salsa1877

Good evening! I had band to bypass revision on May 3 and I LOVE IT!! I am so happy with my "decision". Mine wasn't so much of a decisions as it was...if you ever want to eat again you need to get the stupid band out of you. I was very successful with my band and lost 110 pounds in 9.5 months but then right around my 3 year anniversary I started having major problems. I was completely unfilled but I kept throwing up quite regularly. Any time anyone would question it, I just made one excuse after another without realizing it: The food was too tought, I ate to fast, I didn't chew enough, etc. Finally I had resorted to eating three things: Hershey's with almonds, cheese puffs, and Pasta with alfredo sauce because those were the only things that would go down with out being rejected by my band...which we soon nick-named the "anti-gravity band"...cuz what went down was inevitably coming up!!! (TMI...but any of us revisioners have been there and done that!) After craziness with my insurance company I finally had my revision done by Dr. Stowers in Decatur, TX. The recovery was very easy for me. I was back to work as a high school science teacher 6 days after surgery. The first two weeks were pretty easy because it was just liquids. Weeks 3-6ish were a little more difficult as I transitioned to soft foods and then to real foods. I was getting nauseated all the time. Every time I ate I felt like I was getting car sick. However, that has seemed to fade unless I eat too much fat. I have avoided sugar at almost all cost except for the piece of cheesecake on my birthday which sent me over the edge. Dumping for me is a lot less about running to the bathroom (though I was in there for a while) and more about my the heart pounding in my chest. From what I have read everyone's experience is a little different but for me I know when I have too much fat or sugar because my DH can put his hand just barely touching my shirt and feel my heart beating. I can feel it in my ears and it is awful. This might sound bad but I am done counting calories, grams of Protein, and everything else so I don't. I eat things that are healthy (though I am having a really hard time even wanting meat...it disgusts me right now!) and I eat small amounts but I don't fret like I did with my band. I have lost 27 pounds in just under three months. However, I was fairly close to goal and only have 13 pounds to go to get to goal so my BMI was not very high. Both my doctor and I agreed that I would take the weight off slowly because my rapid weightloss with the band caused me some medical issues. I will tell you that your tastes buds are going to change. I thought they were crazy when they said you wouldn't crave sweets, but I haven't wanted a candy bar, doughnut, or ice cream since surgery. Salt on the other hand...that is my new "transfer addiction". I can't get enough! Please let me know if you have any questions. I still feel like a newbie myself but I will do my best to answer any questions you might have. Good luck!

So I made the mistake of going back and reading old posts. As a result I am posting tonight that this will be my last time to this site. I have thought long about what I would say here but decided against singling out any individuals as the reason that I am leaving but the two of you already know who you are. Just know that I am not the only one that has been chased away by the hurtful comments that some of you have made. I wish you all the beat of luck in your continued journey. Karri

So I haven't been ignoring all of you I promise! I'm not even sure if this will post! My brother has internet but it is so sporadic that when my computer connects I have to get my homework done. It usually takes about 2 hours just to upload an assignment which makes doing 4 assignments a week a bit difficult. I am doing well. The weight is coming of slow and steady. I should be to goal weight by the end of September. I haven't been pushing it really fast because I just want this to be a nice slow and gradual weight loss. I did finally experience dumping syndrome and it was AWFUL! I had a piece of cheesecake for my birthday and despite the fact that it was supposed to be low sugar it was apparently too high! I still have the problem that I don't like meat anymore since surgery. It has been very difficult to actually find foods that are tolerable to me. There are days when I would rather not eat than put food in my mouth. That is both good and bad. If I don't eat at least 1000 calories a day I lose NOTHING. I stalled for almost a week and a half and the only thing that I can think of is that I wasn't getting enough calories. As soon as I upped the calories...whoosh the weight came off. Janet - We will not be stopping by on the way to Yuma. Lee is freaked out about driving the 24' trailer, hauling the car, and making any stops. However we will only live about 3 hours from you so I will definitely be making a weekend trip to visit. Well I should get going. I am hoping that if I keep this short enough it will post. When I get to Yuma I will be on more regularly. Love and miss you all, Karri

