Last Wednesday marked exactly 7 weeks since surgery, and punctually I had the checkup appointment with the surgeon, the dietitian and the physiotherapist.
These people change lives!
I’m not sure how aware they are of the impact this surgery has on patients, well, professionally they do - but they’ve never been on this side judging by how fit (and thin!) they all are :-)
The transformation this surgery generated in me is just amazing. And I’m not talking only about physical transformation (although I hit 110kg, woot woot!), but the energy that I have and the I feeling I have about myself, the rediscovery of myself, the fact that I started loving myself again, taking care of myself with an vitality I haven’t felt since I was 20. Man, that was 35 years ago… think about that for a second.
The team - my team!
Yes, they take care of me so much that I do feel like they are my team. They do that with every patient (the support group I belong to has so many patients of theirs, and all of them seem to feel the same way) but they have the uncanny ability of making it all about you. There is the surgeon, Mr. Robb, the dietitian, Emer, and the practice manager, Deborah.
They partner with a physiotherapist (the one assigned to me is Dan, I mentioned him before), an endocrinologist (an incredible lady), and a psychologist (again, I mentioned Finian before).
Mr. Robb
(In Ireland surgeons are addressed with Mr. or Mrs./Ms. before their names, to distinguish them from other consultants and doctors) Mr Robb. is a tall man with a contagious smile (yes, you can see that even through the mask, although I saw him on Zoom, therefore without the mask). He is a genius at what he does. Thanks to his use of the Da Vinci robot through which he performs surgery he can be so precise that the pain after surgery is minimal, when comparing my story with that of other patients operated upon by other surgeons who use other techniques. My scars are now almost invisible already.
He found me well, checked my weight and asked me a few questions to ensure, and reassure me, that everything was proceeding as planned. Consistent with himself (see what I posted here about my first meeting with him) he explained his expectations are for me to lose another 30kg (thus reaching 80) - he didn’t rule out a further loss, but made it clear it would be a bonus.
We also chatted away, I mentioned my blog (hence his permission to use his name) and he mentioned to me his new website (go and check it out!). It was just great. I felt so good, so happy.
Emer
Fabulous young woman, tall and so thin (well, I have yet to meet a dietitian who isn’t thin!) and very nice. She went through all her questions in order to build a picture of what I’m eating. Didn’t flinch when I mentioned how little I’ve been eating, but did indeed say that if I would have been taking the gastroprotector I would have been able to eat more - which apparently I should. Fair enough, I’ve been taking my Zoton daily ever since (plus Mr Robb did mention that since it’s in oro-dispersible form I can have it pretty much at any time, thus easing a little bit on my difficult schedule) and indeed I’ve been eating more since Thursday, with almost no nausea.
Amazingly (for me!) Emer said I should be eating a little more carbohydrates in order to balance the diet. Also insisted on me having 4 to 5 little meals per day - even if just a spoonful or two of yoghurt as a snack. That I find so difficult to do though! I am thirsty all the time and I drink a lot (they are all very happy about that) but that also means that I find it challenging not to drink for a full hour each time I need to eat something, anything. We’ll see how I get on. Also, I can manage sliding food (I shouldn’t have it, and so far I haven’t aside from 2 exceptions), so from now on it’s not just a matter of relying on the surgery for losing weight but a good bit of will power is needed (yes, and going forward for the rest of my life).
Deborah
Again nice and thin (but then, would you expect anybody on a bariatric team to be overweight?), this lovely and charming lady seemed genuinely happy to see me. And of course it feels like we know each other well given the amount of calls and emails we’ve been exchanging since the very beginning. She is the backbone of the team and makes sure everything runs so smoothly that you wouldn’t have any notion at how complex it can be, I’m sure. She was the first person who spent half an hour with me on my first exploratory phone call to illustrate what this surgery is, how it works, the multidisciplinary team support that would have followed me, etc. She also took care of ensuring that my insurance did come through with the cover for surgery (although, as I told her, my resolve was so strong I would have been self funded otherwise). Deborah is the person who immediately understands if you need to contact one of the team urgently, and arranges for that to happen so quickly you wouldn’t believe it. It was very nice to meet her in person.
Dan
I was so surprised at Dan. He was so understanding when I confessed I haven’t put my nose out the door since I was pain free. He showed me some strength exercises using a plastic elastic band, nothing too strenuous, and some gentle squats. He did say that maybe the exercises are more my thing rather than walking. I am actually also considering following the advice of a support group member and do some walking in place, indoors, following this youtube video here (yes, I followed it once and it was great, although I was knackered at the end and sore all over the day after). I might mention this video to Dan and see what he thinks.
Dan has this optional physiotherapy program that he runs from the clinic. Given that Blackrock is far from here I’ve asked him if we can work via Zoom, and he’ll ask. Hope he’ll be back with a positive answer, as it’s difficult to find a physiotherapist who has such experience with bariatric patients.
That’s it for this week’s post, the last one of the "post-surgery" category), a lot longer than my usual ones, but you have to admit I had a lot to talk about!
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