5 Days Post Banding - A little history

On July 20, 2010 I had LapBand surgery at Rochester General Hospital by Dr. A. DiBenedetto. My kids and I went to Jamaica from July 9-15 and had a great time! We stayed at an all inclusive resort, but thankfully we were very active and I actually came home 2 lbs lighter. The travel day home on July 15th was Day 1 of the 5 day liquid prep before surgery.... but all went well.

I had a secret goal to be in "onederland" prior to surgery, and this really kept me in line and on track. I made my goal and on surgery day I weighed 199 lbs. My dear friend Kathy brought me to the hospital and my sweet babie's Daddy helped hold down the fort at home.

To get a little history, without all the boring details I am going to give a quick bullet list of all of the steps to get me to where I am today:

• 12/09 - severe depression about the state of my weight, visit to PCP and she recommended exploring LapBand surgery (first time a Doctor ever had the guts to confront me about the giant elephant in my life) P.S. I love my PCP!!!
• 2/10 - Informational meeting at RGH about the procedure, blasted out of meeting to make first Dr. appt with Dr. D.
• 3/10 - First meeting/appointment at Dr. D's after submitting a VERY LENGTHY and detailed history and recommendation from my PCP, my weight was 231.5 (although in December, I weighed 240 lbs. !!!!) Given orders to lose 5% (11.5 lbs.) of my weight before my next appointment with Dr. D. in April.
• 3/10 - Started going to monthly support group at RGH and met my friend Donna who was a couple of months ahead at the time and got her surgery date for 4/20/10!! Lucky me gets to see all the things to expect on my journey.
• 3/10 - Psychiatric evaluation - Yikes! (I am luckily only a little crazy...)
• 4/10 - Sleep study - subsequent diagnosis of Sleep Apnea. (I am a weirdo and love my CPAP machine, sleeping is good, being rested is good.)
• 4/10 - Appointment with Dr. D and I have lost my 5% and even more. Dr. D. approves me!! Tells me to keep losing weight since the goal of the surgery is to be a tool to keep it off and I am on my way!
• 4/10 - Appointment with Nutritionist to go over "what to expect".
• 4/10 - Enter first big road block. My company announces it has been sold to another company and guess what? I won't know what my new insurance coverage will be. :-( First major setback and I was really in a funk. Without knowing what my insurance coverage will be, I am in a holding pattern.
• 4/10 - Almost forgot this, I had to have an EKG because one of the many weight loss efforts I tried in the past was Phen-Fen... (I checked out fine).
• 5/10 - Insurance options are announced and I have coverage with new company that is "bariatric surgery friendly" (BCBS Anthem) Yay!! I am relieved and Lori from Dr. D.'s office submitted for my approval on June 1 (first day of my new insurance plan).
• 6/10 - APPROVAL!!! I got a call from Lori and I was approved about 1 week after submission!!
• 6/10 - Appointment with Dr. D. and Millie to schedule ALL the next steps: endoscopy, class, lab work and SURGERY, also, follow-up and even first fill!
• 6/10 - Endoscopy - that was quick and no issues. He did say that he would be fixing a hiatal hernia. I went out for lunch with dear friend Kathy right after and felt fine.
• 6/10 - Class - good review and met some nice people who were having their surgery right before me. We all had our pre-surgery lab work and chest x-rays (plan on 2-3 hours).
• 7/15/10 - started pre-op liquid diet
• 7/20/10 - My surgery date!! My surgery was at 11:00AM and I was back in recovery by 1:00PM.

That about wraps it up for the process up to surgery. 5 days out and I am feeling GREAT!! I weighed myself yesterday and was 195.5 lbs. and have been up and about since the day after surgery. I had a nice roommate, Rachel, who had a very similar experience. I have not even taken any Tylenol since coming home, that is how good I feel. Now, I am not going to lie, the hospital is no place to rest.... So when I came home on the 21st at about 5PM, I went home and slept and slept and on the 22nd, I slept almost the whole day. 5 days out, I feel completely normal. My incisions (5 tiny ones) have never oozed and now are starting to itch (my nurse sister-in-law says that means they are healing!! I really have not been hungry at all! I find warmer liquids are easier to go down than cold ones, but I am feeling great!

I only had one mental melt down!! On Friday, I went to the grocery store and became overwhelmed with all the visuals and smells.... I really don't recommend anyone going to the grocery store until at least you are getting something more than clear liquids.

I love myself for doing this for myself! I now know that I have a chance to be happy and healthy for my kids and not hold back on anything I want to do. I am very blessed to have have great friends and family supporting me through this. Let me know if you have any questions.

Ames