Janet, I think we are going to take you up on that. We are leaving Oregon on the 18th and staying with Lee' sister in Reno until early in the morning on the 20th. We would make it to your house around 6-7 PM and then leave in the morning on the 21st if that is alright. The trip has us going right through Indio and it is only 2.5 hours away from Yuma...I couldn't visit quite a bit! I let you know for sure what the plans are when we get through the next week. Only four and a half days until we leave for OR. We are getting a hitch put on the car right now and we will be leaving on June 7 hopefully by noon so that we can make it to graduation on the 9th. Well I have to wander all over the building getting signatures so I should probably get off my rear end and get busy. Karri

I have been eating a lot of beans, but the doctor would REALLY like me eating real foods and not liquids. That was the entire reason I had this surgery! As for the sugar...HELL NO....I have not had anything that has sugar in it. I will see what it feels like to dump once I get to maintenance (which should be around the end of July/mid August). I will really only try to sugar (in the form of BBQ sauce and Teriyaki sauce) so I know what the start of it feels like in case I eat something at a restaurant and feel it coming on and stop eating. The closest I have come to dumping is getting a light headed feeling when I eat too much sugar alcohol. They really aren't joking when they say that your taste buds totally change when you have gastric bypass. I really have no desire to eat anything sweet. I have some sugar free fudgecicles but I don't eat them very often. SF Pudding makes me sick and sometimes even yogurt is too sweet. The only other way that I would eat (or attempt to eat) sugar is if I start getting too far below goal weight. The doctor is a little worried about that possibility seeing that I started out at such a low BMI for bypass. I am already halfway to goal and I am only one month out of surgery. I am starting to fit back into some of my clothes and had a really good run/walk this morning. I'm STARTING to feel like a normal human being again. Well it is be time...just wish this basketball game would hurry up and get over...with the Heat beating the Mavericks of course.

Good morning! I WEEK UNTIL I AM HEADED BACK TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST!!!!! LMAO...there is a port-o-potty sitting in the middle of the road leading into the school parking lots today that read "PHS is the sh!ts". It made my morning...I couldn't agree more. As for food...ugh...its killing me right now. I can't get in enough calories and because my stomach was misshappen and damaged by the band I am struggling to eat real foods. Dr. progressed me to soft foods last week one week early so that we could see what happens. He didn't want me to be so far away when I started on real foods but it has been a struggle. I talked with the nurse practitioner about 20 minutes ago and she said to just start eating what will go down. I have no restrictions as of today except raw fruits and vegetables. Those are just too hard for the stomach to digest right now. I have 2 more months to wait before I progress to that. However, right now I just keep throwing up what I eat. The NP said that was probably because of the damage from the band and to just keep trying different foods. Part of it is also because I don't know how MUCH I can eat. With the band if I overate I usually just had to wait for it to go down and there was very little problem. Now if I over eat by even one bite...it comes back up. My stomach empties VERY slowly which is good for weighloss but I just need to figure out how much is too much. Because I have almost no sensation about when I am hungry and when I am full I can't figure out when to stop. I measure my food most of the time but sometimes I can eat 1/2 cup and other times about 3 bites. It is just a STEEP learning curve. I don't regret it...just need to figure it out. I went for a run/walk this morning and man oh man does it help to not lug around 20+ extra pounds. Well we think we may have found a couple of places to live in Yuma. We have been searching for apartment complexes and finally found a few last night that might just fit what we need. We are hoping they will rent to us sight-unseen because it is going to cost a significant amount of money to get down there and back. Well I had best get grades done. We are on finals schedule this week so it is all messed up. Karri

I just had band to RNY revision because my band had done too much damage (and insurance wouldn't cover the sleeve). I am one month out and I wouldn't consider getting a RNY any more desperate than getting a sleeve or a band. While in the process of trying to find a way to get my stupid band out I talked to doctor after doctor about which surgery they felt would be the best and the answer by far was gastric bypass. While I would have like the sleeve I decided to go with something that was time tested and proven. I have to say that I was to chicken to go through another procedure that didn't have the literature written about it and years of testing. However, I wouldn't rule out gastric bypass that quickly. I think it has gotten a bad name because of the band as being too drastic...but that damn band is the most barbaric and drastic piece of equipment on the market. Good luck to you.

