knormlaver

I was banded in 2006 (private pay) and thought I did fairly well going from 220lb to 150lb in the first year or so.  Over the next 10 years, I had my third child and managed to maintain about a 55lb loss.  I was and remain dedicated to work outs 4-5 days a week.  However, I never felt like I ever found that "sweet spot" with my fills.  I had to make a 14 hour round trip for fills and the surgeon I had was the least compassionate, most fat phobic person I've ever encountered.  How he got into that line of work I'll never know.  Unfortunately, he was the only option in near my home town at the time when Lap-band was fairly new in Canada.  I spent most of the time either feeling hungry or nauseated/stuffed and if I'm honest with myself, I think a threw up at least once almost every day of that 10 years (surgically induced bulimia?) Last year things got bad with my band.  It became way too tight (even when completely unfilled) and I experienced terrible reflux at night and could barely tolerate fluids.  It had to be removed.  Luckily another surgeon closer to my home had started to do band surgery and was willing to remove it.  He said with the earlier versions of the Lap-band, they often become inflexible and too tight after a long period of time.  With this surgeon, my only option was to replace it with another gastric band (Mid-band is his device of choice).  I could not convert to a sleeve or bypass as this is not offered as a private pay option in the province where I  reside.  There is a 5-7 year waitlist for government-funded weight loss surgeries.  He said he wanted to see how I did without out and that he "had faith in" me.  Well,  I think we all know what the research says about gastric band removals.  Despite my best efforts to watch what I ate and maintain my exercise routine, I regained almost all of the weight.  Even though I eat a healthy diet (way healthier than what I could tolerate with the band), in less that a year I found myself 10lbs shy of my highest weight.  My blood sugar and blood pressure are creeping up again and I'm noticing more PCOS symptoms again.  So, I started researching self-pay options for gastric sleeve out of province.  The surgeon I consulted with feels that the MGB is the best option for me.  I'm not thrilled about paying for this again.  And not only do I get the pleasure of paying for WLS twice, it's extra because revision surgery requires more OR time.  But I think my health is worth it.  I'm booked in September 28th and have started my 2-week pre-op liquid diet (blech!)  Part of me is scared that the surgery won't work.  I feel like I have the slowest metabolism in the world.  This combined with my meds that promote weight gain and my PCOS makes it feel like the odds are against me.  However, my surgeon reassures me I'll do well.  Thanks for reading my story.