Newbie from New Mexico

[Jayala_NM 0]

I have been comtemplating getting lap band. I am attending a seminar on saturday to get further information. I think the best source of information can come from all of you who have been through this already. Everyone keeps telling me I do not need to get it. the exact phrase "you are not that big." I say don't let how I carry my weight fool you. I am 5'3 and 215 lbs. This is the biggest I have ever been but I do not see myself becoming any smaller on my own. I am tired of wasting money on senseless diets that get me no where. There was one time in my life I made it to a size 8. That was due to having surgery on my mouth after an accident which left me on a liquid diet for 3 weeks. After I dropped the weight I became gym obsessed just to try to keep it off but as always within a cpl of months it all came back plus more. My reasons for loosing the weight is more then vanity it's for my health. I have been diagnosed with PCOS ( a girlie thing ) and it makes it difficult to loose weight as well as being a cause for diabetes which already runs rampid on both sides of my family. Well enough of my sad song.... Please any info.... Let me be your sponge I need to soak it all up.... TTYL and happy journey.

[HappyMom 1]

Hello Jayala -

I too live in Rio Rancho and was banded on 3/35 by Dr. Smith here in ABQ at the Lovelace hospital. I can't say enough good things about the bariatric staff at Lovelace. They will work hard to get the procedure approved by your insurance.

The great thing about Dr. Smith is that he is also a banding patient. He received his band a few years ago and is doing great with it. He is also on the board at Allergan LapBand and is one of their training doctors. He does a great job. We are lucky to have him travel to NM to perform the surgery for us. I was considering going to Arizona or Texas since the surgery wasn't offered here before he came.

I am different from you in that I haven't told anyone that I have had the surgery....except of course my husband. I wasn't quite sure what response I would get when I told people that I was having bariatric surgery. I am just not ready to deal with other peoples opinions right now. My husband's is the only one that matters to me at this point in my journey.

I am jealous of you actually having the surgery at your age. I am 38 and wish that I had it done when my weight first started to get out of hand. I too was diagnosed with PCOS in my early 30's. We hadn't had kids yet and I was really nervous about the side effects of the disease. I had a horrible time conceiving (finally did at 33 and 36) and had all the complications of gestational diabetes and high blood pressure. I really wasn't overweight until after my first pregnancy when the PCOS really made it hard to lose the weight. The gestational diabetes turned into Type II and the high blood pressure didn't go away.

Again, congrats to you for doing something about your weight now. The side effects of PCOS are harder to manage the older you get!

I will be banded 4 weeks come tomorrow. I just had my first fill yesterday...kind of a weird experience seeing the needle entering your belly and watching the band inflate on the flouroscope. I haven't even experienced the full effect of the band yet, but I would make the decision to have the surgery again in a second. I can't tell you how much better I feel now that I have started to lose weight. I am off of all medications from my diabetes and blood pressure. I really think that I will have a longer and healthier life now.

You take care and remember that the decision to have the band is yours alone. You have to be mentally and physically ready for the lifestyle change. Go the the seminar and try coming to the monthly support meetings at the hospital. They are held the second Monday of each month at 7 pm. They are run by Paula (head surgical nurse), Jaine (psych) and Laura (dietitian). It is a great way to chat with others in various stages of banding. Most of the people at the support meetings are pre-banded patients who are seeking information and support prior to their surgery. I know that it really helped me to attend a couple of meetings prior to my banding. It was kind of neat to be a banded person last month and have people actually asking me about the surgery!

You take care and please message me if you have any questions about the staff at Lovelace, Dr. Smith or the surgery itself. I would love to hear from you!

Melissa

[Jayala_NM 0]

Hiya Melissa,

Thank you for responding to my post. I am happy to know that there is a great doctor to see out here. I really didn't know where to begin and so I figured going to a seminar to get info would be a great first step to a better life. Right now I feel my body slowing down almost giving up on me when it comes to losing weight. Truthfully I have been thinking about this for a cpl of years but before I never saw it as a problem. I was the type of person who always thought if I want to loose it I will. Now that I want to I can't. I can't continue to be hard on myself for something I try very hard to control.

So 4 weeks ago wow! Congrats..... Whats it like so far? I know such a broad question... :thumbup:

Do you feel very much pain if any at all? Thank you for the info on the meetings. Did you go through your primary doctor, and if so are they through lovelace. My primary is with Pres and I am wondering If I should change to a lovelace doctor just to keep it all within the same place.

