Susan M.
01/07/2007 - New insurance in effect but no card in site yet. KDMC will not schedule any appointments until I get card. I call every day until 01/12 and finally receive my ID# and Group # by telephone. Next call to KDMC to get 1st meet and greet scheduled as I had attended seminar in October 2006. 01/22/2007 - First initial meeting with Dr. Wheeler and staff. I asked Anthony (physician assistant) most of my questions and he indicated that Dr. Wheeler fills according to patient input. He generally schedules 1st fill for 6 to 8 weeks after surgery depending on band size. Additional fills are at patient's discretion. They encourage lap band patients to weigh once a week and if gaining, call and come in for fill. Dr. Wheeler advises that fills are normally done on Mondays and Wednesdays in attempt to avoid that trip to ER for unfill. He stated if unfill is needed at ER that either he or Dr. Tompkins would meet me at hospital. Dr. Wheeler talked more than I expected and indicated that he felt I had done a good job researching the band. Anthony indicated they had no bands that had been infected and there had been 4 erosions. He said 3 of the erosions were because patients were too aggressive with their fills and obviously too tight (could not get water down) yet wanted to remain that way for faster weight loss. The following tests have been scheduled: 2/5/07 - Exercise Evaluation; Adenosine Stress Test; Gallbladder Ultrasound; Cardiac ECHO; Dietary Consult; Psychiatric Evaluation; and Endocrine Evaluation. $300.00 is due at this visit (non-refundable). Wow - policy change 01/07 - $300.00 no longer due!! Yippee!! 02/16/07 - EGD. I had to repeat the adenisone stress test on 02/16 as all of the nasty medicine was not injected on my 02/05 test. Nasty little test of 9 minutes plus all my veins were infiltrating so I got stuck 6 times before it started. EGD on the other hand was a breeze! Dr. Wheeler told me to schedule an appointment with him - 02/26 and hopefully I'll get a date then. He said if any of the tests show problems, staff would contact me. Staff indicates that if all test results are good that surgery may be scheduled as early as the first part of March. Gallbladder Ultrasound reveals stones, removal scheduled for 03/22. Procedure scheduled as outpatient but surgery revealed very diseased gallbladder and stones in bile ducts. Had to stay 2 nights and have ERCP procedure to remove stones from ducts. Lap band removal scheduled for 04/05. Lap band surgery was supposed to result in overnight stay but surgeon said I was doing so well I could go home - MISTAKE! Got home on Friday and started throwing up from trapped gas around my esophagus. Called office and they indicated it's okay and to keep taking phenegran. Threw up more on Saturday and even more on Easter Sunday. Should have gone to ER but was unsure of care I would receive on holiday weekend with my surgeon out of town. Went Monday and admitted for severe dehydration to the point of hallucinations. Potassium was severely low which could have resulted in cardiac problems. Veins were so dehydrated they thought they were going to have to stick IV in my neck. Upper GI next day to test band and results said it was okay. They release me and that night at 10pm my surgeon calls and says x-ray was originally read as normal and then reread as abnormal. Says if I have slipped, I'll get extremely sick and back to hospital for more surgery. Not the news I wanted to hear so the next few days were touch and go and my nerves were shot - couldn't face the prospect of another surgery so soon. As of right now, I'm getting stronger, drinking liquids, and starving, so hopefully the worst is past. Planning on starting work again next week a few hours at a time. 08/01/2008 - Turns out I'm not the blogger I intended to be! I have had a few PB's, slimes, & throw ups in the past 16 months (all due to operator error). I have followed the rules about 70% of the time, I have lost 70 pounds. If I had been militant, I know I would be at goal now, but I'm very pleased with my progress as is. I'll make goal next year and that's okay - it's not a race! Although I was pretty sick following the banding, it's kind of like child birth and you forget it after some time passes. I have not had any serious problems since that time and I hope to keep it that way. I think I've had 6 fills and I'm around01/07/2007 - New insurance in effect but no card in site yet. KDMC will not schedule any appointments until I get card. I call every day until 01/12 and finally receive my ID# and Group # by telephone. Next call to KDMC to get 1st meet and greet scheduled as I had attended seminar in October 2006.
