Leah S.
second thoughts
Feb 27, 2007
ive really been struggling the last few days or so with my decision to have lap band surgery vs. gastric bypass. i had been gungho about having rny for a few years and did alot of research on both surgeries. since in the end i had to pay for surgery myself i had to think about the choice even harder since i was personaly going into debt with either decision.
i finally decided on lap band surgery because of it being the more "known" worldwide (not just in the us), easier reversed than rny, hopefully less chance of cosmetic surgery (skin removed) after because of slower healthier weight loss, because of studies that showed the weight loss between the two surgeries being about even over a 3-5 year period (Because its slower with lap and faster with rny but you tend to level off and gain a bit back at times), also because of studies that showed most people that carry more "belly" fat tend to lose faster because it burns faster than hip or buttock fat (which i have more belly than anything).
soooo after MUCH agonizing of the decision i made it. ive stuck with it. but now 9 mos out (as of 3/1/07) im only down 20 lbs and im scared to death that im not going to lose alot more.
basically in a nut shell i hate working out. yes i try to be more active. i even went walking last week a couple of times. yah me! and i eat less and haveh been controlling my sugar intake better than previously but im still scared! is this fear irrational? i dont know! maybe the fear will turn into what makes me succeed. i HOPE to god that is true because i dont want to be depressed over this whole thing.
i went to the doc again this last friday. and they head nurse checked my band. since she saw my weight had fluctuated a bit the last few times i had come in since october we talked about food and stuff and she dcided to take out all the fluid i had and put in as much restriction as she dared. i was to have had 6.3cc's in but when she
took out the fluid somehow i had like 7.6! wow! i thought to myself how could i hve that much fluid (my band being 10cc) and not have restriction with anything but heavy bread or a really have meal?? so she put me at 8ccs for now and i have an appt to go back in a few weeks.
oh yes!!!! i also got my scale fixed. it had been screwing up. its the only scale i was able to find that was affordable and went to 400lbs. its a homedics brand and had a lifetime warranty. they replaced it free of charge. i got it back and it appears to be off from the doc office scale by 6 lbs (too much). sooo according to it just since the fill i have lost 5lbs. i know some of it is due to me being sick (haha) but im hoping that is a sign that im moving back in the right direction!!!!!!
if you have the lapband and have any words of wisdom towards my struggle please feel free to contact me.
i finally decided on lap band surgery because of it being the more "known" worldwide (not just in the us), easier reversed than rny, hopefully less chance of cosmetic surgery (skin removed) after because of slower healthier weight loss, because of studies that showed the weight loss between the two surgeries being about even over a 3-5 year period (Because its slower with lap and faster with rny but you tend to level off and gain a bit back at times), also because of studies that showed most people that carry more "belly" fat tend to lose faster because it burns faster than hip or buttock fat (which i have more belly than anything).
soooo after MUCH agonizing of the decision i made it. ive stuck with it. but now 9 mos out (as of 3/1/07) im only down 20 lbs and im scared to death that im not going to lose alot more.
basically in a nut shell i hate working out. yes i try to be more active. i even went walking last week a couple of times. yah me! and i eat less and haveh been controlling my sugar intake better than previously but im still scared! is this fear irrational? i dont know! maybe the fear will turn into what makes me succeed. i HOPE to god that is true because i dont want to be depressed over this whole thing.
i went to the doc again this last friday. and they head nurse checked my band. since she saw my weight had fluctuated a bit the last few times i had come in since october we talked about food and stuff and she dcided to take out all the fluid i had and put in as much restriction as she dared. i was to have had 6.3cc's in but when she
took out the fluid somehow i had like 7.6! wow! i thought to myself how could i hve that much fluid (my band being 10cc) and not have restriction with anything but heavy bread or a really have meal?? so she put me at 8ccs for now and i have an appt to go back in a few weeks.
oh yes!!!! i also got my scale fixed. it had been screwing up. its the only scale i was able to find that was affordable and went to 400lbs. its a homedics brand and had a lifetime warranty. they replaced it free of charge. i got it back and it appears to be off from the doc office scale by 6 lbs (too much). sooo according to it just since the fill i have lost 5lbs. i know some of it is due to me being sick (haha) but im hoping that is a sign that im moving back in the right direction!!!!!!
if you have the lapband and have any words of wisdom towards my struggle please feel free to contact me.
ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER FILL FROM 1/31/07
Feb 03, 2007
a week or so ago i decided to get another fill in my lap band. i made the appt for today and asked my cousin matt to go with me. the day before our friend monty asked to join us too. i was excited to go and have them share this experience with me since they have been supportive but didnt really know alot about this type of surgery (vs gastric bypass).
the ride to the docs was fun and full of laughs. we even missed the exit but got to the docs office on time. i sign in. fill out the "update" paperwork about how much im eating and all that stuff. now comes the fun stuff....
i got weighed. it was NOT pleasant. i KNEW i had fluctuated alot since my last fill and official weigh in ...in october. i also knew that my scale at home was off by about 5 lbs. well i was UNpleasantly surprised to hear that i had gained back about 15 lbs! i'm now at 380. blah!
it was a hard pill to swallow but i can NOT dwell on the gain but on getting back on track. i know im ok and am still at a weight that i havent seen since 2000 or before. so i have to focus on that positive and not on the numbers. anyway...
all three of us wait for one of the nurses to come in to administer the fill. matt and monty where in for a surprise...not knowing what an ordeal this was going to turn into.
the first nurse...i told her it was hard to get the needle into the port (where they have to stick to put saline in my lap band) so she got another nurse that was supposedly SUPER good. i had told them that the head phys asst diane normally got it where no one else could but i was told she was unavailable.
the super good one came in. was relaly nice but alas after 3 attempts was not able to hit the port. from previous experience i tried to tell them the angle to hit that seemed to work but did they try it? nope. (even t hough there was a diagram from the previous nurse on how to do it in my records).
i was told that their only options where to page my surgeon out of surgery which could take time, or they could reschedule me on a day that diane was supposed to be available (granted this was supposed to have been one of those days). AND if the doc came and he couldnt get it that they wanted to try to do the fill under xray so they could see wher eit was and if it was flipped. so on top of the trauma of having to deal with being poked and prodded i was facing an extra expense to pay for the xray (which i can NOT afford and did NOT have th emoney for) if it was flipped i would have to go under the knife again to have it moved from the left of my tummy to just below my breast bone (where it is shallower and easier to hit).
the first nurse checked and found out that the xray discounted would be 370. i told her i definately couldnt do that cus i did not have the money for that and to be making an extra trip here to see the nurse. the second "super" good nurse wanted to try to get the port again while waiting for the surgeon to come in.
she had previously tried sticking me layin down so she tried with me standing up. which requires them to poke me higher on my tummy. so now i have two very sore wounds *cus they are swollen and bruised* on my stomach. while she was trying...the first nurse came in and when asked by super nurse about when the doc was coming said oh i havent called him yet. im like wtf!!
so super nurse told dumb nurse to go ahead and page him. i start to freak out. called dad and he was no help cus he was like well you cant afford that other stuff. and im like no duh. soooo i wait. ig et upset more. but trying to hold in. hoping for hte best when the surgeon comes.
luckily he appeared w/in about 20 mins of their call to him. and guess what....! he hit the damn thing w/in 5 mins. AND it was the same angle that i had told them to try earlier that they had not! an even bigger WTF! went through my head. the dumb nurse was present and wa slike well now you have an idea of how to get it next time. so i flat out told her well i sware i told you guys several times to try it at that angle which was not straight toward my tummy but kinda point up towards my nose. dont think she liked that but i didnt care at that point.
i was VERY happy not to have to contemplate spending money id dint have cus i did not know where i was going to get it. i was very releived he was able to get it done so fast.
so after a 2.5-3 hour office visit i left with another appt in 3 weeks, a very sore and swollen belly in two spots, and a visit from my hot surgeon (swoon).
thank god today is over and ended in a VERY good note with a .5cc fill to my band, a good dinner with friends at a thai restaraunt, and an evening spent with some more great friends telling naughty stories of our sordid past. woot!
pics to follow this weekend so that i get back on trac
the ride to the docs was fun and full of laughs. we even missed the exit but got to the docs office on time. i sign in. fill out the "update" paperwork about how much im eating and all that stuff. now comes the fun stuff....
i got weighed. it was NOT pleasant. i KNEW i had fluctuated alot since my last fill and official weigh in ...in october. i also knew that my scale at home was off by about 5 lbs. well i was UNpleasantly surprised to hear that i had gained back about 15 lbs! i'm now at 380. blah!
it was a hard pill to swallow but i can NOT dwell on the gain but on getting back on track. i know im ok and am still at a weight that i havent seen since 2000 or before. so i have to focus on that positive and not on the numbers. anyway...
