PCOS Message Board - View Single Post - MY WLS- LAPBAND STORY; and why I chose it

terilynn112 · 10-30-2008, 10:14 AM

I started down the road to RNY in 2002. I was nervous. Truthfully I don't think I was ready. And the breaking point was when a friend, much older than me, had a bypass and ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks total. That was enough. I dropped out of the program.

My sister had bypass also, and she lost tremendous amounts of weight. Dropping from 330 to 89 pounds, looking absolutely anorexic. But as years passed, she gained and gained and gained some more. She's had horrible problems with throwing up. We found out that she has a nerve damaged in the esphogus, and can't be repaired. So she "munches" all day, and is back up to 250. She currently weighs more than me. So that turned me off the idea of a bypass.

Then about 5 yrs ago (this has been in the works for many years), we discovered I'm deathly allergic to tylenol. Means I have to be able to take NSAIDS and aspirin. There are just times you need to have something. So another strike against bypass. So I put it all on the back-burner.

Well in 2006 I delivered a set of fraternal twins. Michael was healthy, Matthew spent 3 weeks in the NICU. Before his discharge I was informed he'd be little more than newborn like his entire life. So I started thinking again. Dieting. And gaining instead of loosing. Matthew has done amazing things they said he'd never do, but I do see that he will need me for MANY years. Well my diabetes got harder to control after the twins were born. And my back was killing me. I knew from experience that working with weights, strengthening my back helped me that way. But at my size I couldn't get it done.

So I made a phone call April 21, 2008 to the local clinic that does bariatric surgery (wls). I had to first attend a seminar, which was May 6, 2008. I went. It was an interesting meeting. They mostly talked about the RNY. But I had the oppertunity to speak to a friend, that I had years prior to this, that has a band. She even let me poke her port. Well... I turned in my intake forms. And waited. Stupid me, forgot one form, and the next month handed that in (at support group). I had my first official appointment June 5, 2008. I needed to have an endoscopy, a psych consult, meet with the dietitian twice, meet with the actual surgeon, sleep study, and loose 5% of my weight. That turned out to be 13 pounds. And ideally they'd like to see it done in 8 weeks. WOW that's a lot I thought. But I did it. I found out in the process I have barrett's esophagus. I do not have sleep apnea. I'm a fairly healthy fat person, besides my diabetes. Which was well controlled on Byetta, which I couldn't use if I had the band. The dr I saw that day and I talked about pro's and con's of the band vs the RNY for me. They don't do the sleeve, or ds. He encouraged me to think Band, but I'd already decided that way anyway. Just felt it was right for me. I had tons of blood taken, chest xray, and an ekg that next day. So I was on my journey. I'd already lost 14 pounds since April when I made my first phone call... so how hard could another 13 pounds be? LOL!

To make the goal I ended up using Alli. I had few side effects, because I eat low fat to begin with. I did have a few occassions that were interesting. But I lost 14 pounds. So I lost an extra pound in 8 weeks. I managed to get all my appts in and done. And then was "discussed" by my team, and scheduled. I had nearly a month to wait once I was at goal, and discussed. I had to maintain my weight. I actually lost another two pounds.

I went into surgery at 240. I ended up being bumped by some emergencies, and such. They thought for sure I wouldn't get my swollow study done before the clinic that does them closed, so I would have to stay the night. They don't know the determination of a mom, and how I actually do with anesthesia. I woke up, and was walking around within an hour. Had my test, and was home at 5:30 pm. I didn't go to surgery until darn-near noon. Then they had the whole prep, and didn't start until after noon. The surgery went faster than expected as I did not have a hiatal hernia as expected. I had 5 incisions. 3 were the size of a pencil, two were nearly 2 inches long.

I came home, slept in my own bed flat. That felt better for me. Hated crushing my pills, but hey, it's life. I was on full liquids 24 hours later. Seven days later I was on puree's or mushies. Two weeks after that I started real foods, slowly and chewing carefully. I'm currently 6 weeks post op, and heading for my first fill (where they add fluid to the band) on Election day.

I hope this helps someone. It's helped me typing it all out.

teri