Re: Digest Number 217

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/1/00 6:35:45 AM US Eastern Standard Time,

onelist writes:

<< I hope I haven't been too preachy here. I wish you all the best.

Abra Eubanks >>

Thank you so much for time you put into your caring email. Thank you for

sharing such important information. I am about to start the SSI process. I

have the papers here. But I also have very new Docs. in the picture. I have

been home for 14 months. I only get food stamps and support. We are hanging

on by a thread. I also have 3 sick boys. It's a cluster illness situation.

Of course their schools don't believe us. I was served court papers today by

a sheriff! Can you believe that crap. Stress, stress, stress, never never

land! I have had them at a Dr. About every week since October and they are

all honor students. I have a solid proof. No neglect here. It's just

another hassle. It's terrible what happens to all sick and disabled people.

This illness has made me and my children realize a lot.

My son's and I are going to dedicate the rest of our life's to helping people.

I am now going to home school. Anyway I am saving your post, and once again

I sincerely appreciate it.

In God's love & mine, )

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/1/00 6:35:45 AM US Eastern Standard Time,

onelist writes:

<< I hope I haven't been too preachy here. I wish you all the best.

Abra Eubanks >>

Thank you so much for time you put into your caring email. Thank you for

sharing such important information. I am about to start the SSI process. I

have the papers here. But I also have very new Docs. in the picture. I have

been home for 14 months. I only get food stamps and support. We are hanging

on by a thread. I also have 3 sick boys. It's a cluster illness situation.

Of course their schools don't believe us. I was served court papers today by

a sheriff! Can you believe that crap. Stress, stress, stress, never never

land! I have had them at a Dr. About every week since October and they are

all honor students. I have a solid proof. No neglect here. It's just

another hassle. It's terrible what happens to all sick and disabled people.

This illness has made me and my children realize a lot.

My son's and I are going to dedicate the rest of our life's to helping people.

I am now going to home school. Anyway I am saving your post, and once again

I sincerely appreciate it.

In God's love & mine, )

[Guest guest]

Jerry was released today.. endoscopy negative.. what they were looking for is

beyond me.. this all started because he became dehydrated.. he drinks water

like its going out of style.. so i have no idea how this is happening... we

went to hosp to get iv fluids as usual, but because of a high(not

really)14000 wbc he was admitted.. hes been much higher. but they never

addressed the wbc. no antibiotics, not at the first hospital -where they drew

blood, or the second hospital -( where i did leave twice to go home to shower

and try to sleep) i never saw them draw for blood work there. since the

endoscopy was neg they released him.. what gets me is we didnt go for any

diagnosis... we have those .. we need help figuring out what is causeing him

to dehydrate so horribly. they blew us off again!!!! said that this was part

of the disease, and that our bodies dont stay the same and the disease doesnt

stay the same , it progresses and what worked today wont necessarily work

tomorrow!! I am soooo tired i just stared and was eager to leave!!!! I

hate when they wear you down to the point of either 1. just taking it and

leaving or 2. raising so much hell you wish youd just left instead of ticking

them off! from then on its constant fight! second time home they wouldnt

give jerry his meds! let him eat and suffer! No enzymes and he beeped them

and then undid his iv 4 times to walk out to desk to complain.!! then he

called me at home.. id been home one hour. i could have pulled my hair out!

and on way back to hosp i called and theyd just came to give him meds!! he

told them i was on my way!! okay im not going into this.. im sooo beat right

now.. going to bed sorry to start ranting.. going to set up home health aid

to deliver and do ivs so we dont have to play the hosp game.. but then if wbc

is high wed not know.. oh well.. niters all . hoping for better week ..

Take care and blessings to all with this disease!!!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/17/2003 8:52:08 AM Pacific Standard Time, gastric-bypass-support-kaiser-patients writes:

HELLO KG, I HAD SURGERY IN SSF, I WILL TRY TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.....YOU SAID...

