KarenB

Hi everyone.

Life after RNY is good. I was off work for 2 weeks, 3 would have been better but I managed; especially since the week I went back had July 4th in the middle.

I have TOTALLY lost my taste for sweets--I don't expect that to last.

I'm not one of these people who can only eat a teaspoon or two of food--I can eat 1/2 cup to 1 cup. Have to get in that Protein and drink at least 64 ounces of Water a day.

I'll keep you posted on my journey!

Thank you a for your kind words & encouragement.

Hurray for you, Alex. I'm really thrilled to hear the great news!

big hugs

Karen

Jackie, if you look at my thread "I'm Home" either right above or below this one, I posted the whole story again last night.

Take care,

Karen

Sorry for all those symbols...I tried to change the date of my banding to 2004 in the text, and all I got were smiley faces! hope you can read it.

<p>Hi Nursingal.</p> <p> </p> <p>To make a long (and I'm sure boring for my old friends here) story short, I was banded in Dec. 2005 and proceded to lose 83 lbs. </p> <p> </p> <p>I always had to keep a loose fill, but about 1 year later, things got so that every time I was filled, it seemed fine until 2 or 3 weeks later, then i would totally close up. Back for partial unfill, of course. Finally, after several tests, I was diagnosed w/Nutcracker's Esophagus, which means, basically, too much motility in the esophagus. Can potentially lead to Barretts Esophagus and to esophageal cancer. Not quite sure why it made the band close up, but the diagnosis was agreed upon by docs here & Dr. Ortiz (via phone & email) in Mexico. When band was unfilled, all symptoms disappeared. Strangely, even w/an unfilled band, I would occasionally PB on tuna, chicken (of course) or other foods & couldn't eat bread, just like when I was filled. but I certainly could pack in the ice cream, etc. </p> <p> </p> <p>My husband's not well so I didn't want to go back to Mexico for debanding (not to mention the $) so I just kept an unfilled band. I gained 60 lbs. back and was very unhappy, to say the least. </p> <p> </p> <p>I started a new job in Nov. and through it got an insurance plan that approves WLS. I found a doc I really like (not all US docs will accept patients who were banded overseas, but he just said that everyone deserves care.) We met, and we agreed that removing the band and performing RNY was my best bet. My BMI hadn't gone back up to 40 (yet) but I have high BP and was approved in 48 hours.</p> <p> </p> <p>So far, all has gone well. He said my band was in perfect shape! I didn't see it, as they are rutinely sent to pathalogy. I'm recoverving from my Lap RNY (he actually used the same holes!) I've lost 12 lbs so far (and I GAINED 8 in the hospital from all the I.V. fluids.)</p> <p> </p> <p>That's my story!</p> <p> </p> <p>Take care,</p> <p> </p> <p>Karen</p>

<p>I think a friend I met on line just had surgery w/him yesterday. </p> <p> </p> <p>I'm waiting for dark to go out walking w/one of my kids. Our sidewalks are pretty bad & I'm afraid of falling..they don't want to be seen with Mommy in her Mumu (I made that up, but they reallly don't want to be with Mommy in her bathrobe!) I've fallen in my regular state, I really don't trust myself now!</p> <p> </p> <p>Take care</p>

Thanks all. Feel much better today. I, who went to Mexico for banding and still love Dr. Ortiz, can honestly say, there's nothing like having a local surgeon. This morning, I developed a fever of 101; noticed a slight discoloration @ my drain site & 5 minutes later, I was on Levequin.

Brittwoman, do you live on Long Island? Who's your doctor? Have you checked out Obesityhelp.com? The New York board is pretty active, and there are both RNY'ers and bandsters on there. AND THEY ALL GET ALONG! LOL.

Alex, you're never far from my thoughts--I'll have to keep checking in here to see what's doing with you.

Hi everyone.

I'm home and all went well. I hurt a lot. Banding was a walk in the park compared to this.

I woke up in the recovery room and the morphine wasn't working, I remember saying "it hurts too much" over & over until they gave me Dilaudid.

Then to my room where, for the next 48 hours, I was awoken every 2 hours on the dot to walk. Still had the catheter in, but had to walk

Next a.m. down for swallow test. They have to do sort of a fluroscopy but with dye instead of barium to make sure that the liquid was passing through my new stoma. It did, so I could finally begin sipping Water.< /p>

Next day (Wednesday,) began creme of wheat & mushed cottege cheese, then home.

I'm still on pain meds, need help to shower, but each day will get better, G-d willing. sipping water constantly 64 oz/day) 3 Protein shakes/day and mushies when not doing all that. This is a full-time job!

Thanks to all for alll your good wishes. If anyone is reading this for the first time, my whole story is here in my posts.

Have a good weekend, gang, and thank you for all your good wishes and support. Hopefully in a few days, I'll tell you how much better I'm feeling.

Thank you, ladies. Alex, it's been a long ride for us both; I pray we both get not only what we want, but what's good for us.

Kelly, I love the hippie!

Hi all.

Today's my birthday, and I've been on Clear liquids all day.:cry

Tomorrow I'm scheduled for band removal and revision to RNY.

I'll post when I'm on the other side, again.

Karen

You need to drink liquids for 2 days because after PB'ing (productive burp is the term, which means food gets stuck & comes back up) your pouch is sore and it needs a rest. If you go right back to eating solids, the same thing will keep happening over & over. It becomes a vicious cycle. Cardinal Rule: After PB'ing/throwing up/whatever you want to call it; liquids for 2 days.

