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My Sleeve Journal
Jump to the beginning of my journey with the lapband!
Me trying to hide the weight I have gained (and that is my handsome banded hubby with me)
June 5, 2009 - I am SLEEVED! I received my sleeve on June 2, 2009
As I begin my second weight loss surgery journey I can't help but look back on March 1 2005 when I was so excited to have my lapband. I realize their is a honeymoon period and the last time I was so afraid that I stuck to the post op diet to a T. I imaging this time will be no different. I am currently on a full liquid diet and will transition to the "mushy" phase in about 12 days. I am hoping to have lost some of this swelling by then as I am pretty swollen this time around. I am feeling pretty good. I stopped taking my narcotic pain meds on June 4th because they just make me so sick. I took one dose of liquid tyelnol yesterday afternoon and that was that. I am moving around a little bit better.
The diarrhea had me down yesterday and today. I don't know why I didn't do the imodium until today. I just didn't think about it. I posted to the obesityhelp.com forums about "never trusting a fart" because it is so true!! LOL. Gotta be careful.
Ok here is a final picture before surgery :
Ick, I hate the way I look. Of course the gown was really huge...but still. And here is one of me when I started to freak out:
LOl now THAT is scary!
June 1 2009- Slipped Band! Getting Sleeve June 2, 2009
So I don't have to re-type, I am just going to cut and paste here what I wrote to a friend of mine from the obesityhelp.com message boards:
My gosh I have been through the ringer! Ok so on Friday I couldn't take it anymore and called up Dr. Castro's office and asked for an emergency unfill. I couldn't swallow until 2pm in the afternoon most days, then I could drink some kind of liquid. I was miserable. They took me in at the Dallas Location and I saw "Greg". He was great. He unfilled me and I had immediate relief. I went down to the pharmacy and bought a bottle of orange juice and guzzled it. Oh yeah and according to their weight records I lost 10lbs in a week. NOT the way I like losing it! Anyway, so I felt great. Greg told me to stay on liquids or mushies until the next day.
Well that evening I was feeling so good we decided to go to the movies. Yes, I ate some popcorn. I just was feeling so good. It went down, as well as a glass of water. So we get out of the movies and I get in the truck and suddenly I have this sharp pain in my chest. It got so bad, I had him pull over into the USMD parking lot just so I could stand up and maybe it would pass. It didn't. He drove me around to the ER and checked me in. I thought I was dying of a heart attack. I was all clammy, and the burning pain radiating to my back was horrific. While in the waiting room I vomited up some popcorn and felt instant relief. I was embarrassed thinking I shouldn't have eaten the popcorn, it caused trapped gas in my pouch or something. The Dr. saw me anyway, gave me something for pain and sent me on my way. My pain literally went from a 10 to a 1 or 0 just like that. I was really embarrassed. So I go home and I sleep. I slept until 11 the next day which is unlike me. I got up and I felt fine, thinking the previous nights nightmare was just a onetime deal.
I go into the kitchen and got me a cup of coffee and took one sip. I then went and started cleaning out my guinea pig cage (You have to come over sometime and see their get up, they live better than I do!). I got done with that and went to sit down and it hit me again! Cliff took one look at me and said "oh $#!^!!" I barely made it to the bathroom. I felt sweaty again and the pain was burning in my back so bad. I felt like I had to vomit and have diarrhea at the same time. My chest felt like it was throbbing as if an alien baby was going to come out any time. I grabbed my cell phone and was about to try and reach Dr. Castro when it was gone again! This time it only lasted 10 minute while the ER adventure had lasted about 20. Cliff said "I bet you aggravated it by cleaning that cage and bending over, get in bed you are on strict bed rest now!". So that is what I did and I slept all day (No pain meds, nothing) I slept until 7pm!!
