ceekayess
Hi - I am 49 and have been over two hundred pounds since I was around 24. I have had a mild heart attack and have constant back neck and shoulder pain . I have high blood pressure and I suffer muscle cramps. I have heel spurs and pain all the time.
I am researching getting a lapband as I feel it is a safer procedure for me. I am thinking of going to Dr. Mecenas as he is only 40 miles away. The office there says he has done 27 laps in Ithaca but also around 100 at NYU. I am scared to go with someone with not enough experience I am hoping that 127 is enough!
My husband has tried to help me and so has my family but I stay right around 214- 239 whatever I do - my heaviest was 245 back in 1989 and right after xmas I was 239 - the most I have weighed in years. Today I am 233.5 - If my patterns stay the same - I will lose down to 200 and just hover between that and 225. I can't even walk well these days. I have started swimming and it hurts my shoulders a lot to do. I have also been diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet syndrome and fibromyalgia. I am afraid if I don't have surgery all my medical conditions will make me end up going out on disability or dying.
2/24/2005 - wow time flies - two good programs near me Ithaca is closer 3/1 I go to orientation and support group . I really want to do this and hope it is a success.
3/15 is when I had my first consult - snow prevented me from going on 3/1 so I went on my birthday! Happy Birthday!
5/3 - Have completed Surgeon consult 1, pysch consult, dietary consult, waiting for surgeon appointment # 2. Have spoken with all specialists execpt 1 to go about the surgery. I am very tired of waiting around , it is hard to wait.
I looked at my weight on here and I shot up 7 pounds and lost 7 since starting this research. How frustrating to see it go back up to 240 but I was 233 this morning. I have been excercising an average of 20-30 minutes per day average for about 6 weeks so now its time to up the number a little.
I met the surgeon- Dr Mecenas and find I am very comfortable with him doing my surgery, he is young with steady hands hahaha!
6/2/2005 - 2nd visit with Surgeon is tomorrow - I am getting excited but also nervous, have been so depressed about winter weight gain. I have successfully started exercising again at least 30 minutes a day on average and now I am increasing that goal to 60 minutes a day. Pain issues flair up the more I do so its hard to get motivated and stay motivated. I keep gaining and losing the same 7 pounds hovering up to 239 and down to 232. I am stuck in place and it upsets me because spring time I usually can lose about 10 pounds from winter weight. I have changed my starting weight to what I weigh this morning.
6/16/2005 - all steps done now the waiting starts for insurance predetermination
6/25/2005 - letter not back yet from primary care doc to finish my insurance package. I figured it would be at least a week from my appointment on 6/13 but now it has been two weeks. The girls at the office say it probably is in his pile of work to review.
7/13/2005 - My material went to Inamed on 7/13/1005 even though Dr. Mecenas;s coordinator was on vacation she left everything organized so the lady filling in sent my package off to Inamed. So now I wait again. I managed to hit 230 this past week so I have shed 10 pounds on my own since I started the "journey" or should I call it the fantastic voyage?
7/24/2005 - Empire insurance approved the surgery the same day as the letters were faxed but gave me wacky dates! Christmas and the next two days after! I will be calling them tomorrow to understand better if I have to wait or if what they mean or if it is a typo! wow - if I opened my mail I would have known yesterday!
8/21/2005 - the first letter was only for hosptial - I got surgery letter - 8/5 and it listed wrong procedure, was sent back by Inamed and came back approved 8/19 and my surgery has been scheduled for 9/13/2005. I am scared of surgery but looking forward to being banded.
8/22/2005 - ordered my diet powder mixes from website on yahoo groups reference section. I am so NOT looking forward to liquid diet, it will be so hard but 4 weeks is only 1 second inthe broad span of our life......
8/23/2005 - Had my presurg dietary consult via telephone with nutritionist, father sick second time in two months - he spent day in er yesterday, selling a house and have counter-offers going on, busy busy.....3 weeks does not see very long, what have I got myself into (-:. Still hovering around 232 for last 3 weeks.
9/3/2005 - I am on day 6 of low cal liquid/vegetable diet - for presurg, I have now lost 15 pounds since investigating the surgery - 7 this week on the low cal diet which is supposed to shrink my stomache. It is very hard to stick to and I feared this as much if not more than the surgery itself. I will be more scared of the surgery as it gets closer.
9/9/2005 - well I have only 4 days left of liquid diet phase. Thank goodness I did pretty well, it was easy because when the high carb levels went down, my cravings became in check. I took quite a few tums and I have a caramel chewie vitamin that satisfies the sweet tooth. SLimfast shakes have gotten a lot better and many many people helped me both here on this web site and at the local web site for Ithaca bandsters! thanks for all the help! I was so scared I would blow this part of the process, I had a few weak moments but I understand in the big picture , I am doing very well. I am almost down 20 since the wintertime high..... Thank god, and I feel so much better like I crossed a threshold! I want to break beneath 220 for surgery on tuesday!
9/9/2005 - Its friday - tuesday will be here soooo fast. I can't wait to be 6 months out from this!
9/11/2005 - constipation made me almost not want to do this - bad weekend, impacted...what a horrible weekend, but, saturday /sunday am - feeling much much better!
9/11/2005 - had quite the night, all emotions came pouring out when my husband said he wanted to go hiking in the morning afterwork with a co-worker in the morning after a 10 hour night shift. I was upset because I have so much to do tomorrow that losing 2 hours is losing a lot of the time we would have together to take care of last minute house things. I think I am oversensitive....BUT his timing was really bad, this is a friend he won't see for a few weeks, but I think I should come first and foremost. It is the 2 year anniversary of his mom's death so the timing not quite right for us.
10/22 - 5 weeks post op and I am down 41.5 pounds. I had many problems with nausea but finally have that settled down. First fill is next week!