Hi everyone... I've been dreading writing this blog. But I've always wanted to be transparent, so I'm writing it. I also don't want anyone to feel alone, and the few instances of my situation that I've read from other people give me such a sense of solidarity, that I want to give that to someone else. 5 years ago, my surgeon suggested I have gastric bypass instead of the lapband. I was too scared and I said no. 2.5 years ago when it became clear that my band was failing, my surgeon suggested I revise to gastric bypass. I said yes. I learned that I needed to trust my surgeon, and so I got on board. It was the day before surgery when my insurance said NO. I was beyond frustrated and went forward with the sleeve even though my surgeon warned me that I may need further surgery if I had the sleeve due to already having GERD. So here we are now, and I'm revising- yet again. As soon as I was sleeved, the reflux got worse almost immediately. ...
Although it had only been 3 weeks since my last adjustment, my band didn't feel as tight as I'd like, so I went in today for a fill. My PA is always very happy with my progress which makes me feel really great. Today's "official" weight: 277 pounds Total Loss: 67 pounds She gave me a pretty agressive fill. I started today with 5.2 cc's and ended up with 6.3 cc's total in a 10 cc band. She was going to try for a bit tighter, but when she gave me more saline, I drank the Barium and she could see a little reflux on the fluoroscopy machine. I told her that I'm trying to lose 15 pounds before my trip in March, so she agreed to make my appointment for only 3 weeks out again. I asked her if she ever has patients whose bands are full (10 cc's) and they haven't finished losing weight. She said it does happen, but pretty rare and that most patients top out between 5-7 cc's. Now I'm afraid of needing more than 10 before I get t...
Have any of you noticed how much bullying exists among us in the WLS community? I'm not necessarily referring to those of us in blogland--in fact, I've never felt bullied or anything other than the most support here in my little blog world. But in other parts of the WLS community I've experienced a lot of "my surgery is better than yours" comments and a lot of size comparison. It's something that I first experienced when I tried a local WLS meetup. I was the only person with a lapband at the group and it was then that I decided I would never go back. Now that I'm revised, I still disagree with it. I would NEVER put someone down because they made a different decision than me. Even with all my trouble with the band, I would never tell someone that they were making the wrong choice. Your body, your choice. So, what's sparked this topic of discussion, you might wonder? Well, last month I went on a trip to meet several VSG sisters from instagra...
Good job!
ReplyDeleteThanks! How are you feeling Rachel? I've been checking the blog to see how your surgery went!
Delete70 pounds--WOW! Congrats, Hollee...that's awesome :)
ReplyDeleteWay to go!! Congrats!!
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