all three of us wait for one of the nurses to come in to administer the fill. matt and monty where in for a surprise...not knowing what an ordeal this was going to turn into.
the first nurse...i told her it was hard to get the needle into the port (where they have to stick to put saline in my lap band) so she got another nurse that was supposedly SUPER good. i had told them that the head phys asst diane normally got it where no one else could but i was told she was unavailable.
the super good one came in. was relaly nice but alas after 3 attempts was not able to hit the port. from previous experience i tried to tell them the angle to hit that seemed to work but did they try it? nope. (even t hough there was a diagram from the previous nurse on how to do it in my records).
i was told that their only options where to page my surgeon out of surgery which could take time, or they could reschedule me on a day that diane was supposed to be available (granted this was supposed to have been one of those days). AND if the doc came and he couldnt get it that they wanted to try to do the fill under xray so they could see wher eit was and if it was flipped. so on top of the trauma of having to deal with being poked and prodded i was facing an extra expense to pay for the xray (which i can NOT afford and did NOT have th emoney for) if it was flipped i would have to go under the knife again to have it moved from the left of my tummy to just below my breast bone (where it is shallower and easier to hit).
the first nurse checked and found out that the xray discounted would be 370. i told her i definately couldnt do that cus i did not have the money for that and to be making an extra trip here to see the nurse. the second "super" good nurse wanted to try to get the port again while waiting for the surgeon to come in.
she had previously tried sticking me layin down so she tried with me standing up. which requires them to poke me higher on my tummy. so now i have two very sore wounds *cus they are swollen and bruised* on my stomach. while she was trying...the first nurse came in and when asked by super nurse about when the doc was coming said oh i havent called him yet. im like wtf!!
so super nurse told dumb nurse to go ahead and page him. i start to freak out. called dad and he was no help cus he was like well you cant afford that other stuff. and im like no duh. soooo i wait. ig et upset more. but trying to hold in. hoping for hte best when the surgeon comes.
luckily he appeared w/in about 20 mins of their call to him. and guess what....! he hit the damn thing w/in 5 mins. AND it was the same angle that i had told them to try earlier that they had not! an even bigger WTF! went through my head. the dumb nurse was present and wa slike well now you have an idea of how to get it next time. so i flat out told her well i sware i told you guys several times to try it at that angle which was not straight toward my tummy but kinda point up towards my nose. dont think she liked that but i didnt care at that point.
i was VERY happy not to have to contemplate spending money id dint have cus i did not know where i was going to get it. i was very releived he was able to get it done so fast.
so after a 2.5-3 hour office visit i left with another appt in 3 weeks, a very sore and swollen belly in two spots, and a visit from my hot surgeon (swoon).
thank god today is over and ended in a VERY good note with a .5cc fill to my band, a good dinner with friends at a thai restaraunt, and an evening spent with some more great friends telling naughty stories of our sordid past. woot!
pics to follow this weekend so that i get back on trac
PRE OP STRUGGLES (VOC REHAB) FROM OLD PROFILE
Feb 03, 2007
Mon Oct 31 2005
Today I wait to find out how the latest medical review went with the DVR people. I have been waiting two weeks to hear from them and it doesn't help that my advocate with the sate is in Ft. Lauderdale where Wilma hit and has been in the middle of a power outage. So things are slow. I think about things and wonder if DVR will try to slow things down the closer we get to the holidays. I def hope not. But my hopes are high.
Tue Nov 1 2005
Today dad called several people to try to get an update on wether I've been approved for surgery or not. He called our advocates office in Ft. Lauderdale, called our advocates boss, called our contact at the Omsbudmen's office in Tallahasee, and called the local office. No one has heard anything yet. I told him last night what would make me happy was if they came back, said yes, and I could get surgery prep underway. I know that is what I would want but they have never worked based on what I want. Gov't offices are soooo slow. I'll be lucky if I don't die before they get this done. All else fails if they dont get it done we have a new court date set in Feb and will go and show that they are draggin their feet needlessly.
Wed Nov 2 2005
Haven't gotten the details yet but they have denied me AGAIN. I give up for right now...
