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Category: Health 8 People in progress, 1 Person achieved this |
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Category: Health 1 Person in progress, 0 People achieved this |
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Surgeon TestimonialAlexander Onopchenko, M.D.The stats on this page are a tiny bit off. Dr. O has done about 1,000 bariatric surgeries and no deaths to date.
Let me just say I love him, I couldn't imagne getting my surgery done by anyone else. he just cares soooo much about his patients. he is so nice and understanding. his whole office is soo dedicated to you from the moment you walk in. It took me a year and a half to get surgery and they were with me every step of the way. He does not pressure you, and he makes sure you are 1000% informed about the surgery. their program is awesome they follow you for the rest of ur life, you have post op visits for 10-15 yrs after surgery. they provide a nut and all the other help after. i gaurentee you will be getting the best pre op, surgery, and post op care avaible. dr. O is the friggin best, i can't express it enough! i literally have nothing bad to say. Member Interests
- Travel - ive been all over the US, caribbean, bahamas and 7 countries in europe
- Theater - I love acting and performing. I also love seeing shows and broadway musicals.
- Movies - love going to the movies!
- Scrapbooks - addicted to scrapbooking!
- Cooking & Baking - yup love food network
- Western European - Italian!
- Spanish - i speak spanish and german
- WLS in your 20's - I just turned 20 and im getting GBS. I've been trying to get it since i was 18
- BMI over 50 - yes my BMI is 57 because I am heavy and exxtreamly short!
Latest Surgery Support Comments
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Thanks so much Judy!
I know i have a mix
of emotions right
now, im just tryint
ot think foward. I
cant wait for this
to be a memory and I
cannot wait to take
some one else
through their
journey too!!! I'm
just praying :)
karen
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Monday is your day!
Just remember you
are on the journey
of a lifetime. Try
to enjoy every
minute. It may sound
weird now, but know
that you are cared
for and prayed for
here, and all too
soon this will be
but a memory and you
will be an
inspiration to
someone else. I am
waiting for you on
the losers' bench!
Click here for the surgery support page
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From a size 30 to an 18! on March 9, 2008 2:10 pm
When I first visited my surgeon, I was so heavy I did not own any jeans that fit...none at all. I lived in black strech pants from old navy and lane bryant. I had too loose some weight before surgery so at one point I was able to fit in a size 30, a S T R E C H size 30 from fashion bug. So since surgery I skipped size 28, went to a 26/24, i thought that was awesome, went down to a 22, skipped 20 and on Thursday I went into OLD NAVY and bought a pair of SIZE 18 jeans!!!!!!!!! I cried in the dressing room. It felt soooo awesome to finally, in my eyes, in a "normal" size. To me anything in the teens and below is normal. The last time I wore an 18 I was in 8th grade. I am now a Junior in College and I'm in a 18 again. I'm so exstatic. Now when I get to a 16...i don't know what I will do!! | Click here to leave a comment.
4 months today! on January 16, 2008 11:15 pm
I honestly cannot believe that at this time, 4 months ago I was sleeping, getting ready to wake up to the BIGGEST step I could ever make towards making my life better. Sometimes it seems like my surgery was yesterday, and other times it feels like it was years ago. Since the time my journey began on June 2, 2006 to the scale reading just 30 minutes ago, I have lost a total of 111lbs... 81 from surgery. I never thought I could loose weight. This is soo surreal to me. I am sooo grateful for this tool and the amazing surgeon who made it all possible. I cannot imagine getting surgery from anyone else, he is just so compleatly awesome. It was a LONGGGGG road getting to the OR from my initial visit, but well worth it. If I went back in time, I would do this surgery over again in a heartbeat! This is deffinatly something that has defined who I am, and I really want to make my lifes work helping other go through this journey. <3
Kare
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new post op! on September 21, 2007 7:54 pm
so time for an update. I had an interesting hospital experience. I was obviously extremely scared going in and I was crying for about 10 minutes before I went in. When I went in the OR and I saw all the surgery tools and I basically flipped out, but right after I don't remember a thing, they must have bumped up my meds. When I got out i felt the most intense pain i have ever felt. I remember seeing my BP being like 200 over 100 because I was in so much pain and I was in ICU crying for 2 hours. So then the nurse figured out the cuff was the wrong size and she changed it and my BP went down to about 160 over 90, which is still very very high for me. So i finally get into my "private" room and was informed i was getting a roommate because they were so crowded. So the first day went alright, i