sweetanjil

I went on a family vacation Spring Break 09 to Disneyland.  I have a 4 yr old daughter.  So we ran non-stop for days.  On the 3rd day I broke down and rented a motorized cart because I could no longer do it.  Then I got home and posted some of our pictures on the Facebook/Myspace and one of my long time friends posted a comment about me looking like my mom.  Normally this wouldn't have been a bad thing, but since my mother is very overweight as well it hit me wrong.  So I talked to my boss who had Lapband surgery Sept 07 and asked for her doctors name and signed up for a seminar.  I went home that night from the seminar and applied for care credit and as soon as I hit the submit button it was instantly approved.  So I called the next morning and made an appt.  So I could of had surgery in May, but I chose to wait until June 19th since I work at a school district and then I would be on summer break.  I started Medifast on June 4th and OMG yuck, but I looked at the bigger picture and waded through it.  I was heading down a road I didn't want to continue on, so this was something I needed to do.  I had lost 50+ lbs about a year and a half before that and in 10 months I gained it all back.  That was horrible since I lost the weight in the public eye.  I was in a local YMCA Biggest Loser contest and I was the winner.  As soon as I lost that support I started gaining.  I was border line diabetic and headed for high blood pressure before the contest and it went all went to normal when I lost that weight.  I had maintained my better health, but I knew it was only a matter of time.  Both my parents are diabetic(insulin dependant) and I don't want that to happen just due to being fat.  So I started my journey.  It's been the best thing I have ever done for myself.  Because my health was great at the time of pre-op I didn't have to go through a bunch of tests.  So I scheduled and went in on June 19th.  The morning of surgery I was a little emotional simply for the fact of I was going to have surgery, and be put under.  URGH yes that scared me a bit.  I had to have the husband change the radio station a few times when songs would come on about it being my last day.  Yeh I didn't need to hear that.  LOL  So I got to the Surgical Center and they were great.  They took my right back and got everything started.  The iV tech was wonderful!  It's a good thing since I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to needles.  Then the surgeon came in and everyone was very good spirited around me.  So they preped me and took be back to the operating room.  I woke up a while later and the had me eat some ice chips and walk.  I couldn't believe I had done it, I had actually gotten WLS!!  I had looked into it for over 10 years.  I've been overweight all my life, ok well at least since 4th grade.  I was over 200 in early high school.  So after they got me up and walking around they said I could go home.  Ummm, Ummm really?  At least that was what I was thinking.  LOL  So they loaded me into a wheelchair and my hubby went to get the car.  As they are loading me into the car 3 hrs after I had first arrived my parents and daughter pulled into the parking lot.  LOL  They didn't think I'd be done so quickly so they missed it all. So I went home (an hr and a 1/2 drive).  I had my hubby stop after about an hr and I walked around the parking lot.  The gas pain eased with walking.  SO I did as much as I could.  After I got home I stayed on the liquid vicodin for about 3 days, the pain wasn't bad but it helped me sleep.  I slept in the recliner for about 4 days.  So I went through 3 weeks of liquids, full liquids and mushies.  The week 4 I started solids.  When I hit week 4 I was starting to wonder if I had anything done at all.  Since I didn't have any fill I couldn't tell a difference.  I lost a little bit of weight during that first month, but not a lot.  I started out at 290, on surgery day I was 278.  So I might have lost 8 lbs in the first month.  So I went in for my first fill on 7/21and I was scared.  I knew they were going to put a large needle in my stomach, but as I mentioned before I'm not fond of needles, LOL.  So They lay me down and do fluroscopy to see the port.  They stuck the needle in, and wow it wasn't bad.  They sat me up with the needle still in and had me drink barium so they could see it go through the band.  They pulled the air out, put in some saline and then took the needle out.  So I was now back on liquids for 48 hrs.  No prob, so I was thinking on day 2 of liquids that I would be starting solids at 2pm, I know they said 4 oz, but oh no is that weight or volume.  So I called the office and talked to one of the gals.  About 5 min into the conversation I found that you will eat until you get full and you have an off button.  So I asked about the phlem and lump in my throat.  She said if it wasn't gone by Monday to come in and they'd take a little fill out.  So I hung up and was on my way home to have lunch.  So she called me back in about 2 minutes and asked if I could come up right now.  Apparently she talked to the surgeon and what I descibed was an overfill.  So I went up and they discovered I still had a full CC of sair still in the tube.  So they pulled the air out and put the fill back in and it was isntantly gone!  Yeh!  So since they didn't have to really adjust me they said I could start solids then.  Great since I was starving!  So I went and had 4 prawns at Red Lobster and OMG they were great!  So I lost pretty steady between fils and I was getting really hungry when I went back for Fill #2 so I knew I needed it.  They checked and out of the 4.6cc they put in 2.2cc were left.  That is normal at first I guess. So they added about a CC and on my way I went.  I lost 12 lbs over the next month and so when I went to see the surgeon and have Fill #3 he wouldn't give me one since I was losing at a rate of 3 lbs per week.  He didn't want me losing any faster.  So he said if I was too hungry in 2 weeks I could come back, I was very hungry all during those next 2 weeks so I went in on 9/24 and got another 1cc fill.  24 hrs after that fill and I'm down 2 lbs!  So I'm sitting at 4.4cc in a 10cc band.  I absoulutely love my band!  I have not had any problems with eating.  I've had a few things like country ham that I took a bite and chewed, chewed and it was to dry and it hung up for a second, but did pass.  It was a pressure thing in the chest so I knew I wouldn't do that again.  I've used ranch with a lot of my food to help.  My surgeon is so happy with my success in this short of time.  I hit -50 lbs at my 3 month bandiversary.  That included my 2 week pre-op diet.  So I'm down another 2 today, that brings my total to -52lbs.  I would do this again in a second!!!