Cardiologist & Other Clearances

I decided to go through with all my surgical clearances just in case I wanted to move forward with the surgery - which I think I will do by this point.

I have to see:
cardiologist
pulmonologist
psychiatrist/psychologist
gastro
my GP for a letter of medical necessity


I was able to make all the appts AFTER work hours and within 2 weeks.  That is amazing!!

I saw the cardiologist and did my EKG - which was fine.  But because of my diabetes, she also wants to run a stress test and do an echocardiogram.  Another appointment....grr...  I knew at one point that being a diabetic would come back to bite me during this testing.  Everyone always wants to do more testing when they find out you have diabetes.

Thankfully I have good insurance.

First Nutritionist Appointment

My husband went with me to see the nutritionist - so that he could see how we "should" be eating.  I am very lucky that he does a lot of the cooking.  But that also means that if I am going to eat healthier, he needs to be on board so he can cook healthier.  She went over a few things with us; mostly how to eat healthy and how to read food labels.

The next appt we will go over what to eat after the surgery.

BMI - 36.6 

At least I made it through the holidays without a huge weight gain.

Consult for WLS

I met with Dr. Sowemimo of Prime Surgicare.  I made my husband go with me because I knew that he was more wary of the surgery than I was.  I had been putting off going to see him for months, but I feel like I've finally reached my breaking point again.  Nothing I have tried has worked for me, and this weight has got to go.  My insulin needs have gotten much higher, and it is taking way too much food to fill me up.  Even when I am eating well, I am eating too much.  And I don't do well with hunger.

Dr. Sowmimo asked me which surgery I though would be right for me.  I suggested gastric sleeve, and he totally agreed with me.  Bypass makes me nervous.  I am afraid that if I get dumping syndrome it will throw off my sugars.  Plus I have abour 100 lbs to lose to become my "model thin".  I don't anticipate losing all 100, and would be happy to take off 80 - very happy!  So I don't want to do anything as drastic as the bypass surgery.

At the end of the appt, my husband said that he would diet with me in order to support my weight loss better, and he wanted me to try to diet and exercise more.  He thought I could do it on my own.  He was coming from the right place - just worried about me undergoing surgery, but his resolve is as weak (if not weaker) than mine.  I am hopeful he just needs some more time to warm up to the idea.  I am not 100% sold on the surgery at this point either, but I'm 98%.

BMI at visit - 36.6

My History...

I'm a 38 year old with 2 beautiful boys (age 9 and 6).  I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at age 26.  At the time I was placed on Metformin.  Shortly thereafter, I was placed on insulin to keep my A1C under 7 when I was having my babies.  I went through a series of endocrinologists; none of which I liked or respected.  I always felt as though I was bothering them by asking questions and it always felt as if they thought I had done this to myself.  It may have just been me, but I didn't feel compassion or caring from any of my early endocrinologists.

  I was putting on a steady amount of weight as the years went on.  By 2011 I had reached my breaking point and decided to do something about it.  I went on Medifast and lost 75 lbs with a combination of their diet and boot camp/exercise classes.  When I stopped Medifast I started eating  healthy, low-carb diet.  I stopped taking my insulin and felt great.  I became complacent about my diabetes, thinking that my weight loss had put it in "remission".  I was not really seeing an endocrinologist at this point - I was frustrated at not finding one I liked.

In 2012 I started losing more weight while not even trying.  It never occurred to me that it was my sugars, but my sugar levels had apparently risen.  I went to see my GP who found protein in my urine and put me back in insulin.  At that point I knew I needed an endocrinologist that I felt comfortable with and would see regularly.

From that point on, I was eating the LCHF diet and my sugars were under perfect control.  I am one of those all-or-nothing people so when I started to take control of my diabetes, I REALLY started to take control.  My A1C was often a low-6 or even a high-5.

I found my lifetime endocrinologist.  She did some testing and discovered that I was misdiagnosed initially!  I was a Type 1.5 diabetic - latent autoimmune diabetes of adulthood.  My misdiagnosis had led me to believe that I could stop my insulin when it wasn't really needed.  But all that did was wear out my pancreas - and I was now producing very little insulin on my own.

My new endo put me on a T-Slim pump and a Dexcom CGM.  I loved my new "toys" and the control they allowed me to have over my diabetes.  I put on 10 lbs that first summer with the pump, but was not worried - that just put me slightly overweight and I had kept the weight off for almost 2 years by that point.

That Thanksgiving I had a piece of pie for dessert.  That may not sound like a big deal, but I am a true carb addict.  Once I had them, I was hooked again.  That pie started my steady decline.  In the 2 years since this, I have put on 75 lbs.  During those 2 years I tried to take it off a few times.  I have done low carb again (short term but couldn't stick with it), low-cal (again, couldn't stick with it), exercise, Contrave (diet pills), and cutting back on my insulin under the guidance of my endo.  Nothing has worked.

Onto WLS and the sleeve....