Hi everyone, my name is Becky and I have been on this site for about a month now and I can't say enough good things about the people on this site. I have not shared my story yet because 1.) it's not the normal journey 2.) I never wanted to scare anyone who was preparing for surgery and 3) it's still very difficult to talk about. So here goes nothin!

I was banded back in 2007 and had the typical problems with vomiting and terrible heartburn/reflux. I started my journey at 245 lbs and after my first year with the band I got down to 170...not bad! Unfortunately, I misused the band and ate whatever I wanted and then threw it up. I did this every day after almost every meal. Needless to say I ended up having a major slip in 2010 and had to have the band removed. I gained a lot of my weight back and was devastated! I was originally a self pay so my doctor told me to take a few months to heal and he would help me get the band put back in. A few months later, I saved up enough money to cover the discounted cost of having another band put back in. I was rebanded in October of 2010 and I really worked the band. I dropped 30 lbs (the right way) and then I got pregnant. I had a healthy pregnancy except that I had gallstones so I hardy ate anything and only gained 23 lbs during the pregnancy. I had to have my daughter a month early so they could remove my gallbladder and the operation went smoothly.

Life was good. I was back to my pre baby weight of 187 within 2 weeks of having my baby. I was working it! Slowly, I began to gain weight. Within a year of having my baby, I was back up to 223. I was doing everything right so what was wrong? I still don't understand but I every so often I would get the flu. Well, I thought it was the flu anyway. I got it about every 6 months until Feb of 2012 when i got it 3 times. I kept thinking, the flu must be rampant. My daughter even had it the first time I was sick in Feb so in my mind, I knew it was flu related. On March 8, 2012 I went to work and had a really back pain near my kidneys not near my stomach. I began vomiting uncontrollably and took myself to the urgent care. They sent me to the ER with kidney stones. Based on where the pain was located, it made sense. The hospital gave my a shot of pain med and sent me home. I went back 3 times over the next two days and they just kept sending me home. I was vomiting ever 3-4 minutes by the end of the second day. I couldn't even stand in my own. I remember thinking...I'm going to just kill myself. I'm dying and no one will help me. Finally I called my bariatric doctor to see if he could unfill my band because it hurt so bad to vomit. He got me right in, scolded me for not calling him first and unfilled me. I remember the feeling of instant relief after he unfilled me. I went home and slept for 6 hrs. I hadn't slept in days and I was so exhausted. I woke up at 6:30 that friday puking my guts out again. I was so sick that I broke the ceramic toilet seat with the sheer force of my chest hitting it whet I got sick. The vomiting was non stop now. I barely had time to take a breath between. My boyfriend had just walked in the door from work and I crawled to him, grabbed his leg and said, I'm dying! I knew something was terribly wrong and I knew I was dying. He rushed me to my bariatric doctors hospital and they rushed me in to surgery to unhook the band. It took close to 3 hours to get an IV in because my veins had collapsed. There were so many nurses around me trying to get IV's in me and I grabbed one and pulled him close to me and I told him to please "kill me now." That's all I remember really except for the fact that I died on the table. I saw the light. It's so vivid what I saw. I won't share that part with you because it's just for me to know and you'd probably think i was crazy. Anyway, I woke up 5 days later from my coma, hooked up to every machine you can imagine. Tubes down my throat, central IV line in my neck, arterial lines, pic lines, 16 different IV's, you name it I was hooked to it. Turns out my band had slipped. The sutures stayed in tact and as I vomited it ripped my stomach apart from top to bottom. They were only able to save about 10% of my stomach and pieced it together with mesh so that I wouldn't have to live with a feeding tube for the rest of my life. I'm categorized as a full gastrectomy which is usually done on patients suffering from stomach cancer. I don't have the typical sleeve but I do call myself a sleever.

My story isn't over yet, sorry it's so long!! Things were going as good as can be expected. A day after waking from my coma they pulled the tube from my throat and had me start walking a few hrs later. I spent 10 days in ICU unable to see my kids before they sent me home. I was home for 2 days before I got a fever. It spiked to 105.6 and I went back to the hospital. They ran tests and found that I had major abscesses in my abdomin. I got infections from all the stomach bacteria. I ended up having 2 JP drains put in and stayed in the hospital for another 3 weeks. When I finally got to go home, I had to have at home nursing care. I had to give myself IV antibiotics every 6 hrs. I also developed blood clots fromy pic line...which by the way sucks. Coumadin made my hair fall out (along with lack of protein). I was so sick that I refused to eat. My weight loss actually scared me. I was losing between 2-3 lbs a day. Granted I had gotten up to 233 from all the fluids but still, losing 3 lbs a day for weeks at a time is scary!!

I returned to the hospital 2 more times from abscesses and had to have another JP drain put in and have the Fluid around my lungs drained ( my total hospital stay was aprox 2.5 months total). I also became addicted to the painkillers and had to seek treatment to get off the percoset. I suffered severe dumping up until August and am still lactose intolerant! I can live with that though! The dumping...not so much! Dumping is terrible!!!!

