ashbee01

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Today is the first day since surgery that I woke up feeling pretty good! I got a GREAT sleep last night, very much needed. I feel refreshed and the pain this morning is less than it usually is. I'm not going to lie--the past few days have been a bit rough. I didn't realize how much these tiny little incisions can actually hurt! I have 3 incisions that are the size of an m&m and one incision that is about an inch long. So not bad at all. They are a lot lower on my body than I thought they would be. My surgery went perfectly. My doctor came in the next afternoon and told me that I was only under for a grand total of 50 minutes. Surgery only took 45! I was amazed. He was very pleased with how great it went and he said my liver looked great as well, no problems. Of course, my liver being too large was the BIGGEST freak out I had while waiting for this surgery. 

He released me that same day and I was able to go home. So I was only in the hospital for 24 hours, which is what I expected. My barium swallow showed everything in the proper place, thank God. The barium swallow was probably one of the most unpleasant experiences I had while in the hospital. Barium is GROSS. I had to have 4 different swallows and just wanted to throw it up, it tasted so bad. But it's neccessary, unfortunately. I was able to eat a popsicle Monday night, a few hours after my surgery. I ate another half of a popsicle on Tuesday and had a bite of jello. I was SO NOT HUNGRY the entire time I was in the hospital. I actually didn't start to feel hungry until yesterday. I've had some chicken broth, jello, and Isopure protein juice. The Isopure is a very welcome change from the protein shakes. I mix it with water and it tastes great. I've been sipping as much liquid as I can, to ward off dehydration. I'd say the worst part of recovery is the GAS thats left in your body afterwards. It's painful, it really is. The first 2 days of recovery, I had gas trapped RIGHT in the middle of my chest, next to my heart. It hurt so bad, I felt like I couldn't breathe at time. I took a lot of Gas-X strips and just had to practice breathing deeply, very, very slowly. My doctor also said that I had some inflammation along the chest lining, which can be a side effect of surgery in that area. He said the only real cure for it is something like Ibprofen, which I am not allowed to take right now. Shucks. Anyway, it disappeared on Wednesday and life has been getting better since then.

I would highly recommend the Gas X strips and the heating pad, like some people in the messageboards mentioned. It has helped A LOT.

As for the band.....It's hard to describe how that feels. It's like you know that something is there, but you can't really put into words the feeling it gives you. I was drinking chicken broth last night and I started to have this feeling like I was done, so I just stopped. I have felt little gurgles here and there, usually when i'm laying down, but I don't know if thats the band or all of the gas thats probably still in my stomach. I will say that I feel hunger on a whole new level now. It's different. My doctor said that he did put a little bit of fluid into my band, but it was sort of confusing because he said when all the swelling went down, i'd be able to eat more. Not sure what he means by that, but ok.

What else...what else? Hmmm. I guess really the worst days of this recovery have been the first 3 days. For me, the 4th day (today) has been the best so far. A lot of the painful gas has left my shoulder and my chest. I can breathe deeper and easier. The incision pain is there, but not SO, so bad. I think the hardest part of all of this is going from laying down to standing up. Thats a bit painful to do, so my husband has had to help me with that. Everyone is right when they say the port area is the sorest---it definitely is. I will update more as the days go by, but I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of you wonderful people who have been messaging me, leaving comments and what not. You are all so nice. I love this website and I am glad I have made great new friends. Hope everyone else is having a great week, I am so excited to FINALLY be on this journey. :)

Ashley

I had my Pre-Op visit yesterday and everything went great. The readings on the EKG were good, which has been a great relief to me because my mothers side of the family has suffered some heart problems in the past. I am two days away from surgery and feeling all sorts of crazy things! Happy, excited, nervous, anxious.....I can't stop thinking about it all! I'm making sugar free lemonade today so that I can have my last glass or two. I won't be able to drink citrus juice for atleast 6 weeks post op, per the instructions at the hospital. Lemonade is my favorite drink so its a little dismaying but I understand completely.

I have lost a total of 11 pounds since my last visit to the doctor a little over 2 weeks ago. I feel GREAT about this. I'm going to work out today (in a few minutes actually) and hopefully I maintain that 11 pounds going into surgery on Monday.

I am SO excited and looking forward to posting back here when I am post-op. Have a great weekend, everybody!

