kamelion63
My story starts at 16 when I started rapidly gaining weight and didnt know why. At 21 I was diagnosed with PCOS a hereditary syndrome disorder that among many other things causes rapid weight gain. My story after that is like most others with diet after diet. So, when many people I knew started having success with the lap band I started thinking about it. I waited many years to make my decision and I was happy to have the lap band surgery in on 10/13/07. Post-op went well and I started getting fills until I was at the "sweet spot." I was losing about 10lbs a month and everything was great until one day I got an orange stuck and it wouldnt come out or go down. I had an emergency unfill at the clinic I was being treated at. They took out most of my fluid to let it heal and then I would start over. This was in March of 2009. I started the fill process over and it never felt right. I had pain that I didnt have before. They did all sorts of tests and diagnostics and I couldnt find a problem yet I could never get to restriction. Finally in June of 2009 I got my last fill because I lost my job and insurance shortly after. Well after that fill I suddenly had restriction and it wasnt gradual either. So I thought I that I would be ok and finally be able to lose weight. I did still have the pain but they kept reassuring me that they checked everything. Eventually I could not eat anymore in the morning or at lunch so I mostly lived off of protein shakes until dinner where I could maybe get some food in. I lived like this until Feb of 2010 when I got something stuck and it was so painful that I decided I could not live with it anymore. I started researching a revision and found a surgeon that would take my case. I had my appointment with my new surgeon in early March of 2010 and he removed the fluid from the band to let me heal and we discussed a revision. I am waiting on insurance approval to remove the band. My new surgeon is pretty confident that I will be approved for the revision because I have it medically documented that I had success before the orange incident in 03/2009. Before I have the band removal surgery, I will have another diagnostic test EGD to see what kind of damage the band has done and how complicated the removal will be. Once this band is removed and I have healed we will then revise to the RNY assuming the insurance still feels it is medically necessary and the band has not done too much harm. I am back to a BMI of 47.3 because after my incident with the band I began gainig weight again. My starting BMI was 50.9 so I am not quite back to square one but I know I will be soon if they dont approve me. I am just trying to stay positive through all of this and I am taking it one day at a time just like I did with eating with the band.
Thanks for reading about my crazy journey the past 3 years.
Kamelion63
