Ok so I have been absent for quite some time but I have decided to try blogging again to help and track my new journey. I am just over a week away from having gastric bypass surgery and my nerves are starting to kick in. During my recovery I plan to write about my journey here for myself but if anyone reading this wants to ask questions about my journey please feel free to comment.
Ok so around 5 years ago I went to my GP about my weight and asked how I could get weight loss surgery on the NHS. My GP referred me to Kirklees Adult Weight Management. I had to attend a 12 week course on healthy eating and see a physic. Once in a while I saw the Teams consultant who kept telling me I could have the surgery but only if I lost 5% of my body weight. I think I ended up doing the three times over the same amount of years and kept being told to lose 5%. They didn't seem to grasp realise that if I could lose the weight myself I wouldn't have needed to see them. So over those 3 years my weight kept creeping up and my chronic depression got worse. Usually I could mask it but I was starting to find putting smile on my face day in day out was exhausting when all I wanted to do was climb into bed and hide under the covers.
I was a work one day and a friend saw behind the cracks and asked if I wanted to talk. While we were talking she advised me to go see my GP again and tell them how I felt. So I went to see my GP again, I told her how I was feeling and that I wasn't getting anywhere with the Weight Management Team. My GP decided to write direct to the bariatric surgeons explain my case. A few weeks past and I was copied into a letter from the surgeons saying that the NICE guidelines had changed and I met the criteria for referral for bariatric surgery.
In December 2013 my journey finally starting moving forward. I went to an education session that explained the different surgery options: gastric bypass, gastric band and gastric sleeve. However I had already decided that I was going to opt for the bypass. The session explained what each option entailed surgery wise and post op.
The following February I saw one of the surgeons who sent me for bloods, endoscopy and sleep apnoea test. Everything came back clear. Said they would discuss me in their monthly MDT. The MDT decided that I would need to have some psychology therapy before they would put me on the list. So I referred myself to the IAPT service who said I did no meet their criteria. I rang the bariatric nurse to tell them this and she said she would put my case back to the MDT. I saw the teams new dietitian who was pleased with my progress and said she would put my case forward for the surgery waiting list.
In March 2015 I was finally put on the waiting list for a gastric bypass now here I am one week away from surgery.
If it had not been for my friend Kath talking to me that day I don't know where I would be. I am so grateful for her advice that no words can explain how grateful I am.
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