jklovegood
I had it because I have been overweight pretty much my whole life. I was like 10 or 11 when I went on my first diet (I didn't like have crazy parents that made me either, I just knew I was overweight; though not extremely so at the time; and wanted to fix it). I had been thinking about this surgery for a few years but was worried about the permanency of having most of my stomach cut out of my body. It was actually when I saw a LapBand [the LapBand is a brand name implant that they put around the upper portion of your stomach to decrease the amount of food you can consume at a time. this appealed to me because there was no actually internal cutting or stapling; it is adjustable and removable.] commercial when I started getting serious about the matter. I met with a friend of my mom's who had had the gastric bypass to talk about what she went through. She seemed to understand completely why I wanted the surgery and was the first to really accept the idea of me having it with open arms. Life is very different when you are overweight. The heavier you are, the harder it is. My favorite family vacation spot is Disneyland, but last time we went I had to get a wheelchair on the second day because I had a rash on my thigh from walking all day the first day; not to mention my feet felt like they were going to fall off. I have chronic back pain, I can’t walk or stand for long periods of time without my feet killing me, I can't even walk up a fight of stairs without loosing my breath; not to mention the 4 flights to some of my classes when I was attending a local jr. college. Besides the physical discomfort and the common social discomfort, there is also a great increased risk for many health problems; diabetes, heat disease, etc. I am actually ok with my body. I don't have too much problem finding guys; I have more problems being shy than I do being heavy. But I am physically in pain every day. I am lucky to be healthy, and I want to keep it that way. I can see the path I am on and I have tried so many other options it finally came down to this possibly being the only one that would actually work. Anyway, I tried to contact the surgeon my mom's friend had seen, but he didn't take patients under 21; and his colleague who did take patients under 21 didn't take my insurance. However, my mom was sure that we were going to be switching health insurances soon through my dad's work, so I waited...and the switch never came, so I decided since I was almost 19 at that point that I would just wait until I was 21. However earlier this year I went to a LapBand seminar. While learning about the different procedures, I started to feel that a more permanent procedure may be better for me. I finally asked the surgeon giving the seminar if he took patients under 21, he said yes, I asked if he took PacifiCare, he said yes. The next day I made an appointment with him. When I met with him with my family he asked what procedure I was looking to have and I explained that I wasn't sure anymore which would be best for me. So he recommended the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. He said that this one would be best for me because theoretically I would be living with this procedure longer than someone who was having it done at 40 or 50. The LapBand would have to be constantly adjusted as I loose weight which would increase injection site infection. The bypass would most likely not be the best choice because of the risk of mal absorption which increases with the amount of time after the procedure has been preformed. The VSG is basically the least invasive of the more invasive lol. He also assured me that I was a great candidate for the procedure due to my age, lack of previous anesthetic procedures, and lack of major health problems. So, the next step was to gall the test done, and when I had, then it was just a waiting game. It seemed like forever, but when I finally got the call with a date (October 22 7:30am in San Francisco), that's when time really slowed down for me. From Thursday october 16 to Wednesday october 22, it honestly felt like each day just dragged. And then Tuesday came and my friend brought over a 3 week old kitten to help keep my mind off what was coming. It worked and the day went by quickly. He left at about 1 and I jumped in the shower, quickly packed a bag, and then hopped on the computer to check my email. Answering an email from a friend I looked down at the time and saw it was almost 3, the time we had planned on leaving. So, I finished the email, changed as fast as I could, and rushed to tell my mom it was time to go. We left at 3 because we were told to get there at 6 and since we didn't know the area well we wanted to give ourselves a bit of extra time. We found the hospital without getting too lost and were the first people there. I mean there weren't even any nurses or secretaries or anyone. So we waited. The waiting room filled up after a while and people started getting called back. In the prep room I changed into the hospital gown and a nurse put in my IV. We waited for a while, then a man came to take me back to another room to wait while my mom returned to the lobby. I sat there for a while flipping through magazines until the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about what was going to happen. Then he left and a nurse talked to me a bit before walking me to the operating room. I got onto the table and the anesthesiologist put an oxygen mask over my face. The nurse strapped down my legs, then the anesthesiologist put something in my IV and I was out. When I woke up in recovery I had a vague memory of them taking the breathing tube out, but I'm not entirely sure if it is an actual memory or if my mind created it because I knew that is what had happened. My throat was a little scratchy and my stomach felt tight, but other than that I just felt tired. I was in and out for a while. I remember someone asking me if I knew where I was and how I was feeling. I also remember there being several more patients in the room including an older man who seemed to be in a lot of pain. Then, they rolled the bed out of the room, in the elevator, and into my room where my mom was waiting. I stayed there the rest of wednesday and thursday until about 4 when the surgeon came in to discharge me. Both days I took several walks from one end of the building to the other, sipped a protein drink, watched the discovery channel, and slept. They offered me a wheelchair to take me downstairs and to my mom's car, but I refused and walked the whole way myself. I even had to walk back and forth to help my mom get out of her parking space (who double parks in a parking garage?!?!! - guess that's san francisco for you). I slept most of the way home.
