kekerene

Well I started my quest at WLS back in 2006. I finally made the decision to move forward with the Lap Band. At the time this seemed like the answer to all my problems. I was banded 12/22/06 in my hometown in Louisiana. I did great with the recovery and was back to work in 4 days. I followed everything as my doctor instructed for pre-op and post-op. The weight loss at first was slow to come off since it look about 5 months and several fills before my band was tight enough for me to notice the restriction. Once it was tight, I started losing the weight. This also came with a price. Just about everything I ate, with the exception of soup and milkshakes came right back up. I lost a total of 60 lbs in about 6 months. I was still about 40 lbs away from my goal weight. I was able to keep the 60 lbs off for about 4 years however those 4 years were not easy. I was never able to enjoy a meal, even if it were a few bites. I had to sit close to a bathroom when going to restaurants, I can remember times where I ate a bite of food in the car and had to throw up at a red light. It was miserable. Aside from that, when everything you eat comes right back up, guess what, you are still hungry. The only time I felt full and satisfied was when I would have soup or milkshakes. Kinda hard to make healthy choices when those are your only choices. Then came the heartburn/reflux, o joy! I felt tired, sluggish, unhealthy, and most of all I felt defeated. Was all this worth the 60 lbs? I asked myself this question quite a bit. Then in January 2010, suprise, I am pregnant. My doctor deflated my band so I could keep food down for the baby. Wow, I almost forgot what food tasted like. I was able to eat again. I made healthy choices and had no health issues for the entire pregnancy except for the 80 lbs I gained. That's right, 80 lbs. I gained the 60 lbs back that I had lost with the band plus 20 lbs. So I had a beautiful healthy 7 lb 12 oz baby girl 10/19/10. February 2011 I return to my bariatric surgeon to get my band filled again to help me lose the weight I gained from pregnancy. I had a fill in February and again in April. Again, everything I ate started coming back up, I definitely did not miss this. The only problem was this time I was not losing any weight at all. In May 2011 my doctor decides to do an upper GI x-ray to see what is going on with my band. Low and behold, we find that my band has partially slipped. The doctor tells me that if it slips completely that it would require emergency surgery. She said that we needed to discuss our options. At this point, I just want this band out. After reading hundreds of blogs/posts/forums I realized that there were tons of people with the band having the same issues as me. I realized that this is a foreign object and these things just don't last forever. Wish I had known this 5 years ago. It seemed as though most people deal with the issues in the first few years because they have lost some weight and that to them is better than being fat. It also appears that the people who have had the band longer start having the more serious issues. After all my issues and much research I decided that I wanted to have the band out and convert to the gastric sleeve. My doctor had only done 1 of these revisions. I decided that I needed to find a skilled surgeon, not someone that has done a ton of sleeves, someone who has done a ton of band to sleeve revisions. God forbid, I only wanted to have 1 more surgery. I prayed that this would be the last WLS for me. After doing my research I realized that Dr. Alberto Aceves in Mexicali was the surgeon for me. I scheduled my surgery for 06/23/11. I swore to myself years ago that I would never get on a plane again, I also never imagined myself going to Mexico to have a surgery. I had all these crazy thoughts going through my head. Shucks, I even had a Living Will drawn up before I left, LOL. I did not go to Mexico because it was cheaper. As a matter of fact, we have another doctor in my hometown that was the same exact price as Dr. Aceves. Not to mention there were other surgeons in Mexico that were half the price of Dr. Aceves. I chose Dr. Aceves because of his skills, his low complication rates, his success rates, his credentials, the fact that his staff members have allowed him to perform the sleeve on them, and most of all, the hundreds of excellent patient reviews I read. I was not able to find one bad thing said about this man. So there I was, on a plane to San Diego, CA where Earnesto (the driver who was sleeved by Dr. Aceves) picked me and my hubbie up. We drove about 1 1/2 hours to Mexicali and straight to the hospital for pre-op testing which included blood work, chest x-ray, upper GI x-ray, and an EKG. This took about 1 hour. After that was completed Earnesto drove us to our hotel, The Crowne Plaza which was beautiful. We were told that we could have our last big meal. We were even able to have a couple margaritas. We had dinner and I was given a pill to help me sleep that night. Earnesto met us at the hotel early in the morning and drove us back to the hospital. I went into surgery and came out feeling hardly any pain at all. I was walking the halls right out of surgery. FINALLY, the band was out of my body, YAY. The doctors and staff were amazing just as all the people said in the reviews I read. The hospital was cleaner than anything I have ever saw. I saw women on their hands and knees scrubbing the floors, cleaning the doors to the rooms, and they would mop constantly. They would come clean my room several times a day. It was unlike anything I have ever seen here in the U.S. I stayed 3 nights in the hospital then returned home. I had not a one thing go wrong on the entire trip, which was so surprising to me since I had all sorts of horrible thoughts before going there. I had not a one complication and returned to work in 6 days, thank you Jesus. I am little over 6 weeks out now since my surgery date and I am down 27 lbs, and feel amazing. I have not thrown up any food at all. I can eat a few bites and feel full, something that the band was supposed to do but NEVER did. I can make healthy choices, I have my energy back and I have the desire to exercise now, I can go out to dinner with my family and not have to excuse myself to go barf in the bathroom. I feel alive again. I never realized how bad the band really made me feel until it was out of me. This has been the best decision I have ever made. I sure wish that when I was contemplating the band that there were more years of research/studies so I could see the complication rates after having the band for 5 + years. I am just so grateful to have it out at this point and so glad that I can move on with my life, and finally live a normal and healthy life.

***UPDATE**** Well as of today 08/28/12, I am now appx.14 months out and down 87 lbs from my revision surgery from band to VSG on 06/23/11. I am feeling like a rockstar and enjoying every minute of it. It is so easy to make healthy choices and to live a healthy lifestyle now. I certainly do owe a lot of my success to Dr. Aceves. I cannot express my gratitude enough to him and his team. I feel like a whole new person. My weight loss has slowed down but I am still losing 1-2 lbs a month which is fine with me. I have 13 more lbs. to reach my 100 lb loss goal. I will for sure keep you guys posted to see if I can get there. This has truly been the best thing that I could have ever done for myself