ethelinga

Hi, My name is Ethel and I have been overweight all of my life.  In December 2002 I was sitting in the chair at the beauty shop getting a haircut when I looked at the mirror, a real good look and I was horified at the Fat Person that I saw in that mirror.I started by researching different WLS online.  I did not want to go with the bypass.  Having my internal organs rearranged just doesn't sound good to me.  At that time there were only a couple of surgeons who were doing the LapBand.  One was in North Georgia and one was in South Georgia.  I could get into a seminar in South Georgia rather quickly, so I got my husband to make the 3 hour drive and we attended the seminar.  Dr. John Bagnato is my doctor.  I learned at the seminar that he did the port on the band a different way, it is in my left upper chest, no fluoroscopes, very easy to find and a nurse practitioner can do the fills.  I signed up that very night and made my eval appointment.My insurance approved my application in 8 days.  I scheduled my surgery for May 30th, 2003.  It took me 3 years but I lost 110 pounds!  I kept this weight off for over 5 years.In 2008 I had to have an open abdominal surgery and contracted MRSA.  The stress of having to wear a wound vac 24-7, not to mention the pain, caused me to get Polymyalgia Rheumatica or PMR.  This has been treated with large doses of prednisone.  Unfortunately I regained 50 pounds.Let me regress a little here.  I have ALWAYS had a little trouble with reflux and esophagitis, but it was not a constant thing when I was younger, but it was getting worse.  In January of 2010 I caught an upper respiratory infection that was going around and I had to take 2 rounds of very strong antibiotics.  Before I finished these, I had gotten to the point that I couldn't keep food down. Within 20 minutes of eating, everything would come back up.  I called Dr. B and they scheduled a barium swallow.  It showed an abnormality.  The following day I had an endoscopy that showed a hiatal hernia and acid reflux.  Dr. B said that I needed this fixed.So, on March 23, 2010 I had surgery, had my old band removed, the hiatal hernia fixed, the procedure done to fix the acid reflux (I can't remember the name of it to save my life) and I had a new band put back in.  I am going on my second week of being newly banded.I set my goal for 160, but I might change my mind later on.