Diane asked me about posting about my journey so far... I wrote this overview in response. It is very high level about how I ended up obese and how I ended up having three surgeries. There is obviously a lot of detail omitted, but I felt that perhaps the overview might help someone not make the same mistakes I did.
I had some issues in childhood that caused weight gain, but “evened out” in my teens and was a normal weight. I was put on bedrest with my first pregnancy, and never lost it. Correction – I lost and regained the same 50 pounds over and over and over again, but each time a few extra pounds creeped on. Second pregnancy was also difficult and further exacerbated the weight issue. I tried everything. You name the program, I have probably been on it. The highest weight I recall seeing on the scale was 308. I was introduced to gastric banding in May of 2013. I had surgery with a sub-par group that basically just shuffled us thru like cattle to meet numbers, and never discussed other surgery options. It was affordable and I did not do any research before going under the knife. I had success with the band initially. My first 100 pounds came off with the band. I went in regularly for band fills; they never refused to add fluid to my band. I started having issues with reflux, not being able to eat and not keeping food down. I was not getting answers from my surgery center – by that time my “year of free follow ups” had expired and they would help unless I purchased another set of “service”. Thankfully, one of our clients was a bariatric surgeon, so I reached out to his office. At that point, I could not even keep water down, and they removed all the fluid for my band, got me in for an EGD the next morning. Two weeks later, I was in surgery to remove the band, and converted to a gastric sleeve. There was no discussion of other surgery options. I was a tiny bit wiser, so I did ask more questions, but I didn’t know what I didn’t know, so my questioning was insufficient. I was just so thankful that there was a solution that did not leave me without a tool, I gladly went along with the sleeve in November of 2015. I had two follow up appointments with my surgeon’s office following, and then nothing. I lost another 25 pounds in that time.
I started having reflux about a year after the conversion. I did not think much of it, assumed it was normal. It worsened so slowly that I cannot even recall when I realized how bad it was or that I was no longer eating normally because of it. I was pushing a lot of slider foods just because I was starving and I could not eat much else and keep it down or not be in pain all night. I slept propped up to keep from choking at night. I was never without a full bottle of Tums within grasp. I started to gain weight back; cried like a baby when the scale crossed over to the 200s again. My primary doctors never questioned the reflux, just shoved more prescriptions at me to help subdue symptoms. Finally I told a new doctor that how bad I felt constantly, about the severity and duration of my reflux, and she had the sense to send me to a gastric surgeon. I don’t know that another bariatric surgery was on her mind at the time, but she wanted me to get checked out. My surgeon was amazing. I still didn’t know what I did not know, but he knew what I needed to ask. He told me that I should have never had a conversion to sleeve because the incidence of reflux in conversions is so high; not to mention I already had minor reflux happening with the band. While I had gained weight, I was definitely nowhere near the BMI level for bypass. But, since the only other surgical option to correct the reflux was not possible (I no longer had the stomach anatomy required for the procedure), and I was not going to live on medications to control symptoms and risk further issues such as Barrett’s Esophagus, bypass was the solution. It was an ordeal to get the insurance company to recognize that this was NOT being done for weight loss and get approval. So, in August 2019, I had my conversion to RNY. The surgeon modified the length of my bypass section so that I did not drop too much weight. I still lost about another 55-60 pounds. I am now at a normal BMI, I am smaller than I have ever been as an adult, healthier than I have ever been. And not just physically; I am no longer a food addict, and I have done a lot of work to get mentally and emotionally healthy as well. Next leg of my journey will be plastic surgery. I did not have a ton of excess skin until this last year with the additional loss from the bypass.
I have done a lot of contemplating with regard to how public to go with my journey. At the very start of my journey, I was very open about it, and ended up at the wrong end of some very ugly comments, and lost some people that I thought were good friends as a result. I remained more private about the sleeve conversion. I ended up not telling many people about the final conversion either, not because I was hiding it, but more because I didn’t want to go thru the whole story of why I had to do another “bariatric” surgery and how it was not for weight loss. I am not sure if I will put myself out there more publically (meaning outside forums and support groups such as this one). Right now I am focusing on being healthy inside and out.
