer than two weeks. On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up--DON'T laugh!--a few cans of baby food. That will be about the only texture I can swallow for the next week or so.

As the woman at the cash register was ringing me up, she saw the baby food and smiled. "How old is the baby?" she cooed.

"Forty-three," I said sourly, as I gathered my purchases.

Gastric Sleeve Follow Up - First Appointment

 
I saw both my primary care physician and my bariatric surgeon today, and it was good news all the way around. My primary care physician said that my oxygen level was back up to normal while breathing room air. She still wants me to wear oxygen at night until we make sure I don't "de-sat," or drop to a lower oxygen level in my sleep, but I can dispense of it during the day. Thank goodness! She also took me off my blood pressure medication and one of my oral diabetes medications, saying that lab work showed I didn't need them anymore.

Then I saw my bariatric surgeon. I've officially lost 15 pounds since my first consult with her. Actually, I've lost more like 20 pounds, if you include the five pounds that I gained (and subsequently lost) after the initial consult.

On the Mend from Gastric Sleeve Procedure

 

For anyone wondering, the cat pictured here is my oldest, Achilles. He's got a perpetually grumpy facial expression, even when he's purring his little head off, which he does most of the time. He, Leroux, and Alexander have made excellent nursemaids. 

Gastric Sleeve Completed with Complications

Monday morning, 6:00. A good friend picked me up, and I was off to the hospital. I was nervous, sure, even a little scared, but I thought I knew what I was letting myself in for. After all, I'd had laparoscopic surgery before when I bid farewell to my gall bladder and my appendix.

I'd even had a full abdominal hysterectomy. I figured nothing could hurt like that did. Wrong...wrong, wrong, wrong.

At about 8:30, the anesthesiologist came into the surgical cubicle to greet me and gave me a medication "to relax me."  

Gastric Sleeve Tomorrow - Eyes on the Prize

I can't believe that tomorrow at this time, I'll already be at the hospital. In just over two hours, they'll start my surgery.

Today, I'm on a clear liquid diet--tea, coffee, broth, Jell-o, Popsicles, and shhhhh.....don't tell anyone, but I'm going to sneak in a Diet Coke while watching the Super Bowl. It will be my last one for a while.

The day should pass in a haze of activity. I have cleaning and laundry to do, last minute errands to run, cats to console, and hospital bags to pack. I also have a few last-minute freelance assignments to finish up.

But now, it's 7:00 AM, and I'm sitting sipping a cup of herbal tea at my computer...and I'm scared. We've all heard the joke that the only minor operation is the operation that's happening to someone else. Suddenly, what is happening to me seems very major indeed. I dread the physical procedure and the pain, but even more I dread losing the ability to use food for comfort.

Full Liquid Diet Starts Today!

In exactly two weeks, I'll be having my life-changing (I hope) gastric sleeve. But before I can get to the fun part of having the surgery and losing weight--well, losing weight, anyway--there's just one more itty bitty trial I have to get through.

I can't eat for two weeks.

Today, I start my full liquid diet in preparation for surgery. That means I get four shakes per day, no more than two hundred calories per shake. I can also have two cups of skim milk, and as many sugar-free and calorie-free fluids as I want, but that's it.