ANGIE M.

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My name is Angie. I am 28 years old and been overweight as long as I can remember. I remember weighing over 220 in the 6th grade. I stopped weighing myself at that point and today 220 is still on my driver’s license! Well this has been my "journey" so far...

2005
May 10th Weight 360.5 BMI 54.8
Went to Team Bariatrics (Team B) to get the ball rolling on RNY surgery.

May 19th

Saw dietician and Personal Trainer (not covered by Ins.)

June 2nd

Had to have emergency gall bladder surgery. This did not go well for me. My gall bladder was the size of a football and full of stones and infection. The doctor was surprised I made it through that surgery! Went home on the 5th.(It took me 3 months to feel even close to normal.)

June 6th

Back in hospital for a stray gallstone in pancreas. Had an ERCP to correct. Went home on the 8th.

July 29th

Rushed to ER to have CAT scan of lungs. They were afraid of PE. All they found was a large hematoba where my gall bladder used to be.

Aug. 16th Weight 329 BMI 50

Went in for a follow up from gall bladder surgery. Needless to say that surgery made me VERY leery of getting any "voluntary" surgery. So I made my final decision to have the LapBand.

Sept. 9th

Received denial letter. The good news was the only reason they denied me is because Team B sent in my orig. weight of 360.5 and my BMI was more than 50. I go in for a re weigh in so they can fax in my new info.

Sept. 12th Weight 323.5 BMI 49.2

Re-submitted my new info to ins.

Sept. 20th

Received my approval letter!!!! Yaye!!!!!!!!!! I was so skeptical. It was too easy! Thanks to Deb at Team B.

Sept. 29th

I got my surgery date! My date is Oct 17th. Oh man am I ever nervous! I would just hate a repeat of my gall bladder situation!!! But I am in God's hands and just have to trust that everything will go well.

10/03/05

I get a call from Team Bariatrics saying that insurance doesn't want to pay b/c I have a pre existing condition exclusion clause on my policy. So I called Anthem to confirm and sure enough I do. But then I ask is M.O. a pre existing condition and they looked it up and it is NOT!!!!!! SO surgery is still a go! Just be sure you know what questions to ask!

10/17/05

Today is the day! I go in at noon for the pre op workup. See you on the losing side!

10/21/05

Well, I am finally feeling better. I have had a lot of belly pain due to gas. Surgery went well for me. I thank God for Kathy! She held my hand till I went under. She just kept reassuring me and reminding me why I was doing this. It is so hard to get in all the food they want you to eat, but from my understanding that is to be expected.

10/26/05

I am feeling really well today. I almost feel like I did before surgery! Tomorrow I go in for a follow up appt. with Dr. Stone and Sandy. I am really hoping to get to move on to puree food!! Hunger has returned and I am ready to start "eating" again!

10/27/05

I got the okay to start solids today. I have lost 14 pounds in the last 10 days! I am really excited about this! I hope this goes this way all the time!

11/29/05

During Thanksgiving I burned my stomach badly b/c I couldn't feel the skin there. It is still numb from GB surgery in June. Today I went for my first fill. He bent 3 needles on me and pricked his own finger in the process! They will call me tomorrow for an appt to have a fill done under Fluro.
-got my appt. and have to wait 3 weeks!!

12/22/05

Today I have my port repositioned. When I went for the fill under fluro he saw the port was floating around in there and not stable at all. He couldn't get the fill and so he had to operate again to tack it back down. I am a little sore and have a whole bunch of staples. Seems they had to reopen the port wound and make a new one to move the port to a different area. So now I have 2 wounds closed with staples. Yikes! I joke that I wanted to pierce my belly but this is ridiculas! LOL while he had the port he gave me a 1cc fill.

2006
1/23/06
I wasn't all that impressed with this fill, so today I go in for another fill today. And he cannot find the port again! Dejavu. The last time this happened it landed me in the OR. I do not plan to go back in there! I go back next week to see if they can get it with an ultra sound. Crossing fingers and praying it works. I will try to always have a US or fluro from now on. No more blind sticks.

Feb 28th 06
The Ulra Sound didn't work for the fill. They still couldn't find much. SO I just had to suck it up and let them go for it. It was a very hard experiences for me but then he finally got it. When he did he made a "map" of my belly on the chart so that he will know where it is for next time! I went in with 2cc's in and that didn't give me much restriction so he pushed in another 2cc's. That made me too tight. I couldn't even keep down my own saliva. When the pouch filled up I would throw that up. SO he took out 1cc leaving me with 3cc's so we will see how that goes!