So I got up and I was feeling good again, no pain, nothing residual. So I went and sat on the couch and put my laptop on my lap. Checked my email, looked at facebook. Then Cliff came into the room and I decided to go talk to him so I went into the kitchen where he was and gave him a hug. I walked back towards the livingroom and WHAM!! It hits me again. It FEELS LIKE A HEART ATTACK, intense pain in the chest, sweaty, light headed. I am thinking "NO NOT AGAIN!!". I start panicking thinking NOW I KNOW something is not right with my band or something. I am thinking all kinds of bad thoughts like maybe it popped open, or maybe it eroded into my stomach. I am trying to breathe but it hurts to breathe. I wait it out 10 min in excruciating pain. It is not stopping. I am doing my labor breathing that I learned 15 years ago and trying to not focus on the pain. After 20 min, it is not going away. I tell Cliff to call 911.
So I get rushed to the hospital. (A different hospital because USMD doesn't take ambulance's???) This time the pain goes away after about an hour from start to finish. They take X-rays and do bloodwork. Guess what?? NOTHING!! They say everything looks fine! I didn't see my own x-rays but they gave me a copy of the bloodwork. The ER doc this time tells me he thinks I have Spastic esophageal motility disorder. He says he wants me to follow up with Dr. Castro for an Endoscopy and barium swallow exam. He explained that this disorder can mimic an angina attack. He sends me home with a prescription for Lortab and phenergren.
(snip)
I had one more attack on Sunday but I was able to breathe through it plus I was on pain meds. This morning (Monday June 1) I received a call back from Dr. Castro's office. They could see me right away so I had Cliff drive me. They do a upper GI. The doctor comes and tells me I need to have my band out now, it is no longer a choice but a necessity. He says he will schedule it for tomorrow (EEK!). So here I am, I will be getting the sleeve tomorrow! Anyone reading this now and it is before June 2 2009, please say a little prayer for me.
May 2009- 401K Fell through but..... Ok, so I found out more about my 401k and it turns out, I am not "vested" and cannot get the money out that I need. So I turned to my insurance which last year my company had an exclusion. Well guess what?? The exclusion has been lifted!! It is VERY possibly that I might be able to get my revision surgery with insurance covering 85%!! I have looked at some doctors in my area and so far like Dr. Barnes. If anyone reading this has been to him please drop me a line!
April 2009- I'm going to get the sleeve! 220lbs It is official, I am going to get the sleeve. I have made a tentative date for May 25th 2009. I hadn't weighed in months but I knew my clothes were telling me the whole story. Size 14-16 (14's are tight) from my goal size of 6-8. I am mortified. So many factors caused me to gain the weight back I don't even want to talk about it. But I will summarize:
1. I met and fell in love with my hubby and forgot the band rules 2. Once I remembered the rules my body rebelled and I tried to lose the weight but it wouldnt go, even after a fill, only being on liquids for 4 weeks (less than 800 calories a day) and exercising. 3. So I went to an endocrinologist and she said my metabolism was messed up (probably all the yo-yo calorie intake) and my thyroid was trashed from taking too much hormone. She put me on less but also put me on another thyroid pill, cytomel. BTW, my blood sugars were going high instead of low (have always had a problem with low) so she put me on metformin 4. I began exercising again, eating a 1200-1500 calorie supervised atkins/southbeach diet , the weight did not budge. I got depressed and gave up.....until now.
Ok so there you have it in a nutshell. I realize I still need to go back to the doc and have them run more tests as to why my metabolism has shut down. I feel like if I get the sleeve, at least the following will happen:
1. I will have permanent restriction and will not have to worry about fills, unfills, leaking ports, etc 2. My hunger will be curbed- I am constantly hungry or thinking about food again. 3. I will know for sure my tool is there and working for me so It will be up to me to do the rest. 4. Down the road if I still need something else I can revise to the DS (I really do not want to do but at least it is an option)
Last post on the lapband journal page is below.
July 05 2008 Weight???