It has been a very rough 10 days and I am not proud to admit that I have fallen off the wagon a few times already. I NEVER realized how hard 14 days of pure liquid would be. I have tried 12 different flavors of "shake" and I dislike pretty much the majority of them. The only one I really came to love was the Double Fudge Crunch and now I can't find that flavor ANYWHERE. I am wondering if maybe I can switch to Slim Fast drinks instead. Does that work the same? I've had Slim Fast before and I think they taste much better than the current Spiru-tein and Designer Whey I am using.

Another annoyance is how much I am going to have to pay to get the rest of my prescriptions filled. $178. Wow. Dr. Williams gave me a list of scripts and told me to take them to the military hospital to get them filled. Well all they would fill is the Zofran! I still need Urso, Prevacid, Vicodin and Vitamin E capsules. So that's just great. Walgreen's quoted me at $178 for the rest of them, under my current insurance.

Despite cheating on the liquid diet, I've lost 7 pounds in the last 10 days. I don't really know how that happened. I am SO PARANOID that my liver will be too big and the surgery won't be able to be done. I honestly keep having nightmares about that. It's my own damn fault for not sticking to the diet the way I should have.....I am so ashamed of myself. To punish myself and hopefully put things back on track, I put myself back on liquids 100% yesterday. I am hoping that 6 days of fasting on JUST protein shakes and water will shrink my liver enough for surgery. God, I hope it works. I am so stupid for cheating on it.


Pre-Op appointment is on Friday. I have to do 2 hours of who knows what. I know that I am meeting with the anesthesiologist, which I am actually pretty happy about. I have learned from past surgeries that if you have any concerns about the side effects of the general anesthesia, its always best to work it out with them beforehand. Last time I went under, I woke up feeling pretty great because they made sure I didn't have any nasty side effects. I am still paranoid about my stupid liver being in the way so pray that this all works out for me. I will update after I've had my Pre-Op.

until my surgery! That makes my surgery date April 12th. I am BEYOND excited. And of course, a little nervous. I went in on Friday to fill out the hospital paperwork and sign waiver forms. Reading the waivers made me a little nervous honestly, there were things I had to initial that stated the risks and possible side effects of having the band. Of course, death being one of them! Dr. Williams has never had any of the bad things happen to his patients but....ehh you never know. I'm trying not to think about it. I've had lots of surgeries before and I survived! Haha!

From now until surgery, I am on a liquid diet. I'm not going to lie, it sucks big time. Today is the first day and I am already hungry. I guess I got lucky in the sense that Dr. Williams does not require a very STRICT liquid diet, its more of a moderate one. 2 of my meals are protein shakes and the 3rd meal I can have something small, like a lean cuisine frozen dinner. I can choose to have the lean cuisine for lunch instead,  but today i've had a shake for breakfast, one for lunch and i'm saving my lasagna Lean Cuisine for dinner tonight. I can hear it calling to me in the freezer.....boy, am I hungry. When you are used to eating actual food it can be hard to just go straight to liquids. But I am committed to this and I will do what it takes.

I bought 3 different types of whey protein, hoping to find one I really loved. So far its been hit or miss. My nutritionist really likes the protein from Bariatric Advantage (not that she needs to drink it) so I ordered sample packets of Chocolate, Vanilla and Banana from the website a few weeks ago. The banana was AMAZING, tasted exactly like a banana milkshake and was really delicious. The chocolate was gross and did not mix very well. Haven't tried the Vanilla packet yet but have decided not to order from BA anymore. They are very expensive. I ordered all of my vitamins and supplements from them a few weeks ago in preparation for the surgery (by the advice of my nutritionist) and I think my order ended up being over $150. Yikes. That was WITHOUT ordering the big tubs of protein mix they sell, which I believe are 40 dollars PER TUB. Wow. Next, I went to The Vitamin Shoppe and bought a sample pack of Spiru-Tein and a tub of French Vanilla mix from Designer Whey. I have yet to try the Designer Whey formula, but I have tried 2 packets of the Spiru-Tein. I made the vanilla one for breakfast this morning and had the cookies and cream one for lunch. The vanilla was just ok. I blended it with milk, frozen peaches and an ice cube. It got SO THICK that I could hardly drink it. But it tasted ok. It wasn't amazingly filling but it lasted from 9 am til around 12 pm, when my stomach started to rumble.  The cookies and cream mix from Spiru-Tein was actually really good. I liked it a lot and its great if you are a chocolate lover, like me. The other flavors in the sample pack are: Chocolate, Strawberry Banana, Blueberries and Cream, Double Fudge Crunch and Tropical Fruit. The pack also came with a special mixer cup to shake the drink up in. So, pretty good deal for 15 dollars. I still have several more hours until dinner and unfortunately, I am still hungry. The cookies and cream was tasty but did nothing really as far as my hunger pains go. I can already tell this is going to be a TOUGH 2 weeks. Or atleast, until my stomach gets used to the reduction in food and stops being so hungry all of the time.

