Flew from Atlanta to San Diego on 9/9/05 @ 6am. Picked up by driver in San Diego around 11:00 am then driven to Alma Hospital in Mexicali, Mexico (about a 3 hr drive). I was met at the hospital by Yolanda (Dr. Aceves' coordinator) which informed me of the things that would be taking place. Yolanda is a very lovely lady, very informed (was previous a professor at one of the colleges). I was then checked into a room and immediately they started running test for my surgery (X-rays, bloodwork, ekg, etc., I had elected to have surgery the same day I arrived).

Dr. Aceves came into my room sat down and talked with me. He is a very soft spoken, kind, and very knowledgable man. He began to demonostrate the band (he had brought one with him), telling me how everything worked, the good and the bad. He made me feel very comfortable answering all questions patiently without making me feel he needed to be seeing the next patient. He understands English very well, but when he speaks you have to pay attention to get it all.

Around 1pm I was taken into surgery, 54 min later I was in recovery. I stayed in recovery for an hour then wheeled back to my room. I was expecting lots of pain (according to everything I had read), but it was more "pressure" than pain (for me anyway). By that evening I was up and walking some.

Dr. Aceves came by that night, before leaving the hospital to check on me and to ask if I needed a sleeping pill. The nurses checked on me continually throughout the night giving me pain medicine (through my iv) every 3 hours.

The next day I walked a good bit because it makes you feel so much better. Sunday, after lunch, Yolanda came by, got the papers for me to check out and took me to the hotel. The driver picked me up the next morning (Monday) around 7am to go to the airport.

I did not get back to GA until 10:45pm (a very long trip). The worse thing for me was the flight returning home; sitting that long with the seatbelt over that area was very uncomfortable, even tho I had on very loose clothes. Probably had the flight not been so long (7 hours) it would not have been nearly as bad.

I had taken the following week off and basically I just took it slow. I have a 16 year old daughter that helped me alot, but within a day or so I was fine. I was on clear liquids for 2 weeks which actually wasn't that bad. The people at work simply thought I was just drinking tea or something. I had not told anyone at work because I simply did not want to hear their opinion about me leaving the country for my surgery.

On November 23rd I went to get my first fill. They could not locate the port (done without fluro). I had to schedule another location a couple of weeks later to get the fill done under fluro. On December 12th/2005 I went to receive my fill (under fluro) and was given a 2.5cc. By the end of December I knew that my fill was too restricted, however, at their request continued to try to work with it. I basically drank my breakfast and often my lunch, sometimes I could eat something like soup for lunch and then by around 5:30pm I could eat like most bandsters do - protein, veggies etc.

I struggled through January and February and was pretty much okay other than still unable to eat in the mornings. In March I received some very disturbing news about my daughter that was and still is very stressful. I started having acid reflux during the night; waking up strangling. I contacted the center and they still think I do not need to have a slight unfill; they want me to "work around" this problem. They did put me on medication which I have been on for 3 days now. However, it is only a 14-day treatment so after this I am not sure what will happen.

The good news is that I have lost 45 lbs plus 18 lbs before surgery which amounts to 63 pounds. I am very thankful for the band; I would never have lost this much without it. :clap2:

3/16/06 I have an appointment to go get some of the fill taken out. Still having reflux pretty bad; the little food and little sleep is like waaay too much.

4/21/06 Drove to Nashville to have a portion of the fill removed and they could not find/hit the port (after 4 or 5 sticks...ouch). I was sooooo dissappointed after a 6 hour drive, the cost of gasoline, the cost of a hotel room etc. So...I now have an appointment in Tampa, Fla to have the fill completed under fluro.

5/3/06 - Tampa/fillcenterusa - Had fill (1.8cc), everything went great! No problems in locating the port, in fact the easiest one I've had yet.

9/06 - 1 Year anniversary - total of 71 lbs loss.

10/06 - 203 and still loosing, just slowly, but....that's okay. No hair loss, no loose skin etc., and that's pretty good for someone 51 years old.

1/2007 - 193 - total loss of 85 lbs....yeah.

3/2007 - 187

4/2007 - 180 (-98 lbs) yeah!!!