When I had to have the band removed last February, I weighed 145 pounds. I had maintained this weight for some time (down from a pre-band high of 235) so when I was told by insurance that my BMI was too low for the revision to the VSG, even after multiple appeals, I gave in and gained 60 pounds! 205 was never, ever to have been a number that I wanted to see on any scale unless I was picking up my cousin's 7 year old son! So I did the post-op diet and by surgery day, I weighed 191.5
I think that some people on the blogs or on the forums who see my surgery weight don't feel that they connect with me at all because I actually am smaller than some, or fail to recognize that, I spent the majority of my adult life well over 230 pounds. I am not blogging to make myself out as better than anyone. If you were successful at finally accomplishing a goal weight and maintaining and then lost your "tool" unexpectedly, you couldn't imagine the stress that I was presented with. The WLS doesn't "cure" your obesity, it is the tool that let's you focus on doing the hard work with some assistance, lots of assistance. Being told to gain weight wasn't anything that I ever wanted to hear, but it was bound to happen whether I wanted it to or not. It was pure torture trying to keep the weight off without the band for 2 months. Then, after giving in, not only did I gain weight, but lost my confidence again, retreated, back was the high blood pressure, sleep apnea, depression, no nice clothes, misery.....
I went into the hospital on January 14, 2014 at 8:00AM and had all the basic prep, IV, met with the anesthesiologist, saw Dr. D (who had just finished up my friend Diane for her sleeve and assured me she was fine) went into the operating room at 9:55AM and then..... Boom! I had no more port (left in when Dr. G had to take out my band when Dr. D was on vacation last February). I had a repaired hiatal hernia, and a brand new sleek "tiny tummy".
Recovery was good, all the routine stuff like the IV, foley, and site drain were a bit of a pain to get around, but all in all, I felt good. Walked the first night, lots of gas and pressure, but every time I got up to walk, the gas pain lessened. My friends Diane and Rita were both up there (we met at the hospital at the pre-op clinical session in December) and they were doing well too! I went home on Friday morning. I guess my body is used to this type of surgery now (and I have a number of well used incisions to prove that....). I didn't really need any pain medicine after they took me off the pump. In fact, 6 days out and I have only used liquid Tylenol 1 time for pain since coming home.
I didn't have a site drain with the Lap-Band, so that was a little strange feeling coming out, not painful at all, just strange.... Oh, and I have to thank myself for being diligent in not having them use the CloraPrep on my stomach as an antiseptic since I had a terrible reaction with my previous 2 surgeries. Used good old Betadine and it was all good.
This weekend has been good. Laid pretty low. Did go out for 2 hours to watch football with some friends and enjoy 2 pints of water! Love naps, so did some of that too. I told Rob I needed supervised naps and he was happy to join me. I really don't feel hungry. I am going to see Dr. D on January 29, and then we should be on to "mushies". Feeling very happy and grateful.
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