BMS 24.9 - NORMAL WEIGHT

Yippi - today I weight in at 158 - down from 277 - and for the first time my bmi said that I reached NORMAL weight.

Can't tell you how thrilled I am.

I had my band surgery in 2007 and my conversion to bypass last year - and I must say I am really so thrilled that it now has all worked out in the end.

But the work is not over ... is it???? Now comes the tough task of maintaining....

But for the moment I am all smiles and thrilled!

best
Kristy

Congrats!!!

Give more info please, why did you revise to RNY from the band.  I had my band removed in October and want to revise to RNY myself. 

What do you want to know?

I can tell you that I did my surgery in Belgium - so I cannot help you with any insurance advice. However, as to the actual procedure - the surgery was just about as much pain as the one with the band. They were able to do it again as a lap surgery, but they could only 'reuse' the hole in the bellybutton. They had to make three new incisions, slightly blow the previous ones. However, they have healed very nicely and can hardly be seen anymore.

I had lost about 70-75 pounds (I'm European - I think in Kilos... so of course I know EXACTLY how much I lost in kilos lol) with the band, and I regained about 10 by the time I took the band off - which was 14 months after it came in.

I had been really, really sick during the time I had the band - so my surgeon who had advocated for the RnY said let's try and do it in one go. He's really a very sweet man, and he knew I was paying out of my own pocket, as I am not a Belgian citizen - so he tried very hard to keep costs low for me and did not bill me for half of his services.

(Yippi for a good state health service - see he's on a fixed sallary!)


I am very, very happy with my revision. Life is sooooo much better now than with the band.

The surgery and recovery time was just as with the band. The transition phase was also just as with the band - taking your time with liquids, mashed and then easy veggis, slowly introducing meats and so on.

After I left hospital it took about a month to eat all sorts. I was back on my feet and back to work just about the same as with the band.

Now I am full rather quickly - the first six months one toast was max - now I can eat like a normal small plate of food. And that's the point: it feel just like normal - just like being full, not as though you have a restriction - or not, all this listening inside... It's just that you fill fuller quicker and everything else is normal. I can eat everything - just everthing in smaller dosis.

In the beginning though you will have to learn about your blood sugar levels and your fat levels. If you eat more than your tollerance levels, you experience the "dumping syndrome" - you will have it - but don't worry.

Initially you will be of course super careful and healthy - so you won't have it. Then you will of course begin to live more normally - as you should - and then surely you'll have the dumping syndrome - so try introducing new fatty or sweet foods at home, rather than in public (my doc's advice actually)

-  when you start with alcohol - take a glass of wine at home - you may get totally drunk on one glass - or you may not. But you don't want to find that out in public. I got very drunk on one glass. Now I can handle about three glasses in the course of an evening. which is more then plenty to be part of normal social life.

- find out what you can take and what your limits are:  - with chocolate, icecream and so on. Start slowly with one spoon at the time - wait for five minutes and see if you get a heartbeat and feel slightly nausious - that;s your limit then.  Please note though - sometimes different brands of icecream have very different sugar content - I 've made that mistake thinking I got it all figured out and then getting sick from taking a safe amount from a different brand.

It's anoying and uncomfortable in the beginning to learn all of this - so the first months I got nausious about 1-2 per week. Now it's like once a month - and always when I've been too greedy. The dumping syndrome makes you feel woosy and weak with palpitations, but it is not dangerous and it will be over in 15-20 mins. So it's ok to be at home and near a sofa or bed. I like to have a lie down when I dump. Again a reason for being at home when trying new stuff.

The other thing is too much fatty food - it gives you diareah - not uncontrollable, but you do have to definately have to go to the loo and you stay there until you're empty. Again - I had to learn what and how much I can take. Mayo is definately a no-no. :-)

The point is though - you will learn, and it's not all that difficult. Now - almost a year after my surgery I am very content and happy. I have lost all my weight (which was another 70 pounds or so) - and I am now NORMAL weight!  I dump very rarely and I am happy that I can have a bit of anything I like. There is nothing I cannot eat. (even mayo - but only VERY little)

I used to have high blood pressure - NO MORE!

This is probably the best thing I have done for my health ever.

I want to stress though, that I know I was with one of the best bareatric surgeons in Europe. The Belgian hospital I was at is leading in this field in Europe and they do more than 50 bypass surgeries per week. So they have a huge amount of experience. I know for instance that they have worked over the years with exactly how much they have to bypass to make sure that the dumping is kept to a minimum. (I AM NOT 100 PER CENT SURE: but I think they said 1.5 meter)

So this is one of the questions you may ask others in this forum - and then ask your surgeon - how much of the small instestine do they bypass. But still it is very individual how easy you dump, because it depends on how much you absorb.