To sum up my wls journey...it effin sucked! I love my "sleeve" now but my journey has been tough none the less. I was finally able to start moving and walking around in June and have since slowly picked up jogging. I love my new life and if I scared anyone I am truly sorry. My story is not the norm but it is my story. Had I known about the sleeve before I got my band, I would have chosen the sleeve. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Thank you to all of you who have been my support and my inspiration. I love this site!!!!

Beginning stats- 5'6" 233 lbs after initial surgery

Current stats- 160lbs

Surgery date 3/11/12

What an AMAZING fighter you are! I truly pray that you continue to be healthy after this difficult journey. I would love to hear about your story (the one about the light) if you want to messsage me in my inbox I would like to hear about it. KEEP STAYING HEALTHY AND GOD BLESSS!

Amazing! So glad you are doing well now!

I would also like to hear the other story, but also understand it being a very private and personal story!

Thank you for sharing everything! Keep us posted on how you are!

Thank you for sharing you story. You went through an awful experience but it's good for people to know that these surgeries do have complications and they are very real. Nobody should ever go into WLS thinking it's an easy fix. It's serious business.

Congratulations on surviving such a big ordeal and finally achieving a new you, even if at great cost!

Wow, I'm speechless (that doesn't happen often). I'm so glad you chose to share your story. You are a truly amazing person to go through all tgat and not be resentful. I'd love to see you stay around here for a long time.

Wow you have been through so much. Thanks for sharing your story. I agree, you have a great attitude considering all you have been through. Glad you are doing better and best of luck to you in your continued journey!

Wow what an awful time you've been through.

God must have big plans for you.

You would certainly freak some people out over there.

Actually I posted my horror story (removed because it was causing the good doc stress) here and the support I found was amazing. I would highly encourage you to post it over there. People need to know the possibilities. I know I made a couple of people really think about the timing of their surgery and helped a few people via pm plan for the worst...putting a network in place just in case which I hope they never need. I had a great deal of negative things to say about my decision to have the sleeve and still do, and yet in general I found great support here in the sleeve forum. Would you freak people out? Yes, but you might also help someone as well as they make their decision. There is nothing wrong in doing that!

I am still waiting to find out if I will need more surgery. I know you still have a road to travel too. It sounds like you are facing this with great strength. I wish you the best!

@iggychic so you mean I should post to the band to sleeve forum? Is there a band only forum?

Thank you to everyone. I wasnt sure of the response I would get but I must say I'm overwhelmed by the kind words and support. I am still trying to deal with the fact that I was able to put my ordeal into words without breaking down. I have tried to write my story so many times only to delete it because I just wasn't ready to relive everything. Today it just kind of poured out of me. As for those who would like to hear my other story about what I saw...I think I will share with you all. I'm just not ready to yet. I'm still trying to deal with the fact that it happened.

Becky, wow. I am so sorry you went thru all that. Thanks for sharing your story. I DO think you should share it with the lapband forum. People need to know what to watch out for.

This may seem trivial, but was your chest ok from the broken toilet seat? You could have cracked a rib!

When you are ready, if you are ever ready to share your personal story, I'm sure many here would feel honored. But don't share unless you are truly ready. Some times we just need to savor things for ourselves, and that's ok.

Hugs!!

@iggychic so you mean I should post to the band to sleeve forum? Is there a band only forum?

.

Yep... www.lapbandtalk.com

Your login here will work over there. Same admin runs both websites. There is also a RNYtalk.com and a sleeveplicationtalk.com.

I agree that you should share your story with the lapband folks. Not to scare them but to show them what is possible.

@iggychic so you mean I should post to the band to sleeve forum? Is there a band only forum?

Thank you to everyone. I wasnt sure of the response I would get but I must say I'm overwhelmed by the kind words and support. I am still trying to deal with the fact that I was able to put my ordeal into words without breaking down. I have tried to write my story so many times only to delete it because I just wasn't ready to relive everything. Today it just kind of poured out of me. As for those who would like to hear my other story about what I saw...I think I will share with you all. I'm just not ready to yet. I'm still trying to deal with the fact that it happened.

I would see if there is a band forum through the weight loss surgery system (if someone knows they will post it) It seems I joined it early in my search for the correct procedure for me then i moved here. yes you should post it there. people need to hear the good and the bad. we learn lessons and we learn about what to follow for by reading them.

I wrote my story as it was happening. From the beginning when they thought it was just internal bleeding to the end (actually im not at the end as i have three more weeks til i test to see if my leak was successfully repaired). I posted when i thought i was going to die and when i faced difficult decisions I posted my frustrations here. I sobbed out how much I missed my baby at home (who is turning 7 in two weeks and would smack me for calling him a baby LOL) and my fears. But when it came time to make a decision to remove it (because the doc was bothering alex) I decided I'd read it, print it, and then he could remove it.

I understand why it was so hard to type your story. I couldn't get past the first ten pages (it was at 40 something with all the support I got...not to mention it had been 45 days). I couldn't relive it through reading what I'd written. But my story was valuable as is yours so I'm glad you shared it, and I'd encourage you to share it where it can really help people who are in the band forums.

Lapbandtalk.com is this forums sister site. You can log into it with the same user name & pw you used to set up this profile

Okay, I did it! I posted it under the complications forum.

I went over there yesterday and was blown away with all the continued complications with the band. People just like our stories! Horror stories!

These complications weren't posted when I got my band years ago.