123crod

June 24th 2007 I checked into the Mexico? Well My insurance would not pay for the VSG, called it experimental and after considering the RNY I was just not comfortable with the procedure, especially the various complications associated with it. I was convinced the VSG was for me and was even willing to pay the 17K the LAPSF doctors were asking for. Problem was I would have to wait, I began to investigate Tijuana was drivable from my home (about 6 hours) and I liked all of the recovery time in his clinic, time to figure out that everything was ok. It all made sense to me. I have the procedure, goes fine. The night before I am to leave (about my 5th day there) Dr. H gives me all my meds to take home...he runs to the pharmacy that evening to pick them up. liquid Pain meds, check...Liquid Antibiotic, check....Liquid Gas meds...negative, he hands me a capsule and tells me to dissolve it all in my mouth...what? Ok so I make my great attempt to let it dissolve, swallow down some extra Water and then experience the most excruciating pain of my life. Doctor gets the morphine (which they do not use in sleep a few days before the promised test. I had been praying, reading my bible faithfully and trying to hear from the Lord. I finally heard Him loud and clear..."If Dr. H does not give you the test he promised, you need to leave and go to San Diego." The day arrives and I am told by him that we need to wait. He is afraid to do the X Ray in case it opens up the leak. That was it, I told him I was leaving. He was upset, he tried to convince me to stay (as if going to San Diego was the worst medical decision I could have made). He even sends in his office girls to try to convince me to stay and let him take care of me. His once gracious and beautiful wife glares at me when she sees me. He even calls my husband and tries to have him talk me out of leaving!
His driver takes me to San Diego, Scripps Mercy Hillcrest. On the way out of Fluid in my abdomen. I am told the surgeon on call is the best in the hospital (he also was the Chief of Surgery and a Bariatric surgeon_ Dr. George Zorn became my LIFESAVER). They give me Morphine I am knocked out and do not even wake up before surgery.
The Results: I am septic....this is an infection combined with lowered blood pressure...this will kill you. They open me up (I have a 7 inch scar down my abdomen), and remove TWO LITERS of puss out of my abdomen. The surgeon said once he opened me up I had a 50/50 chance of living. It is like removing spaghetti sauce from noodles. I am in the ICU for three and a half weeks fighting for my life. I am kept in a coma like state, sedated to keep me from removing all the tubes and given amnesiacs so I will not remember the Hell I went through.
My family and friends live 6 hours away, they come down over those weeks to see me, hold my hand, pray for me. I remember none of it. My husband runs his business during the day, church members watch our kids and at night he plays mom and dad. Weekends come he comes down to be by my side. I am in the woods for about two weeks till my temperature finally begins to lower and the five anti-biotics continually pumped into me begin to fight the infection effectively. I was intubated for two weeks, and then they put a trach in me, otherwise I would damage my vocal cords.
They begin to wake me up and I find out what has happened to me. I am one blessed woman to have made it through. The nurses and doctors continually tell me they are amazed that I made it, I must have a strong will to live, No I have a God who decided it was not time for my children to be without a mother, and I have people praying for me all over the country and the world.
I spend the next week and a half trying to get my strength up to be able to go home. It feels like five trucks have run over me. Everything is difficult and the leak is still there. They said it was an inch and a half long and would not close with sutures. It was at the top of my stomach. The pill did not cause the leak, but probably irritated it thus causing all the pain that led us to finding out that I had the leak. The surgeon assured me the leak could have happened anywhere, it was how they handled that was wrong. They should have not done endoscopy, that puts air in the stomach and probably made that tiny hole much larger, and they should have NEVER REMOVED THE DRAIN. The drain is what keeps the infection from becoming so bad (draining out the puss and stomach fluids).
They sent me home with a feeding tube, a drain in my side and the abdominal incision still healing from the inside out. Nothing to eat or drink. Basically I was on a three month fast! At home I could be with my children, but even that was difficult. I was exhausted. Showering made me tired. My niece came to take care of me and my children, I needed the help. It was a tough time but I made it through.
The drainage tube then lodged itself into my stomach...a mixed blessing because that meant it need to be removed and I could begin eating, even with the leak not completely healed. Dr. Zorn said it would close up eventually and the tube from the drain created a tunnel that the fluid from my stomach would travel out of until it eventually closed. September 12, 2007 or so I went back to SD, he took out the tube and the site did not completely heal till about the beginning of December. Five months for the whole thing to heal.
It is now the beginning of January 2008 and I feel just about normal...they told me It would take a full six months to get back to normal. I was also told that IF I HAD STAYED ONE MORE DAY IN Mexico, I WOULD HAVE DIED. I don't think they were exaggerating.
I never received one phone call from Dr. Huacuz to see how I was doing. We called him recently to tell him all about it, he minimized everything we shared with him. If you are considering him for surgery please reconsider. He does his surgeries in the evenings after working at another hospital all day long. This defies conventional wisdom. Wouldn't you rather your surgeon be fresh from a good nights sleep? I saw him go into surgery about six at night and then perform five lap bands. Another guy went into surgery at about nine at night and had a lap band removed, the VSG done and several hernias repaired. He was in surgery for about six or seven hours! It was two in the morning before they came out, all these people had worked the entire day before. Is this safe medicine? You be the judge.
June 2, 2009 - It has been almost two years since this has happened. Upon posting this story on my Obesity Help profile page I received a TON of response. Mostly supportive. I also received a lot of backlash from former patients, specifically patient coordinators of Dr. Huacuz. This man is extremely dangerous. He has further ruined the lives of several other patients, including the most recent death of a loved husband and father. This man has no business performing ANY medical procedures on people. If you count up the number of complications that I alone know about that have taken place in a matter of two years, practicing part-time in his own clinic, I am sure his complication rate far exceeds the common 1-2% of most surgeons. It probably looks more like 20-30%. If you are considering Dr. Huacuz or know someone who is please I BEG YOU ...DO NOT ALLOW THIS BUTCHER TO PERFORM SURGERY ON YOU. It is not worth the chance you are taking, there are plenty of other good surgeons in Mexico, don't risk your health or your life with this man. I am warning you, he is a VERY charming man and he has blinded many with his good looks and warm nature, he is a snake in the grass...be cautious PLEASE!
Please feel free to contact me with any questions...for the record I am doing fine now but I do deal with terrible scar tissue from the major Laparatomy that I had to save my life. This is painful and I deal with pain on a daily basis. I am getting ready to have a Hysterectomy and my doctor and I will have a chance to see what kind of mess there is in my abdomen with adhesions probably attatched to my bowel. Manwhile I am happy and have enjoyed my second lease on life...you never know what may happen, only one life to live WOW HOW SAD

