Tammy M

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My husband - (who is a normal weight person)has been having an unexplained pain in his left abdominal area - I had an appointment with Dr. R and was very upset about what was going on with my husband - he hasn't had a resolution of his issues since November! Dr. R offered to help!! I faxed all the tests and he reviewed them and requested to see my husband - they fit him in yesterday - he's ordered an ultrasound for my husband - he isn't exactly sure what is wrong - but the point is - THE MAN CARES and is willing to do what it takes to find out the source of his pain - (unlike the GI "specialist" who said keep taking the same medicine that hasn't worked for the last month for 3 more months and come see me - what a JERK!).

His reputation is on-target - he's not warm, he's not fuzzy - but the IMPORTANT thing is he genuinely CARES about people. I have so much respect for him - his follow-up is absolutely unrivaled by any - he is head and shoulders above his peers. He is not a money motivated person and it shows - I'm so thrilled I switched surgeons and my path lead me to Dr. Raftopolous!

I am down 49 pounds in three months too without any issues - my ferratin is low but I just need to start taking iron and that should fix that issue!

Hurray!! Two milestones - 30 pounds gone and BMI under 40 - Awesome!  So far so good - I've tolerated every pureed food I've tried, although I haven't tried too much - chilli, chicken salad, tuna, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, scrambled egg - I'm keeping everything at or under 2 o.z. and mostely relying on shakes to get in protein - the minimum protein I've gotten in a day since surgery is 70 - but I'm trying to keep it to 100 - I've got to work at the fluid intake since I started going down to one shake a day instead of two - I have one cup of decaf coffee in the morning (with a little half and half) - a shake throughout the morning - 2 o.z. of cottage cheese or something at lunch - sip crystal lite all day - 2 o.z. of something at dinner - and back to sipping (after the hour wait)........might not be perfect but it's working so far - I take all my supplements - accept some days I just don't want the zinc losegner  it gets on my nerves......I've only been hungry a couple times and the 2 o.z. of food satisfies me completely!

I am so thankful that things are going well and I am down 17 pounds post op (13 pre)... I'm looking forward to the WOW moments - which will probably start at about the 50 pound mark :)

Well I'm on my way to recovering!  This was by far the most intense surgery - more intense then my c-sections, knee, gall bladder, lap band, impacted wisdom teeth, tonsils - all of them combined don't compare to the intensity of this surgery - I was under the knife for 5.5 hours in recovery for 4 hours and a hospital stay for 2 nights - which realistically I would think should be a longer stay but I would so much rather be home then in the hospital - what a fiasco that was!  Some good people were there taking care of me, but I have some really crappy memories that I don't want to hang on to - needless to say there are people in the health care that have no business what-so-ever being there - shame on them!

My surgeon wants me at the gym on a treadmill - I know he is not going to be happy that I don't do exactly as he says - but my lifestyle right now doesn't fit with that so instead I have Wii Active, Wii Fit and taking walks with my family - that is what works for me.  Tonight I walked around the block for the first time - it is a mile (maybe a bit more) - I think it was just a little much for me because I got this pain in my side about half way around - it goes up a little bit of a hill - nothing huge but at least I wasn't winded!  Every day I just feel like I'm getting a little bit better and am healing slowly but surely!

