kimmy22
New Member
Hi everyone :wave_cry:
First of all i have to tell you that i'm a forum virgin so i apologise if i don't get the hang of this straight away. Although i have been lurking for a while, have only just plucked up the courage to speak out.
My name is Karen, I'm 44, happily married for 22 years with 3 children, 20, 18 and 11.
My journey started 2 months ago when i went to see my doc to ask for a bariatric referal. I've had the same doc for last 30 years so he knows me quite well, i say quite well because i'm not the sort of person who's on his doorstep for every cough, sneeze, ache or pain. He knows if i go its got to be for a good reason. Anyway, through the tears i told him how i felt and what surgery would mean to me. On this occasion i forgot to tell him about how my weight affected my day to day life. I told him that i had calculated my bmi online which was 57.04. He asked if i had had appetite suppressants, i said i had but they didn't do any good. I told him that i had lost 3 stone 2 years ago but seemed to hit a wall and ended up putting over 2 stone back on over last 2 years. Hopefully i won't put it all back on plus the little bit more which is usually the case. Well, he said he would help me and wrote a letter of referal to Castle hill in Hull.
3 weeks later i got a redirected letter from Hull via my GP saying "Thank you for asking me to see Karen with a view to possible bariatric surgery. Just reading your clinic letter I am able to say that this lady would not be eligible for bariatric surgey on the NHS as things currently stand. I would be happy to see her in clinic if you still wish me t do so but i regret it is unlikely i would be able to put her name on any waiting list and it would be unfair of me to see her without this being made clear."
To say i was gutted was an understatement, i cried for a week, made another appointment to see doc which i cancelled because i had turned really angry and needed to calm down, which i did, and this morning i went for my second appointment with doc.
It didn't go as i expected, i was hoping he would still let me go for the consultation so that i could put my points across and get to know first hand what i had to do to be accepted and be put on a waiting list. Thinking about it i think i was a little naive to think that it would be that easy especially as i've been following the journeys of people on this forum which i've found moving and also truly inspiring. Anyway, doc didn't even entertain the idea of still asking for me to be seen at Hull because he said his hands were tied then muttered something about criteria and about his referals being monitored. (feeling fobbed off at this point). I took it as an open invitation to still go, was i wrong to think this or just naive. I should point out at this point that i don't have any co-morbidities i.e heart disease, diabetese, etc, although i have suffered with hypertension in the past and through my research into bariactric surgery i have uncovered a possible sleep apnea condition. When i suggested this to my doc he laughed and said that i was clutching at straws. Red rag to a bull i'm affraid. I told him that my snoring is causing problems in the bedroom, that i sleep just as much during the day as at night, am constantly tired, i get up in the night to go to the loo and fall asleep whilst sat there, i wake up in the night gasping for air, and to top it all i even fell asleep while partaking in a little foreplay, :sign0007:now i'm no doc but nobody is telling me that that is normal. Admitedly i hadn't given any sleep disorder another thought until i started this, what looks like is going to be a very long journey.
Sorry if i'm going on a bit.
So, the long and the short of it is that he's still going to help me but he wants to put me on slimming tablets and be weighed regularly at the surgery. I did finally convince him that i may have sleep apnea so i'm gonna be tested for that and also a heap of blood tests for everything. I did ask him not to put me on xenical as i've had it before and it didn't agree with me, it just gave me diarrhoea and through the sobs i told him that i couldn't reach to wipe myself properly. :cry: He said that we'll give it a few months of close monitoring and regular weigh ins and then he would try and refer me again. I'm just hoping that it will be enough.
Not sure how i feel right now, despondant might be a good one to start with. By the way i've fallen asleep twice while typing this:4635:. Going to see nurse on friday so i'll post again then and try to join in with other threads. Any advice or pointers in the right direction will be gratefully received. I know this is going to be a battle but as i said to my doc on leaving the surgery "it aint over till the fat lady sings and i aint singing yet"!
First of all i have to tell you that i'm a forum virgin so i apologise if i don't get the hang of this straight away. Although i have been lurking for a while, have only just plucked up the courage to speak out.
My name is Karen, I'm 44, happily married for 22 years with 3 children, 20, 18 and 11.
My journey started 2 months ago when i went to see my doc to ask for a bariatric referal. I've had the same doc for last 30 years so he knows me quite well, i say quite well because i'm not the sort of person who's on his doorstep for every cough, sneeze, ache or pain. He knows if i go its got to be for a good reason. Anyway, through the tears i told him how i felt and what surgery would mean to me. On this occasion i forgot to tell him about how my weight affected my day to day life. I told him that i had calculated my bmi online which was 57.04. He asked if i had had appetite suppressants, i said i had but they didn't do any good. I told him that i had lost 3 stone 2 years ago but seemed to hit a wall and ended up putting over 2 stone back on over last 2 years. Hopefully i won't put it all back on plus the little bit more which is usually the case. Well, he said he would help me and wrote a letter of referal to Castle hill in Hull.
3 weeks later i got a redirected letter from Hull via my GP saying "Thank you for asking me to see Karen with a view to possible bariatric surgery. Just reading your clinic letter I am able to say that this lady would not be eligible for bariatric surgey on the NHS as things currently stand. I would be happy to see her in clinic if you still wish me t do so but i regret it is unlikely i would be able to put her name on any waiting list and it would be unfair of me to see her without this being made clear."
To say i was gutted was an understatement, i cried for a week, made another appointment to see doc which i cancelled because i had turned really angry and needed to calm down, which i did, and this morning i went for my second appointment with doc.
It didn't go as i expected, i was hoping he would still let me go for the consultation so that i could put my points across and get to know first hand what i had to do to be accepted and be put on a waiting list. Thinking about it i think i was a little naive to think that it would be that easy especially as i've been following the journeys of people on this forum which i've found moving and also truly inspiring. Anyway, doc didn't even entertain the idea of still asking for me to be seen at Hull because he said his hands were tied then muttered something about criteria and about his referals being monitored. (feeling fobbed off at this point). I took it as an open invitation to still go, was i wrong to think this or just naive. I should point out at this point that i don't have any co-morbidities i.e heart disease, diabetese, etc, although i have suffered with hypertension in the past and through my research into bariactric surgery i have uncovered a possible sleep apnea condition. When i suggested this to my doc he laughed and said that i was clutching at straws. Red rag to a bull i'm affraid. I told him that my snoring is causing problems in the bedroom, that i sleep just as much during the day as at night, am constantly tired, i get up in the night to go to the loo and fall asleep whilst sat there, i wake up in the night gasping for air, and to top it all i even fell asleep while partaking in a little foreplay, :sign0007:now i'm no doc but nobody is telling me that that is normal. Admitedly i hadn't given any sleep disorder another thought until i started this, what looks like is going to be a very long journey.
Sorry if i'm going on a bit.
So, the long and the short of it is that he's still going to help me but he wants to put me on slimming tablets and be weighed regularly at the surgery. I did finally convince him that i may have sleep apnea so i'm gonna be tested for that and also a heap of blood tests for everything. I did ask him not to put me on xenical as i've had it before and it didn't agree with me, it just gave me diarrhoea and through the sobs i told him that i couldn't reach to wipe myself properly. :cry: He said that we'll give it a few months of close monitoring and regular weigh ins and then he would try and refer me again. I'm just hoping that it will be enough.
Not sure how i feel right now, despondant might be a good one to start with. By the way i've fallen asleep twice while typing this:4635:. Going to see nurse on friday so i'll post again then and try to join in with other threads. Any advice or pointers in the right direction will be gratefully received. I know this is going to be a battle but as i said to my doc on leaving the surgery "it aint over till the fat lady sings and i aint singing yet"!