Fri Nov 4 2005
Now that I've had a few days to be numb and relax I'm better. I realise all is not lost. The decision was based on the VR doctor saying that my "constipation" was not a valid reason for me not being able to work and thus dvr could not provide surgery. Funny thing is that I've never had a problem with constipation so I have no idea where this doc got this from. Even the records he has from "specialists" I have seen that specifically say that I have no constipation issues (along with not having other issues). So It's pretty ridiculous and i wonder if he is even reading the right file. Dad has decided to pursue this issue with local tv stations. So that is in the works. Also our advocate was very upset that it was denied and is going to go through his supervisor to get to one of the head people at dvr to review my cas and the docs decision to hopefully over ride it. also if all else fails i have a court date in february that we will go to. i'm a lil upset still but trying to focus on having time to find a good job and get some other things done. my dad found out the other day that this one place where you can self pay is like 25,500 and is a full program that includes reconstructive surgery after too. which i think is pretty good. too bad i dont have the money to pay for it or i would do it to get it over with.
Fri Mar 25 2006
It's been awhile. I have gone through alot of changes the last few months. I let my lease run out at the end of Feb and have had to put my stuff in storage and for the first time in 5-6 years have had to move home. Kinda sucks to feel like im moving backwards but I know its ok.
I had my court hearing Feb 9th and it was ok. It was enough for me to go to be seen by these people and the judge. Because I think alot of them think I'm not working on purpose (although we had over 100 job's that I'd applied for since the first of 2005) and so they could see how big I really am and they can't ignore it. So my dad did the best he could and represented me.
Prior to going to the hearing we had been working with the advocacy office with the hopes of them representing me as they had indicated. they even came to meet with me and dad. but at the last min they decided not to do it which was a huge blow. they lead us on till two weeks before the court date before they said no. making it almost imipossible to find other representation that would accept our case with so little time to prepare. we did try though. most said it wasnt enough time. the few that dad did talk to where nice but thought we should go, represent ourselves, and if it didnt come out the way we wanted ask for an appeal and then they could get on board.
I've also considered more the option of paying for surgery myself. the price of surgery has decreased alot. Some GOOD hospitals are charging only 15000 for lap band and about 21000 for rny gastric bypass. i never watned the lap band before but if i talked to a friend who put into very good perspective fore me. that if i had to pay for it and could ONLY afford the lap band then wouldnt i be happy if i even lost 100 pounds. my answer was a resounding HELL YEAH i would! so ive almost decided to go for the lap band because of it being a bit safer, and if i lose weight slower i may not have to have alot of plastic surgery later because most of my weight is in my stomach.
so im in a good spot. frustrated at times. sad at times. but knowing i have some good options. im waiting for the courts decision before i make my move. they are taking forever. going on 8 weeks now. slow suckers. thanks to the people that have sent me emails i appreciate it!!
Wed Apr 5 2006
since my last updated ive learned that the lady that did the court reporting of my hearing had "misplaced" the transcripts and just sent them last week to the judge. can you believe that. i was stunned. and they hadnt called. she told us that they are normally turned in w/o 2 wks at the very latest three and here it is going on two months. how horrible.
however i do believe everythign happens for a reason. and right now for me i think it is for me to decide for sure which surgery i want to have. rny or lap band. ive been waivering back and forth. more to lapband. especially last night. was up late. till four am. was so frustratedt hat i couldnt come to an answer for myself. and i know i need to make it. so i came on here and talked to some people in the chat room for the first time. also looked into the lapband message board....found one profile that really had the perfect answer for me. maybe not for others but for me....yes.
it said that most men tend to lose weight faster because of their waist to hip ratio. basically because they carry the majority of their extra weight in their stomachs....whereas most women carry it in their butt, hips and thighs. the fat in ur stomach is a faster burning fat whereas the butt hips and thighs is a slower burning fat....thus over a period of time if yo have more belly fat you tend to lose it faster than if you have it sitting in other areas. well i carry the majority of my weight in my stomach. gross but true. and ive hoped with lap band....not only is it less invasive, faster recovery, easier reversed if need be.....BUT if i lose weight slower im hoping to have less of a need for plastic surgery BECAUSE i carry belly fat and not all over. so maybe i wont need so much. make sense??? and this artical by a phd doc really helped solidify a decision i have been struggling with.
i also realised there is NO garuntee that with rny surgery it will make me "sick" when i eat bad stuff. as a matter of fact i know alot of people personally who can eat sugar and stuff even though they arent supposed to. so the only big difference inthe two surgeries....in my mind....is one lose weight slower than the other. and im ok with that. if i lose 10lbs a month. that is more than i could ever hope of w/o surgery....and in one year that is ALOT Of weight...120lbs.
so now IM READY. i want lapband. im ready to go for it. even if i have to pay for it. im going to let my dad know today so he knows ive made my decision. and i think ill end up having it at Celebration Health in Celebration Florida since the prices ive found here and out of state are about the same....bout 15-17k. and celebration is one i KNOW is good.
Thur Jun 22 2006
Well since I last updated I had lapband surgery on 6/1/06. despite my last post about wanting it done in fl i decided to go for georgetown in georgetown kentucky. had a GREAT experience with the hosp, staff, surgeon. i decided to go with that hosp because i need to be near the hosp for fills and im relocating to ky. soooo it went super fast. you have to all day appts (that encompass multiple office visits and education sessions) then the next is surgery. i went for the first visit on a monday may 15th and since i dont have to wait for ins approval (normally takes a few weeks here) i went on wed 5/17 to have an ekg and chest xray, went to scheduled appt tue 5/23 and met with surgeon that day too, he gave me the date of 6/1/06. so it happened super fast.
so far things have been ok. sometimes i feel like ihavent changed but when i see pics my stomach doesnt stick out so far. so id say (today being 3 weeks out) ive lost maybe 15-20 lbs? i dont know. maybe more maybe less. i go for my first fill on 7/13/06. and ive come home to florida for two weeks. then will visit my bro and his wife for two weeks (starting this weekend). cant NOT wait for that first fill. cus after the first week i can tell i can eat more and it scares me. i know logically that i am not able to eat no where near the volume as before surgery but knowing how i felt FULL that first week after not much makes me want to feel that again. it was an amazing feeling and i cant wait to feel it again!!!
Sun Sep 10 2006
Its been awhile since I've updated this site. I've been posting pics every two weeks but on my myspace account. So if you would like to talk to me more or find out about my progress, go check out my myspace page www.myspace.com/vividraine and let me know ur from this site so i'll add you and put you on the list to view my surgery blogs. =) also feel free to ask me any questions. i may have only lost lil less than 30 pounds but as you can see below 30 lbs makes a big difference. bigger than i ever thought it would.
Today I wait to find out how the latest medical review went with the DVR people. I have been waiting two weeks to hear from them and it doesn't help that my advocate with the sate is in Ft. Lauderdale where Wilma hit and has been in the middle of a power outage. So things are slow. I think about things and wonder if DVR will try to slow things down the closer we get to the holidays. I def hope not. But my hopes are high.
Tue Nov 1 2005
Today dad called several people to try to get an update on wether I've been approved for surgery or not. He called our advocates office in Ft. Lauderdale, called our advocates boss, called our contact at the Omsbudmen's office in Tallahasee, and called the local office. No one has heard anything yet. I told him last night what would make me happy was if they came back, said yes, and I could get surgery prep underway. I know that is what I would want but they have never worked based on what I want. Gov't offices are soooo slow. I'll be lucky if I don't die before they get this done. All else fails if they dont get it done we have a new court date set in Feb and will go and show that they are draggin their feet needlessly.
Wed Nov 2 2005
Haven't gotten the details yet but they have denied me AGAIN. I give up for right now...
Fri Nov 4 2005
Now that I've had a few days to be numb and relax I'm better. I realise all is not lost. The decision was based on the VR doctor saying that my "constipation" was not a valid reason for me not being able to work and thus dvr could not provide surgery. Funny thing is that I've never had a problem with constipation so I have no idea where this doc got this from. Even the records he has from "specialists" I have seen that specifically say that I have no constipation issues (along with not having other issues). So It's pretty ridiculous and i wonder if he is even reading the right file. Dad has decided to pursue this issue with local tv stations. So that is in the works. Also our advocate was very upset that it was denied and is going to go through his supervisor to get to one of the head people at dvr to review my cas and the docs decision to hopefully over ride it. also if all else fails i have a court date in february that we will go to. i'm a lil upset still but trying to focus on having time to find a good job and get some other things done. my dad found out the other day that this one place where you can self pay is like 25,500 and is a full program that includes reconstructive surgery after too. which i think is pretty good. too bad i dont have the money to pay for it or i would do it to get it over with.
Fri Mar 25 2006
It's been awhile. I have gone through alot of changes the last few months. I let my lease run out at the end of Feb and have had to put my stuff in storage and for the first time in 5-6 years have had to move home. Kinda sucks to feel like im moving backwards but I know its ok.
I had my court hearing Feb 9th and it was ok. It was enough for me to go to be seen by these people and the judge. Because I think alot of them think I'm not working on purpose (although we had over 100 job's that I'd applied for since the first of 2005) and so they could see how big I really am and they can't ignore it. So my dad did the best he could and represented me.
Prior to going to the hearing we had been working with the advocacy office with the hopes of them representing me as they had indicated. they even came to meet with me and dad. but at the last min they decided not to do it which was a huge blow. they lead us on till two weeks before the court date before they said no. making it almost imipossible to find other representation that would accept our case with so little time to prepare. we did try though. most said it wasnt enough time. the few that dad did talk to where nice but thought we should go, represent ourselves, and if it didnt come out the way we wanted ask for an appeal and then they could get on board.
I've also considered more the option of paying for surgery myself. the price of surgery has decreased alot. Some GOOD hospitals are charging only 15000 for lap band and about 21000 for rny gastric bypass. i never watned the lap band before but if i talked to a friend who put into very good perspective fore me. that if i had to pay for it and could ONLY afford the lap band then wouldnt i be happy if i even lost 100 pounds. my answer was a resounding HELL YEAH i would! so ive almost decided to go for the lap band because of it being a bit safer, and if i lose weight slower i may not have to have alot of plastic surgery later because most of my weight is in my stomach.
so im in a good spot. frustrated at times. sad at times. but knowing i have some good options. im waiting for the courts decision before i make my move. they are taking forever. going on 8 weeks now. slow suckers. thanks to the people that have sent me emails i appreciate it!!
Wed Apr 5 2006
since my last updated ive learned that the lady that did the court reporting of my hearing had "misplaced" the transcripts and just sent them last week to the judge. can you believe that. i was stunned. and they hadnt called. she told us that they are normally turned in w/o 2 wks at the very latest three and here it is going on two months. how horrible.
however i do believe everythign happens for a reason. and right now for me i think it is for me to decide for sure which surgery i want to have. rny or lap band. ive been waivering back and forth. more to lapband. especially last night. was up late. till four am. was so frustratedt hat i couldnt come to an answer for myself. and i know i need to make it. so i came on here and talked to some people in the chat room for the first time. also looked into the lapband message board....found one profile that really had the perfect answer for me. maybe not for others but for me....yes.
it said that most men tend to lose weight faster because of their waist to hip ratio. basically because they carry the majority of their extra weight in their stomachs....whereas most women carry it in their butt, hips and thighs. the fat in ur stomach is a faster burning fat whereas the butt hips and thighs is a slower burning fat....thus over a period of time if yo have more belly fat you tend to lose it faster than if you have it sitting in other areas. well i carry the majority of my weight in my stomach. gross but true. and ive hoped with lap band....not only is it less invasive, faster recovery, easier reversed if need be.....BUT if i lose weight slower im hoping to have less of a need for plastic surgery BECAUSE i carry belly fat and not all over. so maybe i wont need so much. make sense??? and this artical by a phd doc really helped solidify a decision i have been struggling with.
i also realised there is NO garuntee that with rny surgery it will make me "sick" when i eat bad stuff. as a matter of fact i know alot of people personally who can eat sugar and stuff even though they arent supposed to. so the only big difference inthe two surgeries....in my mind....is one lose weight slower than the other. and im ok with that. if i lose 10lbs a month. that is more than i could ever hope of w/o surgery....and in one year that is ALOT Of weight...120lbs.
so now IM READY. i want lapband. im ready to go for it. even if i have to pay for it. im going to let my dad know today so he knows ive made my decision. and i think ill end up having it at Celebration Health in Celebration Florida since the prices ive found here and out of state are about the same....bout 15-17k. and celebration is one i KNOW is good.
Thur Jun 22 2006
Well since I last updated I had lapband surgery on 6/1/06. despite my last post about wanting it done in fl i decided to go for georgetown in georgetown kentucky. had a GREAT experience with the hosp, staff, surgeon. i decided to go with that hosp because i need to be near the hosp for fills and im relocating to ky. soooo it went super fast. you have to all day appts (that encompass multiple office visits and education sessions) then the next is surgery. i went for the first visit on a monday may 15th and since i dont have to wait for ins approval (normally takes a few weeks here) i went on wed 5/17 to have an ekg and chest xray, went to scheduled appt tue 5/23 and met with surgeon that day too, he gave me the date of 6/1/06. so it happened super fast.
so far things have been ok. sometimes i feel like ihavent changed but when i see pics my stomach doesnt stick out so far. so id say (today being 3 weeks out) ive lost maybe 15-20 lbs? i dont know. maybe more maybe less. i go for my first fill on 7/13/06. and ive come home to florida for two weeks. then will visit my bro and his wife for two weeks (starting this weekend). cant NOT wait for that first fill. cus after the first week i can tell i can eat more and it scares me. i know logically that i am not able to eat no where near the volume as before surgery but knowing how i felt FULL that first week after not much makes me want to feel that again. it was an amazing feeling and i cant wait to feel it again!!!
Sun Sep 10 2006
Its been awhile since I've updated this site. I've been posting pics every two weeks but on my myspace account. So if you would like to talk to me more or find out about my progress, go check out my myspace page www.myspace.com/vividraine and let me know ur from this site so i'll add you and put you on the list to view my surgery blogs. =) also feel free to ask me any questions. i may have only lost lil less than 30 pounds but as you can see below 30 lbs makes a big difference. bigger than i ever thought it would.
ABOUT ME FROM 10/05 PROFILE
Feb 03, 2007
Hi! My name is Leah. I'm 30, 5'9", and currently weight about 400lb's. I can't say for sure because most places I have gone can not weigh someone my size. The last time I was accurately weighed was sometime in early '05, Feb I think. And I was about 405. I know I have fluctuated up and down since then.
I am currently unemployed. I was layed off from my last full time w/ benefit job in 3/02. Was unable to find another job and was approved to go back to school through WorkForce. I attended school full time from 6/02 - 8/04 and graduated with an A.S. in graphic design w/honors. I have not been able to find a job that has benefits or that is not a contract job since graduating, let alone one in my field. The few jobs I have found have been because of my previous experience in tech support and cust. service.
I have been pursuing rny gastric bypass surgery through Vocational Rehab here in Orlando for a year and a half. Although I began looking into surgery two years ago. My experience with Voc Rehab has been pretty bad. The local office has been slow and you can tell they are waiting for us (my father and I) to just go away. We have had to contact local gov't officials in order to get them to work with us in any way. It has been frustrating but my hope is that my journey with them is coming to an end soon. After a year and a half of us following their rules and programs I was sent to a gastrointeralogist who sent who checked my liver and performed an EGD and has cleared me for surgery. Currently I'm waiting for a response to my case that was sent AGAIN to the Voc Rehab medical approval people to approve surgery.
Weight loss things I have tried...
Conventional:
Weight Watchers, Atkins, Slim Fast, Diet 2 days/Off 1, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Low/No Carbs, drinking this awful Veggie drink, 10 day diet to lose water weight, Fruit only, and more I can't remember right now.
Medical:
Phentermine, Meridia, 6mo. medically supervised weight loss program through the Crosby YMCA in Winter Park, FL using HMR products
I am currently unemployed. I was layed off from my last full time w/ benefit job in 3/02. Was unable to find another job and was approved to go back to school through WorkForce. I attended school full time from 6/02 - 8/04 and graduated with an A.S. in graphic design w/honors. I have not been able to find a job that has benefits or that is not a contract job since graduating, let alone one in my field. The few jobs I have found have been because of my previous experience in tech support and cust. service.
I have been pursuing rny gastric bypass surgery through Vocational Rehab here in Orlando for a year and a half. Although I began looking into surgery two years ago. My experience with Voc Rehab has been pretty bad. The local office has been slow and you can tell they are waiting for us (my father and I) to just go away. We have had to contact local gov't officials in order to get them to work with us in any way. It has been frustrating but my hope is that my journey with them is coming to an end soon. After a year and a half of us following their rules and programs I was sent to a gastrointeralogist who sent who checked my liver and performed an EGD and has cleared me for surgery. Currently I'm waiting for a response to my case that was sent AGAIN to the Voc Rehab medical approval people to approve surgery.
Weight loss things I have tried...
Conventional:
Weight Watchers, Atkins, Slim Fast, Diet 2 days/Off 1, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Low/No Carbs, drinking this awful Veggie drink, 10 day diet to lose water weight, Fruit only, and more I can't remember right now.
Medical:
Phentermine, Meridia, 6mo. medically supervised weight loss program through the Crosby YMCA in Winter Park, FL using HMR products
