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[andrea464 1]

Hi.

I'm Andrea. 31 years old (barely- just turned 31 yesterday), a wife and a mom to one beautiful 6 year old girl. I work full time as a nurse in a busy cardiac center doing procedural care and nursing education.

I've been overweight as long as I can remember. I've had more high weights than I have low weights- max weight was 299 (2010) , lowest was around 160 (2000). I've dieted, done Weight Watchers, Optifast, personal training, and Phentermine. I do great for a while and then I'm off the wagon. I'm tired of bouncing around. I've developed rheumatoid arthritis and have PCOS- I need weight off of me. Thank God I don't have diabetes. Sometimes my BP is up at the docs office, most of the time it's normal but I justify the high ones as "I'm mad because I've been waiting/walking/etc". It's creeping up there and I don't like it.

Having worked in the operating room at the hospital I worked in I had decided against surgery. I'd seen some procedures go bad (not considering how many we did that went by the book). Then I started in my current department- one of my coworkers there had gastric bypass the year before. She had originally been my size. I inherited her lead aprons to wear (still wear them at work) while she downsized and then downsized again. Then another coworker had bypass surgery- she lost a lot of weight, but not all due to surgery (her husband because ill). Now two more have had bypass surgery and are both doing well. One is 6 months out and has lost around 100lbs, and the other is about two months out and is shrinking away too.

I still don't think gastric bypass is the answer for me. And I don't think the lap-band is the answer for me because I want more than what I think it'll provide. But this gastric sleeve has me interested. I don't want major intestinal reconstruction. I don't want the big hair losses- I see my coworkers having to style their hair different to cover up their thinning hair. I don't want the fear of dumping.

There are three main weight loss surgical groups in town. I think I've narrowed it down between the two, but need to speak with my coworkers to find out who they used to help me narrow it down. I'll also speak with some of my old OR friends to see who they recommend. One of the groups was already knocked out because of past experiences with him in the OR.

I have good insurance, and considering how many have had surgery I know our insurance covers it, but I don't know how much. Luckily I also get a 50% discount on anything done at the hospital- labs, images, inpatient stays, etc.

I e-mailed one of the offices tonight. Working full time it's incredibly hard for me to get away to attend an information session. Considering my background I really don't want to go through it but we'll see. I have a feeling it'll be mandatory and I'll have to go. I didn't want to have to talk to my bosses about this until later on!

[my new self 13]

I battled the same questions. This is a great forum for lots of info. I chose to go for it and get my life back. I am 7 days out and there was definitely pain but it was manageable. Good luck!

[lessofmeismore 1,405]

Welcome Andrea

Best wishes for you on your journey!

Look forward to your future posts here

[AngelBaby 153]

welcome!! I am also a nurse, currently working OR and used to work ICU. Now I'm hoping to switch to Interventional Radiology. Yay nurses!!

I felt the same way as you.. working OR in a busy level 1 trauma hospital all I saw were patients who'd had complications (adhesions, strictures, fistulas, severe malnutrition).. so that was my view of WLS. But then I did some training over at our outpatient and WLS surgery centers and realized how many people had the surgery and did NOT have complications so I got interested. I really did not want them rearranging my intestine either, way more complications with that from what I've seen over the years as a nurse. Unfortunately my insurance will not cover anything weight loss related so I ended up going to Mexico.. had a GREAT experience there and can I just say their OR was WAY nicer than the world famous one I work in LOL they also use the same exact equipment we do. Anyway I'm so glad I did this, I am about 3 weeks out and already feel way healthier than I did pre op and I'm down 27 lbs! My only regret is I didn't do it sooner but you're not ready til you're ready ya know?

Anyway welcome and hope what you find on this site helps you on your journey!