Connie S.

I am a 45 Mom with the seven-year-old daughter and a wonderful husband. I have been overweight since my early 20s and I was able to maintain my weight at about 225 pounds at 5 ft 1 inch tall, I was still unhappy with this weight but I was still able to do things. I've done lots of research on the lap band, gastric bypass and the gastric sleeve but never went forward with it and now I have to have the surgery. I lost my father four years ago and in that time I have gained over 80 pounds, I am now over 300 and I'm ashamed and embarrassed with my weight and I want my life back. I haven't been able to do very much with my husband and daughter due to my lack of mobility and my weight and it's frustrating and upsetting. I'm missing out on the best parts of my daughter's life and I don't want to do that anymore, she needs a mother that is able to do things with her.

I finally decided to have the band surgery and I had my surgery at the Maples Surgery Clinic on January 31, 2012 and went through the whole process and was on the surgery table and the surgery didn't happen. (I ended up having to find a new clinic to the surgery and I wasn't happy about my experience with them).

I ended up going to Western Surgery Center and had my surgery preformed on October 9, 2012 by Dr. Andrews and Dr. Vergias and the surgery and recover went very well.
 
The surgery and recovery went very well, but the year with the lap band wasn’t fun for me.  I threw up once or twice every day with lots of mucus. I kept my lap band on for the year, hoping and praying that it would get better and it didn’t. 
 
The typical response that I received was that I wasn't chewing long enough but I was.  The doctor decided that it would be a good idea to take all the saline out of my band and see how I was feeling after. 
 
After having the saline removed and still having the same problems. The doctor decided to do another scope.  During the scope, he discovered that I had ulcers in my esophagus.  Thinking that this might be the problem, he prescribed a medication to see if they would clear up.  A month later I went for another scope and the medication worked, but I was still throwing up.
 
After having a long discussion with my doctor, I explained that I could no longer handle the throwing up and that I wanted to have the band taken out.  He also at that time referred me to the Bariatric clinic for surgery. 
 
On June 12th, I had my lap band removed and from that day on I have not thrown up.  I can finally eat normally without throwing up. 
 
I am now in the Bariatric program awaiting the surgery and I would like to talk to anyone who has been down the similar journey with the lap band and now had the gastric bypass surgery?  Which surgery did you have and how are you handling food after the surgery?
 
Thank you in advance for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.