Howdy from Oklahoma

Queen of Hearts · March 22, 2008

I have been working towards my lapband surgery for 2 years now. I was banded on Feb 8, 2008. My doctor is Dr. Timothy Eldridge. He is one really cool doctor! I am a research participant for Allergan and have received my first fill on 5 March 08 with 5cc. I am married with 2 grown children. I am now 51 years young. My decision to have the lapband was not just because of my obesity but because of my health going downhill faster than I could keep up with it. I have hypertension, high cholestrol, sleep apnea, what they call a metabolic syndrome (or the X syndrome), borderline diabetes and non-alcoholic sclerosis of the liver. My liver doctor said I was headed for the organ waiting list and my endocrinologist said with my X syndrome I might live another 10 years..so my decision was made. I consulted my family doctor, my digestive disease doctor, and my heart doctor. All were in agreement to help me obtain whatever I needed to get the lap band. My disgestive disease specialist said he would not help me if I wanted the gastric bypass since it was so invasive, whereas he lauded the lap band! I had no problems with my surgery and the only real shock for me was the incision for the port is a bit larger than I expected. All in all I came through and continue to have nothing but thanks for the people who have the intelligence to develop, create, and initiate this type of weight loss procedure. I am looking forward to the day when all my doctors can say I am doing great and I have my health back!:thumbdown:

hippiechick · March 23, 2008

Wow, congratulations! It sounds like you're doing great! I'm not even banded yet, but am still gathering info. I'm intriged about your mention that you are a research patient for Allergan. Would you mind going into that a bit? Which band do you have? Thanks, and best wishes for a great recovery!

