My 1st Lap Band Follow Up Appointment

Yesterday I had my first follow up appointment since having my lap band placed. I have lost a total of 18 lbs since surgery, which is a grand total of 28 lbs (I lost 10 lbs prior to surgery). They were very please with the weight loss that I have achieved.

The psychologist said that most people lose 1/6 of their excess body weight from the time of surgery til their first follow up appointment and I have actually lost 1/5 of my excess body weight, so I am doing better than average.

After talking with the Nurse Practitioner about what I am able to eat at one sitting we made the decision that I needed a fill, which means that some additional saline needs to be added to my lap band to make my restriction tighter and therefore my intake would be less.

The doctor came in and talked with me after the NP got everything set up and then they proceeded to do my fill. The process for this is that they find your port which is attached to your abdominal wall then they insert a long needle into your abdomen where your largest incision is from your surgery where the port is located. Once they successfully get the needle into the port they pull out what saline you have in there so that they can measure what is already there and then they put that back in and add an additional amount to it. I already had 3 cc of saline in my lab band and they added 1.5 cc of saline so now I have a total of 4.5 cc of saline.

I know I made that sound pretty simple and most of the time I am sure that it is and I was reassured that the first time is the hardest. The NP and the Dr actually had a hard time getting the needle into my port because they couldn't find the exact location of it easily and that was most likely due to scar tissue build up and a little bit of swelling still left at the incision site. The Dr was actually getting ready to take me down to radiology to find the port when he found it! As far as being painful, it wasn't, when the NP told me she was sticking in the needle initially I didn't even feel it, but as they were moving the needle around to find the port occasionally I would feel a stinging sensation, but other than that it was painless.

Due to having a 'fill' I am on liquids for 2 days, then progress to soft/mushy food for 2 days and then back to regular food. They told me to go ahead and start a regular exercise regimen so that is in the works as well. I will post more pictures in 3-4 weeks.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I pray that you have a blessed day!

Lori

8-15-09 2.5 wks post op 282 lbs – down 25lbs

I guess in the midst of writing all the good and wonderful things that I should also include the trials that I am also enduring. Although they aren't anything big it is all still a part of having the surgery.

My first complaint is constipation. I have never been constipated in my life, but over the weekend I discovered that I am now having problems with it. I believe that it is due to not getting in enough fluids so I am going to try and increase my fluid intake and hopefully that will help. I have also taken some medication to help everything along its journey!

Secondly, I am just ready for some food with some consistancy! I feel like I am going to turn in to a bowl of soup or broth. Although I know that this is all a part of the process it has still been a little frustrating at times. I have my first followup appointment on August 20th and I am hoping at that time they will tell me that I can start to move on to some different things.

That is all for now! Hope everyone is doing well! Talk with you soon.

Lori

Progress Note

Well today I had green beans for lunch. This is the most textured food that I have had since surgery. Up until now I have been having creamed potatoes, broths, creamy soups, jello, yogurt & pudding, so it was nice to have a little more texture!

My current weight is 282 so I am down 15 lbs from my presurgery weight of 297. Before going on the 3 week preop diet my weight was 306 so I would say I am making good progress.

Last week I went back to work for 3 partial days so today is my first full day back at work since my surgery. I am sure that I will sleep really well tonight!

I have my first follow up appt on August 20th and am excited about that. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for reading,
Lori

My Surgery

Today I am 10 days post op. I had my lap band surgery on Tuesday, July 28th. Everything went as expected and I am recovering well. Dr. Fuzz did find a hernia that he also repaired while he was in there.

The day after surgery I started on a clear liquid diet which lasted for 4 days and then I moved on to a full liquid diet which will last through August 20th. At that time I will be going for my first post op appointment and most likely will be allowed to move on to a pureed diet and gradually increasing to normal food again. I will have to say that this hasn't been the easiest thing that I have ever done, but I know that it will all be worth it. To date I have lost 13 lbs since surgery!!!

I will be sure to keep you updated on my progress.

Lori

It’s official

Today was a GREAT day!  I finally got my surgery date.  I will be having my lap band placed on Tuesday, July 28th.  I had to start my pre-op diet immediately.  So far so good, but I know it will probably get more difficult as time goes by.

Please keep me in your prayers as I start this new chapter of my life.  I can only pray that this surgery will improve my life in so many different areas:  physically, emotionally, mentally and especially spiritually!

I am so ready!  Thanks for all of your support.

Lori

WLS Journey Pictures

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These pictures were taken 3 weeks prior to surgery.  My current weight here is 300 lbs.

Updates

Monday, June 22nd I had my appointment with the nutritionist that I will be working with before and after having my lap band is placed.  She is so sweet and supportive, but openly honest about how difficult this process will be at times. She went over the pre-surgical diet and made sure that I understood what protein rich foods are, etc.    At the end of my appointment she said that I should hear something from the surgery scheduler by the end of the next week which would be work week ending Friday, July 3rd.

Wednesday, July 1st my sister and I were able to attend a pre-surgical nutrition class together with the nutritionist, there were also 2 other pre-surgical patients in the class.   This class was to explain what our post-surgical diet would be like and to talk about vitamins and calcium needs.  She gave us several samples of chewable vitamins and calcium and she also gave each of us a baby spoon to start practicing our small bites eating with! She also emphasized that  every patient is different and the time lines that are set can be adjusted per patient needs.  For example post op days 1-4 are clear liquids, then you move to full liquids and then pureed and you stay in the puree stage through post op week 3 when you go for your first follow up appointment with the surgeon.

Well, today is Thursday, July 2nd and I still have not heard from the surgery scheduler.  I have been so anxious and now am so discouraged because I am thinking that she will not be in the office tomorrow due to the July 4th holiday.  So it looks that I may have to wait until next week to get a surgery date.  I guess I can always hope that I am wrong and that she will be in the office tomorrow and will call me, we will see and of course I will let you know as I know!

Appointment with the Surgeon

Today I had my appoint with the WLS surgeon.  He remembered me from when I went with my sister to her appointment, so there wasn’t much for us to discuss.  We went over my medications, prior surgeries, and he made sure that I didn’t have any questions. 

Only one more appointment to go!!!  Hopefully I will have my surgery date soon.  I can’t wait.  I know that this surgery is going to impact so many areas in my life, not only physically but mentally, emotionally and spiritually as well.

I will keep you updated.  Lori

Sister Gets Surgery Date

As I may have told you before, my oldest sister is also having the lap band surgery.  She got a call from the surgeons office today to schedule her surgery date.  She is scheduled for Tuesday, July 7th which means she has to start her 3 week pre-op diet immediately.  I wish her much success, hopefully I won’t be too far behind!  More to come soon . . .

Psychology Appointment

I met with the WLS psychologist today.  The visit went very well.  He was very encouraging and knowledgeable.  Only two more appointments to go, the surgeon on the 19th and the nutritionist on the 22nd.  More to come soon.

A few updates . . .

CPAP
Well, I picked up my CPAP machine on Friday evening. I have only been able to tolerate it about four hours each night. It is going to take some time getting used to. Trying to sleep with a foreign object on your face isn't the easiest thing that I have ever done. However, I do thank God for giving man the knowledge to invent such a machine so that we may have healthier sleep and therefore a healthier life.


Diabetes Education
Since being recently diagnosed with Diabetes my Endocrinologist suggested that I go for some diabetes education. Today I had my first appt which was just a basic consultation appt to find out what my habits are, what I do and don't know and to get me set up to go to 9 hours of diabetes classes. I am scheduled to attend my classes on June 22, 23 & 24th from 5:30 - 8:30pm. I am so not looking forward to them, but I have to do what is best for me and my health and a little education never hurt anyone. I would just prefer to educate myself on something more interesting.

WLS Update
I have my first appt with the WLS psychologist this Friday. My sister says that he is just wonderful. I can't wait to meet him. With the anticipation of each appt I am sure that I will only get more and more excited. I just wish they could all be like tomorrow, but since things don't work that way, I will just have to wait my turn!!!

My Emotions
The past week has been trying for me emotionally. I am thinking it is because I am weaning myself off of one antidepressant to try another one. I was suppose to wean myself a couple of more days, but last night I decided that I was going to go ahead and start the new medication. I can usually tell by my attitude, emotions, etc. . . when it is time to move on and honey it was time to move on. Last week I found myself angry with my very best friend Marie and I have never been angry with her before. I still feel so bad and I can only pray that she has or will forgive me for being angry with her. I have also had times when I would just cry for no reason at all, I would just find myself very tearful and not really be sure why. I just ask that all of you please be praying that this new medication will do the trick.

I will be talking to you soon. Lori

Getting my CPAP

I got the call from the Dr’s office today about the results of my sleep study.  The doctor thought I did really well with the CPAP so they are going to send the orders for one over to the home health company to get me all set up.

Within a couple of hours the home health company gave me a call to set up an appointment for me to come in and get acquainted with my new equipment.  My appointment is tomorrow at 3pm.