I can not wait to be able to just sip liquids from a regular cup or bottle or whatever instead of pouring everything into 1 ounce cups and writing it down every 15 minutes.  One part of me is glad to have the structure and to ensure I'm getting the right amount of protein and liquids in each day - who would have thought that getting a sleazy 48 ounces in a day would be such a task - especially when that is the ONLY thing I'm getting in is liquids!  I feel no restriction with the liquids so that is a good sign!  At the end of this week I think I get to eat yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and scrambled egg for week in addition to the clear liquids - I don't know if this is the week the one ounce cup goes away or not - hopefully so - I know this is a journey but I really just can't wait to be out of the recovery phase and into the "real life" phase.  I suppose the best thing about this part of the journey is I really don't have to think too much about my choices because there aren't any - or many!  Sometimes simple is best.  I only have two more lovenix (blood thinner) shots to give myself and then I'll be through with that - I really do  not like giving myself shots but better to have a shot then die of a blood clot going to my heart!  Dr. Raftopolous is extremely meticulious - probably one of the most in the country from what I gather reading about what people are given for pre-op instruction and post op instruction - he is very, very strict - it can be a pain but I'm also thankful for his thoroughness.  The man came to see me in the hospital - and called me every day for 5 days until I saw him at my post op.  And I have a two week post op as well - then a one month, a three month, a six month and then a year - he is unbelievable at follow-up - like nothing I've ever experienced before.  He wanted to know exactly what I was drinking, how much, making sure I was taking my multivitamin, giving myself the shot, taking the pain med, etc.  ya' gotta respect that!

I'm down 20 pounds - 13 pre-surgery - 7 since 10/9!  If I keep at the rate of 7 pounds every 10 days I'll be down at least 20 or so more pounds by Thanksgiving - wow!

Well it's been a long journey to this point in my life and hopefully because of this point in my life I will have a much longer journey to travel!  I'm scared excited and just waiting for the unknown to become known!

Just waiting for insurance approval now! I started the 2 week liquid optifast diet on 9/23 and I'm starving but committed to throwing the final punch at obestity!  Good bye Band

So I went to Dr. Raftopolous back in February to see if he could help me get my band to work properly. It worked beautifully during pregnancy - I only gained 20 pounds - ate relatively small portions - never got anything stuck - never threw up - I had no fill but the band finally found a sweet spot to sit while I was pregnant.  Dr. Raftopolous suggested that the band is not an effective tool and said he recommended that I get a revision to the bypass.  I left his office very confused - but started to wrap my head around a revision - I went to all the tests he suggested - a new sleep study,  a blood test with 12 vials of blood (I had to go twice because the first time my veins collapsed so they couldn't get any blood from me), I went for an upper GI and got another PFT - my sleep apnea is cured because I'm down 30 or so pounds from the last time I had a sleep study - but I have developed mild asthma - who knew!  The only thing out of whack in all the tests is my leptin level is way out of range (38.3) - but other than that things look good.  So I go to the doctor today fully expecting that he'd be submitting a request to the insurance for approval - that's not what happened.  He asked me if I wanted to try to use the band again - WHAT??  He asked if I wanted to have a fill - I said no - he told me to think about  it for next month - he said that we will go through the motions of getting a revision surgery so I'll have to do 6 months of doctor supervised diet visits - WHAT - Again?  He told me to stop making excuses and start exercising and gave me a DIET to follow -

I felt like a COMPLETE LOSER - I left there and just cried and cried - I feel so bad  - I just let him go on and on about eating bla, bla, bla - I could have said the exact things - I KNOW how to eat - I KNOW I need ot exercise - DUHHHH!  I told him Dr. - I can lose weight - I've proven that my entire life - but look at me!  He just didn't get it - I don't think anyone who isn't obese gets it.  It took all of me not to completely start bawling in his office - I felt my eyes welling up with tears as he was telling me to join a gym and work out 3 to 5 times a week - uh - thanks.......I know there are plenty of people that are 100 pounds overweight that are capable of exercising - but how many of them actually DO IT?  Isn't that why we want the f'in surgery to begin with - hello?  I need help - if I could do it on my own - I would - I mean I've lost hundreds of pounds over and over and over again - I have this stupid tool in my body that he wants to "experiment" with to see if maybe something has changed and maybe this time it will work.

When he was asking me questions - I felt as if he was looking for an "uh-ha" it is your fault - like he asked what foods get stuck -I told him chicken and bread are some - he got fixated on telling me I should not be eating bread - um - I don't have any fill in and I can eat bread 10 days in a row and on the 11th day it gets stuck  - maybe I am a big failure.  He told me that I need to be positive - I was so positive when I walked in his office and left there in tears - I dunno - I'm just a little confused right now and extremely disappointed.

I'm allowed to have a pity party if I want - it's my life!

