Christy Sanchez

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I'm scheduled for my Lapband to RNY revision on June 8th. Last Monday, I went to my doctor (here in Georgia) for all my preop testing. She mentioned my low heart rate, it was in the 40's. I told her I've known about the Bradycardia or low heart rate for 5 or 6 years. I've been told about it before. She wasn't worried about it, since I was not light headed, passing out or suffering from lots of headaches. Well, they faxed all the results yesterday to Dr Weaver's office. Her nurse, Vanessa, called me and told me that I need to see a cardiologist for a pre-op cardiac clearance. She said, that the EKG results showed low heart rate & T wave abnormalities. I called my doctors office back for a referral & she told me she didn't think I needed a clearance because the T wave abnormality was because of the low heart rate but did give me one. I'm seeing the cardiologist tomorrow. Please pray that everything is ok. I'm not too worried yet. I'm glad I got an appointment quickly. I've been tinkering around the message boards but got pretty discouraged because so many responses told me not to waste my time with the RNY but go for  the DS. I don't even think my doctor does the DS & my insurance was already approved. But after reading Dr Davis's from Big Medicines book I feel better about not having the DS. He doesn't even do them because of the risk and only recommends them  for super obese. I have gotten a couple people to give me good positive feedback that have had the revision to RNY. I'm so grateful for them. I'll post again soon.

Life is always changing....since I've last posted I've had a couple fills. One of them was so tight I lost 23 pounds in 5 days. I couldn't eat or drink anything. Honestly, I haven't lost a lot of weight in the last year. I have struggled with vommitting everyday since I've had surgery. I have a 4cc Inamed Band. My port has always been funny. The doctor previously told me I might need to have it adjusted. I don't know if this has caused some of my problems. I finally went to the doctor and asked for a revision to RNY Gastric Bypass. (That was last week...the insurance request was sent last Friday.)  I found out yesterday that it is approved. My doctor is in Memphis and in December I moved to Acworth, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta). I have to come back to Memphis for the surgery. Well, I have a date set for June 8th so my kids will be out of school. We will be staying with my family. I am hoping that I will finally be able to have somewhat normal life again. By that I mean, I have not been able to eat much at all since my original lap band surgery. My family has expressed to me many times that they were concerned at how sick I was and how none of them wanted to have the surgery despite being overweight. This happened so fast so I will be honest and say that I'm nervous or anxious about the surgery. Please keep me in your prayers. I would love to hear from anyone who has had this revision previously.

Life is  life....always hectic. My journey has been long with some bumps but I'm doing ok. The first year I stayed pretty sick and didn't lose that much weight(about 30 pounds). In November, I had the Essure procedure done where the doctor puts springs in your fallopean (?sp) tubes and you grow scar tissue to prevent pregnancy. It's a small procedure done in the doctors office and you are fine the next day. During the first 3 months of this procedure you're not protected so he gave me the Depo shot. I was starving and at the time couldn't understand what was going on. In January, I went to OB doctor for my check up and he scheduled the follow up. I did not get another depo shot but got birth control pills to make sure i was protected until the radiologist cleared me. You have to go to the hospital and the radiologist puts some fluid in you and makes sure the tubes are closed. Well mine were and I don't have any more birth control. Also in the end of January I went and had a fill done, I lost 35 pounds over the next 6 to 8 weeks. More from the birth control than the fill I think. Plus I started exercising at Curves again in February. I was doing good but just miserable because I was overfilled and couldn't eat anything. I was sick all the time. No one wanted to be around me because if I had to eat it was going to be horrible. In May, I went and had an unfill. It was wonderful at first because I could eat. I didn't realize how much I had missed food. Well, I have gained about 5 pounds back. I want to get more weight off and have scheduled another appointment for a fill. I don't want to get as much as last time but need a little more. Oh how I wished I would have just had the RNY, I don't enjoy messing with the fills. I plan to be more diligent and always struggle with healthy snacks. I need more variety but have always been picky. I welcome any comments or suggestions. I hope my story helps someone one day. I'm going to try to do better updating and tracking my progress. Reading others stories always helped me.....Christy

Almonds, 1 oz (about 24) with a clementine (tangerine) = 199 cal; 7g pro
Baked chickpeas w/savory seasoning, 1/2 c. = 135 cal; 7g pro
Edamame, 1/2 c. shelled or 1-1/8 c. in pods = 100 cal; 10g pro
Protein coffee (1 scoop body fortress, 1/2 c. 1% milk + coffee) = 151 cal; 28g pro
Protein Smoothie w/ fruit and 1% milk = 216 cal; 28g pro
Cottage cheese, 1/2 c. 2% with fresh fruit & 1/4 c. Kashi = 202 cal; 19g pro
Fage Greek yogurt, 1/2 c. mixed w/ 1/2 c. Cool Whip & fresh fruit = 189 cal; 10g pro
Kashi TLC Crunchy bars = 180 cal; 7gr pro
Wheat Thins whole grain, 11 crackers, with 1 wedge Laughing Cow Light = 125 cal; 3.5g pro
Yoplait Thick and Creamy Light Yogurt = 100 cal.; 5g pro

"Cheap" snacks that don't break the "calorie budget":

Claussen's mini dills = 5 cal.
Jello SF cups = 10 cal. 
Cool Whip (for jello) = 25 cal/2T
SF fudesicles:  40 cal.
Shaved ice w/ Crystal light = freebie ($25 for ice shaver from Walmart)
Green tea = freebie
waterwaterwaterwaterwaterwaterwaterwater

Healthy Snacks - wanted to keep these in a safe place.

Wanted to keep this somewhere safe:

#1 Do for 10 days to break plateau

#2 Drink 2 quarts of water a day

#3 You must have 45 grams of protein supplement and all your vitamin
& mineral supplements each day.

