amers19982
Maybe a set back...
Jun 10, 2009
I went to have my third lap band fill three weeks ago. I was really excited because I should really begin to feel restriction. After about a week and after the swelling was gone I noticed something wasn't right. A couple days back on my "normal" diet I noticed I could eat just as much...if not sometimes more than I could before the fill. I finally decided to call the doc on Monday to see what was up and they agreed I needed to come back in and get more fill. So today I went and the plan was to give me another cc in my band. I was really concerned that something else might be wrong. I have to be honest and say that my fills haven't been the most easy in the world...my port is difficult and sometimes it takes an hour or so to find it and fill it. Sometimes it takes many pokes with the needle and sometimes he's poking all around. Today I lucked out and it even though it was hard to find my port...he did it in record time! We discussed my concerns and decided to see if a leak was possible. I should have had 6.5cc's in my band so he should have been able to pull 6-6.5cc's back out of my band. Instead he only found 4cc's in my band...so where in the world did the other 2.5 go? Who knows...we think there may be a leak. It wouldn't surprise me with all the needle pokes it takes sometimes to find my port and I am not too upset...I just want to know for sure so we can get it fixed and keep my weight loss on track. The only other thing I can think of is that last time when he changed my fluids he didn't put all of them back...maybe he only put 4 back in there on accident. Either way he put the 6.5 cc's back in plus another .5 so I have a total of 7cc's in the band right now. I will go back in three weeks and have the fluid pulled out and checked...if I am missing some cc's then I will have the flouroscopy done to see if there is indeed a leak and if so it's back to the operating room for a quick revision to change out my port. I was told that sometimes they can't see a leak on the floroscopy and if that's the case they will fill me up again...wait another three weeks and check again and if I still have my cc's dissapearing then I will probably end back up in the operating room to have things fixed. Just a minor set back...I am hoping my fill guy just made a mistake and didn't give me all my fill back when he changed out the fluid last time. But if I've sprung a leak it will be ok...just wanna get it fixed ASAP so I can continue to loose weight. Hopefully all goes well and we will have more answers on July 8th when I go back!
1 comment
Just a quick update...
May 11, 2009
So I am down 34 pounds since surgery...which isn't bad...I knew the weight would come off a little slower with the Lap Band. The good news is that I am not holding steady or gaining any weight I am loosing...so that's a good thing. I have kicked up the exercise a few notches and I go back next week for my third lap band fill so between the exercise and the fill I should hopefully loose more and more. I have to say that I do from time to time make crap choices but for the most part...veggies and white meat is all I eat. Lots of fish and chicken and veggies. My portions are controlled so I think I have the eating thing down...now it's making sure I am exercising enough to keep reaching my goals. I hope to put up a big number by the end of June...and the plan was to shop for a bathing suit for the first time in 8 years! I will keep you guys posted on how that goes!
1 comment
My Journey to Lap Band and beyond....
Jan 21, 2009
I keep getting messages asking me about my Lap Band Adventure and how I got here and why...so I thought now would be an excellent time to share.
My journey began about a year and a half ago. I had recently moved to a new town courtesy of the military and had life pretty much wrecking my happy world. I was in a car accident back in 2003 and by 2005 my lower back was pretty much shot. I've lived in pain with two herniated disks trying to murder me on a regular basis. In April of 2005 I landed myself in the hospital for 8 days learning how to walk again. My legs new how to walk and my brain knew how to walk but the signal was blocked thanks to my disks sticking out on my nerves. I was offered back surgery at that time and considering I was 22 years old, had not had children and didn't know this neurosurgeon from Adam's house cat...I refused. Instead I took the long road of steroid epidurals in the spine and physical therapy and chiropractic care and for a a few months I started getting better. By August of 2005 I was at my highest weight ever at that point...225 pounds. I was miserable and my back hurt so I joined a gym, hired a trainer and began my life anew the "Body for Life" way. It was one of the greatest decisions I ever made. I was exercising my butt off...literally and by the end of September I had dropped 40 pounds and was feeling awesome. As life would have it I soon met my husband. I never really believed the whole "getting comfortable" myth where you get happy...gain a million pounds...but it happened. When I met my husband we started going out and eating...cooking for each other and together and next thing I knew by the Summer of 2006 I had gained back my 40 pounds plus 10. I got married in August of 2006 and in April of 2007 the military had successfully relocated me and my hubby here to Hurlburt Field Florida.