I have been reading the messages in this group for the last few

months but this is my first time posting. I just received my

approval letter late last week. I have been assigned to South San

Francisco and the letter I was sent said I should expect orientation

in 12 to 16 weeks, meet the surgeon 1 to 5 weeks after that, and

then wait another 4 to 6 months for surgery.

If someone could help me with the following questions I would

appreciate it. THIS IS TRUE

1. For those of you who are\were assigned to SSF, what has your

wait time been? .....ABOUT A YEAR

2. Does it make any sense to call them and beg for the surgery to

be sooner? Or is it best to let it be? I'd like to grease the

wheels as much as possible without being a pest....... No, you are in line with 100's of other people in the same boat as you. you have to go threw the stages or you can't have the surgery.

I WOULD CALL WEEKLY, AND IT IN THE LONG RUN DIDN'T GIVE ME ANYTHING BUT A HIGHER PHONE BILL....I HAD TO CALL LONG DISTANCE.

3. When they left the message they mentioned that there was some

sort of group meeting every other Saturday at SSF in the cafeteria

and that I was welcome to attend. Does anyone know when the next

meeting is and if they are worth going to right now? YES...GO IT HELPS IF THEY SEE YOU. YOU HAVE TO AGREE TO GO TO A MEETING ONCE A MONTH UNTIL YOU RECEIVE YOUR SURGERY.

MEETINGS TIMES ARE:

ORIENTATION IS THE FIRST SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-1:30 p.m.

CASE MANAGEMENT THIRD SAT. OF THE MONTH 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

PRE-OP SECOND SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-12:30 p.m.

POST-OP THIRD SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-12:30 p.m.

You have to agree to lose 10% of your body weight pre-operation (after seeing the surgeon). AND if you do not lose it, they will postpone your surgery. They did mine. If you lose it fast then you will get a fast surgery date after seeing the surgeon. I met with Surgeon Oct. 25 then had surgery Jan. 27th

GOOD LUCK AND HAVE PATIENTS. IT IS WELL WORTH THE WAIT.

Mae

1/27/03

321/257/135

[Guest guest]

Hi all

First of all, as to the question about going to the meetings, I STRONGLY recommend you find a way to get to a first Saturday orientation the first Saturday in May and go to every Tuesday support group meeting you can (SSF 12:30 to about 2ish) The ladies who run those meetings, Nadia and Gitty, run the whole program and have a lot of power over when you are scheduled. They absolutely define your dedication by how much you attend these meetings. I strongly believe that the more meetings you attend, the sooner your surgery. I may be wrong, but I believe this.

Here I am, on the "other side". I had my surgery last Wednesday. It began as a lap (Umbach) but when he saw a cyst on my kidney, he opened. The surgery lasted 6 hours and I came out at about 5 pm. on a ventilator, which was removed pretty quickly--I have no memory of it. They tell me I told them I had to get off it so I could get home to my cats. They told me I was very funny. That was the only bad news. I was up and walking by 10 pm, without the help of a lift team! They were there for the humor and support...they are just wonderful! I continued walking. All you hear about the pain control being first class is sooooo true. I had morphine on patient-demand and some sort of shot that I never felt helped much, but I was pain free with the morphine. It made me sleepy so I would forget to push the button and the nurses would scold (sweetly) and remind me to use it more. I walked and walked and walked. Umbach was very cautious in moving me forward and only got a few ice chips on Friday afternoon because I begged. There was one day (Friday?) that I had bouts of nausea but the nurses were there with meds that took quick care of that within minutes of my complaint. I got an upper-GI and out of ICU on Friday night and was put on clear liquids. Chicken broth (I recommend you ask the nurse to put in only 1/2 of the powder, it tastes pretty strong that first day), peach Jello (yum), decaf tea and apple juice. It was the ambrosia of the Gods! I told my family I had lobster bisque, fillet Mignon, twice baked potato and asparagus. LOL It was that good. Saturday Doc Umbach gave the orders to remove the foley (pee bag), cap off the drain so that bag was removed, shut off the IV because I asked to be put on oral meds (I wanted to go home for Easter). Then I got a shower!!! How incredible. I had a wonderful nurse who walked me down to the tub room, sat me on a bench and gave me the spray thingie and I got to wash my hair and clean myself. It was heavenly (and exhausting!) I was put on Stage II, pureed soup, plain yogurt (add a packet of Equal...it is tolerable), chocolate pudding (too rich for me), and the ever-present and very nice decaf tea. I am not sure I am tolerating dairy. I have a lot of diarrhea alternated with very loose stools. I'll just wait a few days to try dairy again. The doc said if I "look like a rose" Sunday I could go home. I guess I did. I got home yesterday and had my 3 daughters, 2 granddaughters, sister and niece here. They brought me flowers, balloons, DVD's to borrow, and books. They stayed 2 hrs and everyone but one daughter and grand (who stayed o'nite to baby-sit me--though not really necessary) left. It was perfect. I had sat up plenty at the hospital and was up to this but 2 hrs was plenty. The ride from SSF to my home in Richmond was iffy. I got a touch nauseated but managed OK. While the family was here, I read mail, browsed the Sunday ads (along with the others) and just laughed a little too much and felt so supported and loved. I had asked them to stay away while I was hospitalized and for the most part they honored this (this is my "thing" and may not be right for you.) Regardless, I had a visitor or 2 every day, if I had not asked them to stay away, they'd have exhausted me. I was so dozy and needed to concentrate on me.