Queen of Hearts · March 23, 2008

Hello Hippiechick! Well like I said earlier..I've been doing studies myself and checking out options on financial aid since at the beginning my insurance didn't cover lapbands. They covered the gastric bypass but my digestive disease doctor said he cannot recommend that and he already has one patient he is trying to help. I have many friends that had the gastric bypass and some do real well, while others are in and out of the hospital for help. When I visited my family doctor, she recommended Dr. Eldridge. I had been a patient of one of his partners for gall bladder surgery and he assisted in that surgery so knowing him before hand really made me feel at ease. I have BCBS FED insurance. Once I was referred to Dr. Eldridge I had to attend a seminar that lasted about 2 1/2 hours, where they went over the procedure, the history of their own practice, the risks involved and a whole lot of other information. His office then set me up with a nutritionist. I went to see her for 6 months. I highly recommend this due to the fact you're not really put on a diet, but you are indoctrinated into a new lifestyle change. This is exactly what everyone should do. It made it easier for me to understand and also to follow the pre-op and post-op diets. The hardest thing for me to give up..believe it or not was diet pepsi..I admit..I was addicted. I really didn't think I could give it up but I did in August of 07..isn't that terrible to remember the month and year you gave up a diet drink?? LOL!! That's how much I loved diet pepsi! After I had the surgery it was real easy following the meal plan my nutritionist outlined. She gave me up to the first 5 months of what I can and cannot have and how much. When I went in for my 2 week post op check up, my doctor told me the rule to remember is don't eat more than 1/2 cup per meal, eat 3 meals per day, exercise 30 minutes 3 times a week and make sure my meal plan has more Protein than anything else. The pre-op diet gives you an idea of how much your eating habits will change, but once you have the surgery the first couple of weeks you don't have much in the way of banding per say..it's an adjustment period for the band to settle in place. My first adjustment was 4 weeks after surgery. Before I went into surgery my doctors coordinator called me and asked me if I would like to participate in a research study that allergan was doing on lapband patients. There are suppose to be 500 of us out there (nation wide) and 10 of them with my doctor. I said I'd be happy to..I was just so excited to finally be getting my lapband! So my first visit at 2 weeks had me filling out a lot of information on myself as far as how I felt about myself being obese and how I perceived others felt about me with this disease and also I went into great detail on my co-morbidity problems since that was the deciding factor for me to have this surgery. If it's research I figured they would need to know everything. My doctor was actually pleased that I had gone into so much detail and I told him..well when you are told you won't live another ten years or you are going to have to go on a donor list, then I think this study should know everything I have to face and have to overcome. It was really long..kinda like this reply! LOL! Have you gone to the lapband.com site? That is the allergan site. I have an allergan lapband and my first adjustment was 5 cc. He had a bit of a time finding just the right spot to inject the saline but it didn't hurt at all..they numbed the area and it was really weird because I could feel the coolness of the saline go through the port into the tube which filled up the band. When the band was filled, I could feel pressure in my chest almost dead center between my breasts. I told the doctor this and he said that was the band being filled..I never realized my stomach started so high up! HA! Anyway..back to the research..I have to fill out paperwork (3 pages) on what I have done, if I have had to make any changes, what the changes are and more or less the same type information I filled out the first time. I also had read about the study group in Australia that was done on patients with diabetes. 93% of those in the study group had reached a level to where they did NOT have to have insulin treatments at all!! I knew this was a good thing after reading that! I will say this..in 2 weeks after surgery..even though the band was not filled my blood pressure with medication normally runs about 130-140 over 80-90. My first visit after the lapband installation..my blood pressure was 116/67!! I asked the nurse to recheck it because it has never been that low before..I just knew she messed up somehow! Well she didn't. My 3rd week after surgery I made an appointment with my regular doctor and she took my blood pressure and it was 112/70..I told her about my 2nd week check and she decided to start making changes on my medications but specifically told me to watch it carefully and when it stayed at 110 on the top side to take the samples she gave me. I take 3 different blood pressure medications. 2 weeks after seeing her I was due my regular heart doctor check up. He was thrilled and I told him I was glad I lost the weight too so he couldn't chew me out for gaining anymore! HA! But he noticed my blood pressure was 110/64..do you see where I'm headed with this? It keeps going down. I told him about the sample meds my family doctor gave and he decided instead of that we would cut my current pill that contains two blood pressure meds in it..in half and try that first. Friday (22 Mar 09) my blood pressure was 96/65..I decided that it was time to definitely cut back on the meds..so my husband cut my pills in half and I will continue to watch to see if that is enough or will I end up getting off at least one of the meds completely! This change will be noted on my next visit with my lapband doctor on the 17th of April. The study will be for 5 years. That's how long they will be doing this study so I am sure they are serious about proving just how great the lapband system is! It is not a paid study, I get no monies, I just get more visits in the long run and a lot of papers to fill out but if they can learn anything from my journey that will help someone else then that time for me was well spent! I am not so worried about my appearance as much as I am to at least live long enough to see grandchildren. There is another thread out there about putting faces to names. I just submitted my picture there earlier today..I can see in my mirror the changes I am making not so much on the scale as in my bodies appearance. My face is starting to thin out..my double chin is only 1 1/2 chins and my clothes are very loose on me. I get disappointed when I get on the scales and not see much loss since I eat like a bird but it seems that I will go for days with no change then poof..there's 3 pounds off then wait a little longer and 4 pounds..it's just not what I have seen when dieting in the past..course I didn't eat as well then as I do now. I may not get much but in between my meals I am still drinking 2 Protein Drinks. I use Carnation Instant Breakfast (fat free/sugar free) and skim milk. It keeps the hunger edge off a bit. That tip also came from my nutritionist. So when you finish checking out all your info let me know what you decide to do. It is a big change..no more steak and soft breads but I feel more alive now than I have in years. I am also looking at recipes for chicken and fish more readily since that's about my main protein source in the evening. You can still go to restraunts and either have Soup or you can order an appetizer and have them serve that when they bring everyone elses meals. I have already gone out 4 times just to prove to myself that it can be done and it doesn't bother me..if I don't eat it all..I have a carryout box brought to me and take it home for a meal or part of a meal the next day. Please keep in touch and if you have any questions that I can answer, I'll be happy to! Good luck on your info gathering! Be sure to also check the my emmi video on the lapband.com site. The more you know the less you will worry. I worked and studied this for 2 years so I know what you are going through right now..best of luck!! Keep in touch!

Queen of Hearts · March 23, 2008

Wow, congratulations! It sounds like you're doing great! I'm not even banded yet, but am still gathering info. I'm intriged about your mention that you are a research patient for Allergan. Would you mind going into that a bit? Which band do you have? Thanks, and best wishes for a great recovery!

The other thread I mentioned is on the Feb 2008 bandsters. It has pictures of a lot of the ladies who have had the lapband done in Feb of this year. It's really neat and I commend the young lady that came up with the idea! :frown::wub: