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I have had several people over the last week ask me what my "whole story was " for all my surgeries , why i needed one after having another etc. So I'll try to keep it short and put it in all one page so here goes :
The beginning :
As a young adult i was 130-150 pds .
My weight issues started about 15 yrs ago when I got married , became a stay at home mom and got pregnant the same YEAR !! Not a real good combo for someone's weight.
When i got married in 2000 i was about 140-150 pds. More than I had ever weight in my life.
In 2001 i became pregnant w/ my second son and my weight just came on and on and on ( I GOT HUGE ) . After I had him , the weight did not come off. Would not come off.
I'll be honest though I did not and have not tried every diet under the sun.
I tried Atkins , I tried weight watchers , working out a curves and eating better over the last 7 or so yrs. So did i try EVERYTHING ? Probably not .
I also have something called PCOS ( Poly Cycstic Ovarian Syndrome)
Here is the definition from Wikepedia
Polycystic ovary syndrome abbreviated PCOS or PCO (also known clinically as Stein-Leventhal syndrome, Sclerocystic ovary syndrome, Hyperthecosis, ovarian, Polycystic ovarian disease PCOD ) is an endocrine disorder that affects approximately 10% of all women .[1] It occurs amongst all races and nationalities, is the most common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age, and is a leading cause of infertility.[2][3] The principal features are weight problems, lack of regular ovulation and/or menstruation, and excessive amounts or effects of androgenic (masculinizing) hormones. The symptoms and severity of the syndrome vary greatly between women. While the causes are unknown, insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity are all strongly correlated with PCOS.
It became very obvious to me that my weight was not going to come off. Over about 7 yrs I lost 25 pds and that was IT !! So I gave up . I wont lie I did !
The Band ( Starting Weight 250 if not more Goal weight of 125 lbs hit in 10 months )
In 2004 I started researching WLS with the encouragement of my long time OBGYN. At the time the Lap Band was " THE" Surgery to have , it was being sold as least invasive , blah blah . So i deiced I would check into it . At this time the longest anyone had the band I think was maybe 5 yrs ? So in talking to people who had the band for a while 1-2 yrs out it looked great ! People kept the weight off, no one really had anything bad to say about it , including my doc .
In 2006 I decied to take the blunge and get banded and was banded in July of 2007
Here is a link to my one year mark with my band ( oh if i had only known what was to come ) .
The day I hit my goal weight with my lap band I slipped my band for the first time .
That is where the end of the band began. Nothing really ever was right after that . I slipped my band again in July of 2009 !
As this stuff was going on I started to have some other funky things going on with my health . Those are all located here under Auto Immune if you would like to read up on them .
For the record I beleieve these issues I had were mostly if not all band related !
Now the kind of short story at this point is, my band was unfilled for nearly 2 yrs. My band got to the point where it could not be filled with out strangling my esophagus , I got to where i could not eat anything but mushy foods . You can read more about that here .
So my over view of the band now , looking back , Its an evil contraption that needs to be taken off the market ! They have a 50-60% Failure rate and have no business being in peoples bodies ! PERIOD
The Struggle to Remove the Band
At the time my band failed me and I knew I had to get it out we were self employed and in no way able to afford the removal of my band and revision to sleeve out of pocket . My only option after checking into it was to get pre existing insurance coverage through the government. I still had to pay over $500 a month ( I think it was ) for JUST ME being covered plus 20% . Long story short I ended up having a fund raiser and raised most of the money .
The Sleeve( SW 225 Lightest weight 190 )
I had a HORRIBLE experience with my first revision surgeron , he was ok but his office staff literally gave me panic attacks by just talking to them on the phone !
This guy was suppose to be " the best revision doc around " which by the way was 4 hours from my house . (Horrible doc experience )
I have been in the medical field for many years. After asking some of my nurse friends who had a good rep in the OR , who had good technique and who THEY would trust to do their surgery I found my awesome doc Dr Fass !!
The surgery it self was good but I had a few issues . Over all the recovery from band to sleeve revision was decent, harder than the band but doable . My story of my 5 days in the hospital post revision can be read here !
ANOTHER Revision ? You are kidding right ? (SW 215 Current Weight 205 )
At about my one year anniversary I started to feel like I was able to eat a ton of food . My doc thought I was being a little over paranoid so he suggested I get an upper GI . Turned out my sleeve was too larger and I needed or could have it revised .
That story is here !
My Last Revision and the roughest !
With a second hiatial hernia repair and the bypass my surgery , this last one was probably the toughest , I am still recovering from it .
5 Days Post op
So that is the basic of all my issues, I will fill in when I feel like it , but feel free to ask me any questions !
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