I was sorry the surgery went awry, but am proud of Doc Umbach for taking the cautious route and the outcome is great.

Today I have an impressive set of incisions, one big, 4 little and an ouchie tummy--a mix of incision pain, internal pain and gas. They sent me home on a liquid codeine/Tylenol that works well. I tried the first 4 hours with just 2 super-strength Tylenol caplets but that was a mistake. I couldn't take the pain med for 4 hours after that because it would be a Tylenol overdose and I was definitely not ready for that experiment. I'll try again in a couple days.

Food tastes great to me, but my hunger is very controllable. There were chips here yesterday and though I'd have habitually eaten them, it was not a big sacrifice not to do so. I didn't even take a taste.

I gained 10# in the hospital!!! arghhhhhhh! I am told that is all IV fluid loading and the swelling that goes with surgery. But I am ready to go on that downhill ride of weight loss.

Thanks to all of you for your love and support and prayers. I'll be at a Tuesday meeting as soon as I can, probably a couple weeks.

Love, Cheryl

SSF Umbach, open, 4/16 291/260/270/145 (that extra 270 is my leaving hospital weight, I'll leave that out next time.)

Re: Digest Number 217

In a message dated 4/17/2003 8:52:08 AM Pacific Standard Time, gastric-bypass-support-kaiser-patients writes: HELLO KG, I HAD SURGERY IN SSF, I WILL TRY TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.....YOU SAID...

I have been reading the messages in this group for the last few months but this is my first time posting. I just received my approval letter late last week. I have been assigned to South San Francisco and the letter I was sent said I should expect orientation in 12 to 16 weeks, meet the surgeon 1 to 5 weeks after that, and then wait another 4 to 6 months for surgery.If someone could help me with the following questions I would appreciate it. THIS IS TRUE1. For those of you who are\were assigned to SSF, what has your wait time been? .....ABOUT A YEAR2. Does it make any sense to call them and beg for the surgery to be sooner? Or is it best to let it be? I'd like to grease the wheels as much as possible without being a pest....... No, you are in line with 100's of other people in the same boat as you. you have to go threw the stages or you can't have the surgery.I WOULD CALL WEEKLY, AND IT IN THE LONG RUN DIDN'T GIVE ME ANYTHING BUT A HIGHER PHONE BILL....I HAD TO CALL LONG DISTANCE.3. When they left the message they mentioned that there was some sort of group meeting every other Saturday at SSF in the cafeteria and that I was welcome to attend. Does anyone know when the next meeting is and if they are worth going to right now? YES...GO IT HELPS IF THEY SEE YOU. YOU HAVE TO AGREE TO GO TO A MEETING ONCE A MONTH UNTIL YOU RECEIVE YOUR SURGERY. MEETINGS TIMES ARE: ORIENTATION IS THE FIRST SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-1:30 p.m.CASE MANAGEMENT THIRD SAT. OF THE MONTH 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.PRE-OP SECOND SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-12:30 p.m.POST-OP THIRD SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-12:30 p.m.You have to agree to lose 10% of your body weight pre-operation (after seeing the surgeon). AND if you do not lose it, they will postpone your surgery. They did mine. If you lose it fast then you will get a fast surgery date after seeing the surgeon. I met with Surgeon Oct. 25 then had surgery Jan. 27thGOOD LUCK AND HAVE PATIENTS. IT IS WELL WORTH THE WAIT.Mae 1/27/03321/257/135

