Perhaps Its Time I Share My Story..

[bsmith 35]

Thank you everyone for your kind words. And to Mdbrowneyes, I have heard nothing but great things about the docs and care received in Mexico. You will be fine! Best wishes everyone!

[rosehips 121]

See this is what I love about this site' date=' 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!![/quote']

Can u tell me what kind of treatment you had to go thru to get off the Percocet? I am having trouble in that area, you are an inspiration to me on your attitude for living life

[Ready 2 Fly 22]

So sorry you went through so much horror, but so very glad you are still with us. I was originally going to get the band, but when they passed one around the room during the seminar, it really freaked me out. After hearing your story, I am glad I made the decision to get the sleeve.

[Holly5.3 423]

Wow! Amazing story, my heart goes out to you and your friends and family that must have been so worried for you! When I was exploring WLS options, I have 2 coworkers who were banded and grilled them about pros and cons. One placed my hand on her stomach so I could feel it. That did it for me, it frieked me out. Neither has met goal, both lost then gained and are now losing again, finally. They both admitted to not following meal plan-it's too much to go through, even without complications, to not have total success-finally! God bless you, your story should be told as a caution for people considering the band. You will help so many people who may be undecided.

[bsmith 35]

Rosehips, it was awful trying to get off the pain meds. My detox was what led to my last hospital stay...they found another absess and I ended up staying another week and a half and getting pumped back up on pain meds. It sucked to have to start all over with my detox. What I did was tried to ween myself off. I was only able to get to 1/2 pill in am and 1/2 pull in evening. I went to my bariatirc dr and he sent me to my PCP and he then sent me to a sports/ pain management doctor. The pain doc put me on tramidol (ultram) which is a non narcotic pain med to help ween me off the percs. He also gave me clonodine to help me get through the anxiety and insomnia I was experiencing. It worked! I immediately stopped taking the percs and began the tramidol. Never took another perc. As smarter of fact I ended up staying another 3 days in the hospital for an unrelated problem and I demanded that they not give me any narcotics and give me tramidol and they had no problems doing so. My suggestion would be to get with your PCP and tell him you need help. He should refer you to pain management specialist. My PCP said it wasn't his field of expertise which was frustrating to hear sense it was the same thing my bariatric doctor said. At any rate, a pain mgmt doc is your best bet. I wish you luck in getting help! I know how hard it is but it is possible and quite painless to get off them. Keep me posted and feel free to message me if you need some moral support!

[imlosingit 130]

Hi everyone' date=' 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[/quote']

Blessings sweetheart.... I am so very happy you are now doing well.