So I've learned a few things about snacking lately, six years into my journey. I've always been a 3meals, no Snacks kinda dieter, only becuase once I start to snack, I really have trouble stopping. That's because I snack on snack foods, d'oh. Simple, evil, white carbs that leave you wanting more, so you suddenly decide stuff it, I've had 2 Cookies, now I'm gonna eat the rest of the packet.
Recently I had an ileostomy reversal, so that now my colon is doing its job again and after nine months, I'm back to doing number 2's the regular way. This is not an easy surgery and it takes a long long time for the body to recover and adjust, I have no rectum anymore. What I've found is that my insides are just so messed up through chemotherapy, radiation and havign to adjust to working again that I simply cannot even think about eating a regular sized meal - even a regular sized bandster meal. First up, I was forced to live on white carbs - white bread, rice, Pasta, mashed potato, rice bubbles and other cereals were all I could manage, with some chicken, tuna etc and I couldnt even think about fruit and veg and yeah, I actually had trouble keeping my weight stable despite eating hardly anything - those foods pack the fat on faster than you can blink.
So now I've managed to transition to healthier foods again, but in order to avoid awful bouts of gas, bloating, flatulence that would fell a horse and diarrhoea/urgency, I need to eat six small mini meals, rather than anything approaching a normal sized meal. What I've found is that it is MUCH easier to not overeat, with this constant input, I'm having trouble reaching 1200 calories a day! I'm a bit gobsmacked, but I guess the moral of the story is that if you're a snacker and want to eat this way - then you need to abandon the idea of "meals". For me, Breakfast, lunch and dinner would be too large to allow the calories for Snacks as well even though I mean large by bandster definitions. So, I had a half a cup of greek yogurt with a few teaspoons of muesli for Breakfast - a teeny serve of nuts and dried fruit at mid morning - a small tin of tuna, 4 crackers and some sliced cucumber for lunch, I'm planning a puree apple snackpack and babybel cheese for the afternoon and then I have whatever the family's having for dinner, but just the amount that will fit on a saucer. There's not a cookie or traditional "snack" to be seen in that plan, which is how it needs to be for me, nor is there really a "meal" which I define as containing some sort of carbohydrate. If you can do that, snacking's great. If you still want "meals" and simply add snacks, then its not so great.