[Guest guest]

Cheryl, bless you and your sense of humor. This is exactly what I've been waiting for - commentary on what it's really like. Congratulations for making it through to the other side - I will see you there in one month (whoa!).

Take care of yourself. Hugs.

-----Original Message-----From: Cheryl on Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 6:39 AMTo: gastric-bypass-support-kaiser-patients Subject: Re: Digest Number 217

Hi all

First of all, as to the question about going to the meetings, I STRONGLY recommend you find a way to get to a first Saturday orientation the first Saturday in May and go to every Tuesday support group meeting you can (SSF 12:30 to about 2ish) The ladies who run those meetings, Nadia and Gitty, run the whole program and have a lot of power over when you are scheduled. They absolutely define your dedication by how much you attend these meetings. I strongly believe that the more meetings you attend, the sooner your surgery. I may be wrong, but I believe this.

Here I am, on the "other side". I had my surgery last Wednesday. It began as a lap (Umbach) but when he saw a cyst on my kidney, he opened. The surgery lasted 6 hours and I came out at about 5 pm. on a ventilator, which was removed pretty quickly--I have no memory of it. They tell me I told them I had to get off it so I could get home to my cats. They told me I was very funny. That was the only bad news. I was up and walking by 10 pm, without the help of a lift team! They were there for the humor and support...they are just wonderful! I continued walking. All you hear about the pain control being first class is sooooo true. I had morphine on patient-demand and some sort of shot that I never felt helped much, but I was pain free with the morphine. It made me sleepy so I would forget to push the button and the nurses would scold (sweetly) and remind me to use it more. I walked and walked and walked. Umbach was very cautious in moving me forward and only got a few ice chips on Friday afternoon because I begged. There was one day (Friday?) that I had bouts of nausea but the nurses were there with meds that took quick care of that within minutes of my complaint. I got an upper-GI and out of ICU on Friday night and was put on clear liquids. Chicken broth (I recommend you ask the nurse to put in only 1/2 of the powder, it tastes pretty strong that first day), peach Jello (yum), decaf tea and apple juice. It was the ambrosia of the Gods! I told my family I had lobster bisque, fillet Mignon, twice baked potato and asparagus. LOL It was that good. Saturday Doc Umbach gave the orders to remove the foley (pee bag), cap off the drain so that bag was removed, shut off the IV because I asked to be put on oral meds (I wanted to go home for Easter). Then I got a shower!!! How incredible. I had a wonderful nurse who walked me down to the tub room, sat me on a bench and gave me the spray thingie and I got to wash my hair and clean myself. It was heavenly (and exhausting!) I was put on Stage II, pureed soup, plain yogurt (add a packet of Equal...it is tolerable), chocolate pudding (too rich for me), and the ever-present and very nice decaf tea. I am not sure I am tolerating dairy. I have a lot of diarrhea alternated with very loose stools. I'll just wait a few days to try dairy again. The doc said if I "look like a rose" Sunday I could go home. I guess I did. I got home yesterday and had my 3 daughters, 2 granddaughters, sister and niece here. They brought me flowers, balloons, DVD's to borrow, and books. They stayed 2 hrs and everyone but one daughter and grand (who stayed o'nite to baby-sit me--though not really necessary) left. It was perfect. I had sat up plenty at the hospital and was up to this but 2 hrs was plenty. The ride from SSF to my home in Richmond was iffy. I got a touch nauseated but managed OK. While the family was here, I read mail, browsed the Sunday ads (along with the others) and just laughed a little too much and felt so supported and loved. I had asked them to stay away while I was hospitalized and for the most part they honored this (this is my "thing" and may not be right for you.) Regardless, I had a visitor or 2 every day, if I had not asked them to stay away, they'd have exhausted me. I was so dozy and needed to concentrate on me.