Mar 6th 06
Well, it hasn't even been a whole week and I have lost 10 lbs! I am thinking I may be a little over filled. I have thrown up everyday so far. And the meals that I do not throw up I PB and slime and have real bad pain in my chest. Well, at least the band is working now!

Mar 16th 06
It has been really hard eating. I have thrown up almost everyday. I was wondering if I was too tight but I tested it last night. I ate the exact same thing that sent me vomiting again and this time slowed waaaaaaaay down and chewed till it was like a liquid in my mouth. It all went down fine and I ate the proper portions. So maybe this is how I am supposed to be. At my sweet spot? I go in to see the doc at the end of the month and get an official weigh in. I know I will lose at least 20 lbs this month. That seems like a lot, but no complaints here!

Mar 28th 06
I have lost 15 pounds this month. Dr says that is a lot. He says the norm is about 6-8 pounds a month. I lost all the weight in the first 2 weeks and then I stopped. Maybe it is because I have learned to eat without throwing up. I am at 3cc's in my band and he says that is a lot. But I guess if that is what it takes to get the weight loss going? Everyone is different. Dr. is very happy and so am I. I just hope I can keep up the weight loss.

April 30th 06
Tuesday I went in for my monthly check up and found that I lost about 3.5 pounds. It is no 15 like the month before but I will defiantly take it! I decided to go with .5cc fill since my restriction has been kind of wearing off. I felt a real difference in only .5cc! I have really good restriction now. I still am able to eat what I want just a lot less of it and have to take it very slowly. Today, however I am having a hard time eating anything. Even liquids are going down hard. I am getting help from the LapBand message board. That is the best group of people there! So very helpful. I am adding protein powder to my SlimFast shakes to try and get in enough protein. This is the first time in my journey that I have a real concern about the nutrition I am getting. I just don’t feel like I am getting enough. Hopefully the extra protein and the chewable vitamins will help.

May 9th 06
Today I went in for an unfill. He took out .25 of a cc. It was hard for him to find my port. He said that it felt like it had repositioned. He finally found it and did the unfill. Now I can eat limited portions of about anything I want again. I have not had a PB or Slime since! So things are def. better! I lost 13 pounds in 2 weeks! I know too fast but hey, all right by me! I have drank about 2 gallons of water in the last 2 days so I know I dehydrated a little. I expect to gain a few pounds from the water alone. Hopefully not too much. Hopefully I have found the sweet spot! Crossing fingers!

June 22nd 06
I went in for my monthly check up. I have only lost 1 pound. And I feel like I am eating more than a typical bander so I opted for a slight fill of .1cc That now puts me at 3.35. I have been feeling well and glad to be in my new home.

July 8th 06
Today I got on the scales and I weight 259.6!!! I am offically down 100 Pounds!!! Yea!!!

July 14th 06
Today I had the .1cc removed again. For the past 2 weeks I have felt choked and it was hard to get anything to stay down. So I am going to try and work with the previous amount I had in there. Hoping to have found my sweet spot. 

December 29th 06
It has been a while sice I updated "life"gets in the way sometimes! We bought a new house and are settled in nicely. No new fills for me but eating seems to be getting easier to eat. Seems I have to watch wat I eat more. Happy New Year to me! I lost 6 pounds over the holidays! I haven't had a fill since July so I think I am at sweet spot. Things are still hard to eat sometimes and other times it feels like I am eating like a horse. I will continue on as long as I have a loss within the month.

2007

January 7th 07
I have had a lot of problems with acid and a bad taste in my mouth. It was starting to be really painful and I couldn't figure out what was going on. The suddenly the problem just stopped. As weird as it sounds I think it was due to stress. I had a very busy holiday, and my Grandfather passed away. So it has been a hard time for me. So maybe my stomach is stress sensitive now? It is funny what effects the band. The weight loss is slowing way down now. But to get to the Doc.'s goal of 208.5 I only have about 33 pounds. I am hoping to get below 200 this year.

Feburary 11th o7
I  have been eating more often lately so I think I will make an appointment with stone by the end of the week. I will let you know what happens. I went for a weigh in on the 13th and found out that I lost 6.5 pounds! It has been 6 weeks since my last weigh in so that is about 1 pound a week so I decided no fill for me. I will get a fill when I stop losing or have a gain. Maybe I need a new home scale so I can stop freaking out when the scale stops. Mine seems to not be working properly anymore!

