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Pinewood News August 25, 201417Single SeniorsCaretakingBy Annie WeissmanWe single people have to help each other, especially when one of us is sickor has surgery. A friend of mine had a gastric bypass last week. That’s an electivesurgery, but she felt it was necessary and I supported her. She has diabetes, highblood pressure and bad sleep apnea. She did a sleep study earlier this year and theystopped it because she stopped breathing fifty-six times in one hour! She’s claustrophobicand couldn’t get used to the mask of the breathing machine. I checked onher every morning from February until I moved up to Munds Park in May. We usuallyread the paper together and have tea and coffee. If she didn’t call me, I wasworried she had expired from SADS (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.) Many peopleshe knew had gotten rid of all three conditions by having the bypass. So she didit for health, not her looks.Her son, among others, couldn’t figure out why she was taking such drasticmeans. Why couldn’t she just lose weight on her own?She’d tried: twenty years of seeing a fat doctor and getting weekly B12shots, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc. You name it, she, tried it. The weightalways came back. She calls her weight “super glue fat” because it refuses to let go.The month leading up to her surgery she gained fourteen pounds by simplynot monitoring what she ate. She had to go on a liquid diet the week before surgeryand lost five pounds.I took her to the hospital early and the surgery went well. All of this doctor’spatients go to ICU after recovery. I thought the care would be outstanding butI was wrong. I was the one who disconnected her many attachments and accompaniedher on her mandatory hourly walks. I’m sure if you’ve had a loved one seriouslyill in the hospital in the last ten years, you know that a friend or family memberneeds to be there to make sure care is delivered.My friend looked healthy right after her surgery, but then she has rosacea.She’s an assertive person, but refused to make a fuss. She had major water retentionbut they sent her home at 8:30 pm on Sunday night, of which she was delighted.She had to have oxygen. It was quite challenging for me to set up the condenserand all the paraphernalia as I am mechanically deficient. I gave her pain med andshe slept all night first time in years.She was still on a liquid diet so I stayed on one too, in solidarity, although Ido admit to eating ice cream bars when I went across the way to my house.The next morning we looked for medication instructions. The hospital ha d insistedthat the doctor had given them to her in an appointment the week before. When shecalled the surgeon’s office, the nurse said she would email the instructions butnever did.We took our dogs for a walk and she pointed out to me that her belly looked ninemonths pregnant. I suggested she weigh herself. We were both shocked that she’dgained twenty pounds! I’d never heard of anyone gaining weight after bypasssurgery. I know she stayed on her liquid diet since there was nothing else in thehouse. How could this be?As a former nurse, she explained to me fancy terms for waterretention. She took a diuretic, but only lost five pounds. Afriend, who had the surgery and lost and kept off two hundredpounds, came over. She was shocked at my friend’s waterretention. We took pictures of her feet. Her poor little toeslooked like sausages.The good news is that she no longer has to take medicationsfor high blood pressure or diabetes. As of this writing, a weekafter surgery, she still is seven pounds heavier than when she went in for the operation.It must be that superglue fat refusing to give up.Check out my book, Reinvented Lives, available on amazon.com, mywebsite at www.annieweissman.net and my blog atwww.thesinglesenior.wordpress.com.Email me at annieweissman@aol.comI Offer:“As a local fulltime resident for more than adecade, I know the features and benefits ofPinewood whether you’re buying or selling.”1. MLS in Phoenix & Northern AZ2. Signing and Flyers Prominent on Property3. Free Listing Market Analysis4. Free Agent Provided Home Warranty or5. 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