Kirstyn1226

I haven't been sleeved yet, but I had my lap-band removed on 7-19 and will hopefully be sleeved by the end of October/early November. When I came home from the lap-band removal, my then 3 year old, now 4 year old son wanted to be able to jump on my lap as usual. My husband and I explained that I had some boo boos on my tummy because my Dr. had to do surgery to help me feel better. We also explained that my tummy would be hurting for a while and that he needed to be very careful with me and that if he wanted to sit in my lap, he would have to climb up gently because I could not lift him. We also told him that I would have to go back to the Dr. and have this done again. He has been really good... one of my incisions is still scabbed and can be painful at times and he sees me clean it, put Neosporin , etc. He likes to pretend to be Doctor Ian, like Doc McStuffins, and pretends that he is giving me medicine and putting a bandaid on me to make me better. (He invented his own pretend medicine that makes everything better within 30 seconds and apparently its in liquid, pill and topical form!)

I just completed Options in Fontana last Thursday, August 16. I am a slightly different situation because I had my lap-band removed on July 19 by Dr. Fedorka (one of the Kaiser Fontana surgeons) but the way I took it, they suggest that you don't gain but if you don't lose all that weight no big deal but they will urge you to continue to work on losing. And from my understanding from others who went through Fontana as well... when you have your consultation with the surgeon, he will either tell you need to do a specific pre-op diet of a specific amount of time (1 week, two weeks, etc) and/or he will schedule surgery but tell you that you need to lose a specific amount of weight by surgery or he will have to reschedule surgery. That being said, the day of my tenth class, I got a call to schedule my bariatrician and mental health appointments. The bariatrician was scheduled for a week later and mental health was scheduled for Sept. 17. And from what we were hearing it would be reasonable for us to expect to have surgery before the end of the year or early next year.

I am pre-op and wanted to post because I am also the mother of a 17 year old young man on the Autistic Spectrum, a 21 year old young lady with Down Syndrome and a too typical 4 year old boy. How interesting that there are so many of us! As for humiliating moments, I can't really think of anything off the top of my head and I equate this to the fact that I am always the first one to comment about my own weight and to joke about it. I think that honestly I have always been harder on myself about my weight than anyone else ever has. I figured that if I cracked the jokes no one else would need to and I guess that was me protecting myself from those hurtful comments, if that makes any sense. Kirstyn

Oops, posted in the wrong place... sorry!

Joyce, I agree that surgeon does what he thinks is best and I won't argue that at all. I believe that the Options classes will be beneficial, it's more the insane waits after the classes that I find ridiculous. I am trying to decide what I should do as far as removing the lapband now then getting through Options, etc. and having the Sleeve done. Or having it all done at once after Options. I am a little bit scared that I will wait the time to get through Options and get surgery scheduled and then when I'm under the surgeon will find so much scar tissue from my 6 previous abdominal surgeries that he will only be able to remove the band and then I'll have to wait to heal, etc. before he can do the sleeve. I have requested that they make me an appointment with the surgeon so that I can discuss these concerns with him and make an informed decision re: what to do? I don't know what to do. Congratulations on having your surgery date and good luck! Kirstyn

Hi everyone, I just wanted to post to see if there might be anyone out there that has had a revision done and gone through Kaiser Fontana? I was banded back in November 2002 (self-pay) and have just now started the process to get a revision done by Kaiser in Fontana. I have already had my Upper GI and Dr. Fedorka reviewed it and determined that I am a good candidate for the revision in one surgery after I complete the Options classes and the other requirements. It would be nice if all Kaiser's had the same requirements for WLS and it seems that Kaiser Fontana seems to take the longest. Kirstyn

Hello everyone, My name is Kirstyn and I am finally introducing myself after lurking here for a little while. I am just starting the process of having a revision from the lap-band to the sleeve through Kaiser Fontana. I self-paid to be banded back on Nov. 6, 2002, 9.5 years ago, and did very well with it for about 7 years. I lost 112 pounds, got pregnant, gained 30 pounds, lost 18 of those pounds within a month and a half of having my baby and then maintained for about a year. Then everything went haywire and I have now gained back 82 of the 112 pounds that I lost. I have requested that Kaiser do the revision and am scheduled to have any Upper GI on Thursday, May 31 and also to start my Options classes that night. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone out there that had had a revision through Kaiser Fontana. I have had contact with others who had revisions through different Kaisers in SoCal but never Fontana. I am also interested in learning more about living with a sleeve and look forward to getting to know some of you here! Have a great weekend everyone!