LoriPA

I began my journey toward WLS on March 29, 2004--yes, I remember the date!--about three weeks after I made up my mind that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, being in constant pain (I have arthritis in both knees as well as once had pain so bad with my periods, I actually had to take Vicodin to allieviate it), depressed and being in and out of hospitals with my cardiac problem.

I had tried everything previously from Xenical (and had a violent reaction to it that I won't get into here), to near-starving to Slim Fast, and nothing changed. When my PCP told me about the option of WLS as well as recommended a 1500 calorie/35g fat daily regimen, I decided to look into it.

I found a wonderful, caring surgeon through research on ObesityHelp.com who guided me through everything from the required pre-op testing to getting approved by the insurance. It was perhaps the most enlightening 18 months of my life, to say the least.

I was scheduled for Roux-n-Y gastric bypass surgery on 9/28/05, butI didn't get the gastric bypass done, because once they had opened me up (laproscopically) to perform the procedure, not only did I have several intestines twisted...but a rare condition termed a malrotated digestive system was discovered.

To put that in more simple terms, everything is on the OPPOSITE of where it should be (example: my appendix was on the opposite side of where it should be!). This is found in 1 in 5000 adults in the United States and those who have it usually experience no symptoms that anything is wrong at all. To think I walked around for a very large part of my life like this!

So the surgery I DID receive instead was to correct this problem as best they could (untwist the intestines and remove scar tissue) as well as remove my appendix as a precaution in the event I ever got appendencitis.

After yet another long journey of pre-op tests, I had successful surgery with the LAP BAND procedure on March 22, 2007.