This is my story

Hi everyone I am a 37 year old man and I have remortgage my house so that I can have a gastric lap band that I get on the 10th of November in London. I am nerves and scared but I no that am killing my self being this weight. My mum died at 47 with a cancer that the Dr said was an obese cancer. I don’t what the same for me. I have been over weight since I was 10. And have done every diet that there is. At least ones but I have done some more than 10 times. well i went my surgery on the 15th of November as was cancelled on the 10th I also had travelled to Chichester and could tell you about the day had my operation and what happened I hope this helps people.

Hi everyone well and home safe and sound and still very sore but I'm glad it's over.

When I arrived at the hospital on Wednesday morning I was told I was first on the list

I had blood taken my medical history taken, had enough time to change in to the pyjamas then the anaesthetist turned up he was fantastic. He listened to everything I told him and told me not to worry. Then I was told that Mr Somers was stuck in a traffic jam and they did not know when I was going to go down .

Lucky for me it was only 15 minutes and he was in my room. He asked me lots of questions and reassured me that I was making the best decision of my life.

As soon as he left the nurse said it was time to go down to the operating room.

I was very nervous couldn't stop shaking my leg, there was no going back.

Couldn't work out why I could not stick to a diet and that I could die was all that was going through my head. I almost started to cry even as I write this it reminds me of the way I felt and makes me cry.

When I got to the operating room the anaesthetist was waiting for me

He made sure that I did not hang around when they were putting me to sleep, he gave me a pre-med as we got into the operating room and I don't remember anything until I woke up.

The next thing I remember I was in recovery room. The first thing I noticed was I needed to pee, I looked down and saw a catheter I did not expect to see it. I asked the nurse why I had one and he said I would see the doctor soon. About 30 minutes later the anaesthetist came to see me and said there had been complications and I had to have open surgery. I was not sure what he meant, he said my liver was so big that when they tried to reach my stomach it ripped part of my diaphragm and they could not have fitted the band .

He and Mr Somers had decided that if I had been awake I would have asked them to go ahead and open me up. (AND THEY WERE RIGHT)

I had been bruised and battered about a bit around my kidneys and they wanted to make sure that they were working properly that's why they fitted the catheter. I asked him if I could have it taken out (I hated it) he said yes. Within 15 minutes of it being removed I was more comfortable. But he said that if I could not go to the toilet on my own that they would have to refit it.

I went down to theatre at 9 a.m. I was taken up to my room about 3 p.m. I was allowed to drink water, I was still very uncomfortable but nothing I could not cope with. About 5 p.m. my surgeon Mr Somers came to see me, he asked me how I was and told me that I was the first person after four hundred surgeries of this kind he has done he has ever had to revert to open surgery. He said I gave his hand pins and needles because he had to try and put the band in using one hand, he said my liver was one of the biggest has ever seen and that it covered most of the front of my stomach. He said I was the reason he had gray hair! He also asked me how my pain was; I was given morphine and told to take things very easy. Later that night I was worried that I had not been to the toilet and knew if I could stand up I would be able to go so I asked the nurse if I could have a bottle I got out of bed and spent the next 15 minutes trying to go, I did! Thank God I would not have to have that catheter in.

I spent much of the first night awake. In the morning Mr Somers came to see me again as did the anaesthetist. They checked my drugs to make sure they were working. I was allowed out of bed to have a wash, the pain was quite severe I was feeling very sick. When I got back to my chair and as the nurse arrived I started to be sick. I was terrified that I might split open. Every time I was sick a lot of air came out and nothing else. This happened for about a minute. What a relief, most of the severe pain I had was caused by air. And because I had a very tight restriction the air could not get past the band with out me being sick. The rest of the day was spent in and out of bed and changing my pain medication to one that suited me more.

In the end i settled for volterol and tramodol they worked best for me.

At lunchtime I had half a plate of soup and jelly and drunk lots of water Cranberry juice and oasis juice. I can feel the liquid going through my band it bubbles very weird sensation I had soup and jelly for tea as well.

I slept better that night but wanted to go home. Mr somers came to see me in the morning and said I could go home as long as I had someone to look after me which I do. Stuart picked me up and it took us five hours to get home. I have never seen rain like it it was horrible I could not wait to get into bed.

