melloeve

I was always heavy - since 2nd grade.  I had always considered gastric surgery to be drastic and not for me, until my knees both failed me and I wound up on crutches, needing new knees.  That's the time I saw the sign in the clinic advertising the band.  I saw it a little too late - the information session had happened one day earlier.  I had to wait 3 months until there was another.  With physical therapy, I got back on my feet, and waited for the session.On the session night, I listened, but i also filled out the entire questionairre, so I could be FIRST!  I was pretty desperate, and this surgery didn't cut or remove any of my parts.  The process took SO LONG!  I was finally scheduled for surgery on December 13, 2008.  On the first of December, I started drinling Optifast to shrink my liver.  That afternoon I got a call from the clinic saying my doctor had hurt his foot and wouldn't be able to perform surgery until it was better.  What a big disappointment!  I had waited from June until December and was stopped.  Well, of course all limits were off for Christmas, but that was OK.  Looking back on the whole thing, I'm glad I was not in recovery mode when my family was here for the holiday!Finally, surgery happened In January.  Everyone was so nice, and the experience was as good as it could be.  No complications - except that I was still hungry!  Oh well, that's what happens, I guess.  A month later, I fully expected that having my first fill would take the hunger factor down, but it didn't.  I was still eating - trying to be careful, but not having any more success than I had on diets.Each fill seemed like it was finally going to be "the one" that got things working the way I anticipated.  I did take off about 30 lbs during the first month or two.  But then I stalled.  I still had NO foods I couldn't tolerate, and amounts didn't seem to matter.  At around fill number 8 or 9, the band started to make itself known - sometimes.  Actually, it would cause me to throw up at the beginning of almost every meal on some days, and on other days I didn't even know it was there.  I was concerned that it was slipping, or loose, or I had stretched my stomach at the top so much that it would never work...but i kept on, because my surgeon said it wasn't there yet.I've had 13 fills now, and I think this last one was maybe the beginning of the end of getting the band working.  For two weeks, my meals have been much smaller - I no longer scoff at the amounts my nutritionist says will fill me up.  There are still foods (POPCORN????) that go down easily no matter when I eat them, and some days I can still eat an awful lot.  I will probably need to go back again soon, but I think I'm finally losing weight the way i am supposed to be - slowly and steadily.  Around 41 lbs and counting 6 months after surgery.