Puget Sound Surgical Center

Hello everyone,

I’ve been wanting to stop by and introduce myself.  My name is Cindy Tobiason, and I am the Bariatric Nurse Coordinator for PSSC in the Bellingham office.—But I’m also in the Edmonds office at least once a week.  So I’ve been fortunate to meet and get to know many of you.

As most of you know, I also am a banded sister and travel this journey with you.  My greatest wish for all of you is for you to find what I’ve found at PSSC—-a group of professionals who are genuinely and sincerely interested in your success.  A few of us have had smooth sailing, but for most of us this journey holds many speedbumps, a few mountains, —and oooh, those dark lonely rutts.  Please know you’re never alone.  E-mail or call anytime for questions, support,—or just to chat.

Cindy

Hey y’all!   I am one week post surgical and have my good days and bad days - mostly good.  I never thought that finally being able to have pureed potatoes would excite me more than a new pair of shoes but here I am!

So let’s have some fun!  What are some habits that make you a “Gold Star” earner as a Lap Band-ite? What are some that might put you in detention?  With school starting soon it makes for a fun game.  I’d love to hear from y’all - I would hate to think I am alone on this board!

Go Hawks!

Jill

I have lapband surgery almost a year ago.  While I lost 35 lbs during the first 6 months, I did not lose more weight from months 7-10  As I’m sure many of us know, the nutritionists are very conservative in their approach to fills, and we understand why.  However, at 10 months I was only at a fill of “2″.  A friend of mine who had the same procedure done in Olympia talked to me about the bariatric xray that she’d had and how you could see what was getting through and when a fill was enough.  One of our nutritionists suggested that I go to a 2.2 fill.  I went ahead and scheduled the X-ray prior to the fill and Dr. Billing found that it wasn’t until 2.9 that I personally (and I know this is a personal situation for each of us) was getting any type of true restriction.  Now I can actually feel fuller yet still get enough protein through to be healthy!  Thank heavens for modern science and equipment that helps us “know” where the restriction works rather than have it based on guess work.  I’m now starting to lose weight again. Good luck to you all in your journeys- Jan Schiffner

Hi!  I just found the new weblog site.  This is so great!  We now have our own surgical center blog!  I was at a seminar at the clinic this evening and Dr. Billing told me about this.  The seminar was really fun and informative.  It brought back memories of a year ago January when I was one of those people sitting and gathering info, trying to make one of the biggest decisions of my life.  So glad I did!  I think at least 5 people asked me if it hurts to get a fill and I, who am deathly afraid of needles, said no, it doesn’t hurt a bit…and it wasn’t a lie!  There was one woman there who said that two of her friends had lapbands inserted last year and neither one is doing very well with the band.  She said they have no support system, no nutritionist, nothing… It’s sad that there are places out there doing this surgery and then just kind of “throwing” the patient out there with no support to help them along.  We’re so blessed… Anyway, glad I found the new site.  Have a great rest of the week!  :0) Allison

My name is Mark Corrales and I weighed 432 pounds before having Gastric Bypass surgery on March 10th 2008. Why did I choose Gastric Bypass and not some other alternative? Let me tell you why. How many times have you heard this statement?

I have been on every diet known to man?. I have been through so many up and down cycles in my life and ended up gaining more weight back then when I started the diet.

Other factors in my life not to mention, my knees and lower back continued to hurt. I was diagnosed border line with high blood pressure, diabetes and my glucose level was off the chart. Soon to find out I was diagnosed with Gout and it is very painful and I would have not wished it on my worst enemies very painful!

I lost over 140 pounds about ten years ago on a popular product called Phen Phen. I thought I was cured and on my way to becoming a thin man, then what happens? They said it wasn’t safe for your heart and took it off the shelves. Well, you know the story; I gained all my weight back after a year and then some. In California my primary physician for the last five years was always suggesting for me to have some type of weight loss surgery. He stated that he wasn’t able to treat me any longer because I’m killing myself. After every visit I always said to myself,  I can work off the weight at the gym and start to eat better and loose weight when ever I’m ready and put my mind to it.   Well, you know the answer to that saying! That day never came.

I always said to myself that I would eat whatever I wanted this weekend and I will start my new diet on Monday. That lasted until around 11:00am that Monday when it was lunch time and I didn’t have the will power to eat a healthy plate. Besides the salad bar had a line and it looked like a hassle to deal with. It was always easier to eat fat foods with extra mayonnaise, ranch dressing on everything. Besides it was easier to access and definitely more comforting. After I ate I would think about how much of a looser I was, but then I began to realize that I did it again, and I started to feel bad. So to comfort my mind I would just say to myself, I’ll start next Monday.

I recently moved to the state of Washington in July of 2007, what a green state! In Washington everything is different from California and having everything new up here, including the different types of Mexican food, which I totally loved before, was a major adjustment. Before I moved to Washington, a lot of my friend’s would tell me that I wouldn’t find any Mexican food up there and that I will hate all the other foods. Well that wasn’t a problem, being 432 pounds and very obese, I hunted down every restaurant on the west side of Washington until I found all my comfort foods, and soon enough I found all of them to be satisfying. That challenge was conquered.

I work for a major corporation and it is one of the biggest places in the nation. When I first stepped inside, I said to myself, I’ll never be able to get around here without some type of transportation. My knees and lower back were just getting worse and I knew that I couldn’t put off the surgery any longer and so finally I made the decision to have it done and began to start the process. This is when I heard about Puget Sounds Surgical Services in Edmonds, Washington. I can tell you with pure honesty that since day one when I met the staff at Puget Sound Surgical, I became family.

I met Dr. Peter Billing and had my consultation with him. It went very well and right away I felt very comfortable with him. He was able to explain to me everything in detail and was able to answer all of my questions like he has heard them before. He told me exactly what I would experience before and after the surgery. He explained that he wanted to run some tests on me before the process, to make sure I was healthy enough for the surgery. I was able to pick my surgery date and I never felt the slightest bit of being pressured into something I wasn’t comfortable doing.

With every pre-op visit, they made me feel very relaxed and confident every time I was there. They also set me consultations with excellent Nutritionist’s. The people were able to relate to my needs and negative cravings. They explained to me that before the surgery, my life was about to change, but in a totally positive way. But knowing me, I didn’t hear them. You just think that everything will be the same and how do they know that I won’t like certain foods or if my taste will change? I thought to myself, they don’t know me and I will always love the same fried foods and all the soda I can drink.

I have been eating a variety of Mexican foods and drinking soda for the last 40 plus years. I use to think that I will always love the food that I grew up on. But boy was I wrong! I remember asking and begging my Nutritionist Jennifer, when can I try fried chicken again?  I was dying for it after the surgery. She had warned me and told me I had to wait until it was safe to eat, and then when it became safe enough to eat it, she was right, I hated it. My taste buds were different and I didn’t like it. The grease was so intense like never before. The weight loss tool that was given to me changed my life and with everything new, I started to eat things that were healthier and surprisingly I enjoyed them. I couldn’t believe it.

Before the surgery I thought foods that were healthy, were gross and I use to hate all fruits and vegetables. Now after the surgery, I like most fruits and I’m still trying different vegetables. I no longer have bad food cravings and can finally go to a restaurant with family and friends and order a healthy dish instead of that fried dish with all the fat trimmings and feel great about it. I will not lie to you and tell you that it was easy. But what I can tell you is that it’s truly mind over matter; you hear your conscience asking you than why did you have the surgery?

It will make you mad that you can’t eat your favorite foods any longer, but it’s only for your benefit. I will tell you that feeling will only last for the first week post-op. Then after a few days you will start to feel better and encourage yourself as well as thinking to yourself that you can do this and it only gets easier day by day. After the surgery the Puget Sound staff sets up post-op appointments for you with Dr. Billing. They go over your outcome from the surgery and regularly have your blood drawn to check your bodies’ nutrients to make sure everything is okay and your progression is all well.

I can’t thank Dr. Billing, his professional staff along with the nutritional staff enough for helping me change my life for the better. They kept tabs on me and made sure everything was going fine. Today I am three months post-op and have lost 104 pounds and have a new way of thinking and I know for sure this time is no roller coaster ride. I will keep the weight off and stay healthy. I can’t wait to go into the mall and buy clothes off the rack. I also can’t wait to be able to ride in an airplane seat without the added seatbelt, or having that feeling where you think the stranger sitting next to you think that it would have to be them to have the fat guy sit next to them.

Everyday things are starting to change and I can do things today already that I haven’t been able to do for so long. Just bending over to tie my shoes was a major milestone for me and I can only imagine what will come next. I feel great! I have truly realized that I couldn’t have gone through this major process in my life if it weren’t for the support from my beautiful wife Sue by my side and encourage me to make the decision for myself, because she stated that I would have to live with this life changing decision and either enjoy it or suffer the consequences from it, but what ever decision I made, she would be there for me and she truly was, every emotional and painful minute of discomfort she was always by my side. I can’t thank her enough and I owe her my life and gratitude for being there for me when the days were very gloomy and sad. I love her more than ever before. I love my new life.