I slept so much better in my own bed and the next morning today when I woke I felt a lot better. If there's one thing I wish i had taken it would have been the windeze. That's what caused me the most pain, if it hadn't been for another lady called Sam having the same operation as me I would not have had any till I got home. Also if they give you pain killers make sure thay are not dissolved ones that fizz in water they just make it worse.

Make sure you stir them till the fizz is gone. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10/12/06

Im glad i had you all to help me and thanks to you all for asking after me. I hope Carol is going to be ok i did think about you in the middle of all that and still am.

It has taken me all day to write this i hope it makes sense.

One thing I would like to make clear is I did not stick to my pre-op diet

as I don't like yoghurt I was told I could do a 1200 cal diet a day.

Even with the diet I would have probably had to have open surgery

But I was just very unlucky I have a very large liver. so to all the people that the message to me worrying about the operation been cancelled don't

out of 400 operations my surgeon has done laparoscopic I was the first one to have to revert to open surgery. And to tell you the truth I'm not feeling that bad considering.

I do feel I was very lucky to have the surgeon I did I would have been devastated if I had woken up and he hasn't done the band.

I guess I'm very lucky as I have someone at home and don't need to go back to work for as long as I like.

I am self-employed.

my surgeon was a right gentleman he really knows how to look after his patients and I believe that if it had been anybody else I would not have my band in you would think he was paying me to say all this but I can't thank him enough.

And you for all your support thank you.

10/12/06

Hi everyone how are you all? Isn't it funny how we have all stopped worrying so much, and trying to live with our bands? Not posting so much on the website well I'm still here learning how it works, what I can eat and what I can't eat. What it means when you regurgitate the last mouthful of food, how easy it is to cheat and drink at the same time as you eat and how I automatically look for ways of cheating. For instance I never was one to eat crisps but because someone said they melt in your mouth I ran out and bought a pack of 12 and ate 6 of them all on the same night!

It has now almost been four weeks since my operation and I still have lost one stone but I find I don't have much restriction. I am determined that I will not put the stone back on before I get my first fill.

I had discomfort up until about a week ago almost like being winded. I think maybe because I had open surgery I was a bit more bruised but nothing I could not handle.

I think I'm very lucky as I'm my own boss so I don't need to lift or move anything. Or do anything strenuous.

I like the fact that I have a port and I can feel it every time I put my hand on my side and I do every time I laugh or cough. .

I have noticed that I am not eating the quantity of food that I did before I had my band, but I still get hungry more ad more as the day goes on. I can't eat foods like cold chicken or cold ham. Any kind of cold meat is difficult to swallow but I can still eat a good size meal so I am looking forward to my first fill. I get it on the third of January

Something else that I have noticed is that people who know that I had a band fitted keep asking me if I'm losing weight yet and I feel a little bit of a failure because I have not lost much more than I did a week after my operation.

I have started telling them that is not switched on yet as it's easier than trying to explain how it all works. So I told them that it gets switched on the 3rd of January and it seems to work.

Next Saturday the 16th I'm going to be meeting up with the group from the weight loss web site in Bristol for Christmas dinner and I am really looking forward to that.

I am lucky once again as I have decided to go away for the first time in my life for Christmas and New Year. I am going to New York and have booked eight Broadway shows to go and watch as well so I don't have to be cooking Christmas dinner this year. I'm really excited about it. And one thing I know about New York is they know how to do good soup and you can get it at almost any corner.

I don't get back to Bristol till 8 a.m. on the third of January and I get my first fill at 12 noon on the same day, cant wait.

Well good luck everyone over the next three weeks because we need it with all the chocolate, Christmas puddings, sweets, biscuits and all the things that make us slightly rounded there to tempt as. Resist, resist, resist, resist.

And I hope we all have a losing Christmas and Santa is good to you all.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Take care,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22/09/07 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I WROTE THIS ON THE 01/05/2007 A LOT HAS CHANGED SINCE THEN AND I WILL WRIGHT IT ALL OUT FOR YOU TO READ SOON . AND I AM VERY SORRY FOR NOT GETTING BACK TO EVRYONE THAT EMAILD ME I HOPE TO SOON I HAVE NOT LOST ANYMORE IM STILL BIG AND FAT IM 128 KG SO I HAVE PUT ON 8.7 KG.