I finally have a few minutes to breathe so I thought I would give an update. Lee did get the job in Yuma so we will be going from what has felt like the tropics here to the desert. Though we will be spending about 6 weeks in WA state with my brother this summer so that we don't have to pay rent. He will most likely need to be in AZ during the first week in August. I am going to apply for a part time position at the college there instructing chemistry. I don't want to work full time after this year. I need to take a year and regroup. I will be working on curriculum and my classes so it isn't like I will be doing nothing. We also found out yesterday that most likely one of my former students will be staying with us in AZ. He will be going to school around where we are living and since his parents won't support him because he is gay we offered to let him live with us until he can get a job and make it on his own. Love that kid to death...one of the sweetest, humblest, most caring people on the planet. I want to smack his mother though. Well I am ALMOST finished with school. We have finals starting tomorrow for seniors but I don't teach any of those. We are on a weird schedule so I am just showing Mythbusters movies because we have finished everything but the final and most of the kids are exempt from taking it. In this district they bribe the kids with "you don't have to take your final if you don't have any unexcused absences". On the weightloss front it has slowed down a little since I have been on mushies but I am over halfway to goal weight already. Doc is still concerned that I am not eating enough calories (barely get to 600 per day). He would like to see me closer to 1000, but I am not sure how I can do that. I rarely get hungry and can't eat more than 5 or 6 bites without feeling like I am Thanksgiving full. One week from yesterday I get to start my excercise program. I'm just going to keep walking until I get to my brother's house and then I will start running. That will give me an extra week to heal. Well best put the finishing touches on this ice cream lab. Karri

Nope...no job yet. It is sounding more and more like the one we thought for sure was going to happen is going to fall through. They had more applications than they thought so they are going to look at those first. We should hear on Monday now. Oh well...we will figure something out. Well I need to go to bed...I'm exhausted and it sucked being a girl today! Cramps were killing me. So when I got home I took a pain pill but had to do some homework. So now that I am done...I'm going to crawl in bed and sleep like a baby. Karri

Still no word about the job but the principal told Lee that if he hadn't heard from him by today to call. So hopefully that will bring us good news. We have looked into the crime there but feel pretty safe considering that it is a resort town. There have been no deaths in the area. I'm not really all that scared at all. If they shoot me...they shoot me...must have been my time to go! I refuse to live my life in fear of something that I have no control over. There are shootings and murders daily in the DFW area. As for my doctor's appt it went really well. Mainly because I have followed every rule and the fact that I followed a patient that 4 days out of gastric bypass had pizza and an ice cream bar for dinner! They are keeping her on liquids for an extra two weeks...I could hear the nutritionist scolding her. For me on the other hand they are speeding up my progression because he wants to make sure that I am on solid foods before I leave in case there are any problems. According to their scales I have officially lost 16 pounds! So I am now on mushy foods (don't even need to puree them...just smash it with a fork!) for a week...soft foods (mainly fish and soft veggies) for a week and then solid foods that I can handle. Well I am off to teach class... Karri

Lee's interview went pretty well. He actually ended up having five. One of them is a really good prospect. We would live 10 minutes north of the Mexico border and 50 minutes south of Tuscon. I'm actually hoping that is the one that we get because this Mexican will finally learn Spanish. Plus there are enough schools that I could sub occasionally, but not be expected by the dear hubby to sub EVERYDAY! Damnit...I want my year off! We should hear today or tomorrow on that one. The principal said that if Lee hadn't heard from him by today or tomorrow to just call him directly. Plus he probably should get several other phone calls for actual interviews. Most of the stuff at the job fair were just HR screening interviews that then get passed on to the local principals who decided who to hire and who not to hire. Well my lunch is almost over. I have a doctor appt right after school and then a paper to write so I will probably check back in later tomorrow. Karri