Thanks, ladies. The pre-op went great, we had a 2-hour class right after, covering everything from the moment we walk into the hospital on the day of surg. through the rest of our lives. Wonderful surgical coordinator,and I met the cutest young ladies who are having procedures the same day/next day as I am. I felt like their mother.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, HANNA IS HOME SAFE AND SOUND. I'm SO relieved. We just went out for Chinese food and I couldn't stop looking at her beautiful face. I guess she'll always be my baby. She looks amazing; she's getting lots of pics developed/saved so I'll try & get one for here.

Talk to ya soon,

Karen

;Not all revisions are that easy. So for those of you who say, I could never have my stomach cut... or my intestines rearranged... I would just say, never say never.&"

To that I can only add, please do not judge me until you have walked in my shoes, and Fabfatgrl, enjoy your precious babies. They are lucky to have such a sensible mom.

Check out my posts about why I have to have my band removed. My doctor has tremendous success w/RNY after band removal.

I love the OH, New York site where bandsters, RNY'ers and DS'ers GS'ers (what did I leave out?) all support one another and respect one anothers' right to make the informed decisions they feel is right for them.

My decision was simple: "risk" a surgery I never thought I'd have, or risk not seeing my children get married because I dropped dead of a heart attack or stroke." Good luck to all.

Tomorrow's schedule:

9:15 pre-op testing

after that, meet w/bariaric coordinator

aftert that, 2nd app't w/surgeon (go over everything, etc.)

after that, PCP for surgery clearance letter (and just what is the point of pre-op testing?) AND I was just there for a complete check-up.

I'm nervous--I'm afraid they're going to tell me it was all a big mistake & I can't have the surgery after all.

AND, Hanna was supposed to come home tomorrow nite & me pick her up @ JFK...now there's an airport workers' strike in Israel so she scrambled to get on an earlier flight arriving @ 3:15 pm smack dab in the middle of my app'ts. I'm so disappointed! :cry She and I are big on-in person airport pick-ups. But, as long as she gets home safely, that's the important thing.

Thanks for listening,

Karen

Good luck, Alex. And don't forget the weights.

We'll all be pulling for you!

Major hugs!:myscared::girl_hug::girl_hug::girl_hug:

Karen

He said he would do it lap--actually go through the same "holes" that were used to place the band. So I'll have my scars in the same places. Where are you supposed to have it done?

According to my doc, who's very experienced, he said that it just might take a little longer. If I were you, I would DEFINATELY take more time to research. Keep us posted.

Dear Chance,

I would definately try getting partially or totally unfilled before jumping into another surgery. And I am going to have my band removed and have RNY! Just search here on Life after Lapband Removal & you'll see my story. It was not a decision I made in haste, but one that I pondered for quite some time while my band was unfilled.

Some people are able to keep weight off without a band or with an unfilled band, many are not. I am defintely not!

As Alex mentioned in a post recently, there is malababsorbtion with RNY, so I have to be monitored for life. But I figure that if I continue the way I'm going, I'll have to be monitored for life for other things anyway (my BP is already way high & I just had to have my meds adjusted up for that). I'd rather have the rest of my life to be monitored than have no life at all!

Hope this helped somewhat.

Karen

Alexandra, I'll be thinking about you all day on Monday. Can your DH post for you???

hugs,

Karen

Pulmonary Hypertension is different than plain old Hypertension & I was still approved. Re: slippage, please keep in mind there are plenty of happy, healthy bandsters who don't post here, so don't use this site as your whole basis for judging how often slippage occurs. If you do a search on "slipppage" or "slipped band" here, you will find plenty of info!

18 days and 4 hours till my procedure, but who's counting?

Karen

Alex, you know I know what you're going through. Especially the legs slamming together, although I think of it as thighs slapping together. It's such a crappy feeling. Please try to remember that if we knew how to keep weight off, we wouldn't have gotten the band!

This is my normal state now::hungry:, although I must say it's gotten somewhat better knowing the solution (tool!) is in sight. Hopefully that will happen for you too.

I'm keeping everything crossed for you.

Karen

Hey Alex. I know we PM'd, but I thought this might of interest to someone else. My BMI has not reached 40 again (yet) but I was prepared to do anything to get it back up there if I had to. I told you I would have gone into the office w/those terry-cloth covered ankle weights on to get weighed again if I had been rejected. Luckily, because of the high BP, I was approved. I really think that sometimes if the person on the doc's office speaks to the same person at an insurance company frequently, it makes it a little smoother.

To answer your question, my BMI when first weighed was 37, now it's 38, and I do think that the removal due to an esoph. condition was a help too.

Karen

Wow! I never realized that there were people like me out there. I AM going to do the 15 minute thing TODAY. One section at a time. Otherwise I just get too overwhelmed. MY DH offers to help me all the time, but then I just make a mess of it. It's something to do with the brain, I think. When he opens mail, he disposes of the junk, puts the bills in place & files the rest. When I open the mail, it just lays around! I will stick to the "touch a piece of paper once" rule, JUST FOR TODAY.

Have a good Memorial Day everyone,

Karen

My band-removal/RNY was approved on Thursday. It took a little over a week w/Oxford Freedom. Stephanie in Dr. Garber's office was very diligent with following up with them, and believe me, I was diligent inbugging her every day! She told me that Oxford Freedom is one of the easier companies to deal with (for lapbands as well)--don't know if it's the same in every state (I'm in NY).

Karen

Oh my gosh, now you're making me cry (and I am NOT kidding).

Thank you all for your support, and I sure will keep you posted.

hugs,

Karen