I can't believe it......
See in my case I weight 330 and want to ONLY lose a certian amount of weight. Im 6ft 7in tall and have always been large. I weighed 260 in 9th grade. I played college football. If I only lost 60, or 70, or 80 lbs and it was permanent weight loss then I would be perfectly fine with that.
I DO NOT WANT TO LOSE TOO MUCH WEIGHT because at my height, if I weighed 200 lbs I think i would look silly.
I think the lapband is safer to preform and is easier to preform since there is minimal cutting and not cutting of organs and recovery time will be less.
Please chime in here and tell me if I am nuts.
I never wanted a foreign instrument in my body but have decided that is way better than having my organs rerouted and being faced with absorption.
So which band should I get? Realize? Other models?
If you are a volume eater and need restriction, the Band is a good option However, understand, that most of the work is done by YOU, not the Band. Some people don't even get restriction from the Band, even after many fills. It's all an individual journey and the different surgeries all treat us differently.
There are also going to be people telling you the Band is the very worst surgery out there.
You have to do your own research, speak to a surgeon that you trust, and decide based on what is best for you and what you are most comfortable with.
Good luck!!
"Accountability first to yourself, then nobody else matters"
I'd ask your doctor if they were banding a family member, which one would they choose and why.
As to being denied for the VSG, have you appealed? I know of some who have successfully appealed and gotten the OK. If you're interested in pursuing an appeal, I'd post on the VSG board. There are probably some members there that can help you.
Best of luck in whatever surgery you choose.
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Reinhold Niebuhr
I have another consult with my dr this friday and already have a surgery date of May 17th. I have to do 3 nutrition classes and then Im good to go. I've done all my pre-surgery testing too.
I think this option is best for me. I do not like the idea of rerouting my organs and having absorption problems.
I was totally against the band and have been hoping to have a VSG for 5 years so now being denied that surgery, and being faced with a bypass, I think he lapband is the best option for me.
on 4/24/11 11:32 pm, edited 4/24/11 11:46 pm - Greenbelt, MD
This is a post that I shared with the board, I believe earlier this month that you might find interesting.
*** I am going to share my story in this post. My profile is locked down not out of secrecy but because after being away for a year, the information is so incomplete that I locked it down to hopefully get it updated, but then I just don’t find the time to do it and there are quite a bit of folks *****ally dont know me through my story. So this is my story in a nutshell.
I was living my life happily because my weight was not stopping me from doing anything (this is what I told myself and believed it, until after I lost the weight and have so much more energy) In Dec 2003, I was diagnosed as a diabetic, due to not being able to take oral meds, I was forced to go on insulin right away, yet I kept having sugar drop. My doctor told me that I did not need to be on insulin, I need to lose weight. I was offended. DID HE JUST CALL ME FAT?? I went on a serious STRICT diet and lost 50 pounds and got off insulsin in Jun 2004, my doctor was very happy, I was just hungry and tired of not eating, so I started to eat and as soon as the diet "got not so" serious, I found the weight coming back faster than it left, I gained 30 of those 50 pounds , I said enough is enough and lucky for me, I read about the lap band, it took me a year to have it done because I wanted to make sure that I knew everything that I could know about it and the insurance that I had at the time was happy to pay for the gastric bypass but not the band.
I was banded Feb 06 and the lapband has been exactly what I expected it to be…a maintenance tool. Why a maintenance tool, I am sure you are asking. I could lose the weigh. I could exercise, other the short bout of diabetic, I was not on any meds, so basic I was a healthy fat person if there is such thing. Prior to banding, I had to be on a serious strict diet, if I swerve either left or right. I was off and the pounds and their friends.0 came and to be honest, I just could not live like that for a very long time. I was tired of being hungry.
Fast forward..I got banded lost almost all my weight, I had like 8-10 pounds that needed to come off, basic eat what I want just less of it. But what really made me know that the band is the right one for me. Feb 08, I had half of my saline taken out because I was having a full hysterectomy and was afraid I would wake up choking, then I was feeling blah after my surgery so I did not go back for fills, just wasn’t feeling life, felt better but a golden opportunity came up to deploy to Iraq…was over there for 11 month where food was plentiful and I ate like others ate, had dessert when I wanted it. I came back to the states with a gain of 10 pounds, my doctor was tickled pink and I have been able to get rid of those pounds without too much of an effort. I can tell you without a doubt there have never been a time that I would have been able to achieve this. Only gaining 10 pounds in over 1 year and half (from my surgery to Nov 10), with the little saline that I had and Zumba?
I am sharing this to say that each individual has to decide what is best for them. It is good to hear other folks experience because most of the time when a person is ready to do this, they have read so many studies and stats, that it all is just a blur of information to them yet they want/need to connect to someone who have gone through what they are getting ready to face. So I decided to not lurk, but to help someone by telling my story. The good of the “good, bad and ugly". I can only tell the good because I have been blessed, I have not had one instance of complication other than the fact even losing weight, my behind is still the biggest thing on me.
I know for some it not all peachy and cream but for me, it has been peachy and cream with splenda sprinkled on top of it.***
Just remember that this surgery takes more work that the other surgeries. In the beginning before the fills kick in you will be on your own. I needed 8-9 fills before I had good restriction. It is very hard to live by the band rules when there's no tool to help....it's like being on a diet before surgery. It can be very frustrating. I did eventually get restriction and it was like night and day. Remember to exercise that helps a lot.
Good luck.
Question - with the band in place without any fill, the diameter of the hole will always be smaller than normal right, like smaller opening to the rest of my stomach that without the band right?
If so then this is what I need.
A friend of mine cheated, didn't do the diet, chewed his food a million times to make it slip through the hole, and ate and drank at the same time.
I think if you do the diet the right way, the weight can come off.
If its up to me then I can do it the right way.
I should be getting my surgery date this week! I can't wait to just have that stinkin' date already! lol!!
~Karen~
6cc's in a 10cc band
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