On another note - my daughter will be one 4/8 - it's hard to believe an entire year has passed!  She's the sweetest little baby and brings us much joy - I have to focus on what's good in my life right now - that is my husband, my son and my daughter - I am truly blessed regardless of the obesity curse!

Well I'll be taking a break from any band activity!  I'm PREGNANT! The baby is due in April - all the fill is removed but I'm feeling a bit of restriction I think.  It's the strangest thing - I'm eating kind of small portions and feeling satisfied, I can eat anything - nothing is getting stuck, no sliming - just getting full on relatively small portioins - I think I'm feeling kind of the way I've been supposed to feel since the beginning - hopefully I'll be okay with the amount of calories I need to take in...... I'm just trying to concentrate on eating healthy for the baby.  

I'm at an extremely happy place in life right now.

We did not plan this baby, it is a complete and total surprise - and although I wouldn't have planned it because I think I'm kind of old to be having a baby - that is not the plan God had for us.  After 17 years of marriage and NEVER using birth control and spending 3 years trying to get pregnant with my son needing medical intervention - this is truly a miracle child to me and I will accept this blessing with gratitude.  Now I just pray that the baby will be fine!

I will continue on the band path after the baby is born - just one small blip in the weight loss journey - but what a wonderful blip! :)

I was fine until yesterday morning when I went to drink my protein shake and it got STUCK! For 4 hours I walked around work trying desparately to get it to go down and it wouldn't.  I resorted to sticking my finger down my throat to get some relief.  I had clear broth for lunch and it was fine.  I should had stuck to liquids for dinner but I thought I'd try just a little ricotta cheese warmed up - I took one tiny little teaspoon to see how I would react to it - BIG MISTAKE!!  It was stuck and it got sour hanging there in my pouch - I tried to go to sleep with a ton of pillows behind me so I wouldn't be completely horizontal - every time I'd fall asleep bile would run up my throat and send me to he bathroom barfing - sour ricotta is disgusting..............This morning when I brushed my teeth I drank a gulp of water and it was very painful -I forgot and didn't take a tiny sip - I took a normal swallow - my chest was on fire and I got that golf ball feeling.  I called the doctor when I got to work and he had me come down to his office and they completely unfilled me - now I have to go for a barium swallow tomorrow.  After the unfill - I was able to have broth for lunch without any issues...............I don't know why after over a month the fill would become so restrictive that I wasn't able to eat or drink.  I am very unhappy with the band right now, it is an extremely hard tool to work with - I don't want to be one of the WLS failures - I have not given up - I don't think I ever will give up...........success will be mine - it will just take a while to get there.

I got filled up to 2.8 about two weeks ago and it doesn't seem like it's too good - I was doing okay until my time of the month came along - so I'm going to see if it's just that factor or if I need to have some taken out.  I haven't lost anything - just the same two or three pounds coming and going........I need to make some major changes - I really see no difference in my life preband and post band at this point.......except now if I don't chew good enough I throw up - oh yeah and  don't eat bread, pasta, bread crumbs, rice, and chicken and I eat a extremely small fraction of what I used to eat - so now I get all that and I get to diet too.  Frustrated is my mood lately - I hate to feel defeated but lately I have been.  Yesterday after thowing up my husband told me I should just have the band taken out -it's not helping me and just making me miserable............he said I should consider the bypass - which I do consider frequently - but it just scares me so much............anyway - here I am facing another fat summer and feeling sorry for myself.

Well I'm up to 2.6 and so far this feels like a good restriction - although I haven't eaten any solids yet- I got the fill Tuesday so I had liquids Tuesday and Wednesday and mushies for Thursday and today - I will start with solid on Saturday and see how it goes.  My husband came home with those stupid cadbury eggs - I love those things - I popped about 10 in my mouth today and I have to stop that insanity!

I actually lost 4 pounds from Tuesday to today but I've been up some so I'm 3 pounds away from my 50 pound loss - It's such a struggle but I'm hanging in - I'm not giving up - I will win the battle of obesity!!