was i tired and on my morphine drip :) I did walk around a bit that day. The WORST part was I could not drink anything until I did my upper GI test the next morning. So the whole night I was crying because my mouth was so dry. Plus my roommate was nice but could not sleep all night so she had the TV on the wholeee night. So then next day I was very irritable and went down for my GI test which sucked but I knew I could drink if everything was OK. So the surgeon came and my friend had gave me a card with a hot male nurse on the front and it was hanging up and the first thing my surgeon saud was "how did you get that picture of me" which made me laugh. Then he said everything was fine and I had the best thing ever...water!!!! I tried some jello but only ate about 2 small bites. At this point my stomach is still swollen so I cannot even tell if I'm hungry, full or satisfied. So it felt like every 2 minutes someone was in my room sticking a needle in me...ew. So one of the test results came back that my hemogloben was a little low, but to be on the safe side my dr. ordered a blood transfusion. I was sooo scared. But the blood test the next time went up so I was happy. But that night I went to the bathroom and all that came out was blood. I was so scared, i thought i had internal bleeding and really thought i was dying. so i told the nurse and she called the surgeon at his house at 2 am and he said that this happened in two- four percent of people and it was normal because my body was digesting the old blood instead of it bleeding it out during surgery. So i could not sleep after that and i was watchinig TV when the hand with the IV in it started hurting really really bad so i called the nurse in and my vein decided to stop cooperating with the IV and the fluids went into my hand and puffed it up really high. (i forget the medical term for this). So all night i was bleeding. The nures came in at 6 am and said she was going to start another IV because i would probably need more blood. so she tried 3 times to start an IV but alllll of my veins in my hands and arms were sick and tired of getting poked. that day, wednesday, the surgeon came in and took out my 2 drains in my stomach, which felt weird. then he said he was going to take another blood test to make sure i was stable. The next one went down one point so they had me wait another 4 hours to take another blood test to make sure it didn't go down. this took 30 minutes and 4 nurses to get a cooperating vein. an hour later the nurse came back and said that my levels went up 3 points and i could go home. i made 2 nurse friends who could actually tolerate me named jen and mary ann who were soo nice and only about 4 years older than me. so yesterday i got home and passed out on the couch for the whole night. i still cannot tolerate soup but i've been eating jello and water...yum... on Monday i get to eat tomatoe soup again! and next Monday i can eat soft solids!!! today i feel a LOT better. i took a shower and changed and i've been lounging all day. i will keep you updated
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My Story
My story huh? Well, lets just say I am 20 years old and I've been heavy since...well since birth. My father was 500lbs at one point, and my whole fathers side is obese. My mom is overweight. I have a skinny beautiful sister (of course) and a brother who is 11 years younger than me. I've always been the token fat kid and ALWAYS got made fun of at school. But the person who made fun of me the most was my father. My dad hates himself and hates his weight. He lost over 300lbs naturally and always expected me to do it too. So all growing up, most of my crying was done at the dinner table, when a comment like "if you eat that piece of garlic bread you will live the rest of your life in a bed because you won't be able to move" Guess what that did to my psychie? My father was physically and verbally abusive to my mother and my siblings also, so my mom was scared to stick up for me because when she did she was called a stupid cow...fun life huh? but hey, i refuse to feel sorry for myself and my situation. I've been on a diet since the age of 8 when my mom worked for weight watchers. I was desguised as a kid who had to go to work with her mother, but I was actually a full fledged weight watchers member. When I was 10, 11 and 12 I went to a weight loss camp called Camp Shane. I was told by my father that as a result of him having to pay 9,000 dollars for three years of fat camp, i was to pay the price, and i have been emotionally by him for my whole life. It took me a year and a half to be able to schedual surgery. I was 18 when I went to my surgeon, Dr.O. I am 5'4 and I was 363lbs, my BMI was a 62.4 and he told me I had to loose 40lbs before he would operate on me b.c of my BMI. It took me from June 2, 2006 to August, 16 2007 to loose the weight. On August 16, I went in to the surgeons office. It was 2 days before my 20th birthday, and I got schedualed!!!!!!!!! My surgery was Sept 17, 2007 and so far so great. Everyone, except daddy dearest, is EXTREAMLY supportive and I look foward to being my goal of 170lbs before my wedding on New Years Eve off 2008- 2009
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