#4 You may consume up to 3 oz. of the following high-protein foods,
5 times a day:

* beef,
* pork,
* chicken,
* turkey,
* lamb,
* fish,
* eggs,
* low-fat cheese,
* cottage cheese,
* plain yogurt (or artificially sweetened),
* peanut butter,
* beans/legumes.

#5 You may also have:

* sugar-free popsicles (avoid juice popsicles),
* tea or coffee,
* sugar-free sodas,
* sugar-free Jello,
* broths & bouillons,
* Crystal Lite drinks.

For Vegetables eat from only this list:

Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, Brussels sprouts,
Asparagus & Cabbage

For Fruit choose only from this list:
Cantaloupe, honey dew, watermelon and strawberries

#6 IF IT IS NOT ON THE LIST YOU MAY NOT HAVE IT!

#7 Keep a food diary and try to get 30 minutes of exercise daily. 

I think I might try this soon.

I think I'm down about 22 pounds now. I joined Curves by my work a couple weeks ago. Wouldn't you know it - I joined on a Friday and on Wednesday  we had to close our office due to some crazy person in our colocation. I'm working from the other girl in my office's house. I can't work from home because I live in the country and can't get DSL so I have service through Hughesnet a satellite company and my VPN is so slow. I hope we get a set office soon. I haven't been driving to Curves because gas is so expensive and it's about 13 miles one way to the Curveslocation. I drive an Expedition and the gas is killing me already. I think if I could get back to Curves I'd be doing better. My dad called me this week and told me that my grandmother said I could have her treadmill. I just need to go get it. I haven't gotten it yet because I don't have room in the car for it and my 5 boys. My husband has been out of town all week and just got home last night for the weekend. Hopefully, I can get over there for the treadmill. Maybe that will help. I'm still struggling with food and liquids. I'm really looking for easy, quick healthy food ideas. Please send me any suggestions. I appreciate it. I did get my 2nd fill this week and met some great ladies there. Going to the doctor seems to be a support group in itself. Maybe I should go more often (lol). I hope everyone is doing good and will update soon.

Ok - so I finally got my 1st fill last Friday after the doctor called and rescheduled. I joined Curves last Thursday through a benefit at work and didn't have to pay a registration fee which is too great. I worked out the 1st time on Friday after my fill. I went on Monday and today. I hope this is the key. I'm feeling restriction and have had some problems getting food in at all. I just don't want my hair to fall out. I'm hoping this is the key and I'm going to start losing faster now. I'll try to update every week or so. Hope you have a good week!

Ok - I had surgery on January 23rd it went pretty well. I'm all healed up and the swelling has gone down. So, now I'm pretty hungry with no saline. I'm getting a fill on the 27th. I'm also going to join Curves on March 1 - they are running a special. I hope this helps because I need more results. I'm getting slightly frustrated. I can eat just about anything right now. I didn't do this surgery for nothing. I'm looking for food ideas - everything is so conflicting and i'm confused. Any Help will be appreciated. Thanks for listening to my complaining. Other than that life is good....Christy

Life's pretty much back to normal - I'm feeling fine. I'm not sure when I can start exercising and loving (Not) this pureed diet. I'm actually going towards soft foods now but sometimes I find it hard to find something I like. I had soup today for lunch. It was ok. It's been snowing today so the kids got out of school early and I have the 3 youngest at home too. So, all 5 kids at home is proving to be very tiring. I've had something to do everyday. Today is the first day I don't have to take one of the kids to an appointment or something but I want a day home just for me. I don't know if I will get one in before going back to work. I'm learning through trial and error how the band works and am learning quite a lot. I don't enjoy being sick so the tool is definitely working so far. Although, sometimes I'm getting hungry before the four hours is up. Still struggling with getting in my liquids and protein but once I can have regular food I don't think it will be a problem. I know what I need to eat - meat. Sometimes I feel a little depressed but am overall happy with the surgery.

I'm feeling a little better today. I had surgery on Wednesday and needless to say I was so scared. One thing that made it more difficult for me is that I was in a holding area for a couple hours. They took me back at 7:50am and I don't think I had surgery until 11am or after. All I know is I didn't get into my room from recovery until 1:43pm, the hospital stay was ok. I had a really good nurse at night but the daytime nurses leave something to be desired. I believe I was allergic to the Morphine so I stopped using it. It made me have bad nightmares, a red rash all over my body, and then my bloodpressure dropped from 118 over 72 to 90 over 50 and then I started feeling really bad. On Thursday, my IV blew and so it stopped everything. Dr. Weaver didn't come see me until 5:45 pm so I didn't get to leave the hospital until 6pm that night. It was so cold outside too. The ride home was pretty good my mom hit a few bumps but overall it was gentle. On Friday, I went to the bank and tried to run a few errands with my mom. Well, I ended up getting really sick so we came home. They had bad weather warnings. After school, I had the 3 older boys here waiting (and waiting) for my sister to come get them. They were so bad for my mom. I was trying to nap and I could here them yelling and fighting with each other. I got up and go them to calm down. My sister finally arrived at 8:30pm and got the two oldest. Christian my 4 year old was asleep and refused to go. I guess I can handle one of them. I took some pain meds and finally got one good night of sleep. (Praise the Lord!) I got up this morning at 9 am and checked on my wounds because last night one of them looked like it was swollen, red, and enflamed. It looks much better today. What a relief! I wanted to say Thank you to all of my friends and well wishers I met on this website. It made this experience go so much better to know that other people cared and supported my efforts. It meant so much more than you will ever know. The best thing I know so far is that I have a small band and it seems to really work. I'm hardly ever hungry. That's a first for me. I'm going to try to eat something now.