Pre-Surgical Story
It took me three years to decide to have weight loss surgery. The
first three months I considered gastric bypass but, upon discovering
all the possible complications, I decided to keep looking. My fears
were confirmed by my primary care physician who agreed with me that
it was much more dangerous operation than one or two options out there.
I researched weight loss surgery options to the “Nth” degree before settling on in-depth research on the Adjustable Gastric Banding or Lap-Band system. This took two years of fact gathering and careful consideration. I was EXTREMELY hesitant about weight loss surgery for a few reasons—1. I was and still am a “fat activist.” I became thoroughly tired of the discrimination heaped on fat people and of fat people being the last “acceptable” group to openly express prejudice about. Anyone meeting me more than once knows that I’m not a crap taker. I felt as though I were breaking solidarity with other activists; 2. I’ve had some bad surgical experiences; and 3. I was still active and doing most everything that I wanted to do physically. I frequently went swimming and horseback riding and traveled literally around the world whenever time and budget allowed. I didn’t feel deprived of anything I really wanted.
But things changed drastically on March 23rd, 2002—my birthday. I was headed out of town with a new person in my life for a romantic weekend. I was driving but was exhausted and highly nervous about the outcome of this weekend. Fatigue, over-stimulated nerves and wind shear combined to result in the car drifting onto a shallow gravel shoulder. I couldn’t get the wheel off the gravel. The car started sliding over the edge and we went to the bottom of a ravine. We flipped, side to side, about five times. I had broken bones all over my body, and my chest had hit the steering wheel before the airbag deployed. I was awake for the first three flips and remember thinking, “This is how I’m going to die.” Thank God I was wrong!
My most serious injury was crazed cracking of the head of my left knee, called a Tibial Plateau fracture. It had to be surgically repaired with four screws and a metal plate. I had to stay in a wheelchair for three months, on crutches for another three and (to this day) on a cane. I managed to gain almost one hundred additional pounds on an already heavy body. I had other problems that were under control but wouldn’t remain so if I didn’t lose some weight FAST—type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis that got added to with arthritis in all the bone breaks. I was in pain every single day and my immobility had cost me what flexibility I had built up.
Post-Surgical Story
There didn’t remain much choice. I wanted to be out of pain and I wanted my previously active life back! Through much sad experience I knew that diets did NOT work over the long term for most dieters—unless you were willing to be food obsessed for the rest of your life. I was also determined to NEVER diet again in my life. Still, I knew I needed help—lots of it. After recovering from my injuries sufficiently to get around I consulted again with my PCP and told her about my research on the Lap-Band. She was solidly for it and though it would benefit me greatly. I should say that she’d been riding me (sneakily sometimes) to lose some weight for years.
I went through the “hoops” required by my HMO—consults with a psychiatrist, lots of tests for vital organs and enough blood to feed Dracula and a family of four other vampires! Finally, three months later, everything had been submitted to the surgeon’s office. I was ready (and kind of hoping) for the HMO to prove difficult. Many health insurance companies classify Lap-Band surgery as “experimental” or “investigational” because it doesn’t have as long as a history in the United States as gastric bypass. Many of these companies have taken a stand against paying for the operation altogether.
Well, unbeknownst to me, Humana HMO had just released a statement to the press that they would begin paying for the operation and follow-up. One week after my information packet was submitted for approval, I was approved! Consider others who have gone through one, two, or three years of waiting combined with one, two or three appeals after their health insurances have denied them. I was incredibly lucky but didn’t know it at that time.