I had some issues in childhood that caused weight gain, but “evened out” in my teens and was a normal weight. I was put on bedrest with my first pregnancy, and never lost it. Correction – I lost and regained the same 50 pounds over and over and over again, but each time a few extra pounds creeped on. Second pregnancy was also difficult and further exacerbated the weight issue. I tried everything. You name the program, I have probably been on it. The highest weight I recall seeing on the scale was 308. I was introduced to gastric banding in May of 2013. I had surgery with a sub-par group that basically just shuffled us thru like cattle to meet numbers, and never discussed other surgery options. It was affordable and I did not do any research before going under the knife. I had success with the band initially. My first 100 pounds came off with the band. I went in regularly for band fills; they never refused to add fluid to my band. I started having issues with reflux, not being able to eat and not keeping food down. I was not getting answers from my surgery center – by that time my “year of free follow ups” had expired and they would help unless I purchased another set of “service”. Thankfully, one of our clients was a bariatric surgeon, so I reached out to his office. At that point, I could not even keep water down, and they removed all the fluid for my band, got me in for an EGD the next morning. Two weeks later, I was in surgery to remove the band, and converted to a gastric sleeve. There was no discussion of other surgery options. I was a tiny bit wiser, so I did ask more questions, but I didn’t know what I didn’t know, so my questioning was insufficient. I was just so thankful that there was a solution that did not leave me without a tool, I gladly went along with the sleeve in November of 2015. I had two follow up appointments with my surgeon’s office following, and then nothing. I lost another 25 pounds in that time.
I started having reflux about a year after the conversion. I did not think much of it, assumed it was normal. It worsened so slowly that I cannot even recall when I realized how bad it was or that I was no longer eating normally because of it. I was pushing a lot of slider foods just because I was starving and I could not eat much else and keep it down or not be in pain all night. I slept propped up to keep from choking at night. I was never without a full bottle of Tums within grasp. I started to gain weight back; cried like a baby when the scale crossed over to the 200s again. My primary doctors never questioned the reflux, just shoved more prescriptions at me to help subdue symptoms. Finally I told a new doctor that how bad I felt constantly, about the severity and duration of my reflux, and she had the sense to send me to a gastric surgeon. I don’t know that another bariatric surgery was on her mind at the time, but she wanted me to get checked out. My surgeon was amazing. I still didn’t know what I did not know, but he knew what I needed to ask. He told me that I should have never had a conversion to sleeve because the incidence of reflux in conversions is so high; not to mention I already had minor reflux happening with the band. While I had gained weight, I was definitely nowhere near the BMI level for bypass. But, since the only other surgical option to correct the reflux was not possible (I no longer had the stomach anatomy required for the procedure), and I was not going to live on medications to control symptoms and risk further issues such as Barrett’s Esophagus, bypass was the solution. It was an ordeal to get the insurance company to recognize that this was NOT being done for weight loss and get approval. So, in August 2019, I had my conversion to RNY. The surgeon modified the length of my bypass section so that I did not drop too much weight. I still lost about another 55-60 pounds. I am now at a normal BMI, I am smaller than I have ever been as an adult, healthier than I have ever been. And not just physically; I am no longer a food addict, and I have done a lot of work to get mentally and emotionally healthy as well. Next leg of my journey will be plastic surgery. I did not have a ton of excess skin until this last year with the additional loss from the bypass.
I have done a lot of contemplating with regard to how public to go with my journey. At the very start of my journey, I was very open about it, and ended up at the wrong end of some very ugly comments, and lost some people that I thought were good friends as a result. I remained more private about the sleeve conversion. I ended up not telling many people about the final conversion either, not because I was hiding it, but more because I didn’t want to go thru the whole story of why I had to do another “bariatric” surgery and how it was not for weight loss. I am not sure if I will put myself out there more publically (meaning outside forums and support groups such as this one). Right now I am focusing on being healthy inside and out.