March 8th 07
Today I had a meeting with Team Bariatrics to become an ambassitor for them. I am very excited to be a part of something likt that! It will be nice to meet new people and come up with some new exciting ideas.

March 15th & 16th 07
I had a fill today. My first one without Dr. Stone. It has been almost a year since my last fill. I was very nervous. Come to find out Dr. Murphy accessed my port better than Dr. Stone did! It was quick and easy. Maybe because I don't have as thick of a layer of fat over top the port. However she pushed in .75cc although I was able to drink and later that night I even spoke at the seminar, it proved to be too much. About midnight I started throwing up. I couldn't keep even my own saliva down! I called after hours and they said I needed to tough it out till morning because there was no one to help me. So after an excruciating night I went in for an unfill of .5 cc and now I seem to be doing well. Things have changed for me and I have to modify my behaviors yet again. I have to take smaller bites and it does take me 30 min to eat 1/4 cup of soup! I know things will be easier when my post fill swelling goes down. 

April 13, 07
Well, Friday the 13th proves to have no effect on the band LOL! I have lost 6.5 pounds in the 4 weeks since my last fill. So lets see what next month brings! I have run into one problem... I am going from a size 18 to a size 16. Seems that at Wal-Mart that is a huge jump! I am told I need a 16 womens not a 16 misses.... Well, I found some capris to live in this summer. Lets see what size I will be in when I go to wear jeans again! I am almost into those 16 misses!

June 21, 07
I have been fighting with reflux at night. I tried everything to modify behavior before finally turning to an unfill. I am now down to 2.5 in my 4cc band. I am back to the same fill I started with when I got filled in March. I have lost only 3 pounds in the last 2 months but I feel it is from the problems I have been having. I am on liquids for the next 4 days then I get to go back to solids slowly. I am just hoping it is not dilation. The doc said that is wasn't a slip. She said I would Know if I had a slip b/c everything would be coming back up and I would be in pain. That is not the case thank goodness. I also don't think I have dilation as I get full on about 1/2 - 1c of food. I have an appointment next month I will update more then. My goal is to be 220 or less by then...

Dec. 04, 07
Well, it has been a LONG time since I last posted and a lot has happend since then! I have figured out the reflux thing. Seems it happens only when I have pushed the line a little too hard that day or threw up or ate/drank (even water!) within 3 hours of bed time. I now have 2.75 in my band. I have good restriction and I am loosing again. I was on about a 6 month plateu and didn't even care at the time. I guess now I feel like it is time to get back on the horse and get going again. As long as I follow the rules at least 80% of the time and get my water in, I loose the weight. I am now 218. That is less than what I weighed in the 6th grade! I now wear a 1x or x large and a size 14w stretch jeans. I am more than 2 years out and still happy with the band and the weight loss.

2008

Wow I just realized that it has been 7 months since my last entry. I am pleased to say that there is more to life than dieting and your current weight number. I reached my doctor's goal of 207 this month. It puts me at a size 14 because i am very tall. I am still losing. I don't keep track of how much how fast exactly anymore but it is somthing of 1-2 pounds a month. I am finally at a comfortible weight to say that I dont weigh often anymore. I haven't had a fill in over 7 months and not sure I will get anymore either. Just hang in there be paitent! It will come. Get your adjustments when you need them (fill AND release) and LET it work! The most amazing thing is, I havn't gained it back. AND as a matter of fact I'm still losing! Slow and little as it may be.... I'm not gaining and still losing.

06/10/05 -360.5
08/04/05 -337.5
08/16/05 -329
09/12/05 -323.5
10/03/05 -323
10/17/05 -SURGERY
10/27/05 -302.5
11/29/05 -301.5
12/13/05 -298.5
01/19/06 -295
01/31/06 -299 +
02/14/06 -297
02/28/06 -299.5 +
03/28/06 –285
04/25/06 -281.5
05/09/06 -268.5
06/22/06 -267.5
07/14/06 -255
10/28/06 -252
11/28/06 -247.5
12/29/06 -241.5
02/13/07 -235
03/15/07 -238 +
04/13/07 -231.5
06/21/07 -227
09/20/07 -235+
10/31/07 -223
07/06/06 -207
09/01/07 -211+

My fisrt banday is Oct 17th. I have offically lost 107 pounds since I started. Doc says I will still continue to lose over the next 4 years. I do not regret this and would do it again in a heartbeat! I started a size 30/32 and now I am an 18/20! That to me is awsome!