dljonline1

Hello All, To start off I just want to say thank you for those that have shown my wife love, advice and affection due to her experiecn at Memorial Hospital in Tampa, FL. I just want to say in the doctor's defense that it was not his fault, but the hospital and the nurses on shift that night. And to my wife's room mate, thank you for sharing your story in my latest post as well. So on to the bad news. If things weren't bad enough with my wife's surgery day hell, her slower than ususal recovery, she went to her first post-op appointment today adn found out that she has a terrible bacteria infection. But wait here's the good part... Her appointment had been pushed back 3 times before today and the only reason why she got in today is becasue she called to confirm the appointment and they said she was supposed to be there by 11a and that they were going to give her til 1p to make before rescheduling. Wow! On top of all that the nurse practioner got fired, for reasons unknown! It's just a mad house around here in the bay area lately itsn't it? So tehy put her on anti bacteria and told her to go back to a liguid diet and not lifting our 2 yr old son in which no one exists in his little world but his mother. Which makes sense because she's at home with him all day. So imagine how hard that's going to be when Elmo's world comes on and he wants to be lifted into his high chair. I'm glad I'm going to be at work! LOL! (Don't tell her I said that!) Anyway, I'm two weeks out from getting my first fill and I'm dreading it because I have to go back on that dreadful diet for a few days. But I'm ready for the weight to start coming off. I'm starting to get comments at work and from my family. It feels good to see someone and the first thing they say is, "Hey looking good!" and not, "Have you gained weight?" I'm sure some of us can relate! I'm getting the hang of thie blogging thing that I decided to share my wife and I's story on our personal blog: ourlapbandjourney.blogspot.com. Check it out, make your comments, and stay in touch. Until then, happy weight loss! LOL! Good night, DeShawn Johnson

Hello all, Today's post will be about the experience my wife had the day she had her lap band surgery. Of course this is at the same hospital and surgery performed by the same doctor. So my wife was supposed to have surgery on September 28th, but a week before the surgery we got a call that they were going to be moving it up to the 27th because the doctor was going on vacation the next day. My wife was pretty excited considering she was only going to have to suffer the pre-op diet one day lesser. So I get to the hospital right as my wife was going into surgery because unfortunately I had to work and couldn't be with her all day that day. So I meet my mother-in-law in the waiting room expecting to get called when she got out of surgery and told she was in her room. Now this was at 1:00pm. Stay with me! My surgery, took 20 mins. At almost 2:00pm I realized that no one has called to tell us that she is out of surgery, in recovery, or in her room so I go to the nurses station and ask what's going on. The first nurse tells me she'll be out in her room in 15 mins. I can live with that, I got another hour before I had to go back to work so that's plenty of time. Another 45 mins go by before my mother-in-law goes back to see what the deal is and of course we get the same ol speech. Finally, we ran into the doctor and he said that everything went fine, it took him a little longer than me but everything went well. But when we told him that she hadn't been sent to her room, it left a funny look on his face. But he had to get back to surgery, so we waited some more. At a little past 3:30pm they finally roll my wife out and into her room grabbing us from the waiting room on the way. Of course I'm pissed, because what the hell took so long? Plus no one was talking. So as I get to talking to my wife, she's crying, screaming in pain, etc... OMG it was awful. She finally tells me that she was thrown in the corner after surgery and not given "NO" pain medication whatsoever, and when she asked, the nurse's told her she couldn't have any! (Yeah that was my reaction too!) So I'm going off, yelling at nurses, at administration trying to figure out what the f*#%! they were doing for 3 almost 4 hours that she was back there. When I went back to the nurse's station, of course everyone was standing around shooting the ****, and had their bags packed like they were going home. I exploded. My mother-in-law made me leave before a John Q incident went down and that she will call me and let me know what the deal was. So I get back to work and I wasn't there a good two hours before my mother-in-law calls and tells me that not one nurse has been in to check in on her nor given her any pain medication. (Wait it gets better) So I called the doctor's office and get their after hours answering service and explain to them the situation. And hour later goes by and I hear from my in-law and you wouldn't believe what she told me next. (You'll love this!) So she tells me that all of a sudden, a team of nurse came running into the room to try and get my wife to walk a few laps around the floor so that they can discharge her because they won't let her stay the night! So they force her out of bed and while she's screaming bloody murder, makes her walk and she almost fell and fainted from all the pain. In the midst of all that the on-call doctor orders her an overnight stay along with pain meds. When the night shift nurse came on, she told my mother-in-law that's going to have you all flipping out. So while the doctor had planned to move all his surgery load to the day before his vacation, hospital administration "FORGOT" to give her info to the surgery department or they hadn't put her in the system. So either way, it was almost like my wife wasn't even there, but she still got hacked on like a science project and thrown in the corner like a lab frog. My wife couldn't drink anything, she could barely walk, she was afraid to use the bathroom and I had to spend all night worried because they wouldn't let me see her after I got off work from making up ALL that time I missed from when I was there before. So please let this be a heads up to those getting ready to have surgery. Make sure registration has you in the system and your paperwork is there with your orders and medications for pain and infection. It's been two weeks and my wife is still having complications from that event. And the messed up thing is, we can't even sue if we needed to! Be aware, be safe, DeShawn Johnson