Just got the call from the patient account office and I have been APPROVED! I am so darn happy. I am now awaiting a phone call from Dr. Williams nurse so that I can come in and fill out my surgery paperwork and set my date. Woooooow this feels amazing. I was so worried i'd be denied but I was approved less than 24 hours from the packet submission. I called my husband and my best friend to tell them the good news, I wish I could call my mom but she doesn't know about any of this. I haven't really told anyone. Maybe that will change after the fact, but for now I'm keeping this to myself. :)

I am a bit irritated at the mix up that happened last week that has caused me a week of delay in this process. I visited my surgeon last Monday and everything was supposedly sent to my insurance on that day. I waited and waited, called Tricare 3 times that week and they said it hadn't shown up in their system, to just give it a few more days. I called again yesterday and my insurance had no pending authorization for the surgery and didn't know if the doctor had even submitted it. Well, it's a long story but basically my doctor had left a message with the patient account liason to submit my packet for approval and the liason never recieved the message. So the whole time I was waiting for nothing basically. My packet had never been submitted. I called the liasons office and spoke to him, he was very kind and submitted my packet 5 minutes later. FINALLY the pending status is on my Tricare account online. YAY!! I should know by tomorrow at the latest. I am SO nervous but SO excited and I just hope to God that it gets approved. I want this so much.

From the time I get approved to when I see my doctor, I should have the surgery about 2 weeks later. So its coming SOON. Wow. The nurse explained that once I am approved, they have me come in immediately to fill out the paperwork, sign the surgery waivers, get my surgery date and start the liquid diet. My journey is REALLY about to begin and I cannot wait :)

I am very happy to announce that I have jumped through all of the required hoops, ALL clearances and paperwork have been done, and my packet is about to be submitted to my insurance company (Tricare Prime) for final approval. Then, I will get my surgery date and start preparing for the 2 week pre-op liquid diet. I am VERY excited to be this close. And boy did it take awhile! I'm hoping to have this surgery done before May, as that month will be extremely busy for me personally. This is a very realistic goal, since I am done doing everything I needed to do. Wow. It feels great to say that. I have actually GAINED 8 pounds during this whole process. How the heck did that happen?! I don't know exactly when my doctor will be submitting my information, but he has everything he needs so i'm really on his time now. Should be any day now.......do I sound anxious, or what? Haha. I hope everyone else is having as wonderful a week as I am! I am loving this new weather, warm with cool spring breezes :) I am so happy that this time next year I can start buying NORMAL SIZED shorts and capris and maybe some cute skirts. Ahhhhh....can't wait for that.

I guess I took it for granted how long this process really was. I was really thinking that I would have a surgery date by now, if not by the end of this month. That is definitely not happening. I know that a lot of it had to do with my appointments being scheduled around holidays. It always takes longer to get things done when a lot of offices and things are closed or booked up around Christmas and New Years. I'm trying really hard not to be down about the little progress I've made so far, but today has been a bad day and it's not even noon. First of all, I missed my first nutrition appointment. I can't believe it. I just totally forgot. Woke up at 6:45, got my daughter ready for preschool, got her there in time, came home and started on laundry and then my phone alarm goes off reminding me that my appt started in 10 minutes. 10 minutes! It takes me 20 minutes just to GET there. I called the office and explained but they are so booked, they really could do nothing for me besides reschedule. For FEBRUARY 3rd. Two whole weeks away. Wow. It took me a month and a half to get this appt and I MISS it. I just can't believe it. I feel so bad. I think I might start calling every morning, very early, to check for cancellations so that maybe I can squeeze in early. I know that I must sound terrible, but I am such an impatient person and I just really want this FINISHED.  I don't know why it took Tricare so flippin' long to refer me to this nutritionist in the first place, I got my psych referral almost a whole month ago. That went pretty well and tomorrow I actually go and find out the results of my personality test and "interview". Yes, you have to do all of that stuff. Took me by surprise. I knew to expect an interview, but the personality test blew my mind. It was 341 questions on a scantron test sheet. Crazy. I really hope that I passed, but I feel confident that I did. The psychologist who interviewed me was very kind and at the end of our session she told me that she thinks i'm very bright and very mature, which is uncommon in the young women she sees for this kind of surgery. I didn't really know what to say to that, except to thank her. It was nice to hear that, but if she knew how impatient I am maybe she would think differently of me, haha.