I will be sure to keep you all updated on how well the CPAP and I get along at home.  Keep me in your prayers. 

Lori

Sleep Study

So, I went to my sleep study last night . . . or should I say mostly sleepless study!  I arrived at the hospital around 7:30pm, checked in and went to my room.  Upon arriving to my room I was greeted by my most cheerful sleep tech, she was such a joy.  I was able to have the same tech that I had 2 weeks ago and that was really nice.  I took my lap top with me to the hospital to keep my self entertained until bedtime. 

In the meantime the tech brought in two masks for me to try out to see which one I thought that I might want to try sleeping with.  First I tried on the full face mask and it was OK so then I tried on the nasal mask, the thing with the nasal mask is that you have to be sure to sleep with your mouth closed and I thought I might have a hard time with that so I told her I would start out with the full face mask. 

Around 10pm the tech came back to hook up all of my wires and leads and I got in the bed around 10:30pm. I started out with the full face mask as planned.  I had a really hard time with it.  I couldn’t keep it in place, it kept sliding up my face, so I struggled with that until approximately 1am.  I was so frustrated that I just sat up on the side of the bed and wanted to cry.  The tech came in to check on me and asked me if I had some medicine maybe that could help me sleep and asked me if I wanted to try the nasal mask and see if I could tolerate it better.  I took two Advil PM and we switched mask.  Next thing I knew the tech was back to wake me up, it was morning!!!  I couldn’t believe that I had actually slept all that time with that mask over my nose, but I did!

I got ready to go home and the tech came and showed me some ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots of my test results.  It was amazing at the difference in the lines on the polysomnogram.  I will look forward to hearing from the doctor next week.  I will keep  you posted.

All Appointments Are Scheduled

 

Today I received the return call from the nutritionist, so now all of my surgery related appointments have been scheduled. Just knowing that all of my appointments are now scheduled I just have to wait in anticipation.  I am so excited about this journey.  I don’t think that I have ever been so excited about anything in my entire life, other than my 2 children being born of course!

All of my appointments are within a two week period.  They occur on June 12th with the psychologist (this will be the 1st of 2 appts), June 19th with the surgeon and June 22nd with the nutritionist.  So I am thinking that maybe by the beginning of July we may have a surgery date.

As I spoke of in an earlier post I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, well tomorrow night I have another appt at the sleep lab so that they can set me up on CPAP.  I am totally not looking forward to this, i can’t even stand people touching my face, I surely don’t know how I will ever be able to sleep with something strapped around my head to my face.  Although I have been told that if I can get used to it I am going to feel like a brand new person because of being able to finally get some good sleep.  I have yet to talk to a CPAP user that didn’t feel better once using the CPAP.  I am also keeping in mind that once I have my WLS and loose some of this extra weight then I will probably not even need the CPAP anymore, so I am looking at this as a temporary thing which makes it a little easier to think about.

A New Journey . . . The Beginning of My New Life

I am in the process of beginning a new journey which I am going to call . . . The Beginning of My New Life.  I have made the decision to have Weight Loss Surgery (WLS).  This is something that I have pondered for almost a year, but a few months ago I hit the 300 lb mark and then in this past month I was diagnosed with Diabetes and Sleep Apnea.  This was my breaking point.  My oldest sister Julie had already started the process of beginning the WLS journey and invited me to go with her to her consultation appointment to see the surgeon.  I was able to go back with her and in addition to hearing responses to her questions I was also allowed to ask questions and have them answered.  I left that office with a made up mind that this was the route for me so before leaving I got an information packet to fill out.  Over the weekend I filled out all of my paperwork and on Monday faxed it to the office and requested that my medical records from my primary physician be sent to the surgeon.  On Saturday I received a letter in the mail from the surgeon’s office and my consultation date is Friday, June 19th.  In addition to seeing the surgeon you also have to have consultations with a psychologist and nutritionist.  My first consultation with the psychologist is on Friday, June 12th.  This process is moving so much faster than I had thought that it would and I am so glad that it is.

There are a few types of WLS that are offered.  I chose the Lap Band. This is where they take a silicone band that is filled with a saline solution and put it around the upper part of your stomach to make a small stomach ‘pouch’.  This allows you to feel satisfied sooner and stay satisfied longer while only being able to eat small amounts at a time.  The weight loss with this procedure is a little slower than that of the Gastric Bypass, but I believe that it is a safer and more natural than ‘re-routing’ parts of your gastrointestinal system.

I will continue to post updates on this blog to let you know how things are progressing.  Please be in prayer for me as I embark upon this journey, which I truly believe is ‘The Beginning of My New Life’.