Not your typical Success story

[Mrs Husker 3]

I was banded March 20, 2007 and today I weight about the same as I did before I had the band. But if I would have chosen RNY over the band, I am pretty sure I would be dead right now.

You see, right after my 2 year anniversary with the band, I found out that I had Non Small Cell lung cancer, stage 3A (two stages below terminal). One of the first things I did (at my husbands insistence) was have my band unfilled so I wouldn’t have to worry about what I was eating. I ended up having the upper left lobe of my lung removed (and before you ask, 65% of people that have lung cancer don’t smoke) then off to radiation daily for 5 weeks with a day of chemo thrown in for good measure. After the radiation finished (Radiation Sucks!) my chemo (Sucks more then radiation) went from weekly to once every three weeks, but it was triple the dose. Anyway, the things I could eat changed on a daily basis. Most foods tasted so awful I had to spit it out. My husband (who is my hero and my rock) tried everything to find things I could not only keep in my mouth, but keep down. My oncologist stressed that I had to do everything I could not to lose weight, so one thing my husband did was hide calories in my food. Like putting heavy whipping cream in my fruit smoothies. Or extra butter (the real stuff) in mashed potatoes and going back to full fat milk. It was a challenge trying to find anything that would stay in my mouth long enough to get it down my throat.

So how is this a success story, well I’ll tell you. I had my chemo port removed June 25 and the first of my re-fills done July 6 and I am down 5 lbs of the 50 I put back on. Yeah, I’m starting over, but I’m still here to start over. Being able to unfill the band let me do what I needed to do and it was there when I was ready to start again. I know I couldn't have done that with RNY. So to me that sound like a labband success story.

[CharCo 0]

So glad to hear that you are doing well! This is truly a success story!

[ladybug on a mission 0]

Thank you for sharing. You are certainly right that you are a success story - in more ways than one!

I look forward to following your journey!

[elcee 3,340]

That is a pretty amazing story. Glad that you got through the worst and are now on the other side. Good luck with the rest of your weight loss journey.

[Mimilou2004 13]

Congratulations on your recovery and restarting your band journey. You inspire me.

Mimi

[Good4me1313 54]

WOW!! I am so happy that you are in such a GREAT place right now!! Keep that positive attitude and you WILL achieve even greater feats!! Congratulations and the very best of wishes on your continued journey! :rolleyes2: