ksu1971

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 Well the small ulcer I thought I had turned out to be a slip and not a ulser at all. The acid reflux returned and continued to get worse. I had an Upper GI yesterday and it turned out to be a slip. So they did a complete unfill. 

The good news is I was able to sleep in my bed last night and not in the chair. The bad news is I am on my own with no help from the band. 

I have to wait a couple of weeks and then I will get another Upper GI. We will see how that ones goes and then decide what to do.

I will update when I know more. 

Well it has been a little over a year and I just had my first minor problem. First let me give you a little background. I have to travel 90 miles to get my fills and have to take a day off work to get them done. Not to mention my lovely insurance in all their great wisdom decided to approve a surgical procedure and then not pay the maintenance so all my fills are self pay.

So keep all that in mind as I describe my minor problem. I like to hold off as long as I can to get a fill. I am usually good for 2 to 2.5 months. So this last time I went in for a fill I talked my doctor into giving me 1 cc instead of the .5 cc he wanted to do. Well you can guess what happened. I got home and was to tight but it actually turned out to be a good thing. I was having bad acid reflux which I assumed was because I was to tight. It turned out to be a small ulcer that was causing the reflux and the band tightness just exasperated the problem. So a small unfill of .5 cc and some meds and the acid reflux is gone for the most part. I suspect once the ulcer is fully healed it will be gone totally.

So the lesson learned from this experience is always listen to your doctor’s suggestions and don't try and push the band to much. Even though this one actually worked out for the best is sure sucked at night until the problem was addressed which was over a weekend of course. And even though they are called Lazy-Boys they are not that comfortable to sleep in at night.

Well I have passed the one year mark and all is well. I have had very little or no problems with the band up to this point. I am so glad I decided  I needed some help and was able to get the band.

I got another fill the other day and got the offical weight. I have lost 102#. I am almost half way to my goal.

I am feeling great.

Here are a few things I can do now that I could not do 1 year ago:

1. Ride in an airplane seat and buckle the seatbealt without a seatbealt extension.

2. Sit and cross my legs.

3. Buy clothes at Wal-Mart.

4. Able to walk more then a block without getting out of breath.

5. Sleep without a CPAP machine. Sleep Apnea is gone.

6. No high blood pressure meds.

Well I went to the doctor's office today and received my 4th fill. I really hope the restriction kicks in now. I now have 6.5 cc in my band. 

On the weight loss front I have lost another 15 lbs for a total of 55 lbs. total. To give you all an idea of what 50 lbs. looks like. Go to you local Wal-Mart pet department and pick up the biggest sack of dog food and that is what I have lost. That just floors me to think I used to walk around with that sack of dog food hanging off me. 

I did just receive a call from my doctor's office stating my insurance company has not approved any of my fills. So now they say I have to start paying for my fills. That is just incredible to me. The insurance approved my surgery but not my maintence for the surgery. I have filled an appeal and will see what happens.

Well another fill is under my belt. Still not feeling a lot of restriction but the doctors are taking it slow since I am one of 2 people with the new style band. The PA had a hard time getting in my port. He thought it was tilted or something but it turned out being his inexperience with this band and port being the problem. Anyway they put in another 1cc of fluid. I now have 5.5 cc's

On the weight loss front I have lost 40 pounds total. Down three sizes in jeans and two new holes in my belt. I have not had any problems at all with the band so far. I hope that continues. I really need to get in the gym and start working out.

That is all for now.

Well I just noticed I had not updated my profile since my first and second fill.

I got my first fill on October 15th. The scale had not moved and I was still down 26 lbs from pre-op. I did not notice much difference after the first fill. I was still able to eat pretty much anything I wanted. No restriction at all. They say it takes at least two and sometime as many as 4 fills before you feel any restriction. The doctor put 2 CC's in at the first fill.

I received my second fill yesterday (November 13th) and the verdict is still out. I atleast have some head restriciton but not sure it is actual restriciton yet. The doctor put in 2.5 CC this time for a total of 4.5 CC in my 11 CC band. I had however lost another pound. So that makes my total weight loss 27 lbs. I really need to start exercising. I have done very little with respect to exercising. I did however take a couple of walks yesterday and plan on taking another one tonight. So that is a start.

Everything else is going great. I have not had any problems associated with the band since surgery. I am wating for restriciton because dieting sucks and I cannot maintain it long term. I need the assistance of the band.

Well time has flew bye. I am now a little over 1 month post-op and feeling great. I have had very few problems since surgery. I have gotten slightly stuck a couple of times but it passed. I have to really work on taking small bites. I am eating anything I want right now and not having any problems. I am still drinking my breakfast and having a small lunch. I have problems at supper wanting to eat to much. I guess restriction will help that.

I was scheduled for my first fill on October 15th but that is going to have to be changed. The doctor decided to take that day off.

I have not weighed since surgery for two reasons. First I do not want to be a slave to the scale. I know my weight will go up and down. I am just looking for a downward trend. Second and probably the most important reason is I do not have a scale at home. I have not bought one yet.

I have had to but a new notch in my belt and my pants are not staying up.

My first NSV - I had to travel to Montreal last week and I did not need a seatbealt extension for the airplane. It was still a tight squeeze but I made it.

I hope everyone is doing good.

Well the day started off not so good and continued to go down hill. When I woke up the day of the surgery I was feeling really ran down but I got up and took my 5 year old to school. I had a couple of hours to kill before having to leave to drive to the hospital so I was trying to catch up on some sports when I actually caught up on some sleep. When I woke up I was late leaving. However, I made good time driving to Topeka and I ended up being 10 minutes late. BTW Hollie, that whooshing sound you heard in Yates Center was me on my way to Topeka.

So I check in and start waiting to go back. Finally they call me back. They put me in a pre-op room where they prep me for surgery. At this time the nerves are shot. They ask me if I would like something to calm me down. Are you kiding me of course shot me up. So after the shot I calm down a little bit and end up going to sleep.

Then they come and get me to take me back. That shot they gave is wearing off but Heather is great and gets me off to sleep in no time. 

The next thing I remember is waking up and I am banded. I hang out in the recovery room for a while then they wheel me down for an X-Ray and barium swallow. Everything loooked good so off to the 5th floor for the recovery and the race to get out of there. My surgery was not until 3:00 so it was touch and go to see if I made it out or not. Well I didn't I ended up staying over night in the hospital. Which it turns out was not to bad. They made sure I had my pain medicine at the proper times.

Well back home and really not having to hard a time. The gas pains were a nussance for a couple of days but it has finally passed and now I am just a little sore. The big problem I have is not eating enough. I am getting very weak and need to eat more. I have a few days off from work and catching up on the sleep.

The good news is the pre-op liquid diet has jumped started my weight loss. I lost 21 pounds in the two weeks I was on the liquid diet.

Well tomorrow I will start the pre-op liquid diet. I also go in for my pre-op appointments. I have to travel 2 hours to get to the doctors office so the liquid diet might be tough on the road.

It is a bit surreal. I have been researching WLS for over three years and the reality of it is starting to set in for me. In 12 days I will be a post-op WLS person.

I know this is normal but one minute I am scared to death and the next minute I am excited then back to scared. My main fear is failure. Can I really lose weight with the band? I am confident I want the band and not RNY but weight loss seems so much easier with RNY. Will I put in the required work to make the band successful? I have lost weight in the past only to fall off the wagon and gain it all back.

Good Luck to all and God Bless. Next post will be Post-Op.

Well I received the call a couple of days ago. The hospital my surgeon uses has be approved as an In-Netowrk facility. It took a little work but Aetna finally agreed.