You have a great day.

TTYL

-Jessica

[HappyMom 1]

Jessica -

I do not really have a 'primary' doctor.....I rarely get sick so I have never seen the point in having a regular doctor. I see a endocrinologist who helps to control my diabetes and high blood pressure....and then of course an OB-GYN. I didn't need a referral to make an appointment and see Dr. Smith. I have PPO insurance so that wasn't required.

I discussed my decision with the diabetes specialist and she was on board with me having surgery. I still have to monitor my blood sugars daily, but I am off of all medication.

The surgery was a breeze for me. I have had two c-sections and the pain and recovery time is nothing compared to having a baby! I have four small incisions (1/2-inch) and one longer incision (1.5-inch) where they attached the port. They started the surgery at 10:15 am and I was walking out of the hospital two hours later at 12:15 pm. Like I said, it really wasn't too big of a deal for me. There was some pain and bloating, but nothing that a few days of rest didn't take care of. Actually, my husband had to go to work the next day and I took care of the two little guys (1 & 4), did laundry, and cooked without too many problems.

The most painful thing for me is was the trapped gas. They inflate your stomach with a gas to lift the abdominal wall away from your organs. This gives them room to work in your belly. When they suture you up some of the gas is still trapped in your abdomen. For some reason this gas will cause your left shoulder to really hurt. Don't know why your left shoulder and not your right one....buy oh well. Most of the pain that I had was due to the gas and not the incisions. I slept in a recliner for the first 4 nights. The gas pain was worse for me at night and I couldn't bear the shoulder pain of lying down flat. When I was sitting I held a pillow to my belly to put pressure on the incisions...for some reason that felt good to me. For the first two days I used bags of ice on my belly and a heating pad on my back. I always swell after surgery and the ice helped keep the swelling down for me. The heating pad was my attempt to reduce the gas pains. I am not sure if it did anything, but I gave it a try. Please don't be scared by this. The pain wasn't really too bad. Take the pain meds and you will be fine. I will also note that two days after surgery I was at costco pushing a cart and three days after surgery I was in the back yard finishing building a play fort for the kids. Moving around really helped.

I am doing well right now. I was back to walking an hour a day at about 1 week post-op. I just got the clearance form Dr. Smith to start lifting weights again. I do still have some tenderness at one small location on my belly, but that is due to the hernia that he discovered and repaired during the surgery.

I can pretty much eat whatever I want right now. I just had my first fill on Tuesday and I can tell that I still don't have restriction yet. Before surgery I was concerned that I would never be able to eat all my favorites again.....but that really isn't the case. I haven't run across something that I can't have....as of yet....that may change when I get some restriction.

It has been a weird experience being banded. You will have a two week liquid diet immediately before surgery. This was probably the hardest phase for me. I am had a hard time the first 3-4 days on that diet. I stuck with it and lost 19-lbs during that 14 day diet.

Here is the after banding food schedule that Dr. Smith has us on:

After surgery you will be on Clear Liquids for 2 days (water, tea, broth, juice, sugar free popsicles & jello) and then purees for 5 more days (protein shakes, Tomato Soup, juice, applesauce, cream of wheat, etc). The puree stage will last until your first post-op appointment.

Week 2 you will start eating mushies (mashed potatoes, ripe bananas, scrambled eggs and cereals).

The 3rd week you can have cooked veggies, Pasta, eggs, chicken salad, and fruits.

Week 4 you can pretty much eat whatever you want except he asks for no bread or oatmeal. You will get a fill at the end of your 4th week.

It really hasn't been too hard. I guess that once I got over the initial ravenous-bite-the-head-off-of-anyone-who-dared-approach-me phase of the pre-op diet I have been pretty good. Your hunger will go away temporarily immediately after surgery due to the swelling in your belly. It is a nice phase...to bad that it doesn't last the rest of your life!

It still hits me that I had weight loss surgery. I NEVER thought that I would ever do something that extreme......actually I never thought that I would ever get to a weight that I would consider having surgery in the first place!

You take care and I hope that things go well at the seminar this weekend. Sorry for the long post but as you can tell I am really excited about the band. I am so happy that I did this for myself and would recommend the surgery to anyone who is struggling with their weight and ready to make a change.

Have a great day!

Melissa