Getting my Lap Band REMOVED today - And here's my story behind it(pics included)

[jessicakolman 3]

Hey friends -

I have not posted on this site in such a long time. I have had a year of pure hell. And that's putting it lightly. I had my lap band placed November 13th, 2009. In the first 4 months I lost 45 pounds. It will be 2 years since I had the band in 2 days. Since then I have not lost about 8 more pounds. I worked my butt of trying to lose this weight. I was very cautious about what I was eating and following the lap band diet. I even joined Gold's Gym and hired a personal trainer for an entire year. Even though I could only afford to see her two times a month, when I saw her, she worked me to the bone. I managed to lose about 8 pounds. My lowest weight was 192.

Before at 250 pounds

After 199 pounds

Fast forward to 2011. Starting in January I had to stop my membership and personal training because it was way too expensive. I then went on to joint a gym called LA Boxing where you used boxing gloves and hit the bag and worked with a class tought by a trainer.

The fun didn't last long. In march I started having severe pain. I found out that I had more ovarian cysts (i have a long history of ovarian cysts) that were pretty big. I was on birth control but obviously it wasn't working too well. Usually when you are on birth control you not supposed to ovulate which causes ovarian cysts. On April 28th, I had to have an Ovarian Cystectomy. The doctor was actually thinking about removing the whole entire right ovary because I constantly had ovarian cysts on that side. But they ended up saving it. I had what was called a hemorrhagic cyst that was actually inside my ovary. They removed the cyst. I went home and recovered. As I was getting ready to come back to work I started having really bad pain in my stomach and my stomach was really distended. I called my OBGYN and he told me to take a beano and assumed I had gas. It didn't seem right. I went to the ER. The doctors found that I had what was called a hematoma. It was about the size of a softball. I was hospitalized for 5 days and was given antibiotics and a PCA machine that distributed pain medicine Dialuded to me .I was out of work for a total of 7 weeks.

Here is a picture of my Hematoma. Basically the left side is me right before I went to the ER. You can see my stomach is severely bloated and on the top you can see where the hematoma is. On the right is me after 5 days in the hospital and you'll see that the stomach is less distended. They went under a ultrasound and drained the 7cc's of blood out of my stomach. But I'm still distended:

I wanted to get back on track with my weight loss so I went to my surgeon and got saline put in my band. I found out later that my band was way too tight. Tight enough where they had to remove all the saline for a few weeks because my band was causing my esophagus to almost dilate. Now keep in mind that this is the second time something like this had happened. This was getting old.

Here is a picture of my band. The picture is my band under a fluro xray. As you can see it's extremely swollen and too tight:

So I went back to my doctor and he barely put any saline in there so I didn't feel any restriction at all. I just dealt with it and tried just counting my calories and working out. My lap band was pretty much useless from that point out. I still had to deal with acid reflux. During the summer I had to deal with recurring ovarian cysts and then I developed kidney stones. FUN! Not. So because of this crap I was unable to work out. Let me tell you aside form the health issues I had I felt like I never had the restriction I wanted. I lost the estimated 50 pounds with a combination of the weight I initially lost straight out of surgery from the liquid diet, and then dieting on my own and working out with a personal trainer and working out on my own 5 days a week for 2 hours a day. I'm starting to get frustrated with this band because I feel like it isn't working. I'm following all the rules, I don't understand. I feel like I regret getting this band. I've been going in for adjustments like 10 times each year. And 5 of those times I've been told that I'm already tight enough so I wasted $30 for them to tell me I'm fine. I would walk out of that office in tears. So that summer I had a conversation with my surgeon expressing that I'm looking into possibly getting a revision surgery to bypass. I was sick of the bullshit. He told me to come talk to him about that in November. I would of been 2 years out, and he felt I should wait until 2 years out to talk about this. By this time I have already gained 10 pounds.

Lets fast forward to Friday 11/4/2011. I was feeling extreme stomach pain all week. I already had to visit the ER once because the pain was so severe. It felt like a burning pain in my upper stomach right above my belly button but kinda off to the left. The pain was very constant. Never went away. Earlier in the week I saw my bariatric surgeon who prescribed me a medicine called Carafate. It works mainly in the lining of the stomach by adhering to ulcer sites and protecting them from acids, enzymes, and bile salts. It's main function is for ulcers. He also prescribed me liquid oxycodone. I had to take double the dosage for it to help with the pain. So here I am Friday going back to the ER because the pain meds they gave me isn't working. I'm in agony. 10/10 pain scale. The doctor in the ER calls my surgeon and they decide to admit me to investigate what's going on with me. So that Saturday I saw a GI doctor who looked at my CT scan and Xrays and said that I was severely constipated. He felt that Constipation was the diagnoses to why I was in so much pain. He was the one telling me I'm full of **** literally, when I was thinking the exact thing about him figuratively because I knew I was having normal bowel movements and there was no way that constipation would of caused that much pain. So his solution.. he wanted the nurse to give me an enema. Ugh...not fun.. not fun at all. They literally had an IV pole that was holding this substance that was going to be my enema. It took the nurse about 5 different times for all the Fluid to "go in". SO after several bathroom trips, I was finally cleaned out. I didn't feel any different. I still felt that severe pain. So I was right.. that GI doctor was really full of ****. So he comes back on Sunday to see how I'm doing. I told him that I felt a lot of pain still. So, he wanted to do an endoscopy. So I had an endoscopy scheduled on Monday. So they brought me to the endoscopy. I don't remember anything. Which was good considering they gave me anesthesia to knock me out. It came back that I had what was called gastritis. Which is pretty much inflammation of the stomach lining. I couldn't accept that this was the cause of my pain. I just didn't seem right. My surgeon came in and we spoke about what they found out. He felt that it is very possible that my band was causing this pain. It felt that I may have some adhesions stuck around my band. It's also very possible that after 2 years of having a lap band in my body that my body is rejecting this foreign object. He told me that he was going to discharge me on that Tuesday and I should call and make an appointment with him to schedule surgery to get my lap band taken out. So here it was Tuesday, I went home. I was so happy to be home. I spent the rest of the day sleeping mostly. Wednesday came around and that morning I was in severe pain. The oxycodone wasn't helping at all. By 5:00PM I called my husband and said I need to go to the ER. As soon as I got into a bed, the ER doctor called and spoke with surgeon and the surgeon wanted to talk to me so he brought the mobile phone into my room and I spoke with him. He asked me if I would like to be admitted and on Friday they take the lap band out. That was the best thing I have heard spoken to me in a very long time. I was 90% sure that this was the cause of my pain. So here we are on Friday 11/11/2011. I'm sitting here in my hospital bed typing this long story about the reason why I've decided to take out this lapband I now call a CRAPband. I'm mad that I chose lapband instead of gastric bypass. I'm mad because I was trying to be safe and avoid invasive surgery with gastric bypass. After much education on the gastric bypass from talking to other friends who have had it and going to a seminar, I'm confident that this is what I want to do. Unfortunately, I will not be able to get the bypass when they take the band out. I have to wait 6 weeks or so for my stomach to heal and then I will be getting gastric bypass. I also have to go through the entire insurance requirements again. I'm fine with that. It's 9:00AM and I'm very nervous about today.

Here is a picture of me in my hospital bed typing this to you:

At 4:30PM today I will be laying on that OR table and I will be saying goodbye to something that has done almost nothing for me but cause me emotional and physical pain. I will update you on what happens. I will update you as in the next 2 weeks I recover from this. Please keep me in your prayers and thoughts. I'm really nervous.

Until next time,

Jessica

Here's a picture of me when I'm not in a hospital bed:

[TKW 501]

You're beautiful!

You've been through a lot, hope this solves the problem. The band, unfortunately, is not the answer for everyone.

Best of Luck to you!

[legnarevocrednu 47]

Hey Jessica! I feel so bad that you had to go through all that! I'm getting the band on the 21st and am really scared about it. I have heard similar stories to yours about the lap band. Insurance won't let me get anything else. I can only pray that it works for me :/ Anyways, I wanted to know if you have ever looked into the vertical sleeve? It's a lot safer with fewer complications than the gastric bypass. Less than 1% complications. My sister had bypass and ended up with a lot of complications. Just an idea! Good luck!

[jessicakolman 3]

Hey Jessica! I feel so bad that you had to go through all that! I'm getting the band on the 21st and am really scared about it. I have heard similar stories to yours about the lap band. Insurance won't let me get anything else. I can only pray that it works for me :/ Anyways, I wanted to know if you have ever looked into the vertical sleeve? It's a lot safer with fewer complications than the gastric bypass. Less than 1% complications. My sister had bypass and ended up with a lot of complications. Just an idea! Good luck!

I hope it works out for you as well. I know your probably nervous about it. I have heard of the vertical sleeve. Unfortunately I cannot get that because my insurance doesn't cover it. I wish I could.

[jessicakolman 3]

You're beautiful!

You've been through a lot, hope this solves the problem. The band, unfortunately, is not the answer for everyone.

Best of Luck to you!

Thank you sweetie! I know this will help a lot of things. Yes I agree it's not the answer for everyone. Not for me.

[Humming Bird 275]

Just wanted to send you best wishes for the future and I hope you are doing well tonight.

[insanejane 9]

I just got my band and your story is scaring mme good luck to u pretty girl

[GordyTampa 2]

Hey girlie good luck to you I got the band am down 168 lbs have about 40lbs to go and been stuck for a year. I have my days with the band have had my complications also I feel ya on the cysts ITS THE STORY OF MY LIFE!!! I hope whatever you do you get healthier as I tell everyone that the Lapband for me has been a blessing but if it would have given me issues I would rather be THICK and Happy than Skinny and frustrated! GOOD LUCK TO YA!