My VSG -- Step by Step

[4khansen 2]

I'm 58 years of age, male, 340 lbs, 5'11.5" and semi-retired from teaching. I made the decision to have gastric bypass of some kind in 2014. During the fall of 2014 I made an appointment with my physician, actually I think it was my annual checkup! When discussing my health issues, i.e. pre-diabetic, sleep apnea, morbid obesity, osteoarthritis, and borderline high blood pressure I brought up the possibility of having gastric bypass. I was VERY nervous to ask about this as I figured he would treat me as a failure for not wanting to lose the weight the old fashioned way (which I had done 3 or 4 times since I was married 34 years ago). Shockingly, he was very positive about it!

This started the process, he said there were surgeons in the metro area, I live in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro, but on the Iowa side of the Missouri River. The bariatric surgeons were located in Omaha. So off I went, first I contacted a surgeon in Omaha who said I needed to do 6 months of nutrition counseling. I could do that through my general practitioner's office. During August and September 2014 I met with the nutritionist and was off on my journey, so I thought. Late September, my wife and I were stunned to find out she had advanced ovarian cancer, it was truly heartbreaking and awful for us, our daughters and other family and friends. She became quite ill very fast and we were so worried that she wasn't going to make it two months. My surgery plans, of course were put on HOLD. Anyway, through lots of prayers, great physicians and my wife's determination she licked the cancer and by January 2015 she had been through 3 rounds of chemo and surgery to remove the tumors. The pathology report came back with such good news about being in complete remission the surgeon called my wife personally to tell her, he was VERY excited that it went that well. My wife still had 3 more chemos in front of her, but finally on February 27, 2015 I restarted my process.

Initially, I had begun the process through an Omaha bariatric unit, we quickly had found out in the fall at the same time my wife became ill that our insurance would not cover physicians in Nebraska. We were limited to Iowa. Because of the severity of the wife's illness she was able to get a waiver to get a specialist in Nebraska. My "illness" as such was not life threatening and they would not approve the surgeon in Omaha.

I made my second shot at appointments with the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. This is a 3.5 hour drive from home but it was a major medical university and the original home of the "father of bariatric surgery". So I felt that this would work, even with the long drives on occasion. The first appointment went well, they sent me home with nutritional counseling, paperwork completed and a pre-surgical diet to follow. They told me to lose 35 lbs by May 22, 2015. I went home, two days later I had a eschemic colitis attack. Four days in the hospital, one partial colonoscopy, lots of bleeding etc. etc. etc. I had never had a problem with my colon before, let alone an attack. The diagnosis came back that the attack tends to be one and done. But could possibly happen again, more than likely it would not. Thank god. My biggest fear was that gastric bypass wouldn't be an option because of the colitis. Gratefully, the doctor's had no problem with me continuing.

After a rocky start, I was back on track by the middle of March and the weight loss plan that the U of Iowa put me on was basically the soft diet that I would look forward to following surgery. I found their diet was very helpful and keep me from being very hungry. I think working on the 64 ounces of Water a day and the 3 cups of skim milk for Snacks was probably the key to my success during the pre-op period. I did start an exercise plan at that time which for me was 10,000 steps a day AND/OR 30 minutes on the treadmill. It took a few weeks to work up to 30 minutes as I started at 20 but within 3-4 weeks I was there.

By late June, I had lost nearly 45 lbs! On or about June 27th I went in for my pre-op checkup and they were very pleased with my progress. All systems go! Surgery was now officially on July 1, 2015. Stopped at a BBQ place in Des Moines on the way home. I suppose this was a last supper sort of thing lol.

My wife and I hit the road for Iowa City. Arriving the night before, as I didn't really want to get up at 4 a.m. to make it there for surgery at 7:30 a.m.

Remarkably, surgery was very uneventful, took about 2.5 hours was in recovery for another couple of hours because my room was ready and then started walking around the hospital floor that evening. Pain was minimal, I have had some other abdominal surgeries so kind of knew what to expect after gallbladder surgery, hernia surgery, etc. This was my first laproscopic though. It looks like you have been shot with a machine gun as you have 5 holes in a circular pattern of sorts around your stomach. I had two drains. These stayed in for a week!

I went home the next day, and the drive back was also very smooth. Kudos to my wife who is an excellent driver too :-). Way better than me....lol. I stayed home the rest of that week and the next Monday as that is when my post-op appointment was and another return trip for a 20 minute doctor appointment. (7 hours for 20 minutes, uggh). But I did get my drains removed, those are a pain in a couple of ways. First they dangle from your body, second you have to drain and measure the amount of Fluid that you are dispelling from your body for the doctor's information. Of course, my menu was full liquid at this point and for the most part that went pretty well. I couldn't get 64 ounces of water down very well, but usually 50 or so. Lots of blended, hmmm crap.

Edited November 30, 2015 by 4khansen

[The Candidate 3,215]

Welcome! Sorry to hear about all the health and emotional obstacles you've gone through. Wonderful news about your wife's remission!

I'm not sure if you've had the surgery yet or are still waiting, but best of luck in any event!

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Thanks for sharing. It's encouraging to hear people make it through such obstacles.