I went back to Dr. Aceves and I am so glad I did. I saw him on June 23rd. My sister and I went to Mexico with some other great people that we met on the van ride with Ernesto. (I think Ernesto is the sweetest man!!). Anyway, Dr. Aceves and Dr. Campos looked at my band together. Dr. Aceves only pulled out .5 cc's!! I was so shocked and upset. I figured I had a leak because Dr. Garwood said he put back in 3.2 when he did my leak test. And before that, i saw Dr. Peterson and I was supposed to have 3 and he only pulled out 2.5 so I was really thinking I had a leak. Dr. Aceves checked and rechecked everything and said he could only put in 1.8 because at 2 I was totally closed up. HOW CAN THAT BE?? I don't understand how I could have ever had 3cc if 2 totally closed me up? Well ok let me think logically. Maybe when I had 3 I weighed less. Yes, come to think about it I think I weighed 180. Although I haven't weighed I believe I am probably in the upper 180's to low 190's still. So maybe just that tiny bit of fat loss around the stomach? who knows? I just know that as of today, i still have restriction and Dr. Campos checked me the next day after my fill and it was all still there (By looking at the xray, not pulling it back out). So I guess I shouldn't bitch, I still have restriction. I am soooo glad my band is back to helping me because it was getting crazy.
Cliff and I would go out to eat and he would eat one small plate and I would be able to eat and eat. It was so depressing. I thought I was doing good though and I guess I was considering...I had hardly anything in my band!! I am surprised I didn't gain any more. Don't get me wrong the 30 lbs I gained back was not because I didn't have anything in my band. I believe at that time I did, I was just over eating, or grazing if you will. Meeting the love of your life might do that to you if you are a lover of food and going out to eat is your ultimate date! We have changed our ways however and now we go to the movies or go play tennis. But the 30 lbs came back on and so I started exercising and eating right again and I couldn't lose. So I went to get my band checked and apparently when Dr. Garwood was checking, he possibly didn't put it back in??? I don't know, and I don't want to blame him but fact is, I only had .5cc in my band when Dr. Aceves pulled it out and if I still have restriction now, it must mean it was pulled out. Purely an accident and I am sure it can happen to the best of them. But I basically paid $350 to have my fill pulled out!! What I think could have prevented that is if he did the leak test, then had me do another swallow test afterwards.
So why haven't I weighed? The scale is still the enemy for me. I am afraid of what I will see. Even when Sergio weighed me this time, I asked him not to tell me what it was. Oh, here is a cute picture of Sergio by the way:
He is also the sweetest, most kindest man. Held my hand during the whole fill procedure and told me I would be ok.
So I don't know what my weight is and I don't care. I am going by my clothes and right now my size 12's are getting a little looser but I am no way able to get to the size 10 jeans yet. At this point, I would be happy getting back to my size 10's. I weighed about 175-180 at that point and I felt I looked pretty good. Cliff and I have discovered that playing tennis is much more fun then walking around a track and is GREAT exercise. It get's our heart rates up and he really gets a good cardio workout, while I get a good fat burning and muscle work out.
So here is the picture I took with Dr. Aceves:
I have no make up on and yes, I have dyed my hair brown just for the heck of it. This picture was taken right after I tried to convince him that I was on liquids for 3 weeks and didn't lose a pound. I know for sure he thought I had cheated. I just looked at him and said, "Don't worry, I wouldn't have believed me either".
Here is a picture of Jill and Jayne whom we met in the van ride to Mexico:
Jayne is on the left and was there to get the Sleeve. Jill is on the right and was there to get an unfill as she could not eat or drink much.
And this is my sister who went with me for support and also to get some pain meds at the mexican pharmacy:
This was taken the night before she took any pills. I wish I had a picture of her the next morning but apparently what she thought she was buying was vicodin, ended up being Tylenol with codeine and she is allergic to codeine and was itchy and swollen. It was hillarious but not for her of course....LOL
And here is a picture of me, my sister, and my best friend since high school, Cathii
We were all dolled up for our 20 yr high school reunion. I think we look pretty damn good!! |
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