TracyMarsh
I have had an extra ten pounds I was fighting with my whole life since high school. I was always on a diet. My mom was very thin and very focused on weight. I ate tons of sugar as a teenager. I maintained my weight at around 135, with dieting all the time. After my second child I did get back down to my prepregnancy weight with Jenny Craig. I joined weight watchers many times. I always hated WW. It made me focus on food so much I was just always wanting to eat, and not veggies.
In 1993 I was in a car accident that really changed my life direction. Before this time I was working as a parent advocate and trainer for teachers on Neurobiological disorders in children. My son has Aspergers disorder, which is a high functioning autism. At that time we thought he had Tourette syndrome, ADHD, OCD and social skill delay. Trained as a social worker I got involved and ended up writing a book on Tourette and doing public speaking, etc. trying to raise awareness of these unseen disorders that affected children. I loved my career and I was feeling very successful and productive. Then the car accident...it wasn't a sever one. But previously I had had 2 back surgeries for low back disk problems. The accident made all that worse. Over the next few years I had 3 more back surgeries, with a final 3 level fusion. I couldn't walk much and couldn't ride in cars unless laying down. This whole nightmare went on for about 4 yrs on and off. Then I was diagnosed with hepatitis C. So what followed was 3 more years of being on a chemo treatment that kept me in my pj's most of the time. I also went thru a divorce during these years and remarried. My second husband was so wonderful and supportive during my years of incapacitation. Finally in 2003 I was clear of HepC, my back was fixed, and I had gained 80 lbs. From laying around all those years and eating to deal with the pain and boredom and sickness. Since 2003 I tried to lose weight and never could lose much, only to gain it back.
I am a spiritual person and in 2008 I felt a spiritual call to explore lapband. I usually don't tell people that, cuz they think it's crazy. But it is true. It wasn't an intellectual thought, it was a deep knowing it was the right way to go. I did the research and my PCP thought it was a great idea too. He gave me a referral and I had my lapband on April 16, 2009. I had to wait the 6 mo's for my insurance, and then I had to wait until after the tax season, as my hubby and I work the tax season. He is a CPA.
I have been so happy to have the lapband. It has made me feel free from the constant nagging hunger. I know genetically my body wants to be overweight, and in my family I have 2 sisters who are overweight and one sister and brother who are thin. My mom was thin and my dad's family was overweight. Our body types are so obvious of a genetic call to fatness...lol...but since having my lapband, I have gotten RID of severe sleep apnea!!!!! Yeah! and I have cut my pain meds in more than half and I am still hoping to cut and get off of them when I get my weight down. Even an extra 5 lbs affects my back.
I have not been happy with my surgeon since the morning of surgery when he yelled at me and threw a hissy fit. I had "pain letters" from my pain doctor for the hospital pain team to plan for my pain management during and after surgery. Those letters were not in my chart the morning of surgery. The woman who checked me in told me to ask the doc about that as it was important to have pain managed properly and what could have happened to the letters? So when he came in, as I lay there with the shower cap on my head, ready to go under.....he asked if I had any final questions and I asked about the pain letters. He immediately started yelling at ME, saying that people on chronic pain meds are terrible patients and he didn't want to do them anymore and he had discussed it with his staff and we are never happy, we are always complaining of pain, etc. Treating me like I was a drug addict or something. It turned out that the pain team had the letters and they were great and on top of my pain. They agreed that it was important for me to have special care in pain management with my situation. They apologized for the doctors inappropriate behavior. Then, after my third fill, I started throwing up any solid protein. It would get stuck and hurt and then eventually come up. It is called PBing or sliming. I was treated as if it was my fault. No one on the staff acted like they had ever dealt with this before. Because my band was still very loose (only about 2 cc in a 10 cc band) they told me to chew more and take smaller bites....well after throwing up every meal you do tend to already do those things!!!!! I have gone back and forth since then with fills and unfills. Right now my band is wide open and I can eat anything. My surgeon was a total jerk and has told me it was in my head. He told me to go to a therapist. I did go, to satisfy him...and the therapist agreed it was not in my head. Now I am going to therapy to deal with how I was treated by this doctor. He practically slammed my chart on my hand and he has been more rude and disrespectful than I can even say. It goes on and on and now I realize I won't take anymore. At first I have been feeling like my wonderful tool, my band, is not what I was hoping for and it wasn't going to help me. But now I realize after reading the supportive posts here, that my band will work and I need to find a surgeon who will help me make it work. Others HAVE had these same problems and other doctors have helped them thru. So now I am thinking about a different doctor...wishing there was one closer to me. But I am spoiled cuz I know people travel hours to find one and I live in the twin cities so the farthest is 30 minutes! Tracy
