Dr.morris Washington's Crew

[Mimismom 49]

Hi All,

For those of us having the surgery in South Carolina's Coastal Bariatric with Dr.Morris Washington, I thought we could start a thread over here in the general topics forum so we can keep in touch.

My surgery is July 11

[DaniEA 10]

Thanks for starting this thread mimi :-) I start my 2 wk Liquid Protein diet TUESDAY! Im very nervous and excited (glad its finally here) 2 weeks of not eating FREAKS me out but I know I will follow the rules and do it. Im ready :-) I go to conway April 23, have my endoscopy April 24 then Wed April 25 @10:20 its game on! I will keep you all posted on how everything goes and I hope you all do the same!!

[DaniEA 10]

Oh!! Almost forgot I am 25, 5'5" & as of today weigh 245lbs... I was at 250 but SOMEHOW I have lost 5 lbs even though I have ate like a pig lately....

Anyway, that's me:-)

[Mimismom 49]

I'm so excited for you Dani! I will pray that everything goes smooth for you. Did they say you were going to get a sleep study done? I'm wondering how important it is to get done. I never thought I had sleep apnea but what if I have it and don't know it? The questions my pcp asks me are very generic to determine if I may have it or not.

[DaniEA 10]

I don't have any issues with sleep (Thank God) so I don't have to have a sleep study. One of his nurses, Lauren, said it depends on the patient but they ALWAYS do an endoscopy on everyone. Then depending on the patient do a cardiac test and a sleep study. Im assuming you haven't had your consult?

[Mimismom 49]

I did my consult on March 29 with Dr. Washington but it was really fast. We didn't discuss the sleep apnea test and I didn't think to brin it up really because I never thought I had a problem but today I woke myself out of my sleep coz I was snoring so loud lol

[futureskinnypants 193]

hi again girls!

My weight is 260ish. (give or take 5 lbs here and there) 5'4 -5'5 goal weight is 140ish

My consult is april 17th and my surgery is august 8!

I'll be staying in myrtle beach.

[Mimismom 49]

I guess I should give a rundown of my stats too huh? Lol

5'6

I'm about 280lbs

My consult date was March 29th 2012

My surgery date is July 11 2012 and I can't wait!!

[Meredith 8]

Guess it's my turn!

My weight is 315ish and height is 5'10''.

Goal weight is around 160.

I am meeting with him for a consultation Monday 4/9 in their offices and will hopefully find out a surgery date

[futureskinnypants 193]

Good luck Meredith! Keep us updated. I dont know how it works since your local. I know they only do us out of towners on wednesdays. And as of last week when I changed my date , Lauren said they had all of august open (i took 8/8) i know july 18th was still open...maybe you can take one of those How far are you from conway??? (sorry if you said it before, i didn't catch it) Let me know how your consult goes with him too....I have mine in a week and a half.

[Meredith 8]

I'm about 4 1/2 hours away from Conway, so my mom and I will be leaving around 7am to make sure we get there in enough time to fill out some paperwork before the consultation at 1pm. We were going to grab a hotel to stay overnight in Myrtle, but we'll more than likely just make our way back home that afternoon.

I'm excited to go and be the "eyes" for all of us. Lauren called to confirm today and reminded me to bring in a list of current medications. I'm going to bring in a Protein Shake and see if I'm able to use it for pre-op drinking.

The hardest part of scheduling is planning around my (almost) hubby's moving schedule. After our wedding on May 12th, we'll be going up to Memphis, Tennessee where he has been at an internship since January. Depending on if he can stay an work an extra month, we'd either be moving back to Columbia, South Carolina (2 1/2 hours from Conway) at the end of June or July or unpacking. With him working and going to school both full time, I don't want to add the stress of him taking care of me post-op (on top of our dog), so I would more than likely spend a week at my parents' house and only have to worry about going up and down stairs.

I haven't told many about the surgery, as there are different opinions on spending that amount of money and thinking that it's "cheating". When you suffer being overweight your whole life, a weightloss surgery is just the boost our body needs to give us the energy and motivation to eat healthy and small amounts and to exercise like a beast.