Ooohhh - also one more thing - you will have to eat vitamin pills - but you knew that of course?
I see on the US pages that they talk alot about tons of different pills people take - and I have visited the US and seen that you have these huge shops that make a huge business out of it... here I eat two multivitamine pills per day  and a pill to reduce the production of stomach acid - and that's it. (all go down in one go in the morning - and it's actually more or less what I did before - except then it was 2 vitamine pills and a bloodthinner). That's a regiment I will have to keep up - but it's not exactly rocket science. The stomach pill is  because you keep producing stomach acid for a big tummy, whereas now you only have to supply a little bit to  the Y of the bypass (which is where the actual digestion takes place. So they reduce the acid in order not to damage the stomach lining in the "rest stomach" (you know how it all looks and is done, don't you? in case you don't:  Where your esophagus is attached to your stomach, they cut a little envelope the size 1 inch by 2 inch out of your stomach, stich it up so that it becomes your new stomach. The rest of the stomach is then left detached from your esophagus, closed up again and just "left in there", so that it still produces all the digestive juices and byle and so on. Then where the 'rest stomach' goes over into the small intestine, they cut the instine in two, after about 1,5 meters (which are bypassed). The lower part is then brought up to your new pouch and attached. The upper part is then reconnected forming a Y (you see now ?) So in the Y the stomach fluids mix with
it's  a bit weared in the beginning to hear your "stomach gurgle" under your left hand ribs, rather then where your stomach acutally is.

Anyway all this to tell you why I need to eat acid reducing pills - my doc tells me that after six month to  a year or so production reduces itself and you can drop this medication.

I do try to eat fruit and veggs every day and get my vitamins and minerals that way. I've had my blood works done every three months and I am spot on.

Anyway - hope this is of help and I wish you all the best with your next steps towards becoming a healthy woman with a healthy weight

Kristy

Thanks Kristy for all the info.

I was curious as to what issues you had with the lapband and how much weight you lost with it and what your weight loss has been with RNY.  I ended up gaining weight with the lap band and having acid reflux issues and had it removed.  My daughter had the RNY last May and has done well and has never had dumping syndrome.  I'm hoping I will!  I have many comorbs that my daughter didn't have and would like to get healthier this time around.  Anyway thanks for the info and continued success with your RNY!

Hi again,

I can tell you in kilos:

I weighed 126 kg (277 pounds) at my first surgery and lost about 34 kg (75) weighing 92 (202) at the lowest then regained 6 kg (13)
All in the space of 14 very painful months.

I vomited, slimed and slimed and vomited sooooo badly. Up to 20 times a day. It was simply unbearable. And on top of it I started to regain. I was so exhausted from all the stomach cramps and constant vomiting. I was permanently hungry and thristy because I was constantly throwing up all healthy food and meats - but surprise, surprise.... the icecream melted nicely down, as did potatochips and all sorts of horrors and when you are exhausted and hungry and you vomit up all else... what does a poor girl do... well she does eat a few soups and then a lot of icecream.


So - it was not supportable and I was getting ever more nervous that the constant pressure from my band being janked up and down from all the vomiting would rupture my stomach lining. Apparently it had been a close call. By the time my surgeon performed my conversion it turned out to be a tough job for him. I was in surgery for five hours and they amost gave up on doing the conversion right away because the stomach was so damaged they had to figure out how to cut a good pouch out of it. But kudos to my doc - he did a wonderful job.

But because of the danger due to my thin lining, they kept me in hospital and on fluids for about 10 days to ensure that there was no pressure on my stomach (they did not trust me not to eat at all... and they were probably right...:-)

However, that gave me a bit of a head start in terms of loosing weight - because I litterally had only a bag of liquids a day intravenously. So I lost about 20 pounds in ten days. Since then it has been a slow pace down - and the last 10 pounds came off real slow.(since christmas). So I lost virtually all during the first six months and most during the first three. Now I am a 72 kg or 158 down from the 98 kg (216) I weight at the bypass surgery. So I actually lost more at with the band - but then I guess it is always normal to loose more and faster if you have more to take from :-)

What of course is interesting is that while you can loose like 25 pounds in the beginning, noone even notices - now when I lost my last 5 pounds, everyone screams OMG you lost sooo much weight since last I saw you..

So for the last 45 pounds or so tha tI shed after the RnY I have received much, much more acknowledgement than for the first 75.

For me the fun has been to loose without pain and discomfort (dumping is like nothing, nothing at all compared to all the endless pain I had with the band. I know that many live happy with the band, but I think my body almost rejected it. I was sooooo sick all the time)

I hope this has been useful for you and I wish you the very best with your revision

Thanks and sorry your band history was so traumatic and the revision too.   I can relate to some of the issues you had with the band.  I'm glad though that things are better for you now.  Take care and thanks for sharing..

Hello Kristy2007, how are you doing these days... I'm new to the OH and I'm looking for fellow weight loss maintainers for myself...  I had RNY in Dec 2001 and lost 90 pounds that I've maintained for over 7 years. 

And now I'm the leader for a new OH group to help other fight back against weight regain....

Anyway, hope you are doing GREAT. 

Sincerely,

Coach Roz
Beat Weigth Regain with ROSE
OH Group Leaders
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