Beauty and the Lap Band Journey!

Well, my life started like anyone else's, I'll spare you the scary thought of my parents getting it on! I was a cute kid, skinny as a rail. Active, polite, smart, I was perfect. (HAHA Only kidding) And then right around the age of 11, I started gaining weight. No big deal..puberty right? Wrong. Bad genes. Some how when I was in the womb, I managed to pick up any of the negative traits that both sides of the family possessed. (No chest, ginormous calves, never mind the pending doom of such glorious health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer) Thrilling. So, my pediatrician dies when I'm like 13-which is okay because he drove a brontosaurus around, but anyway...We found a new doctor. (GREAT GUY!) So this guy treats me at 15 like an adult, and I respect that, I've NEVER been a "Coochie Coo" kind of girl. So we will fast forward to about two years ago..I got a gym membership and could hardly use it. I would walk for at maximum, 20 minutes before I would start getting terrible pains in the sides of my legs. Thinking they were shin splints, I sought the advice of my Doctor. This is the shorthand of the convo:

Him: Your legs are trying to support too much weight and causing strain on the tendons.
Me: So basically, you're telling me I'm too fat to lose weight.
Him: I'm telling you that if you don't lose weight you are going die within ten years. (Those were his actual words)I want you to go to Dr. Pohl and Dr. G's seminar listen and if you think it is something for you, let me know and I'll give you a referral.

about a year goes passed...Back in the doctors office:

Him: so did you ever go
me: no, do you really think I'm that big
Him: Yes...you've gained 30 pounds since the last time you were here
Me: Okay I'll go

I went, I listened and I was banded on October 19,2007. I thank Dr. Fred Ferri and Dr. Jeannine Giovanni everyday for saving my life.

Now I stand just over a year out and things are going great! I'm down about 90ish pounds. I feel better, there is far less stress on my joints. I sleep better, I feel healthier because of the things I eat and put into my body! It's been and emotional roller coaster, but every twist, turn and loop has been worth it!!

So, if you're considering Lap Band Surgery, there are a few things that you should expect:

Insurance: Not only is every company different, but so is every plan. Find out what the approval requirements are with your insurance plan. For some a 6 month supervised diet is a must. (The sooner you can start that...the better!)
There are all kinds of requirements. From BMI, comorbidities, etc. Comorbidities include but are not limited to: Sleep Apnea, Diabetes, and Hyper Tension) Have your doctor confirm with you that all requirements are met before they submit your information for approval. There's nothing worse than to be waiting for a couple of weeks and find out that you have a test result missing.

Pre Op Testing: I had to go for a psychiatric evaluation, an upper endoscopy, gall bladder ultrasound, EKG, and 2 meetings with a dietitian. Other patients may have to go for a stress tests, sleep study (for apnea) and other tests.

Pre Op Diet: The role of the pre op diet (As it was explained to me) is to shrink your liver down to make it easier while in surgery. The procedure is done laproscopically and doctors like to make sure they have some room. My diet was Liquid Breakfast and Lunch (No Sugar added Carnation Instant Breakfast) and then 4 ounces of lean meat (I choose either chicken or fish) and 3 ounces of steamed veggies. This diet was for 2 weeks pre op. I had a REALLY hard time for the first three days. I won't lie. On the third day I had a VERY small amount of potato chips and felt so terrible and felt that I had sabotaged myself it was by the book from that point on.

Day Before Surgery: No Solid food, Liquids only, and then NOTHING 12 hours preop.

Day of Surgery: No Food, No Drink. Brush your teeth and only rinse your mouth out, do not swallow any water. And remember...relax. Today is your new birthday! Embrace and Enjoy it! You are giving yourself the chance to live and enjoy life again. You are making the right decision!

A well stocked pantry, kitchen, and home is a great start. Here's a list of things that I kept handy:

Bottled water and plenty of it

Protein powders. My preference is Designer Whey. It's low in carbs. I mix mine with Skim Milk.

Chicken broth. I'm a personal fan of College Inn with roasted veggies or with roasted garlic. It's so much yummier than just plain old boring chicken broth. MAKE SURE YOU STRAIN OUT THE SOLIDS IF YOU ARE WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF BEING POST OP.

My vitamins the the doctor suggested I take..Multi-vitamin with iron, calcium, and b-complex. Be sure to space out the the multi and calcium. Studies show that calcium interferes with iron absorption.

An electric heating pad. (It really helped with the gas pains)

gas-x is wonderful too! I used and most patients will suggest the use of the strips that dissolve. They melt on your tongue and provide rapid relief. My recommendation would the Mint. The cinnamon is a little too "Ick" in my opinion.

You're probably going to stay overnight and be discharged the following morning. You're going to be groggy and they are going to offer you pain meds. Take them. I went into this saying that I didn't want to be doped up and not be able to remember anything. I wasn't in a HUGE amount of pain, but I wasn't home and only had to worry about myself. So I opted for pain meds. I remember mostly everything, even the falling asleep part in the OR.

They are also going to expect you to get up and walk around. Do It. Don't make them do it for you. You will get ALOT more smiles if you do it willingly. Ask the nurse to help you with your IV tubes and monitoring wires. I was able to maneuver them enough to handle this on my own after the first time she showed me. If you feel groggy have one of your visitors or a nurse walk with you. You won't have the "help I've fallen and can't get up" button while away from your bed. I don't think there could be any much more worse the being stuck on the floor like a turtle on its shell a few hours after major surgery. ;)

The walking helps to expel the gas that gets built up from surgery. The pain meds (Remember I was just talking about those?) take the edge off enough for you to be able to walk around for a little while. I was up and about in just about 15 minutes after being put into my room.

You will have anesthesia in your system for a few weeks afterward so you may feel yourself tiring much faster than normal, but you MUST walk! Walk walk walk. Gas pains are terrible. The will pop up in odd places. Should pain is very common for gas. Here are a few things that helped me with gas pains:

~Gax x strips (I was taking 4 at a time)
~An electric heating pad
~A "Hug me" blanket, pillow, or stuffed animal to "Hug" against your belly
~A hot shower (Helped with the should pain)

While I was at home I spent most of my time in a chair watching The Food Network (I'll get into that another time HAHAHA)I kept a small basket next to me with the following items:

~A magazine ("Fitness" to get me motivated for when I started to work out again [usually about 6 weeks post op})
~2 bottles of room temp water (Cold water was too cold)
~chapstick

Keeping walking and keeping hydrated are two things you NEED to focus on. I was timing my drinking to a sip every 8 minutes. (I never had a problem with dehydration by doing this)

Post Op diet is different from surgeon to surgeon and nutritionist to nutritionist. I was on clear liquids for 2 weeks post op, and then started full liquids for two weeks. The mushies for 2 then semi solids for 2-3 then normal food shortly after that.

Both specialists gave me the okay to mix my protein drinks with skim milk.