February 24, 2006

From the beginning

This is my first post!! YAY

My WLS (weight loss surgery) journey started in 2001 when my mom decided to get the surgery, before that I had no idea what WLS was. After watching my mom basically shrink into the tiny body she is in now I was amazed and ready to start and was 100% aware of all the side effects because I watched my mom go through the not so happy times for example "dumping syndrome". Anyways like I was saying I was ready to start my WLS but I was only 12 years old and was no where near the weight I would of had to been (I was overweight though). So I just let the idea go and went on with my own life. I wasn't until I was 14 that I got concerned about my weight again, so I started Weight Watchers and it worked wonders (good and bad), in 8 months I had lost 51lbs! I had gone from 213 to 161lbs and I was SOO happy, although the results were great I was very unhealthy, I would starve myself the day before "weigh-in" and towards the end of the 8months I was getting desperate to see a weight loss I was making myself throw-up. But like all other diets I slowly gained all the weight back up to were I am now (in the 240's).
In June 2005 I decided I really wanted to get this surgery, I was a candidate for it so I thought it would be so COOL. I went to see my DR. she disagreed with me she wrote a quick diet and told me to come back in 2 months. I was really disappointed but was convinced I was going to change her mind. So around mid-July I wrote a very long emotional e-mail to her. 2days later she suggested I see high professionals at Standford Medical Hospital within a week I had an appointment with the surgeon in October 2005. I would say about a week before the appointment my mom called to confirm. She was informed that who ever made the appointment was not trained, and that I could not see the surgeon until I went through a 6-month weight loss program. That night I cried and cried and cried. After about a week of deep thought I decided I would just stick it out and go through with the program.
So there I was in the waiting room for my first appointment with the my doctor (Dr. Peebles) for the weight loss program. My name got called and I was swept away into a room. They did the usual took my weight (246), height(5'2), blood pressure (don't remember but it was high). After a very emotional "getting to know you" talk with the doctor and a student (medical student was there for just that first appointment) I was told that 1,000's of kids come in and find that the surgery is not necessary and that they have only done 7 roux-en-y (a type of weight loss surgery) on "young adults" after that 2 hour talk they did a physical. During this physical they found a pressure behind my eyes concerned she suggested I see an eye doctor (Dr. McCulley at Stanford). So a few days after Thanksgiving I saw this Dr. McCulley, he told me that Dr. Peebles is sending over lots of kids and that it is usually nothing at all. Well, after he examined me he said "well looks like that had 1 right" I was really scared. He told me and my mom that I was going to need a MRI/MRA to confirm it was not a tumor and if they found nothing then I would be getting a Lumbar puncture. So I got my Lumbar puncture and it confirmed I had Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) ***To learn more about PTC go to : http://www.neuroland.com/ha/pseudo_cer.htm

Well, I went to my third appointment with Dr. Peebles. She informed me about PTC, she said it was a very serious disease and that we really need to get this weight off of me with in this year (this appointment was 2/3/06) she told me to take a year off of school or work or both if it gets really bad. She said Gastric Bypass Surgery was defiantly an option for me now because although my BMI was high enough before with "young adults" they raise the bar but because of the PTC I was a candidate even with the bar raise.

So I had that long serious talk with my parents we decided it was the best way to go. I had an appointment with my Primary doctor (Dr. Neunberg) to update her and she is on board with the idea now. On March 10th I have another appointment with Dr. Peebles, then I will tell her about the talk my parents and I had and I hope to get the quick tests required before the surgery just to make sure I'll be okay in motion. Oh yeah my mom talked to Susan (the director of the weight loss program). Susan said that she does not think there will be any issues with me getting the surgery and that I will probably have it early Summer if everything goes well!!!!

It all pretty much looks like a waiting game for me now, March 10th HOPEFULLY we can get things going, April 7th there is a support group they want me to go to and April 27th my "case" as they call it goes in evaluation were the surgical team and Susan determine whether or not I get the surgery (but in my case Susan said it will more likely pass).

Well that is all for my first blog post, I will be posting things about appointments and how I feel over time and even when I do get surgery I will still post here because I want my journey to be known so it could hopefully help other teens in my shoes.

Goodnight!,
Kylie

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