I have always been a snacker. I disagree with doc.'s who say no snacking. I think healthy planned Snacks are fine. They are necessary for me to keep from getting too hungry inbetween meals. I snack mostly on nuts and lowfat cheese. I lost 107 pounds in 10 months. Now that I am maintaining I've added some fruit into my snacking/dessert. Hope this helps. I think the bottom line is that Snacks are ok, even good, but they must be planned and fit into your overall eating plan. That is very different then mindlessly or impulsivly digging into a bag of chips.

Again- I simply don't know why you would sabotage your weight loss that way. Maybe a couple of bites to get it out of your system. If you can't change your diet from pre-band then post-band won't work. No need to respond. I'm truly just trying to help.

Thank you the information is very helpful!

Well, I havent ever regained weight - I've not given up the exercise and I believe that's the secret. I continue to challenge myself, change it up and work really really hard. I will never stop doing that.
However, I know what you mean about motivation dropping off, I dont have the same focus I had, but then in lots of ways that's good, eating has taken a back seat in my life, like for normal people! I do keep in touch with my clinic and have had a small fill about once a year since year 3 - I'm six years out. I need to keep that fill where it is, or I do notice over time I eat more/faster.
Its just about staying focussed on it, not as much as we were in the early phase, but dont just leave it in there and forget about it. Maintaining your weight involves keeping organised and sensible about what you eat and continuing to exercise. And there's no secret to getting that back, you just have to do it.

Doreenviv, I had the same problem for a while about needing to PB right after I started eating. I think I was doing it just about every day for months, and when I talked to my surgeon about it, he explained it like this.
Your stomach has three strong muscles around it. These muscles are the ones that contract and relax, moving food through your system (and also cause your tummy to "growl" when you're hungry).
For a Bandster, we often don't have a lot in the stomach if we are not snacking between meals. When you sit down to eat a meal, these muscles are eager to go to work and are very stimulated when you smell the food, see the food, and first bite goes in and chewing starts. The stomach anticipates the food about to arrive and the muscles clench up all the way to the opening of the band. So if you eat too fast, with bites that are too large, the food can't go down at all and you'll start sliming and usually end up bringing it back up. My surgeon told me that the first 2 to 5 bites are critical in a meal.
So, what I've done is literally take a pea-sized bite as my first five bites, and take about 30 seconds between those bites with my fork down. I chew until it's disintegrated, and I'm not really swallowing as much as it just disappears. Once my stomach realizes that there's more food coming, it relaxes and I'm able to eat and not PB.
This may not work for everyone, but it took me five months to finally get some answers to this and I have not PB'd since I started doing this except for some scrambled eggs the other morning (which I'm always tight in the morning and usually I don't eat at all). I also found that definitely not drinking during a meal has helped and was also a cause of PBing - I make sure I don't accidentally drink by not even having a drink next to my plate. If I dump a bunch of liquid on top of anything I definitely will be seeing it again!
As for the two hamburgers - I haven't been able to sucessfully eat white soft bread since the day I was banded, but that's just me. With fills, your band opening is about the circumference of your pinky finger - it's not easy to get larger items down it, especially if it swells up.
Good luck, I hope this helps you as it helped me!

