Hello! I am a 40 yr old female from Cape Cod Mass. I have been overweight forever, but in the past few years I reached my highest peak @ 255lbs. In January of this year I looked into bariatric weight loss thru BI in Boston. They have a comprehensive and long program, which I completed in about 3-4 months and was told I would be a good candiate for surgery. I waited a few more months, as I was trying to decide what was best for me. Once I decided to go forward, I had to pick GBP or Lap Band. Since I was not a diebetic and on medications for health problems and the gbp seemed so severe, I opted for Lap Band surgery. My date was set for Monday 8/30/10. The week prior I did a partial liquid diet using mostly the unjury protein drinks. They taste good and filled me up. It was easier than I thought and I lost 10 lbs prior to surgery, just as my doctor wanted. I was super exicted and nervous but my surgeon is renowned in thie field and I was confident. Unfortunatley for me things did not go as planned. As I woke up in recovery, a nurse who did not seem to know about bariatrics, handed me 2 containers of liquid percocet and some water, telling me to drink it all down. I did as I was told, only to be hit with such pain in my chest, I thought I was dying. I could not breathe, I vomited, I was sweating and very upset. Nothing s/b given orally so soon after surgery and I will never know if that caused what happened next or not, but it was a long road for me. As a mom with a 6 yr old who was due to start first grade, I was happy to have my surgery scheduled before her school started, knowing I would be in the hospital for just one night. Well, for me it turned into a long 6 days! On day 3 my Dr stuck a needle in the band and took out all the water (15 cc) trying to loosen things up. 4 days after surgery I still could not keep 15 cc of water down and he decided to go back in and pop 2 stiches to loosen me up. This is called a revision and he said he had only see this happen in 2 patients prior to me...and he has done this since the surgery came about. I had to go backunder general anthesia and into the OR again. By the next day I was drinking some water and by Sunday afternoon I was finally released. I am 2 weeks out from my 2nd surgery and down a total of 30 lbs. I had my 2 week follow up with my doc and he says I am doing better than most. I am back to walking 3 miles a day (which I had started the month prior to surgery). My main issues now are with constipation and all that fun stuff.. Some days I don't want to get out of bed. I am cranky as I miss food. I loved to eat and it is harder than I expected to go without. On Saturday I tried on some jeans than are a size 20 (I was in 24/26) and they were a bit loose. This was exciting but only temporarily lifted my spirits. I still feel a bit off...not sure why exactly but trying to move ahead and getting stronger. I am on stage 4 diet...some solids, and so far, so good. This is my first time on a blog, and I am anxious to read other people's stories as well as chronicle my own. Thanks for reading:))