Well we made it to Arizona. It was an all night drive but we tag teamed and made it in time. Lee is in an interview right now for a Southern AZ school near Yuma (I think!). I don't care where we end up as long as he has a job. We have scrimped and saved all year and I get a big bonus for retiring early and I took out substantial student loans so we should be okay even if the pay isn't as great as he would like. Then the following year I will go back to work so it won't be an issue. We just need to survive next year! On a good front, it turns out my lactose intolerance may not actually exist. I was getting sick every time I ate my sugar free pudding so I just assumed that since I had a problem with milk and the band that it was most likely the return of my lactose intolerance. However I was hungry and there were not any places to get food around here so I just got a glass of milk. Eventually I found beans but I was able to sip on the milk with no problems. I'm wondering now if it was the whey protein I was adding to the pudding or the sugar alcohols. I had to quit adding protein to my food as I was breaking out in hives and itching everywhere. My nutritionist said it can be a side effect so as soon as I stopped mixing it with everything my hives and itching went away!! Now I just have to be VERY careful about the foods that I eat because everything must be high in protein to make the goals they have given me. It will be much easier when I get to go to pureed foods next week and can add pureed tuna, pork and other meats. I don't think I have ever been this excited to eat meat! Well I need to write a paper so I had best get going. I'll let you know when I hear from Lee! Karri

Yesterday I felt great...today I feel like donkey poop!! I'm more tired than anything and it isn't because I haven't been sleeping. I usually take a nap after work and then go to bed by 9 but I just haven't been able to wake up today and I am really achy. So I am taking a half day off of work today. It is more money that I can't afford but I'm not going to kill myself for this job. I have lost 4 pounds in the first week since surgery but I'm still swollen so I have probably lost a bit more than that. I lose about 1/2 pound a day. I might not lose that much today as I don't plan on getting out of bed once I get home! Well I will have to go for my afternoon walk but other than that I have been on my feet since Monday. I'm not going to lose weight quite as fast as a typical bypass patient because I am not starting out at a typical bypass patient high. I was less than 200 pounds which is not exaclty normal for a bypass patient. My doctor wants me to get to goal weight within 6 months because that is the "honeymoon" period of malabsorbtion. Since I have less than 40 pounds to go, that shouldn't be a problem. At 6 weeks out I can start to run again so I will do the couch-to-5k and hopefully get back into running in time to do some of the fall 5K's. On a good note Lee has an interview today with a district in Phoenix so hopefully he will be employed today and I will be on my way to unemployment!! Well at least not PAID employment. It will give me more time to focus on the online curriculum and my doctoral classes! Plus I will probably sub...at least that is what Lee keeps telling me that I will be doing! Gotta go...class starting soon. Karri

If you can afford to go out of Ft. Worth and go to Decatur, Dr. Stowers is amazing. He just did my band to RNY conversion. Karri

I just converted from a lap band to a RNY last week and no one even asked where my band was placed. Having just the band taken out may or may not be covered by insurance. I had some difficulty with my insurance not wanting to cover the surgery but I am beginning to think it was the doctor and not the insurance companies. According the new doctor that actually did my surgery a significant portion of his practice is revising the band. At the beginning it too worked for me. I lost 110 pounds in 9.5 months but when things went bad, they went WAY bad. My band slipped and like you I couldn't eat anything solid really for months. I gained 25 pounds in 3 months. I was devastated and heartbroken because I was a self pay for the band and I had worked so hard. I look forward to eating healthy foods again and not doing as we have so lovingly called it "the lap band dance" at every meal! I was throwing up so much by the end that we dubbed my band the "anti-gravity" band cause what went down always came up! I would talk to a bariatric surgeon in your area and see if they will submit to insurance for a revision and talk to them about your problems. That was the only thing I did. Now my original surgery was not done in Mexico but as far as I know my insurance didn't know that. Hope it gets better. Karri