I think ppl didn't post because they were at work or didn't want to hurt your feelings. The story and the facts don't match human anatomy and physiology. You might want to think about journalling and weighing and measuring your food.< /p>
Mimi

At this point I don't think it matters how slow you are running - you're getting exercise. If you were trying to build muscle or "get fit" then actually doing it in a set time would be key; however, your goal (I assume) is weight loss.
I just had a discussion with my doctor last Thursday and told him how much I hate getting sweaty. He looked surprised and told me that I didn't need to sweat, I just needed to move. He explained that just the effort of walking at a normal pace for a sustained amount of time would do me much better than going fast and getting sweaty and feeling like I'm going to pass out. So now I take the dogs for a walk around the park and come home instead of getting on the treadmill and trying to kill myself

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I hate the idea of intentionally gaining weight. I suggest you make your appointment for later in the day when you naturally weigh more, eat before you go, wear heavy clothes and shoes and strap on a couple of ankle weights!

While everything that has been said previously is true and, I too have had a fairly smooth journey. I think it is important that you look at this from all sides. Plain and simple, the band requires a certain level of maturity.
You say that you do not want to feel a lot of pain. Many of us suffer very little pain - myself included. But pain is subjective, my pain threshold may be higher than yours. This is surgery and there will be incisions that will require time to heal. Hence, there will be some pain. The good news is, the doc will give you meds for the pain. More good news, many people do not suffer shoulder pain, although almost everyone has gas to one degree or another. My shoulder pain was quite painful ... I didn't know it was gas, I just thought they had laid me on my side during surgery for too long. LOL I used moist heat for a few days and started walking and voila! the pain subsided. Taking Biotin should help with the hair loss, but mostly, if you get the proper Vitamins and minerals, Protein, etc., you should be okay. And yes, there are exceptions, you can read about it on this forum. The most important thing to remember about the pain/gas is that it is TEMPORARY. Can you go through a little physical pain after surgery to stop the neverending emotional/psychological pain of living "fat" in a society that discriminates against the "overweight"? But more importantly, can't you get through a little pain to ensure that you have a healthy future? A future without diabetes meds, high blood pressure med, cholesterol meds, sleep apena machines, etc.?
The band is not a miracle cure. It is not a cure at all. It will require hard work and committment to reach your goal. Some, but not many, go through this jouney with relative ease.
At 18 you are the BEST candidate PHYSICALLY. Your skin still has a lot of elasticity. What I wouldn't give for your youthful skin elasticity. (sigh) But, some, at 18, 19, 20 are not ready mentally. Some cannot/will not give up bad eating habits long enough to reach goal. You sound like a very smart person because you are honest about your fears; and you question whether or not you will be able to make the changes necessary to be successful with the band. Keep reading this forum and do your research. You are 18, and if you are not ready, you are not ready. This is for you to decide. There are other 18, 19, 20 year olds here, you should chat with them about their band experience.
As to the answer to your initial question: "Is it worth it?" YOU BET! I have never worked harder to lose weight -- but I love every minute of it. I love the exercise (this was NEVER me), I love not overeating anymore (you KNOW this was not me or else I would not have become obese), I love ME and the way I look in my "new" size clothes. I love the confidence I have in myself. I understand that thin or fat life is not a bowl of cherries, but at least being obese is not one of my problems anymore.
I wish you the best, and if you decide to take this journey, remember we are here for you with support, suggestions, and even a reality check when you need it.
Make the choice that is right for YOU.
~Fran

