Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Day 5: Woops
Today I couldn't take it anymore. I had been STARVING for 3 days now being on this clear liquid diet. I asked for any suggestions on www.lapbandtalk.com and a lot of people were saying that their doctors allowed them to have cream of wheat and thicker more filling liquids A LOT sooner than what my doctor prescribed me. My doctor has me on clear liquids for 2 fucking weeks. Well, that was not going to fly with me, especially since I haven't been feeling good. So...
After much debating in my head, I walked over to the fresh soup section at the local grocery and got a cup of broccoli cheddar soup (should've gone for the loaded baked potato in hindsite). I was nervous as hell to try it, thinking that as soon as it would touch my mouth I would get sick. But after one spoonful, I ended up eating only half of it and giving the other half to my boyfriend. It's kept me full for 4 hours now and I washed it down with some cranberry juice and water. Feeling so much better!
Hey, its the weekend, I felt like I needed a tiny splurge/slip-up.
I can now sleep on my sides comfortably- most of the time. I still feel some pressure around my upper abdominal, but most of the really bad pains are gone. Just some mild discomfort left.
Check out my new ticker. Now you can track my loss with me. :)
After much debating in my head, I walked over to the fresh soup section at the local grocery and got a cup of broccoli cheddar soup (should've gone for the loaded baked potato in hindsite). I was nervous as hell to try it, thinking that as soon as it would touch my mouth I would get sick. But after one spoonful, I ended up eating only half of it and giving the other half to my boyfriend. It's kept me full for 4 hours now and I washed it down with some cranberry juice and water. Feeling so much better!
Hey, its the weekend, I felt like I needed a tiny splurge/slip-up.
I can now sleep on my sides comfortably- most of the time. I still feel some pressure around my upper abdominal, but most of the really bad pains are gone. Just some mild discomfort left.
Check out my new ticker. Now you can track my loss with me. :)
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Day 2: Ughh...
I got banded on the 21st...today is the 23rd, which means I still have 13 days left until I can start eating soft foods.
I'm getting pretty hungry already, but more than hungry I'm still in pain. Yesterday was probably the worst since the gas in my body started travelling up to my shoulders and neck. Because of my band I was forced to sleep all night on my back and I think that aggravated my shoulders and neck even more. On the lighter side, I finally farted. Hahaha I know this may be hilarious because Louis C.K. says "I don't care how fucking smart you are, if you don't think farts are funny, you're a fucking idiot." But it felt so good to finally expel gas from my body! Seriously, the more you walk, the better and faster you will heal. It doesn't matter how shitty you feel, and you may want to stay in bed with all the pain, but get off your ass and force yourself to feel better by walking!
This morning I checked my incisions and changed the bandaids. Some of the incisions still look pretty fresh and were bleeding just a tiny bit. Others were starting to itch a bit, which is good because that means they are healing. My stomach is still pretty swollen and hard, and every time I breath or move, I feel like I can feel the band in my body.
I went to work this morning at 10:30AM, but unlike most days, I work up today at 8:30, had sipped some water, and started at 25 minute slow walk on the treadmill. I had to leave work early because my pain got pretty bad and I was feeling nauseous. All I wanted to do was come home and smoke weed. Yes, I am an avid cannabis user.
Actually, I don't actually smoke, I vaporize, which is so much better for your lungs since you're not taking in any carcinogens. The vicadin my doctor prescribed me wasn't doing shit for my pain and weed helps with the nausea. I've been perving out on some cooking sites. My current favorite: www.honestcooking.com
They have amazing photographs of their food and they are simple and most are pretty darn good for you. It has inspired me to make my own herb garden, which will also get me to go outside and do some productive physical activity once I don't feel anymore pain. The pain by the way, is MUCH better than yesterday's- if I haven't already said that.
Sooooo...things to look forward to:
1. I found some really yummy oatmeal recipes. I can't wait to end this liquid diet and start eating mushy solids, especially oatmeal- which I can eat everyday for every meal ;)
2. Pain, pain, go AWAY
3. Upcoming herb garden and getting in more exercise. I'm thinking I want to be a runner.
I'm getting pretty hungry already, but more than hungry I'm still in pain. Yesterday was probably the worst since the gas in my body started travelling up to my shoulders and neck. Because of my band I was forced to sleep all night on my back and I think that aggravated my shoulders and neck even more. On the lighter side, I finally farted. Hahaha I know this may be hilarious because Louis C.K. says "I don't care how fucking smart you are, if you don't think farts are funny, you're a fucking idiot." But it felt so good to finally expel gas from my body! Seriously, the more you walk, the better and faster you will heal. It doesn't matter how shitty you feel, and you may want to stay in bed with all the pain, but get off your ass and force yourself to feel better by walking!
This morning I checked my incisions and changed the bandaids. Some of the incisions still look pretty fresh and were bleeding just a tiny bit. Others were starting to itch a bit, which is good because that means they are healing. My stomach is still pretty swollen and hard, and every time I breath or move, I feel like I can feel the band in my body.
I went to work this morning at 10:30AM, but unlike most days, I work up today at 8:30, had sipped some water, and started at 25 minute slow walk on the treadmill. I had to leave work early because my pain got pretty bad and I was feeling nauseous. All I wanted to do was come home and smoke weed. Yes, I am an avid cannabis user.
Actually, I don't actually smoke, I vaporize, which is so much better for your lungs since you're not taking in any carcinogens. The vicadin my doctor prescribed me wasn't doing shit for my pain and weed helps with the nausea. I've been perving out on some cooking sites. My current favorite: www.honestcooking.com
They have amazing photographs of their food and they are simple and most are pretty darn good for you. It has inspired me to make my own herb garden, which will also get me to go outside and do some productive physical activity once I don't feel anymore pain. The pain by the way, is MUCH better than yesterday's- if I haven't already said that.
Sooooo...things to look forward to:
1. I found some really yummy oatmeal recipes. I can't wait to end this liquid diet and start eating mushy solids, especially oatmeal- which I can eat everyday for every meal ;)
2. Pain, pain, go AWAY
3. Upcoming herb garden and getting in more exercise. I'm thinking I want to be a runner.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Post-Op: Day 1
Finally, after years of struggling to lose weight, debating whether or not I should get the lap-band, and going through all the tests, paperwork, and insurance... I DID IT.
I was banded yesterday, February 21, 2011 and this is my story of how it began...
Since I can remember I have been overweight most of my life. But it wasn't until I started dating my boyfriend in July 2009 that I ballooned to over 200lbs. At my heaviest, and at the time of my surgery, I weighed just over 215lbs. HOW THE FUCK DID I GET TO BE OVER 2 BILLS?! I've always been pretty photogenic, even with some weight, but I had been noticing that little by little I looked less like the person I felt and I realized that it wasn't because of a bad photographer, angle, or lighting that I began to look really unflattering in all my photographs. So I stopped taking pictures of myself and for two years I have not updated my Facebook profile picture. Comfortable in my solid relationship with my boyfriend, I began to care less about what I ate and how much I ate. They say that when you are in a happy relationship, you tend to eat out more and that you gain weight, in my case that couldn't have been more true. And although my boyfriend always told me I looked fine, I never really believed him.
It eventually got to the point where my weight was no longer a vanity issue, but a health risk. For years I had tried to lose the weight by signing up for gym memberships, personal trainers, fad diets, and weight clinics. This is just a short list of what I had tried in the past:
Weight Watchers
Curves
B-12 shots
Diet pills
Atkins/high protein diet
Fasting
Nutrisystem
Acai berry cleanse
Cabbage soup diet
Accupuncture
On top of all that, I even tried eating smaller portions and had a gym membership at 24. I lost 15lbs while working out at Curves,18lbs with Weight Watchers, and 24lbs doing a high protein diet followed by B-12 shots given at a weight clinic. But after spending countless amounts of money, I would gain back not only the weight I had lost but more. I also noticed that while dieting, I was always miserable and constantly hungry. I had been hearing about the lap-band mostly from the radio (that cheesy ass "let your new life begin" song) and saw the billboards of the skinny blonde bimbo on the scale. I was always skeptical about weight loss surgery, I had heard horror stories of surgeries gone wrong, always thought that it was the easy way out, and that surgical weight loss was a final draw for people who were morbidly obese, but I had failed to notice that I was getting up there.
When my dad came down with diabetes last year, that scared the hell out of me, so I decided that it couldn't hurt to just go to a Lap-Band seminar. After hearing about how easy the surgery was, that it was minimally invasive and had little surgical risk with big results, I concluded that lap-band surgery would be the final solution to my weight problems.
I went through O-band Medical group out in Tustin, CA. Just to make it clear, O-band is just the name of the medical group and not (what I initially thought) another form of lap-band surgery. My first visit was back in October 2010 with a consult from my to-be surgeon, Dr. Pham. It was determined that my BMI was 37 (not quite high enough to get approved by my insurance- which at the time was with United Healthcare). Because my BMI was so borderline, UH said that I needed a co-morbidity (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, etc...pick your poison). Well it turns out despite what I looked liked and how I felt, other than a very mild case of sleep apnea, I was pretty healthy (my blood sugar was 80- which wasn't even pre-diabetic). Because I didn't have any of these, I was a little discouraged to find that UH would not approve my surgery. In my head, I had two options: 1. Eat as much shitty foods as I wanted and deteriorate my health to qualify for surger or 2. Lose the weight the hard way- by exercising and dieting (neither of which never had lasting results). I tried both at the same time and didn't get anywhere.
Then at the beginning of this year, my company decided to drop UH and go with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I had heard from the insurance lady at the seminar that BCBH had a higher rate of approval and required less prerequisites. Right at the same time I thought of calling back O-band, I got a call from them saying that they were looking threw old patient files and found mine. Most insurance companies had changed their requirements, making it easier to get approved for surgery, and they wanted me to come back for a full screening. This sounded hopeful and for the next couple of months I kept going back to do blood tests, sleep studies, EKGs, ultrasounds, and various other scans.
Finally, on Valentines Day, I got a call from a lady named Shantai who worked at O-band telling me that BCBH approved my surgery! When I got this call I never fully expected to get approved for surgery again and it was crazy to think that after all these years of wondering what life would be like with the lap-band, I would finally get a chance to re-start my life and make a permanent change. It was amazing how quickly Shantai scheduled me for surgery. I was lucky in that BCBH did not require I go on a 6 month diet, instead, I would be getting surgery done in exactly one week. Its a crazy feeling knowing that in one week, your life is about to change...
Two days before the surgery, I was instructed to go on a liquid diet. By now, I had actually dropped to 208lbs (a difference of 7lbs). The anticipation of surgery coupled with an insatiable hunger made those two days unbelievably hard. I was only allowed clear liquids which included water, coffee, tea, clear soups/broths, and diluted juices. Whenever I got hungry, I would sleep to keep me from wanting to eat something and setting back my surgery date. I just kept reminding myself what Kate Moss once said "Nothing tastes as good as it feels to be thin."
My surgery was scheduled for 12:00PM, but I was asked to get to the hospital by 10:00AM to get admitted and prepped for surgery. During admitting, I found out that my insurance was going to cover 80% of the surgery which mean that I had to come up with roughly $3700- upfront. I wasn't able to pay that on the day of surgery, however, my financial adviser at the hospital (Will- who also admitted me) allowed me to pay what I could and gave me three months to come up with the rest. I also learned that if your medical expenses for lap-band surgery total more than 7.5% of your total adjusted income, it IS tax deductible!
After admitting, and doing one last lab test, I was dropped off and met my very sweet nurse Lee. She was such a sweet Korean lady who made me feel so at ease during the entire process. She called me a surgical virgin because I had never been on a surgery table before. I changed into my gown, answered some final questions about my medical history (they need to be thorough because of the anesthesia), then I was left alone for about 45 minutes. There was one other patient who was ahead of me. Apparently Dr. Pham was operating on 4 patients that day and I was the last one. Finally the time came and I was wheeled into the OR. Everything happened so fast, because the last thing I remember was the anesthesiologist putting a mask on my face and telling me to take deep breaths...
...I woke up in a recovery room to the song "Sympathy For the Devil" by The Who that was playing on the radio. I felt mostly sleepy and high and I remember mumbling to the little Indian nurse sitting next to me "You guys give excellent drugs here." She was so sweet to get me extra blankets that had been warmed and a lot of pain meds- that stuff must've been shit because after I was fully awake I felt like I could've run a marathon. Okay, not really, but when I got home (about 5:00PM) the meds started to wear off and I started feeling some of the pain. It gradually got worse as the drugs completely wore off and I could feel everything I couldn't at the hospital.
Today is day one after surgery. Last night I had a horrible time trying to sleep. I'm a side sleeper, and everytime I tried to roll over to my side it hurt like hell. Eventually, just laying on my back even hurt. My stomach feels swollen and hard and I feel like somebody is kicking me in the stomach constantly. I read on www.lapbandtalk.com that lots of walking, heating pads, and sipping hot liquids help make it bearable and I'm hoping that by tomorrow I will be able to go back to work since I called out today. I had initially thought at the hospital that I would be fine to go to work the day after surgery since I wasn't feeling any pain and everybody was telling me I did very well in surgery but little did I know that was the result of the awesome pain meds I was hopped up on. Right now I would kill somebody to get an IV and some more of whatever they gave! Despite this, I keep telling myself that this wasn't supposed to be easy, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE WORTH IT.
After admitting, and doing one last lab test, I was dropped off and met my very sweet nurse Lee. She was such a sweet Korean lady who made me feel so at ease during the entire process. She called me a surgical virgin because I had never been on a surgery table before. I changed into my gown, answered some final questions about my medical history (they need to be thorough because of the anesthesia), then I was left alone for about 45 minutes. There was one other patient who was ahead of me. Apparently Dr. Pham was operating on 4 patients that day and I was the last one. Finally the time came and I was wheeled into the OR. Everything happened so fast, because the last thing I remember was the anesthesiologist putting a mask on my face and telling me to take deep breaths...
...I woke up in a recovery room to the song "Sympathy For the Devil" by The Who that was playing on the radio. I felt mostly sleepy and high and I remember mumbling to the little Indian nurse sitting next to me "You guys give excellent drugs here." She was so sweet to get me extra blankets that had been warmed and a lot of pain meds- that stuff must've been shit because after I was fully awake I felt like I could've run a marathon. Okay, not really, but when I got home (about 5:00PM) the meds started to wear off and I started feeling some of the pain. It gradually got worse as the drugs completely wore off and I could feel everything I couldn't at the hospital.
Today is day one after surgery. Last night I had a horrible time trying to sleep. I'm a side sleeper, and everytime I tried to roll over to my side it hurt like hell. Eventually, just laying on my back even hurt. My stomach feels swollen and hard and I feel like somebody is kicking me in the stomach constantly. I read on www.lapbandtalk.com that lots of walking, heating pads, and sipping hot liquids help make it bearable and I'm hoping that by tomorrow I will be able to go back to work since I called out today. I had initially thought at the hospital that I would be fine to go to work the day after surgery since I wasn't feeling any pain and everybody was telling me I did very well in surgery but little did I know that was the result of the awesome pain meds I was hopped up on. Right now I would kill somebody to get an IV and some more of whatever they gave! Despite this, I keep telling myself that this wasn't supposed to be easy, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE WORTH IT.
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