May 21^st 2009…

I went to see my Gastroenterologist for my esophagus problem, one of my many complications from Gastric Bypass. I went in around noon and began by filling out some paperwork. I completed the paperwork and didn’t get called back to the room until 1pm; at that time I should have known that this was going to be a very bad experience. I went into the room and met with the nurse practitioner. I began explaining everything to him, at that point he asked that I get undressed and he would be back. I didn’t really understand why I needed to get undressed to have an exam on my esophagus.. He came back into the room with a nurse and took out his stethoscope to listen to my heart. He said he thought I had a heart murmur. I was thinking excuse me, you are not a cardiologist, how can you make a valid diagnosis on the condition of my heart. At that point he stepped out and sad the doctor would be in momentarily. After waiting for about another 20 minutes the doctor came in, he was wearing the filthiest scrubs I have ever seen. He said that he would perform a procedure that stretches out the esophagus and that I should be just fine. I was thinking that there is no way in hell that I am going to let this guy perform a medical procedure on me, not only was his office filthy but he had no personality to boot. He said I’ll see you next week and then left the room. I began getting dressed when I overheard the nurse practitioner in the hallway talking about the heart murmur that I have. He then came into the room and handed me a card with the date of my procedure. He then asked that I go and have some blood tests. I went to have the blood test and the nurse hit a nerve, to put it lightly it wasn’t my day J

After the blood test they recommended that I have my “heart murmur” checked out. I went to see the cardiologist. He performed his examination and said he had no idea why they thought I had a heart murmur. He said my heart was happy and healthy. At this point I decided there was no way that I was going to let these people perform an esophagus procedure on me. I have since made an appointment with another Gastroenterologist, and will let you all know how it goes…

Wednesday May 13 2009…

Today I went to my family doctor because I was having pain in my arm where the IV was inserted. I was told that I had an infection in my arm. I was thinking to myself, imagine that… I had the IV treatment to help myself and it ended up causing more issues. At this point I don’t even know if the doctor knows what to do. We had talked today that if I had to have these treatments for the rest of my life, my veins may not be able to handle it, and then what will I do?? Will I live to see myself grow old or will I die at a young age due to the many complications of having Gastric bypass?  If my doctor is questioning what to do, shouldn’t I be doing the same? I did this to myself, other people are sick or dying due to things that they cannot control, so should people care about my health problems? No that is not why I am writing this. I am writing to hopefully try to advise people to try other ways of weight loss instead of looking for the easy way out…

The most ironic part of all of this is when I was in the hospital on May 11^th, getting my last IV bag of vitamins; there was a commercial on TV for a doctor that does the gastric surgery. He was promoting how the risks were low and out of those only 1 out of 200 procedures have any complications. I was laying there in the hospital listening to this guy and was thinking that most of the problems do not happen because of the surgery, but happen after the fact. They fail to tell the patients how many complications they can have post op. I mean they touch upon the possible issues that can happen but they do not really elaborate on them.  My husband is so frustrated that he contacted a nutritionist that has experience with gastric patients to see if there is anything she could do to help. She agreed that most doctors do not go into details of what can happen after the surgery and after you have lost your weight. Why would they, they are depending on us to have this surgery so that they can make money.

 I am at the point that when my friends ask how I am, I feel like I am burdening them by telling the truth. I don’t want to be the person who is sick all of the time. I don’t want them to feel obligated to be nice to me. Granted maybe they are genuinely concerned about how I am, but I still feel horrible talking about it all of the time… Believe it or not, I am really tired about constantly talking about my health…