Another thing i've had to do before getting this surgery scheduled is an Endoscopy which I REALLY wasn't expecting. That was slightly unpleasant, although I did find out that I have a hiatal hernia and an H. Pylori infection, so i've been on tons of antibiotics. The infection explains a lot, I had been feeling quite sick on and off for awhile.  Dr. Williams assures me that he can fix the hernia while he is doing the Lap Band installation, so I feel ok about that. I am just thankful that I didn't have cancer or anything. I know that happens a lot. 

The main thing is that I am SO SICK of being this weight and I can just see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's just a long tunnel and I wish I were at the end already. I know that I'm not anywhere close. I really hope that I can have my surgery scheduled for the end of Feb or early March. I was hoping to visit some friend and family in Texas for Thanksgiving and be a smaller size, but I don't see that happening unless I can get things going quicker. Wish me luck. I will update next month and hopefully its with better news.

Its been a couple of months and a lot of things have changed. First of all, I had to switch doctors since I found out early on that the first doctor I was going through did NOT accept my insurance. I thought this was going to be a huge problem but it actually turned out to be a grace of God. The doctor I am working with now (Dr. Williams) is not only MUCH closer to me travel wise, but he is excellent, has much more experience with Lapband and Gastric surgeries, and I just feel much more in sync with him.  I attended his seminars and made my first appointment. 2 weeks before it was to take place, his wife went into labor with their baby so all of his appointments were rescheduled. I was disappointed at first (I am EAGER to get this show on the road) but I know everything happens for a reason and, hey, a new baby is great thing! Last Friday was my FIRST official appointment with Dr. Williams and even though it was a loooooong one, I feel so great about everything. He said I should be having the surgery in 6 weeks or less, which THRILLS me to pieces. I am waiting to hear from Martin Army Hospital about my nutrionist and psych appointments. Unfortunately, those things have to be done by the army hospital. In my spare time, I start preparing my documented weight loss attempts, although Dr. Williams assures me that with my BMI (42.9, its a horrid number, I know!) it won't be a problem and just an extra bit of good to add to my case before its submitted for final approval to my insurance. I have a good feeling about all of this, I really do.  I am so excited!!!!!! I have to do an upper GI Edoscopy next week but I'm ok with that. I like to know whats going on with my body, so i'm curious to see what happens. I will update when I have more dates, but Dr. Williams says we are looking at the first week of February for my lapband surgery. SOO EXCITING!!

The ball is rolling towards my lap band surgery...and I am so excited! I attended my first seminar about 2 weeks ago. Today was my first appt with my regular doctor. We talked about the lap band, reasons for doing it, etc. She put in a referral to my insurance and seemed genuinely happy and excited for me. My first appointment with my chosen surgeon is next Tuesday. I had bloodwork done today as well. I'm hoping my referral goes through by next week so that I can keep my appt date with the surgeon. The main thing is that I FEEL so much BETTER. I've been so nervous since starting this journey. I was a nervous wreck asking for the referral and imagining all the nightmare scenarios where I wouldn't be allowed to have one. Now that I am officially on my way I feel like I can relax....just a little! Haha. I still have to get through Tricare, and I know those hoops might be harder to get through. I think the first step in doing all of this is admitting that you have a weight problem that goes beyond your total control. I have admitted that to myself, my husband, and my best friend. Today I admitted it to my doctor. Something that has always caused me great shame and embarrasment is now becoming something I am ok to say outloud. I know that I need help and help may just be around the corner. Wish me luck.