just popping in to
let you know that I
am praying for your
safe surgery and
speedy recovery.
Your journey is just
beginning, I wish
you the best one
ever!!
Efrat, Good luck
with your surgery!
Congratulations on
the beginning of
your new life, and
may your surgery be
complication free
and your healing
speedy! Can't wait
to hear all about it
when you're back!!
K - another June
buddy
It’s been a year and a half since the Lap Band. I’ve lost about 100 pounds to date. I now weigh 145 pounds.
I look and feel good. I am having a tummy tuck tomorrow. It all happened really fast, I asked my doctor last month about the possibility and before I knew it I saw a plastic surgeon who on the spot scheduled a date which was just a month away. The insurance authorized the procedure and that’s it!
Actually the insurance only authorized the removing of the “flap” but not the cosmetic reconstruction of the stomach and of the belly button. So I decided to pay for that myself instead of having a half a job and looking deformed.
I will post photos hopefully in a few weeks when I feel better.
I had a really bad experience with an overfill – it was actually horrible. My doctor thought that I am probably in a good place but since I one day had 16 pieces of sashimi I thought I could use another fill. After the fill I was 2.8cc in a 4cc band.
I only had a protein shake after the fill that barley went down but came night time the nightmare began.
I couldn’t sleep because I kept chocking on my own saliva. I would BP on my own juices. I had to sleep sitting up and that was impossible. It was Friday and I went thought this until Monday morning.
Needles to say no food stayed down. Monday morning I called my doctor’s office but she was performing surgeries. I was told to try to make it in less than an hour to the Hospital (before her first surgery starts). Of course I was late but I was brought out side of the surgery rooms and my doctor came out and unfilled me. She took out 0.2 cc.
Well…I am fine now. I went back for a follow-up last week and didn’t get a fill although I feel am eating too much. I just don’t want to go through that experience again.
I had WLS (Lap-band) - June 9th, 2006. The day of the surgery I weighed 246.6. Today a month later I am down 15 pounds. I am losing slowly and waiting for the fills to really feel some restriction.
The fact that I got to a weight that I even considered an operation came as though by complete surprise. I was always fat/big/chubby... But it was always on the line between fat to obese. I never considered myself obese and when a doctor said that to me 3 years ago I was enraged. I didn't even weight more than 200 pounds then. My weight has hovered around 185 - 190 for many years. I would lose some and gain some.
My daughter was born 6 years ago and at my highest during the pregnancy I weighed 250 pounds. Of course 20 pounds came off after the birth and I lost another 25 pounds at weight watchers (it took a year). I must have kept the weight off for about 2 years and then my father passed away and my daughter almost dies from MRSA (a super bug, a hospital acquired bug). My doctor prescribed some anti depressants to combat the way these tragedies affected my life. One of the pills -Zoloft causes weight gain, so I gained and gained. I stopped taking the Zoloft on my own a half year ago becaue I felt it was such a devastating pill. But I was already at 250 pounds. I felt the difference acutely. Things I could do the year before I couldn't do now. Physically I felt that the weight is affecting my health. There were other things that bothered me that never did before: I barley fit in an airplane seat and I had to struggle to buckle the seat belt. Booths and chairs were too small, my daughter and her friends would call me fat. The thing that humiliated me the most I think was the fact that I couldn't wipe myself properly any more...
So April of this year I told my primary care physician that if she doesn't have pills that work I want to find out about surgery. From that point on things moved quickly. The operation was on the 9th at Lenox Hill Hospital in NY by a great doctor (Dr. Marina Kurian) and was pretty uneventful and easy. The next day I was home and I've been feeling great since then.
I can't wait for it to be a year from now...I know this is only the beginning and I will keep you updated.
July 4th, 2006
I'm on my third fill. 2.2cc. I FEEL it. I can't eat much - actually it's a matter of what and how I eat it (small bits, eat slowly). I lost 33 pounds - andI can see it, so can others. I am losing a steady 2 pounds a week. I'm a happy camper.