Hello all my fellow lapbanders, Sorry its been a minute since I last posted, but life happens and I'm sure you all understand that! So I'm almost at a month post-op and things are going quite well. The weight loss has slowed down some but I'm still ticking along pretty well. I'm almost to about 40 pounds lost to date! My wife had surgery two weeks after I did and let me tell you it was the exact opposite of what I went through. I'll get into that story in another post! I hope everyone is doing well. I do have a few questions. Did any of you get filled at your first post-op appointment or did your doctor or nurse tell you that you won't get filled until 6 weeks post-op? I was pretty disappointed when all that happend at my post-op appointment was my steri-strips taken off and told to keep up with the diet. Also, have any of you had any bleeding from any of your scars? The nurse just ripped my strips off and along with it came the scab that the strips had made form closing my wounds. I had to put other strips back on after the fact to get the hole to close. Amazing stuff! Lastly, how long was it that any of you started to work out again and what activities didn't bother you? Thanks in advance for the guidance, I'll now post my wife's surgery day events in my next post. V/r, DeShawn Johnson

I had surgery on Friday Sept. 14th and came back to work today Sept. 18. A little sore, but walking around has helped with the pain and what gas is still left in my system. If I took more time off it would've been more so to just be lazy and chill vs. recovery.

Good Day Everyone, I am proud to annouce that my surgery went just fine on Friday. I was in and out in 20 minutes. I got the hospital around 530a, in which I was scheduled to be there around 6a so I was early. Things starting to take off around 645a and 7a. Of course they prep me for surgery and everything then my doctor came in a talked to me for a few minutes. THe next thing I knew, I was counting backwards from 100. The nurse said I got to about 80 before I shut up and knocked out. Before I knew it, i was in recovering and crying for my wife. Needless to say the nurses thought it was cute that the first thing a man asked for was his wife after he wakes up! Kudos for me! LOL! Anyhow, I woke up in the most unbearable pain ever. They ended up giving me 3 doses of morphine before it was all said and done. Once I was very coherent they moved me to my room where they had my wife waiting. For about 3 hours I was in and out and of course they had me walking every so often so work the gas out. And believe me, I worked it out! LOL! I went home around noon that day and remained in and out until later that evening, but I was anything but eneregized so I went to bed. The doctor perscribed me Tylenol 3 with codine which has helped tremendously and some over the counter Gas X which has heped as well. I've also been hungry as hell, but I have refrained from going off the beating path. You will see your weight loss at a stand still because your body is in shock still and of course you're not really eating, but today I saw a movedment of 3 pounds. I'll go back in two weeks to hand him initially adjust my band. I go back to work tomorrow so we'll how that goes and I'll let you know! Until then, take care and have a blessed day/week. V/r, DeShawn

Hello All, It's been a while since I last posted, but I've been busy with work, school, family and just life in general. Sorry I have robbed yall of details of my journey, but really nothing much has changed except my tolerance of hunger and the pains that come with it. I'm not going to lie, I had weak moments that I thought I was going fail and relapse. I even thought about quitting the progrma altogether because I had been losing weight and figured I could do this on my own. But then I remember that I've done so many diets before and like them, this would be a thing of the past and I'll be back in the same boat if not worse so I'm driving on. I'm the first surgery tomorrow and I'm nervous as all hell. I've never had a surgery this serious before. Plus, I'm starting to look slimmer each day and I'm worried that I will lose so much at once that I'll have the skin issue, which is a whole other surgery all on its own as well. Well sorry i can't stay much longer, I'm at work and duty calls! I'll be in touch to let you know how everything went. Wish me luck! V/r, DeShawn

Hello All, So yesterday was an especailly trying time for me. I had a headache from the time my feet hit the floor, and it seemed like everytime I turned around, I was catching myself falling asleep. Is anyone else this tired? The broth has gotten boring to me so I have just stuck to the coffee (black), water/crystal light, and the shakes. I finally ran out of strawberry, and I'm sitting on the chocolate and vanilla. The banana flavor is blah (nasty), so I figured the more I drink of it, the faster I can rely on my supplyof the good stuff til the end. I also had my pre-op appointment yesterday. Everything went smoothly. As a word of advice, do ALL your pre-registration paperwork online and ahead of time. I got there yesterday, sat down, wrote a check, and within 5 minutes I was off getting my bloowork, urine sample and X-Rays done. Also, arrive early. My appointment was at 3PM, but I got there at 2:15PM and was out by 3:15PM. Majority of the wait came from the X-Ray assistance goofy off and not paying attention to a patient in the waiting room. Also, for those of you who may not know, you may be eligible for a discount if you pay for surgery at the pre-op appointment. The total cost of mine was $13,000. At 80% (Cigna), the remaining balance was $2,600. Might I remind you that this was AFTER I had paid or met my yearly deductible throuhg co-pays, etc... So keep that in mind. Had I not, I believe they would've only paid up to 70%. 10% more makes a lot of difference. Because I offered to pay at the pre-op appointment, I got an additional 25% discount from the hospital as a "good faith" effort for paying in advance. But I will get credit for the whole $2,600 towards my out-of-pocket expenses for they year. How? The although I paid the hospital $1,950 (After a discount of $650 was applied), they will report to the insurance company that I paid $2,600. Cool huh? Also, ask the anesthesiologist for a set of bath sponges that you will use the night before and the morning of the surgery to sterilize your skin of bacteria and infectious diseases. There has been cases of flesh eating diseases in recent months from people who's had surgeries; and chances are they are not going to test you to see if you are a carrier, so C.Y.A and ask and if they don't provide one ask for one. Mine provided me with one. As of this morning, I have lost a total of 30 pounds (pre-op). It hasn't been that bad, but there has been plenty of temptation. I encourage you ALL to follow your diets to the "T". Reason why my doctor has me doing this is not only to shrink my liver, and shed some fat before surgery, but to also help me recover faster. From he's told me and the nurses at the hospital, all his patients have recovered the fastest with little to no complications. I guess I'm happy my doctor is so strick. So "DON'T CHEAT!", it's not worth the longer recovering past what you already have to go through, and you don't want to wake up with no band because your system is still filled with gunk! As always, thank you for all the responses, and I hope that you all haivng a great journey! Have a great weekend! V/r, DeShawn Johnson

Thank you banderama, fostermomma, and ready4animproved me for your words of encouragement and advice. It is well appreciated!

What are these Vitamins that everyone is talking about? Are they something I'm supposed to be taking now or after surgery? And are they supposed to be liquid as well? Does anyone have a recommendation as to what brand they use and where they get it from? DeShawn

Hello All, Sorry for not posting on here yesterday, so I'm going to combine yesterday's news with today. So yesterday I had a pounding headache. I don't understand why because I've been sticking to the diet and drinking a lot of Water. Is there any explanation for this? Maybe caffine withdrawal? Anyhow, I got home and immediately fell into a slumber for majority of the night. Needless to say I felt better when I woke up, but today I'm tired as all cna be as if I didn't get any sleep. Any wonder why? My blood sugars are getting better and better with each day that is going on. Also, I have my pre-op appointment tomorrow adn did you know that if you pay your deductible at the pre-op you could qualify for a discount? I didn't know that until the lady told me that if I paid my portion at the appointment I got a 25% discount. As Charle Sheen would say, "Winning"! LOL! Now to day 6. I'm at work and I am dragging, hungry, and filled with regret and defeat. The fact that it's lunch time and all my co-workers are talking about where they are going for lunch doesn't help at all. But my wife called the doctor this morning and he was happy to hear that I have lost a total of 20 pounds since last friday. I've laid off the broth for a few days because it was starting to get boring and bland to me. Well I hate to leave on short notice, but I'm not getting paid to blog all day, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Until next time! Take care, and don't give up or give in! And as always thank you all who have responded to my posts. V/r, DeShawn