Dr Spivak was my surgeon also and I have and have had Omnipac in my band since my first fill. He asked me if I wanted that or saline? I chose the Omnipac as it was thicker. I have talked to a lady Surgeon in Bryan Texas that does fills under fluro for $200.00 I discuss with them that I have Omnipac and it did not seem to be a problem. They are in her Bryan Office every other weekend and then in Tyler, Texas the other weekends. She and her husband both have a band.
Dr Spivak was a great surgeon and such a nice man, it will be hard to find someone who cares about his people like he did. If you compare other Drs to him most will not stand up to the challenge. So if you do not like the ones who are replacing him choose another Dr. I can find you the number for the lady Surgeon in Bryan if you are interested a lot of people really like her. I am sure I will be going there soon. Dr Spivak always did my fills himself and under flouro so that is what I want now. I will not change to saline as I do not know what the restiction will feel like might be different might not be. Anyway the surgeon will not make you choose the right foods and exercise. You are just getting a fill from them, you have to be your own cheerleader.
Cheri

What the? Your posts are exactly what cause band problems in the future. Wow. You don't need to be extremely tight or tight at all for the band to work. Being overtight for too long leads to slippage and erosion. Once your band is gone, then what?

I disagree with all the previous posters. Lapband, the sleeve, nor RnY is the answer for you. Sure, a malabsorption surgery may be better for you, but in the end, no surgery, no doctor, no diet, no NOTHING is going to "force" you to lose weight. Maybe you should talk to a therapist or some other professional who will be able to better understand and help you.
Nothing in this world will force you to loose weight, unless you're locked in a room without food or Water for months on end. It comes down to how bad you want it. You need to track your calories, exercise, and have some willpower to want to lose weight. Surgery isn't the easy way out; there isn't one.

Okay...this is kind of embarassing but I just possibly had a light bullb moment.
I have been dealing with a rather embarassing problem for my whole adult life. When I get turned on, even from just a heavy make out session I get SO wet. Like...WAY too much. I know its a normal body function, blah, blah. Im a labor nurse and well versed in sexual function and how our bodies act.
The problem is its embarassing AND has a negaive impact on my sex life. I LOVE oral sex and can get pleasure so easily they arent down there too much. However, once sex starts, I cant feel a thing because Im so dripping wet the friction is gone. And though Ive never had any complaints, I have went through a decent amount of guys who complimented my kissing and foreplay and massages to high heavens...but didnt come back for second after finally getting me in the sack. That could be because the thrill of the chase is over, but Im thinking its more likely because they couldnt FEEL anything!!!
Ive googled the problem several times only to hear how "lucky" I am and apperently there is no medication for it. I really dont want to hear how lucky I am. For dryness you can use lube. Being WAY too wet is having a negative impact big time.
BUT HERE WAS MY LIGHTBULB
With "stress incontinence" being a co-morbidity, does being excessivley wet have to do with being overweight??? Has anyone else battled this??? Or was my lightbulb for mothing? I hope its weight related although Ive never read that and believe me Ive looked this problem up a TON. If anyone HAS battled this problem, did it get better when you lost weight?
Maybe its just me with this issue...but Im desperate. Thought Id see if anyone else had this problem...

Well I have been stuck at 70lbs since I quit smoking last May but I never had a fill until a year out. Thats the trouble with getting fills so quickly because now you have nothing to work with. I would say maybe go get an unfill for a while then go back to getting fills again. Do you still have restriction? Are you eating a lot? Just some thoughts. I only have 3 cc's in my band at a year and 4 months post op. I wont get another fill for a very long time.

