Kelly Reilly
Where to begin!
My whole life I have been over weight. I was always the "heavy" girl in dance, cheerleading, girl scouts. All through HS and into my early twenties I really knew that I needed to do something about my weight. But like most people, we put it off, go on a "diet" and fall off and go back to the way things were.
I got married in October 2009, and was pregnant in March 2010. When I was almost 8 months pregnant, I was at a routine doctor visit, and he diagnosed me with preeclampsia. I was admitted to the hospital for 3 days to monitor my blood pressure. There was talk that I would have to deliver my son at that point. I was scared! Luckily, I was discharged, still pregnant, and just monitored weekly. Finally at 35 weeks, they didn't want to play the guessing game of if my blood pressure was going to give me a stroke. So they sent me to the hospital to be induced. My son was born at 5lbs, 19oz, and was in the NICU for a week. It was scary as a new mom. So after he was discharged, and I was medically cleared to go back to work, and we settled into our new life as parents, I decided to have weight loss surgery (WLS)
My husband wasn't thrilled at first because he was scared, and thought I was perfect already. (Sweet, i know) But after researching online, and going to a Lap Band seminar, I decided to go for all the tests for Lap Band, and had the surgery on February 24th, 2012. After a few months, I wasn't losing any weight, and the foods that I was eating would get stuck. Ya ever eat a bagel, and it gets stuck in your chest til it passes, YEA, that was me with tuna fish, or even oatmeal. I kept after the doctor and the nutrionist, and they didn't help me. So I said SCREW you. I researched online and found this amazing surgeon Dr. Adeyeri.
He immediately impressed me with listening to all my concerns about WLS and a revision surgery. He says to me I would have NEVER given you the Lap band procedure. He explained based on my paperwork, and other issues, that this was not and should not have been for me. Because I have acid reflux, creating that small pouch with the band aggravates it, and can erode my esophagus, and eventually give me what is called a Barrett esophagus, which can lead to cancer! Right there, I was said OK GET THIS BAND OUT! Plus because I am so over weight, I need a metabolic change, and acid reflux, he suggested the Gastric Bypass. He also took out all the fluid from the Lap Band, which cleared up the problem of food getting stuck (for the most part). He said that its going to be "tight" but it was waaaaaaay better than what it was.
I met with the nutrionist, and did all the requirements again. I was still skeptical about bypass but what other choice do I have. So, between my husband, myself and the doctor, we decided on Lap band removal with laparoscopic Gastric bypass on December 26th, 2013.