Good Day Fellow Banders, I have made it to day 4 of my liquid diet and I still haven't cheated though I have been tempted to break down. I miss food so much that I had I dream last night that I was eating a nice big juicy burger and steak fries from Red Robin. I woke up feeling guilty until I realized it was a dream! LOL! The power of food and dreams together when you're hungry. It kind of makes me miss the good old days, but I got to leave them where they are, in the past. 2 exciting things happend to me yesterday. I found out that I can chew sugar-free gum, so I asked my brother for a piece of Orbitz spearmint gum and when I popped that thing is my mouth, it was like an intense explosion of flavor. I started chewing that piece of gum like it was about to pop right out of my mouth. I mean, I couldn't get enough of this piece of gum. I eventually hustled my brother for the rest of the pack and threatend everyone within an inch of their life if they even thought about taking a piece. Then I realized it's gum, why am I getting so crazy over gum! Ahh, flavor! The intensity, I've never experienced gum like this before and I've chewed gum since I've had teeth. Call the "5" gum people and tell them to put me into one of those commercials and I will have the world so convinced of the experience, that everyone would want to go on a taste less liquid diet to know what "we all" are going through. What's even more excitng is that I coupled it with a nice cold glass of peach-mango green tea crystal light and I'll leave the details to the reaction I had to your imagination. Pure ecstacy I tell ya! When your hungry, you'll create anything to keep from going crazy. Lastly, I stepped on the scale this monring and in just 3 days, I have lost 13 pounds! I was like DAMN!!! (Excuse my language), but if I had discovered this ages ago, maybe every once in a while I would've done this as a kick start to a diet. I mean it really tests your will power and if you can make through this you should be able to make through any other diet out there! Agree? Not to mention, I'm in a moderate stage of ketosis, minus the bad breath or smell while urinating (sorry to be blunt, but hey we are all going throuhg some form of trial or tribualtion, plus we are all adults here). As always, I hope that you all are having great victories and meeting milestones in your Quest for whatever it is you may be seeking (i.e. health, vanity, or both). Me, I'm more about my health, I'm married so I guess working on my looks doesn't really matter anymore (LMFAO!!!). Don't tell my wife I said that! Have a great day everyone! V/r, DeShawn Johnson

Hello, Yes, I am set to get banded on September 14th! V/r, DeShawn

Hello All, So I'm on my 3rd day of my liquid diet, and I have found what works for me to get thru the cravings. I have found taking my shakes at regular meal times, and maybe one in between and/or before bed curves my cravings to the point where I dont even notice that I'm on a liquid diet. I also found that eating vegtable, chicken, and beef bouillon curves my cravimgs too and if you put some hot sauce or jalapeno sauce it actually takes pretty good. Depending on what brand you get, it kind of reminds you of ramen noodles. Also, I've pounding the Water, but to mix it up I use crystal light, or drink another alternative. To my fellow diabetics, I usually took my insulin 3 times a day, but since I've started, over only had to take it once in the morning because my sugars have been between 90 & 100. I'm so excited! Never thought fighting for my health could be exciting at times. Hope you all are doing great ass well. See you tomorrow. Oh and thank you for ask your responses! You know who you are! V/r, DeShawn

Hello All, So I started my 14 day liquid diet with Chike! Meal Replacement shakes and I had a terrible headache all day leading to this morning, but I feel fine now. My doctor tells me that I can only have the shakes, coffee (black), unsweet tea, crystal light, and broth. His aim is for me to enter into ketosis. But my question is, how long will it take, and how has any one dealt with the consipation that comes with it? I'm taking Metamucil before each of my shakes, but I wonder why wouldn't he just put me on a high Protein, no/low carb, vegetable diet? Any advice or insight will help! Thank you, DeShawn Johnson

Banderama, Is the aim for your pre-op diet to get you into ketosis? If so, have you gotten into ketosis? How long did it take you to get into ketosis? DeShawn