IttyBittyBunni
The Beginning...
Jan 28, 2010
I have been overweight all my life. I started yo-yo dieting when I was 11 years old and have continued doing that until the age of 40. I had tried to have gastric bypass surgery back in 1996 but my insurance would not cover me for the procedure. I have lost enough weight in my lifetime to equal 3-4 human beings but never with lasting results.
A couple of years ago my husband's employer was bought out and soon dismantled. Seeing the writing on the wall my husband sought employment elsewhere before being made redundant. Much to our surprise we found out that his new employer covered the lapband procedure after a 6 month evaluation period under a physician's care. Well, I tried once more and gave it 12 months trying to lose a significant amount of weight but couldn't. I was approved for surgery after the first appeal (a blood test was left out of my original paperwork which is why I was denied to begin with).
Things happened really fast once I received approval from my insurance company. I saw Dr. Woodman on January 6, 2010 and was told to lose 11 lbs before surgery. My surgery was scheduled on January 19, 2010. I didn't think I could lose 11 lbs within that length of time...and I was right. I did manage to lose 9 lbs in 11 days (had to go weight in the day before surgery). Now, I was told by another patient that if I did not lose the weight Dr. Woodman told me to, he would cancel my surgery for that day and reschedule to allow me to lose the weight. This kinda freaked me out. I can't say that didn't help keep me motivated to do as much as I could within that time frame. I was gutted when I weighed in and had only lost 9 lbs, I thought my surgery would be canceled, but the nurse said I did a great job and that I was set to have surgery the next day.
As with most people who are obese, I have medical conditions and disease that is linked directly to my weight i.e. sleep apnea, diabetes type 2, arthritis, high blood pressure, etc. I was concerned that my surgery would be postponed because my sugar was near 200. I guess because I had gone through all the steps before and had been denied surgery, I was not going to accept that I was going to have surgery to help me until I had the surgical wounds to prove it.
My last memory before surgery was my husband giving me a kiss. The nurse had given me the "I don't care drug" and within moments I was out. I don't even remember the end of the kiss or the hug my husband said he gave me just before I was wheeled to surgery.
I awoke in recovery about 3 hours after my 50 minute procedure. I could hear the nurse talking to me but it wasn't registering. I finally understood she was telling me that I was only breathing 8 times a minute and I needed to breathe more. I couldn't yet keep consciousness, but I do remember telling her my husband had brought my CPAP machine. One of the things that helped me "wake up" was the need to cough. OMG! that hurt! As I became more aware of my surroundings I was moved to another staging area to finish my recovery before being discharged.
About 6 hours after my surgery, I was up and walking the hallways of the hospital. I was not too happy. LOL. I did not realize how much the lower part of my body counted on my abdomen to do what it does i.e. walking. Believe it or not, the surgical wounds did not bother me as much as the trapped gas in my abdomen. The only other issue I had was with nausea. My nurse had me to drink a cup of water before walking. That was not a good choice. I felt soooooo ill, but made it through it.
By 5 PM that night (surgery was at 9 AM) I was on my way home. Riding home was worse than the surgery itself. You may not be familiar with
I thought my mom's vein in her head and neck was going to pop when Walgreens told her it would take 2 hours before they could fill my pain medication. I kinda felt sorry for the guys who conveyed that to her. She explained I was s surgery patient and not just refilling a prescription. The mother lioness came out and I think he thought she would indeed eat him if it wasn't done within 30 minutes. haha My husband went to pick it up and it was done too.. lol
My husband set up a twin bed beside our bed (which I almost have to take a run and jump to get into on a good day). He loaded it down with pillows and I sank back and feel asleep. That's the story of my surgery day.
Just as a side note, I took some gas-x (the kind that melt on your tongue) to help ease the trapped gas that they pumped into my abdomen, I can't say for certain whether it helped or not, but I tend to think it did (whether it was in my mind or if it actually did help to eliminate the air they used during surgery).
