Endoscopy in Weight Loss Surgery

Yeap yesterday was my big doctor day. Not surgery day but this would let me and Will know if we were even healthy enough for it.

The bloodwork we already had was ok besides us both having diabetes and him having high blood pressure. But neither issue is at dangerous levels and can both be solved with weight loss.

I couldn’t sleep after 2am. The appointment wasn’t till 9am. My father drove us to hours to the center.

First is was the psychologist eval. She was super nice. She basically said to me that my weight is not my fault, 98% of diets fail, and weight loss surgery is what will permanently get the weight off - and fast.

While we were talking what I mentioned was that, I’ve been fat forever and I don’t know why my mom didn’t do something.
The psy said that there really isn’t a healthy way to talk to a child about weight. And I was liek what?! And she said that children learn healthy eating and activities by being included in what the parents do.

Basically from day one you have to be good with eating and good with exercise and include them in it. It’s not enough to leave your kids at home while you go on a run. Take them with you. Do an exercise tape with them. Let them cook healthy with you. And don’t let them see you eating bad or binging.

Even if you’re naturally thin and can eat whatever you want, it doesn’ t mean your kid will have the same metabolism and it’s not a good habit anyway because skinny people can have clogged arteries too.

Anyway, she was really nice and saw no reason mentally why I shouldn’t be successful on surgery.

Then I had an ekg to see if there were any blockages in my heart. Both me and Will are find.

Then they did a sonogram of my heart before and after a treadmill stress test to see if my heart gets distressed, if I get any pain in my chest. Both me and Will did fine.

We spoke to a pulmonologist and since we both don’t smoke we’re basically fine. They did talk about Will’s c-pap machine and sleep apnea and he’s going to be on the c-pap during the surgery as extra precaution.

Then the endoscopy. I went into a brightly lit pre-op room. It wasn’t an operating table or anything. It was basically a hospital bed and I was told to lay on my left side. They put a plastic O in my mouth to keep it open and shot me with drugs. In 10 seconds I was out and when I woke up the drugs were out and the plastic O was out.

Turns out me and Will both have hiatal hernias. You can look it up but basically the opening, maybe the esophagus leading to the stomach, is too open. Right now me and Will don’t have any acid reflux or heart burn issues but sometimes with an opening that large acid can come up from the stomach and cause those issues.

And the sleeve surgery making the stomach smaller brings the acid even closer to that opening and often causes acid reflux and heartburn in people who get the surgery. SO when we get the surgery they’re also gonna tighten that hole to prevent as much acid rising up as possible.

They said nothing will feel different to me from tightening that opening. I mean, I’ll be in pain after surgery but more from the incision holes for the sleeve than anything else. Then it’s up to me to monitor what I eat and what, if anything, causes me heart burn. Then avoid those foods forever basically. Cause the sleeve will change the way I eat and I may have to give up spicy tomato sauce, lemonade, fried foods, or coffee, etc. from that day forward. I’m ok with that.

I sat for 5 minute and then they let me leave. My throat on the left side feels a little bruised inside and out but otherwise I’m fine.

We didn’t eat all day cause of the appointment so my father had pudding for us in the car and drove us home.

Really Will felt totally fine and was maybe annoyed that we didn’t drive ourselves but we really weren’t allowed to, nor should we have. It’s just risky.

Then we ordered pizza when we got home. Will’s throat doesn’t even hurt. I shoveled down 2 pieces and a slice of banana cheesecake cause I was starving and then slept all day and night.

Basically 12 hours. I don’t know if I slept so much because of the endoscopy or because I was up since 2am all nervous about everything.

Sometimes when I’m nervous and worry that actually exhausts my body and I don’t even know it and after it’s all over I crash even through I didn’t do anything physically really. I just exhausted my nerves…

My throat feels a little better today.

I came back to a MILLION emails but I got through a lot of them so that’s why I’m taking this break.

It’s such a RELIEF that my boss is out today. I really didn’t need her throwing in more little assignments when I have like 100 emails to go through.

My did ask if I was ok. I told her I was going for a procedure but didn’t say what. Now with this hernia I basically told her it was a scope procedure to diagnose hernia and I’ll have hernia surgery later in the year.

Eventually I’ll tell my whole office it’s weight loss surgery but that’s once it’s actually successful.

There’s a 1% fear in my mind that I’ll be the person that loses nothing after this surgery but the other 99% of my brain tells me that it’s IMPOSSIBLE not to lose a drastic amount of weight on this surgery.

Last updated December 20, 2020