ANicoleLL

No one will help me. My lap band has slipped. My surgery took place in Mexico - obviously big mistake. Now no one here in the US will help me. I have called so many places asking for help - they tell me there is nothing I can do for you. There is one doctor I have found that will accept transfering patients for $2500. I am going to do that. I cannot fly out to mexico b/c I cannot find my passport. I have lost 15 lbs in a week. I feel awful. Cannot keep anything down. The doctor I am hoping to transfer to will not do anything for me until Tuesday - thanks to the long holiday weekend. I am at witts end. I am exhausted, weak, dehydrated, and feel like I may not be able to make it to Tuesday. I was in the ER the other night from the amount of pain in my chest and back - I thought I was having a heat attack. They gave me pain meds and that was all they could do for me. I am a liability. I have thrown up more in a week than I have in my life. I feel disgusting and i feel like my body is shutting down. Miserable. Everytime I try calling anyone for help they just say - there's nothing I can do for you. I slept for 14 hours last night. I am still exhausted. I cannot drink water. I feel like I am dying and no one will help me. Helpless, lonely, depressed. I need to get this thing out of me. I will just lose the weight on my own. I will not rely on some stupid man made piece of crap - I will make it on my own.

It has been a while since I have updated. Last week I began having the severe throwing up and not able to keep food down problems again. Over the past few months my heart burn was getting worse and worse. The doctors kept putting me on prevacid, nexium, etc to help but nothing was working. Then for the past month maybe more - time starts to get blurry when you feel like crapola - I would wake up in the night choking on my own throw up (indigestion). Last week I had a melt down about all of this. I am tired of not feeling good. I had lap band surgery to feel better with myself and be healthier. And I have not be healthy all year! I went to my doctor and told him flat out - something is wrong with me and we need to figure it out now. He gave me more medicines. I went back to the doctor the next day - lost 5 pounds. Started crying - and told him how miserable I have been. He signed me up for a barium swallow. Next day I had my barium swallow - which was very difficult b/c I had not eaten in 3 days and felt terrible. But I made it thru - now I had to wait for the results. Anywho. I got my results today. I now have a Hiatal Hernia. I have been reading about it trying to figure out where I go from here and what the doctors will have to do. A lot of people have Hiatal Hernias before they have lap band surgery and then it is fixed during the surgery. Well - I have mine now. A hiatal hernia with a lapband. Oh goodie. I will get to the doctor as soon as possible to see what can be done next. Atleast now I know that I am not crazy. I have something wrong with me and it has a name and there are ways to fix it. Now time to fix it!

So I had my fill (or fill removal) a couple of weeks ago. I feel so much better except for heart burn. Before I had my surgery - January 2009 - I had heart burn a lot. After the surgery it was gone! Awesome. But since I was sick over a month ago and now that my band is more open I am still having horrible horrible heart burn. To the point of making me nauesious. So I am now taking nexium or some off brand of it to help. I just don't know why I am having such bad heart burn. It sucks. Anywho - About why I was so sick in the first place and what happened at my fill. FillCenters USA doctor guy said that I must have had something completely stuck in my band which made me terribly sick. And my stomach was inflamed and swelled up causing my band to seem like it had shrunk. As soon as they stuck the needle in my port 2 cc of saline popped out b/c of the force of my stomach and the band. They were like - wow that is a lot! So had my UGI and everything looked good after that. I am eating but like I said the heart burn is not good at all. I hope once my stomach relaxes and the swelling goes down - which he said could be up to 2 months or more - that my heart burn will go away again. Ok - that's all for now.

So all week I have been trying to make an appointment with a Dr. that accepts transfering patients - b/c I had my surgery in Mexico and no one else will assist me b/c I am a liability. Still no luck. The lady has yet to return my call or answer my call and I think it's a good thing. I have been going to fillsUSA to have my fills done. The next time I can go is June 26. Well - I have already gone 2 weeks. What's a few more? I have not been able to eat anything - liquids only until yesterday. For lunch I just felt like trying some food. I headed over to subway - I know - and got a sandwich. I always buy a footlong just b/c they are cheaper than the 6in. But I never eat the whole thing. ANYWHO! I took 3 tiny little bites over a 15 min period. And then had my normal cream of chicken soup. "oh goodie". I did pretty well! I saved the rest of the sandwich for my hubby for dinner. When I got home for dinner more soup of course! AND I finished the one half i started eating earlier that day. Hubby ate the other half. YAY! I ate a sandwich and had some soup. The first real food in DAYS! Today I had a turkey hotdog - no bun just the hot dog. I needed meat! And later on some soup. Soup is always just comfortable and gives me enough protein and calories. So.... No I am not "fixed" but I am feeling better. I am not hurting nearly as bad. Sometimes there is still discomfort - but I work through it. This is why I am thinking of just waiting until June 26 for my un-fill. Or just to go in so they can tell me what all is going on. And since I cannot find my passport - and I am still looking - I am thinking about going ahead and ordering another one or renewing or what ever I need to do! And if I need to get anything fixed or get the band removed I will go back to where I had it done. That will be a lot cheaper than coughing up $2500. Which I CANNOT AFFORD! I really need to start going to the gym again. I feel lazy since I have not gone these 2 weeks but I think if I am still feeling better by next week - back to the gym! I love going. It makes me feel better about myself. It makes me feel unstoppable! MWAHAHAHA! haha...

I think salad works for different people. I cannot eat salads or lettuce mainly - but is a good thing. When I use to eat salads before the surgery it would always be with LOTS of dressing which fattens it back up. Sounds like you add the right ingredients and are able to eat a healthy salad. I think if you find something healthy that you are able to eat - stick to it!

So - yes I am still in pain. I am trying to get an appointment together as a "transfering patient." I have to fill out a whole bunch of paper work - basically sign my life over in case I die no one can sue them. Anywho. I do not want to loose the band. But I think that will be my only option. I am going to call them again first thing in the morning to see what other info they need. Even though having surgery is A LOT cheaper in Mexico. It's a pain. Pay the extra bucks and have it done in the US where someone will always be there to take care of you. This is CRAZY!

On this journey you learn what your body can and cannot eat. Everyone is different. There will be some things that you can't eat but you learn to make substitues for it. Like I cannot eat bread of any kind or pastas or rice but I always love a good baked potato. So I never miss the other stuff. If you are miserable being over weight - then missing out on bread may not be so bad.

Same thing here. Once I started eating food after the liquid - the weight started to hold. Then after my body readjusted to food and what to do with it - everything started working better. Remember - lap band is a slow process. No instant gradification.

Please don't be silly about this. The lap band is not worth gaining 30 lbs MORE weight for. How much do you weigh? There are some of us that truly needed the surgery. From your picture you don't look that over weight. If you go to the gym and honestly watch what you eat - you will be fine with out the band. B/c to be honest - YOu have to watch what you eat and exercise even if you get the surgery done. It isn't an "easy fix" surgery. It's suppose to assist you into changing your eating habbits. And teach you how much food you really need in order to live! Please reconsider your situation. If I was your size - I would work my ass off just the same as I do now - With out the band.

Hey! Don't be ashamed about slowing down. I started feeling that way too but then I joined a gym. Trust me - I was very nervous about joining. But it was AWESOME! I love it! I could work out every day if I could. I like to go atleast 4 times a week. I would recomend starting out at a smaller gym. They are more comfortable feeling and ALL types of people go. Not just the skinny minis. Anywho! Good Luck! Remember - we all have messed up before - that's why we had the surgery. You can change things around! Believe in yourself.