Circumstances beyond my control had me re-scheduling my surgery date twice before I finally was able to get the operation. On September 12th, 2003 at 7:30a.m. Dr. Fred Tiesenga placed the band around my stomach. Due to much anesthesia my breathing slowed down dangerously and it took about three additional hours for me to wake up in recovery. I spent a day and a half in ICU. By Saturday evening I was on the way home. Late Sunday morning I went shopping for vitamins and that afternoon I sat in a restaurant and had a bowl of broth as a friend ate lunch. I was back to work by that Thursday afternoon—too quickly, it turned out. I took half days for the first three days of the next week but other than this, I’ve taken no additional time
The first week after surgery I had a post-op check up. I’d lost 25 pounds by this point. This was much faster than I had anticipated! Now, nearly six weeks out, I’ve lost 38 pounds and had my first “fill” or tightening of the band. Two days of liquids and then it’s back to regular food—just a whole lot less of it! <G>
I’ve already gone down one size and more in clothing (not quite two sized yet), my shoes are actually looser, and I’m down to one chin instead of three! After decades at a high stable weight and then gaining so much weight I just didn’t believe that I could lose weight and keep it off permanently. Once again, thank God I was wrong!
My goals are to get to a weight where an active lifestyle would feel comfortable. For me, that’s about two hundred pounds. I felt my best and healthiest at this weight in the past. I’m not looking to be skinny or wear fashionable clothes or to be flirted with. I’m comfortable with who I am as a person and had a good life—a VERY good life—as a fat woman. What I’m looking for now is to feel just as good physically as I do emotionally and mentally.
Additional comments and recommendations
Thoroughly research whatever weight loss surgery method you’re interested in—don’t be bullied, pressed, or pressured by family, friends, support group members, doctors, surgeons, or anyone else into choosing a surgery that doesn’t fit you and your REAL eating and exercising habits to a “T.” They call Lap-Banding the “thinking person’s” weight loss surgery. You aren’t able to rely on punitive physical symptoms such as “dumping syndrome” to discourage you from eating sweets and too much fat or salt. That’s entirely a decision you must make of your own free will. That wouldn’t work very well for someone who hasn’t made the decision to absolutely stop eating lots of junk.
FIND A SUPPORT GROUP AND COMMIT TO GOING! Even with support from family and friends you need people—lots of them—who have gone through the stages you’re about to pass through. It’s wonderful to see the path set before you and to discover exactly where your personal path may diverge. This CAN BE an adventure if you let it be!
Exercise—even a little is better than none at all. Don’t beat yourself up but don’t let yourself get into a habit of accepting excuses for NOT exercising. Laziness if just as much as a habit as brushing your teeth. My favorite motto at this stage is “Fake it until you can make it.” I “pretend” to be a regular exerciser—next thing you know I really WAS a regular exerciser. Try it!
Sneak in water whenever you can. This is difficult if you’re recently post-op but so very important. It’s helped me get rid of the by-products of metabolic waste from fat burning. Why let that stuff keep hanging around?? It might decide to STAY! LOL
That’s my story—in several nutshells! I hope that it helps or at least entertains!
Pre-Surgical Story
I have been overweight as far back as I can remember. I have tried every diet and diet pill they have invented. I would lose a lot of weight and keep it off for a while, until I started eating again then I would gain my weight plus some back. I an only 42 years old and with all the weight I carried around I felt about 60. I had a hard time with stairs and just being able to get up from the floor with my kids. I wanted to do something that was going to be permanent for the rest of my life. I wanted to know what it would be like to eat a small amount of food and feel full. I did do some research and found Dr. Tiesenga. I asked about the bypass and the band, for me I chose the Lap-Band. I was really scared but excited at the same time, knowing that this was the answer for me. I had the surgery then went home the next day and went to work three days later.
Post-Surgical Story
I have lost about 30 pounds now since August and I feel so much better. I feel that with just this amount of weight I have lost I can now do stairs. I’ve joined a health club now and an able to stay the entire one hour class. I will continue to do what I need to do so that I may reach my goal of becoming a smaller and thinner person. I have much more energy now and a positive attitude. I need to remember that I need to stay focused on my goal and follow the steps to becoming the healthiest I can become. I still get a little depressed when I when I see someone who has had a bypass and they have such a large weight loss, because that is my goal to. But Dr. Tiesenga then reminds me that everyone will lose their weight at different levels and that it is not just the numbers that matter; it is to become healthier and happier.
Denise