In the meantime I have two Aunts back home significantly overweight that are looking into Lap Band and getting educated and starting their journeys...so in the back of my mind I am paying close attention and getting educated myself, not only to be supportive but for my own personal reasons. So here I am, April 2007, in a new town 563 miles away from home and 235 pounds. I assume that some kind of homesickness/depression must have set in. Not to mention once I left home everything on the planet changed. My Papa passed away, my brother and his girlfriend were expecting a baby, my dad remarried out of the blue and here I was living it up...with lots of Pizza and comfort foods. Before I knew it the end of the Summer was approaching and my back was killing me and I was 245 pounds. I decided that I had to do something and although one of my Aunts just had the surgery and was successfully loosing weight with Lap Band I decided that I just needed to get my lazy butt off the couch and on an elliptical machine so back to the gym I went. I dieted and exercised like there was no tomorrow. My husband lost 30 pounds and I was steady gaining it. What I didn't realize was that working out again with all that extra weight I had gained was not helping my back and after a few months in the gym my back once again was hurting and acting up to the point where exercise was no longer an option.
At this point I really started researching Lap Band and the benefits and risks. Meanwhile back home my aunt was down almost 100 pounds and my other Aunt had begun her journey. I was lost. I didn't know what to do or what the right thing to do would be. Should I go through with back surgery? Keep working out and pushing through the pain? Ask my physician about Lap Band? While I pondered those points my body decided to do what most bodies do that are over 100 pounds overweight do and that was to have high blood pressure, diabetes and to put crazy pressure on my bladder so I peed non stop...and for acid reflux and heartburn to try and take me out every time I ate something! I went on medications for the high blood pressure and diabetes. I was pricking my fingers and testing my blood sugar 4-6 times a day trying to get it under control in between living off pain meds and muscle relaxers for my back. I finally decided that this was crazy. Here I am at 25 years old...killing myself...and I hadn't even started my family yet. So in May I marched myself up to my primary care physican and asked for a refferal so seek weight loss surgery. My doctor agreed that I was a good candidate and that I could be successful without having the even more risky back surgery and with that referral I was reffered to Dr. Jeffrey Lord. June of 2007 the same day Aunt number two had her Lap Band surgery I attended my seminar at Sacred Heart Hospital with Dr. Lord.
I was immediately impressed with Dr. Lord...I thought he was smart, well trained and qualified and had excellent statistics with his patients. I thought he had a good sense of humor and he didn't have that "God" complex like many surgeons do...even though his last name is Lord. So after getting all my information and talking with my husband and family I decided to keep on going with the journey and next thing I knew I was meeting Dr. Lord for my first consult. It seems like a quick process as I am writing but I will be honest. From the seminar to surgery day...it was a long process...an 8 month process to be exact...but as Dr. Lord told us...we didn't put the weight on over night and we wouldn't be getting surgery overnight to get it off! It was a process well worth the wait. As I was waiting and going through all of my appointments with the psychologist and dietitian I watched two people I love more than anything in the world, my aunts, loose a combined weight of what I weighed on my consult day. That day I weight 252 pounds. I have one aunt that successfully lost 150 pounds with Lap Band and yes she looks amazing and the other aunt has lost 102 pounds and still loosing. Both inspired me and helped me realize that I was making the right decision.
Once I got my clearance for surgery and my insurance went through and all that fun stuff it was October of last year. By Halloween I had my surgery date of January 6th on the calendar and I will be honest...if I wanted it...I ate it. I wasn't so focused on the diabetes and sweatshirts anymore but looking towards the day when I could smash my glucose machine with a hammer and throw out all the pills...I was looking forward to the day when the weight would start coming off and thus taking the pressure off my back so my disks can finally heal and not try to kill me all the time. And I started looking to a year and a half when I can start my family...and the thought of surgery was exciting. I was nervous don't get me wrong. This would be my first surgery and in the process of all the tests and stuff we found I had a significant hiatal hernia. That would explain the awful heartburn and reflux issues. And my hernia just happened to be kinda bigish...and in the exact spot the band needed to go...so there was this whole decision and discussion of band slippage and hernias recurring and possibly switching to bypass instead of the band but in the end I was dedicated to the band...and went with the Lap Band. In the meantime I just prayed that with Dr. Lords magnificent surgical skills he would be able to successfully repair the hernia and safely place the band. Maybe eating what I wanted wasn't be best idea...from my consult to pre op I gained weight...and my weight loss journey began at my highest ever weight 263 pounds. I can promise you that I will never weigh that much ever again...and that's awesome to know that I will never be that big again!
January 6th rolled around and surgery was a piece of cake compared to what I had in mind. Everything went awesomely. Dr. Lord was able to fix the hernia and place the lap band. I remember them knocking me out and I remember waking up in recovery. I was in some pain...but that's because my pain pump wasn't working so they quickly swapped it out and next thing I knew I was in my room with my husband. My stomach was probably in a little more pain and sore than others because I did have a lot done with the hernia repair but it was nothing the little pain button didn't take care of. I was only nauseated one day since surgery. It's been two weeks as of yesterday January 20th and I am feeling good. My liquids went down with no problem and still go down with no problem...my protein was harder to get down at first just because the first week I wasn't really thirsty and I certainly wasn't hungry. I have five surgical sites, four of which look like really bad paper cuts at worse...which is awesome because once they completely heal I doubt I will be able to see them. I do have one site that is kinda big and noticeable where the port is...but its really looking good and I don't mind that battle scar. I am still sore in the area where my port is. I told Mark (Dr. Lord's PA that will be doing my fills) at my post op appointment that I just kinda feel like someone stabbed me in the tummy then repeatedly hit me with a baseball bat...so now I feel bruised and sore...but every day gets better and better.
Getting my protein in gets easier every day. I am taking my all my vitamins and calcium and B12 like a good girl and yesterday graduated to a full liquid diet which includes pudding and cream soups. It feels good to have something a little more filling on my stomach but it's not like it takes a whole lot to fill me up! The first thing I attempted was a sugar free snack pack...and I got almost to the end of it but realized it was a struggle to get it down...I realized that HEY! This must be what it fills like to be full and not a bottomless pit!! So it takes less than a half a cup of anything and I am done! My blood sugars have been so awesome and normal that I have no need for that pill to control my sugars but I am still monitoring them so I haven't smashed the glucose machine yet! I was down 8 pounds at my post op appointment on Friday and yesterday I got on the scale to see what it said and it says I am now down 12 pounds which is really cool. I really feel like this has been the greatest experience of my life and I am so thankful that life brought me here to Florida so I could meet Dr. Lord and so he could give me the tool I needed to save my life. Sometimes life is crazy but just when things get weird and out of control it all starts making sense! I go back for my first lap band fill on February 24th and I expect it will be a big change in the amount of food and liquids I can take in at a time but it's going to be soooo freaking worth it and it's going to teach me what filling full is and how portion sizes should be.
I know weight loss surgery isn't for everyone on the planet but I would recommend it to those that truly need it to help them get their lives back. So far the journey has been worth it and I expect great things to continue to come over the next few months as I ditch the fat girl and get myself back!
1 comment
My journey began about a year and a half ago. I had recently moved to a new town courtesy of the military and had life pretty much wrecking my happy world. I was in a car accident back in 2003 and by 2005 my lower back was pretty much shot. I've lived in pain with two herniated disks trying to murder me on a regular basis. In April of 2005 I landed myself in the hospital for 8 days learning how to walk again. My legs new how to walk and my brain knew how to walk but the signal was blocked thanks to my disks sticking out on my nerves. I was offered back surgery at that time and considering I was 22 years old, had not had children and didn't know this neurosurgeon from Adam's house cat...I refused. Instead I took the long road of steroid epidurals in the spine and physical therapy and chiropractic care and for a a few months I started getting better. By August of 2005 I was at my highest weight ever at that point...225 pounds. I was miserable and my back hurt so I joined a gym, hired a trainer and began my life anew the "Body for Life" way. It was one of the greatest decisions I ever made. I was exercising my butt off...literally and by the end of September I had dropped 40 pounds and was feeling awesome. As life would have it I soon met my husband. I never really believed the whole "getting comfortable" myth where you get happy...gain a million pounds...but it happened. When I met my husband we started going out and eating...cooking for each other and together and next thing I knew by the Summer of 2006 I had gained back my 40 pounds plus 10. I got married in August of 2006 and in April of 2007 the military had successfully relocated me and my hubby here to Hurlburt Field Florida.
In the meantime I have two Aunts back home significantly overweight that are looking into Lap Band and getting educated and starting their journeys...so in the back of my mind I am paying close attention and getting educated myself, not only to be supportive but for my own personal reasons. So here I am, April 2007, in a new town 563 miles away from home and 235 pounds. I assume that some kind of homesickness/depression must have set in. Not to mention once I left home everything on the planet changed. My Papa passed away, my brother and his girlfriend were expecting a baby, my dad remarried out of the blue and here I was living it up...with lots of Pizza and comfort foods. Before I knew it the end of the Summer was approaching and my back was killing me and I was 245 pounds. I decided that I had to do something and although one of my Aunts just had the surgery and was successfully loosing weight with Lap Band I decided that I just needed to get my lazy butt off the couch and on an elliptical machine so back to the gym I went. I dieted and exercised like there was no tomorrow. My husband lost 30 pounds and I was steady gaining it. What I didn't realize was that working out again with all that extra weight I had gained was not helping my back and after a few months in the gym my back once again was hurting and acting up to the point where exercise was no longer an option.
At this point I really started researching Lap Band and the benefits and risks. Meanwhile back home my aunt was down almost 100 pounds and my other Aunt had begun her journey. I was lost. I didn't know what to do or what the right thing to do would be. Should I go through with back surgery? Keep working out and pushing through the pain? Ask my physician about Lap Band? While I pondered those points my body decided to do what most bodies do that are over 100 pounds overweight do and that was to have high blood pressure, diabetes and to put crazy pressure on my bladder so I peed non stop...and for acid reflux and heartburn to try and take me out every time I ate something! I went on medications for the high blood pressure and diabetes. I was pricking my fingers and testing my blood sugar 4-6 times a day trying to get it under control in between living off pain meds and muscle relaxers for my back. I finally decided that this was crazy. Here I am at 25 years old...killing myself...and I hadn't even started my family yet. So in May I marched myself up to my primary care physican and asked for a refferal so seek weight loss surgery. My doctor agreed that I was a good candidate and that I could be successful without having the even more risky back surgery and with that referral I was reffered to Dr. Jeffrey Lord. June of 2007 the same day Aunt number two had her Lap Band surgery I attended my seminar at Sacred Heart Hospital with Dr. Lord.
I was immediately impressed with Dr. Lord...I thought he was smart, well trained and qualified and had excellent statistics with his patients. I thought he had a good sense of humor and he didn't have that "God" complex like many surgeons do...even though his last name is Lord. So after getting all my information and talking with my husband and family I decided to keep on going with the journey and next thing I knew I was meeting Dr. Lord for my first consult. It seems like a quick process as I am writing but I will be honest. From the seminar to surgery day...it was a long process...an 8 month process to be exact...but as Dr. Lord told us...we didn't put the weight on over night and we wouldn't be getting surgery overnight to get it off! It was a process well worth the wait. As I was waiting and going through all of my appointments with the psychologist and dietitian I watched two people I love more than anything in the world, my aunts, loose a combined weight of what I weighed on my consult day. That day I weight 252 pounds. I have one aunt that successfully lost 150 pounds with Lap Band and yes she looks amazing and the other aunt has lost 102 pounds and still loosing. Both inspired me and helped me realize that I was making the right decision.
Once I got my clearance for surgery and my insurance went through and all that fun stuff it was October of last year. By Halloween I had my surgery date of January 6th on the calendar and I will be honest...if I wanted it...I ate it. I wasn't so focused on the diabetes and sweatshirts anymore but looking towards the day when I could smash my glucose machine with a hammer and throw out all the pills...I was looking forward to the day when the weight would start coming off and thus taking the pressure off my back so my disks can finally heal and not try to kill me all the time. And I started looking to a year and a half when I can start my family...and the thought of surgery was exciting. I was nervous don't get me wrong. This would be my first surgery and in the process of all the tests and stuff we found I had a significant hiatal hernia. That would explain the awful heartburn and reflux issues. And my hernia just happened to be kinda bigish...and in the exact spot the band needed to go...so there was this whole decision and discussion of band slippage and hernias recurring and possibly switching to bypass instead of the band but in the end I was dedicated to the band...and went with the Lap Band. In the meantime I just prayed that with Dr. Lords magnificent surgical skills he would be able to successfully repair the hernia and safely place the band. Maybe eating what I wanted wasn't be best idea...from my consult to pre op I gained weight...and my weight loss journey began at my highest ever weight 263 pounds. I can promise you that I will never weigh that much ever again...and that's awesome to know that I will never be that big again!
January 6th rolled around and surgery was a piece of cake compared to what I had in mind. Everything went awesomely. Dr. Lord was able to fix the hernia and place the lap band. I remember them knocking me out and I remember waking up in recovery. I was in some pain...but that's because my pain pump wasn't working so they quickly swapped it out and next thing I knew I was in my room with my husband. My stomach was probably in a little more pain and sore than others because I did have a lot done with the hernia repair but it was nothing the little pain button didn't take care of. I was only nauseated one day since surgery. It's been two weeks as of yesterday January 20th and I am feeling good. My liquids went down with no problem and still go down with no problem...my protein was harder to get down at first just because the first week I wasn't really thirsty and I certainly wasn't hungry. I have five surgical sites, four of which look like really bad paper cuts at worse...which is awesome because once they completely heal I doubt I will be able to see them. I do have one site that is kinda big and noticeable where the port is...but its really looking good and I don't mind that battle scar. I am still sore in the area where my port is. I told Mark (Dr. Lord's PA that will be doing my fills) at my post op appointment that I just kinda feel like someone stabbed me in the tummy then repeatedly hit me with a baseball bat...so now I feel bruised and sore...but every day gets better and better.
Getting my protein in gets easier every day. I am taking my all my vitamins and calcium and B12 like a good girl and yesterday graduated to a full liquid diet which includes pudding and cream soups. It feels good to have something a little more filling on my stomach but it's not like it takes a whole lot to fill me up! The first thing I attempted was a sugar free snack pack...and I got almost to the end of it but realized it was a struggle to get it down...I realized that HEY! This must be what it fills like to be full and not a bottomless pit!! So it takes less than a half a cup of anything and I am done! My blood sugars have been so awesome and normal that I have no need for that pill to control my sugars but I am still monitoring them so I haven't smashed the glucose machine yet! I was down 8 pounds at my post op appointment on Friday and yesterday I got on the scale to see what it said and it says I am now down 12 pounds which is really cool. I really feel like this has been the greatest experience of my life and I am so thankful that life brought me here to Florida so I could meet Dr. Lord and so he could give me the tool I needed to save my life. Sometimes life is crazy but just when things get weird and out of control it all starts making sense! I go back for my first lap band fill on February 24th and I expect it will be a big change in the amount of food and liquids I can take in at a time but it's going to be soooo freaking worth it and it's going to teach me what filling full is and how portion sizes should be.
I know weight loss surgery isn't for everyone on the planet but I would recommend it to those that truly need it to help them get their lives back. So far the journey has been worth it and I expect great things to continue to come over the next few months as I ditch the fat girl and get myself back!
About Me
Hurlburt Field, FL
Location
40.6
BMI
Surgery
01/06/2009
Surgery Date
Jan 01, 2009
Member Since