I'm going to need to start looking up good exercise techniques to burn the fat and tighten the skin. AAAH! It's all so exciting yet scary for us all. It's so good to have support from people going through the same thing in life

[futureskinnypants 193]

your absolutely right. My mom had gastric bypass maybe about 10 years ago and I gave her a hard time about it. I told her she was taking the easy way out. NOW i understand. I think 1/2 of me was scared of her having the surgery because of course i was young and i didn't understand fully....and 1/2 of me was jealous because I have been overweight since i was about 12. Now I understand that it is a tool that i'm going to use to better my health and that i've wasted enough of my young adult life and if i ever want to have a baby and get married and be happy then i need to do this for myself because obviously, I can't do it just by dieting. I just don't have enough will power!!!! I'm not willing to waste another 26 years being a chunky monkey lol.

Thats great your pretty close. My drive is going to be about 10 years i believe. My moms boyfriend is spending time in SC so we may stop and see him, and i have a couple friends down south so we may venture to see them. We're gonna take our time since i dont have to be there monday.

This is so exciting and i'm glad your the eyes too! I mentioned it in the other thread we were posting in but is anyone else going to do VLOGS on your progress? I used you tube to document my weight loss with weight watchers last year....and I plan on recording all of the good bad and ugly of this journey. I love watching people's videos and seeing what I'll be going through.

Dogs-that is a hard one too haha. I have a lab and a pug. my boyfriend is going to watch them the 6 days that my mom is with me. Then that friday he's taking them to my moms house so she can watch them when i fly her back to jersey. my issue is not being able to lift my pug for a month or two she's 25ish pounds.

Anyway, so since your still 4.5 hours away-are you considered out of town or local???? They're requiring me (and the other out of towners) to be with in 30 mins of the center for the appointment the next week. (ill be there for atleast 12 days) are you required to do that as well???

[futureskinnypants 193]

Hey all, i wanted to let you guys know Dr washington is on YT under the name "conwaymedicalcenter" . It was from a seminar.

[Meredith 8]

Hi girls! Yesterday, I went to Conway and met with Emily Choi, Dr. Washington's assistant, and it was a great experience! Honestly, I thought we were to meet with Dr. Washington himself, but that's not until later... the staff there is absolutely wonderful! As my mom described the office, "it's like you could walk around with your butt showing, and they wouldn't care". Suzette took my vitals and told us about the lap band that she got on 3/30. They were all sooooo normal and made us feel comfortable. I guess I should back up a bit and state that the office is located on the Medical Arts wing of Conway Medical. It was clean and extremely spacious with up-to-date decor in the waiting room.

Talking with Emily Choi, she was very knowledgable and covered all of the bases before I could ask anything. We went through the pro's and con's, covering the possibility of a leak, etc. They do request that everyone stay in town for a week, so my family is going to make it into a vacation. My husband is unable to take off work, but my fam will keep him in the loop.

Lauren... where do I start with her? She is God's gift to us! She worked with our schedule and was just so incredibly helpful! As of yesterday, I have a surgery date for May 30th!!!! She had that appointment come available or I would have had to wait until August. The only thing I feel bad about is that 2 weeks after I get married, I have to leave the hubby for another week and be "out of order" for a while, but it works better since we don't know our moving, school and work schedule in August. Lauren pulled strings so that I could do all of my pre-op stuff on May 3rd. The dietician was in vacation, so I was unable to meet with her yesterday, but she will be calling me for our first meeting. I will have a 2nd meeting with her in the 3rd, as well as meeting with the anesthesiologist, Dr. Washington and having a endoscopy. I'll be coming back on the 29th for a pre-op weigh-in before the surgery.

I am incredibly excited yet worried because this is happening a lot faster than we had imagined. AAAAH!!!

[Mimismom 49]

That's great news Meredith! I bet your excited! May is just around the corner. Did Emily tell you about whether or not Dr. Washington uses glue and staples for the sleeve?

I wish my surgery date was sooner. I just ate 3 Cadbury caramel eggs in a row. I'm hopeless.