Bye Bye Bandaquita
I found out after surgery that I was the only surgery scheduled for today. It is normally their paperwork day at this center. I asked why me, why today and was then told that my surgery was classified as an emergency. Oh boy. That was scary to hear.
My EGD was performed at the same surgical center on July 30th. This morning, just two months later, I weighed in at 21 lbs less. Not the way you want to lose 21 lbs. Wow.
I am not regretful and I will not band bash. Bandaquita did her job. She helped me get off of statins for high cholesterol and high blood pressure meds too. I learned to take pleasure in smaller portions of good food, instead of large portions of just OK food. I learned to enjoy fruits & vegetables more. I learned that bread, rice and pasta are treats to be enjoyed in small amounts, not food groups. I need to make a concerted effort from here on out to not fall back on bad habits. I do not want this journey to ever be in vain.
There are so many choices out there for WLS. The band was the choice for me and although it ultimately had to come out, I feel like it was successful. I never expected to be bone thin and scrawny.....I was only ever that thin in college, when I was working 3 jobs and going to school full time and lived on Coca Cola and not much else. I just wanted to get myself back into good general health. At 250 lbs, I blew out a knee, I could barely drag myself around much less be motivated to exercise.I am still a lazy butt when it comes to exercise, but I do know and feel it's value, so I have made improvements there. Plus, I want to set a good example for my 7 year old daughter. I am not considering revision at this point, but since this has been such a whirlwind couple of weeks, I really have not had much time to think about it anyway.
My love to you all for the support, prayers and fellowship. Be kind to yourselves and each other. Above all, listen to your body. Only you live in that body and know it thoroughly. If something just feels wrong, than it probably is. I was second guessing myself for a year, not wanting to be alarmist or defeatist, but frankly, I knew a year ago that things were not right and I chose to override my instinct.
OK, that liquid Vicodin is the shizz and I am babbling. I will check in a bit later.
Judy
I thought that was so cute. I had my band remover four weeks ago. I am down ~50 pounds from SW. But, that only came off the last six month as
they kept unfilling the band as it kept getting tighter. The reflux is all gone.
Good luck with what ever you choise to do from this point forward!
BAND REMOVED 9-4-12-fought insurance to get sleeve and won! Sleeved 1/22/13! Five years out and trying to get that last 15 pounds back off.
is still iritated/inflamed from being messed with getting the band out.
I stopped the PPI's two weeks out and all is fine now.
BAND REMOVED 9-4-12-fought insurance to get sleeve and won! Sleeved 1/22/13! Five years out and trying to get that last 15 pounds back off.
on 10/2/12 6:54 am
I am sending you many prayers and hope you have a speedy recovery. When you posted last week of horrible regurtitative reflux on an empty band, I knew your band had slipped. Those are classic signs of slippage, reflux and vomiting on an empty band, as a matter of fact when you are vomiting on an empty band, this indicates your band is pretty much in the last stage of slippage and can cause great harm, if it is not removed promptly.
It truly breaks my heart to see so many lap banders lose their bands. This board USE TO TRAIN newbies on the dangers of the lap band and its traps. The traps were the addiction of saline and being too tight.
The lap band is THE ONLY WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY where WE PICK and CHOOSE our restriction, and that's part of the problem.
I fell into the trap myself but I learned quickly (when my band almost slipped over 6 years ago) and early on that if you allow the band to help you 50 percent it will be there for you forever, and if you allow it to help you 90-100 percent, it will only be there for a short time and that short time will be living hell.
Also I learned from the BEST VETS, they stopped posting about 4-5 years ago when a lot of newbies would not listen to the warnings, when we are newly banded we ALWAYS THINK that problems can happen to others, and those others are not following rules.
The truth is the lap band does not discriminate, it does not care how much money you got, ethnicity, or if you got your band installed by the best surgeon and have excellent aftercare, if we IGNORE those warnings, and MANY IGNORE REFLUX when it first start ( I am SURE someone is reading this post RIGHT NOW and can't sleep without sitting up in a recliner or have 5 pillows elevating their heads in order to sleep, but HEY the scale is moving right?) and some don't know the dangers because they assume that is how the band is suppose to work, (or the reflux is NOT that bad yet) or if the scale is moving in the right direction, we DARE NOT LET GO OF SALINE, because it may be costly, people may have to drive a long distance, or they FEAR GAINING weight.
But the sadness of it all is that if we don't let go of a little saline, BEFORE damage is done, we can keep our friend our tool our companion and it won't turn into a VERY EVIL PIECE OF CONTRAPTION, YES OUR FRIEND THE LAP BAND WILL TURN ON US....AND it gets very ugly in the end, if we ignore those signs of being too tight.
I am happy that I listened to those vets, I am very saddened that many newbies in the last few years have not had the guidance that I had when I got my band placed, and I am saddened this trend will continue to happen, surgeons are surgeons, they will fill the band AS THE PATIENT DESIRES....they will still get paid to install lap bands and get paid to remove them.
Sending you prayers to stay strong.
Original Lap Band * 9/30/2005 * 4cc 10cm band*, lost 130 pounds. 7 Great years!
Revision surgery to AP small lap band *11/13/2012*, due to large hiatal hernia. I am hopeful about continuing my band journey uneventful and successful. I loved what my old band did for me and I am looking forward for my new band to Keep my weight down
Naomi, I very much appreciate your support and kind words. I'm glad you are still rocking your band, which is my sincere hope for everyone here. I still believe in the lap band.
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