debrass.net

So, on a peronal note…

As a New Years promise both to myself and to my girlfriend I started in January to see a doctor. The reason being mainly my sleep apnea was causing me severe issues and also my weight was becoming an issue.

My sleep apnea had become so bad, that after dropping of my girlfriend at work and driving towards my own, I would often take a nap. In the end it was so bad, that I actually fell a sleep at work. My weight at the time was actually unknown to me but I (personally) assumed that it was around 160 kg (320 lbs) something.

My luck is that I have a very good private healthcare insurance coverage, and it was finally time to put it to work.

I found a good english speaking GP (general practicioner) in my area (Dr. Bally) and went to see him. Immediately he paid attention to my issues and set me down two paths, one to deal primarily first with my sleep apnea and secondly my weight issues. He also had by blood checked and besides a low iron count I was all good. Lucky, because I had though my issues at hand were related to diabetes.

Dr. Bally had referred me to two specialists: Dr. Breitenstein (pneumologist) and Dr. Héraïef (obesity specialist). However, already when Dr. Bally did his initial check-up, he found that my toncils were (and I quote) “really really large” and it would most likely be the recommendation of Dr. Breitenstein, that they should be removed.
Dr. Breitenstein was the first appointment I had and again here I got the same reaction regarding my toncils “they are really really large and need to go”. He referred me to an oto-rhino-laryngologist surgeon Dr. Duscher for the surgery, but also made do a blood oxygen sleep test at home to determine the severeness of my sleep apnea. I had to return the very next day for the results and they were bad average 117 sleep apnea’s per hour, well above the “norm”. He put me on a fast track to get a CPAP (Continues Positive Air Presure) sleeping machine and tried to speed up the process for getting my surgery.

Some weeks later, I met up with Dr. Duscher and immediately his reaction was “they are really really big and need to go” and he would arrange to contact my insurance to get the tosilectomy approved with the backing of the other doctors also. Only a few weeks later and the surgery was approved (verbally) and I was set to go. I got the written approval only a few days before the surgery.

Thanks to my healthcare insurrance, I was able to get into the private hospital Bois Cerf and the surgery was done quickly and was much less painfull, than what I had read online and Dr. Duscher had told. The surgery was not that bad, only the post-op diet of milk products and ice was hard to stomach. In fact, the worst part was not really the surgery, but the effects of the post-op diet (diarrea).

At this point I had already received my CPAP and was sleeping like a baby. In fact the first good nights sleep I had, was the night before we had a restructuring at work and could easily have lost my job. But that day, I came cheerful to work, because I had finally sleept.

Unfortunately, I still have to sleep with the CPAP, although I often don’t, since my sleep apnea has severely dropped. Last time measured was on average four per hour, but with wearing the CPAP. Without the count is still unknown to me, but I can sleep several nights in a row without feeling drowsy. I am scheduled for a follow-up in 2010 May, since I need to get past the second half of my issues: my weight.

In between all the various other doctors visits and surgery I had been going to Dr. Héraïef. He had confronted me with the fact, that my weight was in fact 195 kg (430 lbs). Totally bummer and it brought me completely down, since I had already started to make improvements to my “diet” / food consumption/addiction. But, already from the first visits, he introduced the idea of gastric surgery; potentially gastric sleeve or gastric bypass. Although, the gastric sleeve would most likely be the one, as I was too big have a gastric bypass. He set the process in motion; I needed to attend a three part pre-op course with others heading towards gastric bypass/sleeve surgery and I needed to see a shrink.

The course came first – unfortunately, in french,  but they spoke slowly so I could follow – and was split in three; first part was intro to the surgery both pre and post op and consequences, second part was diet and third part was again diet but also having a meal with a person who had had a gastric bypass. The course was done at Bois Cerf and very good, no website could have informed me at well as they did.

The shrink part was over fast, he declared me sane and mentally ready for the surgery.

Back at Dr. Héraïef, I got the referral to Dr. Ghavami the resident laparoscopic surgeon at La Source and also the president of the laparoscopy society for France and also for Switzerland. He had worked with Dr. Héraïef for years taking many referals from him. Added to this, taking with several of the staff at the hospital when I was admitted, Dr. Ghavami was a very skilled surgeon but also a good people person, which I can truly back up myself.

Surgery got scheduled for late October and I now only a few weeks post-op and adapting to my new diet.

I was weighed before the surgery and my weight was 183 kg (403 lbs).

So, time to stay positive and focus on the weeks ahead and years of life-quality improvement ahead.

EDIT: I added a picture, I made of myself over the past 11 years. I had a period after college where I dropped quite some weight, but it all came flying back on.

One Response to “Gastric Bypass Surgery”