I was sorry the surgery went awry, but am proud of Doc Umbach for taking the cautious route and the outcome is great.

Today I have an impressive set of incisions, one big, 4 little and an ouchie tummy--a mix of incision pain, internal pain and gas. They sent me home on a liquid codeine/Tylenol that works well. I tried the first 4 hours with just 2 super-strength Tylenol caplets but that was a mistake. I couldn't take the pain med for 4 hours after that because it would be a Tylenol overdose and I was definitely not ready for that experiment. I'll try again in a couple days.

Food tastes great to me, but my hunger is very controllable. There were chips here yesterday and though I'd have habitually eaten them, it was not a big sacrifice not to do so. I didn't even take a taste.

I gained 10# in the hospital!!! arghhhhhhh! I am told that is all IV fluid loading and the swelling that goes with surgery. But I am ready to go on that downhill ride of weight loss.

Thanks to all of you for your love and support and prayers. I'll be at a Tuesday meeting as soon as I can, probably a couple weeks.

Love, Cheryl

SSF Umbach, open, 4/16 291/260/270/145 (that extra 270 is my leaving hospital weight, I'll leave that out next time.)

Re: Digest Number 217

In a message dated 4/17/2003 8:52:08 AM Pacific Standard Time, gastric-bypass-support-kaiser-patients writes: HELLO KG, I HAD SURGERY IN SSF, I WILL TRY TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.....YOU SAID...

I have been reading the messages in this group for the last few months but this is my first time posting. I just received my approval letter late last week. I have been assigned to South San Francisco and the letter I was sent said I should expect orientation in 12 to 16 weeks, meet the surgeon 1 to 5 weeks after that, and then wait another 4 to 6 months for surgery.If someone could help me with the following questions I would appreciate it. THIS IS TRUE1. For those of you who are\were assigned to SSF, what has your wait time been? .....ABOUT A YEAR2. Does it make any sense to call them and beg for the surgery to be sooner? Or is it best to let it be? I'd like to grease the wheels as much as possible without being a pest....... No, you are in line with 100's of other people in the same boat as you. you have to go threw the stages or you can't have the surgery.I WOULD CALL WEEKLY, AND IT IN THE LONG RUN DIDN'T GIVE ME ANYTHING BUT A HIGHER PHONE BILL....I HAD TO CALL LONG DISTANCE.3. When they left the message they mentioned that there was some sort of group meeting every other Saturday at SSF in the cafeteria and that I was welcome to attend. Does anyone know when the next meeting is and if they are worth going to right now? YES...GO IT HELPS IF THEY SEE YOU. YOU HAVE TO AGREE TO GO TO A MEETING ONCE A MONTH UNTIL YOU RECEIVE YOUR SURGERY. MEETINGS TIMES ARE: ORIENTATION IS THE FIRST SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-1:30 p.m.CASE MANAGEMENT THIRD SAT. OF THE MONTH 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.PRE-OP SECOND SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-12:30 p.m.POST-OP THIRD SAT. OF THE MONTH 9:30a.m.-12:30 p.m.You have to agree to lose 10% of your body weight pre-operation (after seeing the surgeon). AND if you do not lose it, they will postpone your surgery. They did mine. If you lose it fast then you will get a fast surgery date after seeing the surgeon. I met with Surgeon Oct. 25 then had surgery Jan. 27thGOOD LUCK AND HAVE PATIENTS. IT IS WELL WORTH THE WAIT.Mae 1/27/03321/257/135