I was Banded in 2009 (July) too and I did lose 84 lbs and have maintained it for the past 9 months, but I have never made it to my goal. Next week will be 2 years for me and I am going to lose the last 20 lbs I will lose it!. I bought new Vitamins, splurged on a weeks worth of my favorite protien shakes that I started out on. Gonna make me an exersice chart and I am gonna lose those 20 lbs. No matter how long it takes. Anyone want to join me??
Cheri

As we heal from the surgery our bodies return to "normal" we feel like we did prior to surgery. If you weren't given any fill at surgery time, you'll feel hungry! It's like you didn't have WLS. You find yourself wondering what the heck you did to yourself.
Bypassers lose very quickly at first. They have great motivation to begin their journey. We don't always. After I was returned to solids, my surgeon didn't expect any losses from me until I started getting fills and getting the benefit of this tool.
Fluids go right through the band. If your swelling is gone, that explains why Water goes right down. Even with good restriction, I can drink Clear liquids as fast as I want. We are told to sip, sip, sip at first due to swelling.
Hunger is a physiological function. Don't beat yourself up for being hungry. 3 days post-op I was eye-balling my dog I was so hungry. Keep your chin up. Keep healing. It gets better. Just follow your doctor's orders and heal up.

This world is so cruel to children. Children are a gift from God and their little spirits can be hurt or damaged so easy and sometimes never repaired. Something needs to be done about how children are treated in their homes and in foster care. I think people should be put to death if they sexually abuse children why waste our taypayer money to house them in prison. Children are innocent and should be defended. If my child (grown now) or my grandbabies 4 years and 19 months were ever sexually abused I would shoot the person myself even if it ment I had to spend the rest of my life in prison. I am a Christian and know this sounds harsh but how many poor childern are sexually abused, kidnapped, torture and killed everyday for the pleasure of some sick perverted person. My heart breaks just thinking about it. That will be a question for God when I see Him why? Why did you not stop this. I know people have free will and God allows that but the children do not have a choice in it.

Cheri

I have thought about this a fair bit and I have come to the conclusion that 'carbonated drinks stretch your pouch' is a myth.
It just seems a bit trusting to take that statement at face value.
For a start, there are actually two holes for the gas to escape, either up or down... if food is blocking the down bit, then up it comes... I know that from experience LOL.
The pouch is made from an elastic material and the brief time a little liquid is effervescing in it is not enough to permanently stretch it.
I know if I drink carbonated drinks too fast that I pay for it either by burping or it coming back up... but I don't believe it can stretch our pouches.
I am not advocating drinking sugary or alcoholic carbonated drinks... all I'm saying is that I don't think a bit of sparkling Water, soda Water or sugar free diet sodas is going to be bad for us.
We have to deprive ourselves of so many things, why deprive ourselves unnecessarily?

I also spell grey, colour, favour, neighbour, whereas you guys would say gray, color, favor, neighbor.

Lol, the Americanisms drive me nuts! Like saying you survive on cheetos, you guys would say "I live off of cheetos". You dont need the of in there, you just say "I live off cheetos". That one drives me insane. I also spell grey, colour, favour, neighbour, whereas you guys would say gray, color, favor, neighbor. Ok, so these arent errors, they're differences in expression, I realise that.

I'm at the same place you are. I look better than ever, but I see the loose arm skin and the belly fat. I always thought that people who wore a size 10 were thin. Well, I don't think that anymore, but I do think I'm normal. I had quite the revelation this year, when I went to parent's night at the high school and realized that in almost every class, I was the thinnest person in the room. Yeah, maybe I'm not "fat" anymore, I'm not sure I'll ever feel thin.
One more thing....after years of being the fat girl, I find I'm an advocate for every overweight person out there. Whenever someone trashes someone for being overweight, I am always chewing them out. The minute you lose weight, the thin people start telling you about the fat and lazy so-and-so they know. I feel the need to point out that they have no clue what obesity feels like and most overweight people have spend years trying to lose weight by any means possible. I may look normal, but I'll always be a part of the fat team.
Cindy

A moth! :rofl: