Perhaps Its Time I Share My Story..

[bsmith 35]

Hi everyone, my name is Becky and I have been on this site for about a month now and I can't say enough good things about the people on this site. I have not shared my story yet because 1.) it's not the normal journey 2.) I never wanted to scare anyone who was preparing for surgery and 3) it's still very difficult to talk about. So here goes nothin!

I was banded back in 2007 and had the typical problems with vomiting and terrible heartburn/reflux. I started my journey at 245 lbs and after my first year with the band I got down to 170...not bad! Unfortunately, I misused the band and ate whatever I wanted and then threw it up. I did this every day after almost every meal. Needless to say I ended up having a major slip in 2010 and had to have the band removed. I gained a lot of my weight back and was devastated! I was originally a self pay so my doctor told me to take a few months to heal and he would help me get the band put back in. A few months later, I saved up enough money to cover the discounted cost of having another band put back in. I was rebanded in October of 2010 and I really worked the band. I dropped 30 lbs (the right way) and then I got pregnant. I had a healthy pregnancy except that I had gallstones so I hardy ate anything and only gained 23 lbs during the pregnancy. I had to have my daughter a month early so they could remove my gallbladder and the operation went smoothly.

Life was good. I was back to my pre baby weight of 187 within 2 weeks of having my baby. I was working it! Slowly, I began to gain weight. Within a year of having my baby, I was back up to 223. I was doing everything right so what was wrong? I still don't understand but I every so often I would get the flu. Well, I thought it was the flu anyway. I got it about every 6 months until Feb of 2012 when i got it 3 times. I kept thinking, the flu must be rampant. My daughter even had it the first time I was sick in Feb so in my mind, I knew it was flu related. On March 8, 2012 I went to work and had a really back pain near my kidneys not near my stomach. I began vomiting uncontrollably and took myself to the urgent care. They sent me to the ER with kidney stones. Based on where the pain was located, it made sense. The hospital gave my a shot of pain med and sent me home. I went back 3 times over the next two days and they just kept sending me home. I was vomiting ever 3-4 minutes by the end of the second day. I couldn't even stand in my own. I remember thinking...I'm going to just kill myself. I'm dying and no one will help me. Finally I called my bariatric doctor to see if he could unfill my band because it hurt so bad to vomit. He got me right in, scolded me for not calling him first and unfilled me. I remember the feeling of instant relief after he unfilled me. I went home and slept for 6 hrs. I hadn't slept in days and I was so exhausted. I woke up at 6:30 that friday puking my guts out again. I was so sick that I broke the ceramic toilet seat with the sheer force of my chest hitting it whet I got sick. The vomiting was non stop now. I barely had time to take a breath between. My boyfriend had just walked in the door from work and I crawled to him, grabbed his leg and said, I'm dying! I knew something was terribly wrong and I knew I was dying. He rushed me to my bariatric doctors hospital and they rushed me in to surgery to unhook the band. It took close to 3 hours to get an IV in because my veins had collapsed. There were so many nurses around me trying to get IV's in me and I grabbed one and pulled him close to me and I told him to please "kill me now." That's all I remember really except for the fact that I died on the table. I saw the light. It's so vivid what I saw. I won't share that part with you because it's just for me to know and you'd probably think i was crazy. Anyway, I woke up 5 days later from my coma, hooked up to every machine you can imagine. Tubes down my throat, central IV line in my neck, arterial lines, pic lines, 16 different IV's, you name it I was hooked to it. Turns out my band had slipped. The sutures stayed in tact and as I vomited it ripped my stomach apart from top to bottom. They were only able to save about 10% of my stomach and pieced it together with mesh so that I wouldn't have to live with a feeding tube for the rest of my life. I'm categorized as a full gastrectomy which is usually done on patients suffering from stomach cancer. I don't have the typical sleeve but I do call myself a sleever.

My story isn't over yet, sorry it's so long!! Things were going as good as can be expected. A day after waking from my coma they pulled the tube from my throat and had me start walking a few hrs later. I spent 10 days in ICU unable to see my kids before they sent me home. I was home for 2 days before I got a fever. It spiked to 105.6 and I went back to the hospital. They ran tests and found that I had major abscesses in my abdomin. I got infections from all the stomach bacteria. I ended up having 2 JP drains put in and stayed in the hospital for another 3 weeks. When I finally got to go home, I had to have at home nursing care. I had to give myself IV antibiotics every 6 hrs. I also developed blood clots fromy pic line...which by the way sucks. Coumadin made my hair fall out (along with lack of protein). I was so sick that I refused to eat. My weight loss actually scared me. I was losing between 2-3 lbs a day. Granted I had gotten up to 233 from all the fluids but still, losing 3 lbs a day for weeks at a time is scary!!

I returned to the hospital 2 more times from abscesses and had to have another JP drain put in and have the Fluid around my lungs drained ( my total hospital stay was aprox 2.5 months total). I also became addicted to the painkillers and had to seek treatment to get off the percoset. I suffered severe dumping up until August and am still lactose intolerant! I can live with that though! The dumping...not so much! Dumping is terrible!!!!

To sum up my wls journey...it effin sucked! I love my "sleeve" now but my journey has been tough none the less. I was finally able to start moving and walking around in June and have since slowly picked up jogging. I love my new life and if I scared anyone I am truly sorry. My story is not the norm but it is my story. Had I known about the sleeve before I got my band, I would have chosen the sleeve. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Thank you to all of you who have been my support and my inspiration. I love this site!!!!

Beginning stats- 5'6" 233 lbs after initial surgery

Current stats- 160lbs

Surgery date 3/11/12

[chitowngirl 886]

All I can say is wow... I'm glad to hear that you are doing better. Best of luck to you.

[desertmom 297]

I am really glad you are doing well now.

The band was and is and will always be a bad idea.I had one for 7 years and it was a nightmare for a huge part of that time.

There is a lot of horror band stories out there but more than that,we dieted ourselves thin,vomited all the time and would end up fat again.I have an online blog in a british forum of that time in my life and I stayed at 800 cals for 2 years after the band,exercising lika a total maniac and could only get to 198 pounds,ever.I had to be unfilled completely then and just gained it back.More than that my surgeon kept on telling me my pain was psycological.

I hope your teeny tiny tummy serve you well for the rest of your life and that there will come a time when the horror of what you went through will be only a distant memory.

[gmanbat 5,889]

Wow, what a rough road you have been on! Thanks for sharing that.

I am so happy you are doing better and will pray that all goes well for you.

[Ainsleet 67]

Hi everyone, my name is Becky and I have been on this site for about a month now and I can't say enough good things about the people on this site. I have not shared my story yet because 1.) it's not the normal journey 2.) I never wanted to scare anyone who was preparing for surgery and 3) it's still very difficult to talk about. So here goes nothin!

I was banded back in 2007 and had the typical problems with vomiting and terrible heartburn/reflux. I started my journey at 245 lbs and after my first year with the band I got down to 170...not bad! Unfortunately, I misused the band and ate whatever I wanted and then threw it up. I did this every day after almost every meal. Needless to say I ended up having a major slip in 2010 and had to have the band removed. I gained a lot of my weight back and was devastated! I was originally a self pay so my doctor told me to take a few months to heal and he would help me get the band put back in. A few months later, I saved up enough money to cover the discounted cost of having another band put back in. I was rebanded in October of 2010 and I really worked the band. I dropped 30 lbs (the right way) and then I got pregnant. I had a healthy pregnancy except that I had gallstones so I hardy ate anything and only gained 23 lbs during the pregnancy. I had to have my daughter a month early so they could remove my gallbladder and the operation went smoothly.

Life was good. I was back to my pre baby weight of 187 within 2 weeks of having my baby. I was working it! Slowly, I began to gain weight. Within a year of having my baby, I was back up to 223. I was doing everything right so what was wrong? I still don't understand but I every so often I would get the flu. Well, I thought it was the flu anyway. I got it about every 6 months until Feb of 2012 when i got it 3 times. I kept thinking, the flu must be rampant. My daughter even had it the first time I was sick in Feb so in my mind, I knew it was flu related. On March 8, 2012 I went to work and had a really back pain near my kidneys not near my stomach. I began vomiting uncontrollably and took myself to the urgent care. They sent me to the ER with kidney stones. Based on where the pain was located, it made sense. The hospital gave my a shot of pain med and sent me home. I went back 3 times over the next two days and they just kept sending me home. I was vomiting ever 3-4 minutes by the end of the second day. I couldn't even stand in my own. I remember thinking...I'm going to just kill myself. I'm dying and no one will help me. Finally I called my bariatric doctor to see if he could unfill my band because it hurt so bad to vomit. He got me right in, scolded me for not calling him first and unfilled me. I remember the feeling of instant relief after he unfilled me. I went home and slept for 6 hrs. I hadn't slept in days and I was so exhausted. I woke up at 6:30 that friday puking my guts out again. I was so sick that I broke the ceramic toilet seat with the sheer force of my chest hitting it whet I got sick. The vomiting was non stop now. I barely had time to take a breath between. My boyfriend had just walked in the door from work and I crawled to him, grabbed his leg and said, I'm dying! I knew something was terribly wrong and I knew I was dying. He rushed me to my bariatric doctors hospital and they rushed me in to surgery to unhook the band. It took close to 3 hours to get an IV in because my veins had collapsed. There were so many nurses around me trying to get IV's in me and I grabbed one and pulled him close to me and I told him to please "kill me now." That's all I remember really except for the fact that I died on the table. I saw the light. It's so vivid what I saw. I won't share that part with you because it's just for me to know and you'd probably think i was crazy. Anyway, I woke up 5 days later from my coma, hooked up to every machine you can imagine. Tubes down my throat, central IV line in my neck, arterial lines, pic lines, 16 different IV's, you name it I was hooked to it. Turns out my band had slipped. The sutures stayed in tact and as I vomited it ripped my stomach apart from top to bottom. They were only able to save about 10% of my stomach and pieced it together with mesh so that I wouldn't have to live with a feeding tube for the rest of my life. I'm categorized as a full gastrectomy which is usually done on patients suffering from stomach cancer. I don't have the typical sleeve but I do call myself a sleever.

My story isn't over yet, sorry it's so long!! Things were going as good as can be expected. A day after waking from my coma they pulled the tube from my throat and had me start walking a few hrs later. I spent 10 days in ICU unable to see my kids before they sent me home. I was home for 2 days before I got a fever. It spiked to 105.6 and I went back to the hospital. They ran tests and found that I had major abscesses in my abdomin. I got infections from all the stomach bacteria. I ended up having 2 JP drains put in and stayed in the hospital for another 3 weeks. When I finally got to go home, I had to have at home nursing care. I had to give myself IV antibiotics every 6 hrs. I also developed blood clots fromy pic line...which by the way sucks. Coumadin made my hair fall out (along with lack of protein). I was so sick that I refused to eat. My weight loss actually scared me. I was losing between 2-3 lbs a day. Granted I had gotten up to 233 from all the fluids but still, losing 3 lbs a day for weeks at a time is scary!!

I returned to the hospital 2 more times from abscesses and had to have another JP drain put in and have the Fluid around my lungs drained ( my total hospital stay was aprox 2.5 months total). I also became addicted to the painkillers and had to seek treatment to get off the percoset. I suffered severe dumping up until August and am still lactose intolerant! I can live with that though! The dumping...not so much! Dumping is terrible!!!!

To sum up my wls journey...it effin sucked! I love my "sleeve" now but my journey has been tough none the less. I was finally able to start moving and walking around in June and have since slowly picked up jogging. I love my new life and if I scared anyone I am truly sorry. My story is not the norm but it is my story. Had I known about the sleeve before I got my band, I would have chosen the sleeve. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Thank you to all of you who have been my support and my inspiration. I love this site!!!!

Beginning stats- 5'6" 233 lbs after initial surgery

Current stats- 160lbs

Surgery date 3/11/12

Very brave of you to finally write your story. I hope it is cathartic. Lots of love, health and strength always. Sorry you had to go through so much pain and hospitalization. And having seen the light. Maybe you will write about that too?

Best best best to you. Ainslee

[A Sleeve4me 26]

God bless you..I'm so glad that U are doing better!

[buckeye_girl40 203]

You definitely had a guardian angel watching over you... so glad that you are doing better. God Bless you

[Katie713 423]

I know it took guts to disclose your story, but as you said, it is your story and people need to hear the good, the bad and the ugly.

I am glad that you made it through and are now starting to normalize. I hope that you continue to gain strength so that you can enjoy life with your loved ones!!

Take care!!

[Fiesta728834 11]

What can I say Becky what a rubbish time you have had to eventually have a good end. I have not been a fan of the old band and I am now waiting for a sleeve revision. I have only been on this site for a short time and find the people encouraging, helpful, sympathetic and quite a few that will agree with you about the band. Hope this reply finds you safe and weLl.

Elizabeth :-)))

[Butterthebean 8,146]

You have a wonderfully positive attitude for someone who's been through so much. It sounds like things are looking up now. Hope you stick around the forum.

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

Yep.. As you can see by my name, the band is not something I would ever recommend. I too went through what you did x's 2 on the death trip and years of blood transfusions and weekly infusions.

I can't believe the ER didn't recommend the remova for youl, but instead gave you a shot for pain?

Whenever I was transported to ER and they found out I had the band that was their focus. Luckily, I always had someone with me who knew I had the band because many times I was not conscious or coherent.

Glad you shared your story ... It's important! Greatful you're better and prayers are with you for continued good health.

I suppose we should be posting on the band forum? Wonder what kind of reception we'd receieve.

ARRGGH... To the lapband

[Butterthebean 8,146]

Yep.. As you can see by my name' date=' the band is not something I would ever recommend. I too went through what you did x's 2 on the death trip and years of blood transfusions and weekly infusions.

I can't believe the ER didn't recommend the remova for youl, but instead gave you a shot for pain?

Whenever I was transported to ER and they found out I had the band that was their focus. Luckily, I always had someone with me who knew I had the band because many times I was not conscious or coherent.

Glad you shared your story ... It's important! Greatful you're better and prayers are with you for continued good health.

I suppose we should be posting on the band forum? Wonder what kind of reception we'd receieve.

ARRGGH... To the lapband[/quote']

You would certainly freak some people out over there.

[bsmith 35]

See this is what I love about this site, the support! You guys are so amazing! Thank

You all for the kind words and prayers.

@butterthebean: I do have a wonderful attitude! I love life, it's sort of a newfound lease on life. I don't want to take anything for granted. When I catch myself taking things for granted (& it does happen more than I'd care to admit) I force myself to remember and then I cry, a lot!

@ms Anitband I didn't even mention all of the blood transfusions I had. I still see my hematologist/ encologist every month as well as my infectious disease doctor. It's a process coming to terms with a lot of this but one that I welcome with open arms. This is my life now. There's new rules and new obstacles but I'm gonna make it! WE are gonna make it!!

[Territravel 217]

Wow! You've really been through the ringer. So glad to hear that you survived, and are doing well now..My belief, and opinion is God has plans for you. If you ever want to talk about what happened on the table when you saw the light, I would love to hear it...Or if you just want to talk, private message me.

Terri

[KatieOkieDokie 171]

I am so sorry that you had to go through so much I am happy though that you are on the mending side, but still what you had to endure was awful.

My cousin was banded about year and half ago and she is starting to have problems. Throwing up all the time, and she has started to lose her hair and having really bad skin issues. I'm starting to worry that there might be something wrong with her band.