Hi everyone here I go again trying to remember everything that has happened to me since the first week in January first of all let me apologise to all those who have e-mailed me asking me how I am.

I am dyslexic and find it very difficult to write without the use of my computer at home.

I have been in a Australia for the last six weeks. ( Lucky me )

Everywhere I went over there they knew all about gastric bands and everybody I met knew someone who had had one it works out that they have been doing it for over 10 years and you can get a fill for as little as $60 that’s about £25 as you are covered under their Medicare system.

Ok I went to up to see the dietician at the hospital group on the 3rd of Jan and to have my first fill to be honest the dietician did not tell me anything I did not know.

I was sent to the BUPA hosp about 20mins away from there to have a barium meal and x ray and to get my 1st fill I was nervous as hell they asked me to change into a dressing gown which didn’t fit. you would think they would have dressing gowns for big people . Anyway I had nothing to worry about the doctor that did my first fill find the port very easy and put five Mils in . I also used emla cream which numbs the skin around the port so i didn’t even feel the needle (big baby )

I couldn’t wait to see if I had any restriction but I knew I had to leave it a few days before I try to eat anything other than soups and sloppy stuff . I was finding it very hard because I was so hungry and sneaked down to the kitchen on about the 5th day and had myself if sandwich and the a bowl of soup I managed it without any problems. I find I could eat large amounts of food without any restriction but certain foods made me sick like cold meat or chicken and chips but I didn’t eat many before anyway. I was getting very depressed because I thought after my first fell I would not be able to eat as much as before on the Saturday evening after this I went to my first support meeting of the weight loss surgery website and met some very interesting and friendly people who all had gone through weight loss surgery of some sort.

They told me to stop worrying and that sometimes it takes 3,4,5 fills before you get a decent restriction and I was worrying over nothing I left there feeling so much better (thanks guys and girls)

It really does make a difference when you have people to help you and I have gone through the same thing. I booked my next appointment to have a fill and that was the 23rd of January one week before I went to Australia .

I arrived at the hospital group near Birmingham and was met by some very nice friendly staff a nice lady called Tony took me in to a room and had a chat she told me to be patient and to remember that the band is a tool to help you lose weight. And that I need to work with it.

It worked out she was the one who was going to give me my second fill i jumped up on the table and she got it first time I believe she put in 1 ½ mils and then told me to go into the waiting room and have a few drinks.

It was just as well as I could not get the water down so I had to go back in and she took out ¾ back out.

Had another drink and everything worked properly.

In the next couple of days I take things easy and only drunk soup and sloppy food.

On the 20th I flew to Hong Kong where I ate lots of soup and noodles when I got to Sydney a week later I found I had lost another kg I decided when I was Australia that I would start going to the gym every other day for four weeks I went to the gym also started to realise that I could not eat certain foods without me being sick things like beef steak and chips burgers most things fried apples oranges peaches and watermelon I find hard to eat..

The gym I went to in Sydney was on third-floor. With no lift so you had to walk up five flights a stares by the time I got to the top I was so out of breath that I couldn’t speak to the receptionist.

So I would make sure that there was no one behind me before I would start to climb the Stares just so I could stop one flight down to catch my breath.

So I did not feel embarrassed when I got to the top four weeks later when I left I could almost run upstairs and still have my breath at the top.

The day before I flew back to the UK I weighed myself I was 120 kg that means I have lost 20 kg since January the 23rd not bad but it has been hard

I have good days and bad days sometimes bad weeks like this one I feel I can eat anything and have no restriction then out of nowhere I eat some omelette or shepherd’s pie and I’m full halfway through it.

Are starting to find it very difficult as I work for myself and leave the house at eight in the morning and sometimes don’t get home until midnight one o’clock I can’t cook for myself and have to rely on a Café around the corner from me and I have knot been to the gym for 10 days now.

I weighed myself this week and have lost three more kg so that means I have lost 23 kg so I guess I’m losing 1 kg a week that’s fine with me it’s great that my smallest shorts and now my biggest and the belt I ware is to big and I have had to put two new holes in it. J

SHAUN

17/10/2007

i have put back on 17 kg and am having a bad time but i will sit down and wright :ranger:it all out over the next week and post it :whoo: