Recovery and Reward: What a Year!

My surgery was a success now I have to recover.  It was easier in most ways from the last one.  Again, I feel much better, so I believe that my body is just better able to handle something like recovery from a surgery.  My only exception is the nemesis that is my belly button.  That wound still gave me the most trouble.  Luckily the port is no longer there.  My new port was placed much higher on my abdomen and on the opposite side and that incision seems perfect; thanks Dr. Jessee!  The couple side incisions used for the arthroscopic tools, were a bit itchy and seemed to develop a bit of a rash.  The rash was very red and started in the area around those incisions.  Later that was explained as a probable allergic reaction to the dermabond used to seal the wounds.  On my subsequent post-op visit, Dr. Ache removed the remaining dermabond and suggested some benadryl cream.  That seemed to help, but it still took a couple weeks or more before the rash completely disappeared.  The bigger issue was the belly button incision where they took out the old port.  It was leaking again, luckily no where near like previously with my earlier seromas, but it was still very concerning after what I had already gone through in that area.  For fear of an infection developing we moved my post-op appointment earlier and Dr. Ache was able to see me.  She is fantastic by the way.  She is very good at what she does and is very patient with her patients.  She cleaned out the area and said it was infection free.  I was pretty close to completing my antibiotic regimen, but she was confident that I wouldn't need any more.  Instead she treated the wound with silver nitrate I believe it was called.  It was pretty much some medicine on a stick.  She fished it around inside my belly button wound to make sure she treated all the affected tissue.  It wasn't horrible, but it burned, probably something like putting alcohol on a wound only the burning didn't go away for quite a while.  I believe these issues were mainly a result of the scar tissue and previous problems I had in that area.  It took a while for it to heal up, but that stuff did the trick.  And I'm happy to say that I no longer have any more issues in that area; thanks Dr. Ache!  A warning about this silver nitrate stuff besides the burning feeling that lasts most of a day, it isn't pretty.  The wound will kind of ooze black for a while until it completely closes.  It's perfectly normal and I believe it's just a sign of healing.  It's great stuff and am glad I had it, because I think it's what finally did the trick to get that area healed up; it's just not pretty while it's doing it's thing.  In fact it worked so well, that I have hardly any noticeable scarring after two surgeries in the area!  On a subsequent follow up I also had an adjustment done using my brand new port and it was a breeze.  What a difference it makes to have it secure.  The needle went in with no problem.  It was so not a big deal, that I nearly forgot to mention it here.

Now that I've recovered from my second surgery and I've hit a year from when my banded life began, I almost feel like I'm starting a new.  I'm emerging from halftime ready to dig in for the rest of my journey as I still have a long way to go to reach all of my goals, but I know armed with my Lap Band, it's just a matter of time.  It's true the start of my Lap Band journey had some more complications, that are certainly not typical, but if asked would I do it all again?  The answer would certainly be HELL YEAH!!!  Before surgery my body was run down succumbing to diabetes; I couldn't sleep, hardly walk, and barely breath.  Let's face it I was on a collision course to an early grave.  Now after a year banded, what do I have?  I've lost 60 pounds!  I can sleep through the night; I'm able to move and exercise including completing two 5K races!  Recently, I even had my yearly physical and instead of getting the usual lecture about my weight and health, the doctor was very impressed with my progress, especially by the numbers.  My glucose levels were cut in half to under 100 and my A1C is down to 5.7.  Has the Lap Band conquered my diabetes?  My doctor felt I was doing well enough to at least temporarily take me off my medication and re-evaluate later this year.  And best of all I feel so much better about myself.  I'd go through a lot more complications than I even went through to get this kind of reward, my life back; hands down one of the best decisions I've ever made.  Goes up there with moving to Florida, marrying my wonderful wife, and having my beautiful daughter.  Now with the help of the Lap Band, I will be here for them; I will be around to watch my daughter grow up; I can participate in this wonderful life.

Thank you so much to Dr. Jessee, Dr Ache, Susan Kay, Allergan(for supplying the Lap Band itself) and the wonderful staffs at both Suncoast Bariatrics and the Palms of Pasadena Hospital for this wonderful gift called the Lap Band and giving me my life back.  Thanks again to all of my friends and family for their incredible support without which I couldn't have done this, especially to my wife Heather and my friend and inspiration Paul.  You guys are the best!

God bless!  :-)

Before                                                                                Today

Surgery Part Deux

I'd like to clarify that I've been updating the blog a bit historically, as in this update made in July is referring to events back in April.  I hope to eventually catch up and be current with my posts, so I apologize for my tardiness.  I know there was some confusion on my last couple of posts, and wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.  This post refers to my second surgery, that took place on April 21st.

It was an early day.  I had to be there at 6:00AM and it's over an hour drive, but I was pretty glad to get it out of the way.  I had a mixed feel towards the day.  On the one side, I felt pretty relaxed in that I had my previous surgery and this should be similar and even a less intrusive one as the band itself shouldn't need to be touched.  On the other hand, this was a different surgery, and I wasn't 100% sure on the result; could they relocate the port in one surgery or would they find lots of signs of infection forcing them to do two?  The unknown can be a bit scary, but I knew I was in the skilled hands of Dr. Jessee and the wonderful care of the staff at Palms of Pasadena Hospital.  The registration process was very straight forward and then I was led down to the pre-op area.  I will say the nursing staff there are very friendly and comforting.  It seemed like things went smoother than the last time, but I think that was more about knowing what to expect having gone through it before.  I also had the extraordinary support of my lovely wife, who was over seven months pregnant at the time.  She's the best!

Before long it was time to go to surgery, so I was wheeled down the hall and told my wife not to leave town.  ;-)  The poor thing was to have to wait it out in the waiting area.  I was wheeled to the runway area near the operating rooms.  There they go through their final protocols including meeting the anesthesiologist.  Again they were all very nice and all went smooth.  Then I was taken into the OR and before long some of the night night juice had me out.  I woke up in the recovery room feeling pretty out of it, but not nearly as much as I remember being the first time.  I actually am starting to feel that the reason some of this is easier is because I'm in better shape than I was before the first surgery.  Since I had already lost so much weight, I believe I'm just in better health, and my body is much better at tolerating a surgery.  That realization gave me a nice reminder of why I started this whole process to begin with; I was in poor health and thanks to the Lap Band, I'm doing much better thankfully.  I didn't experience too much discomfort, but after a few too many ice chips I did have a bout or two of nausea.  They immediately gave me something for it and it went away nearly instantaneously;  I would say they were very attentive there as well.  I did experience a very strange side affect to this medication as I had a couple bouts of tears, that seemed to come from no where without cause.  It was very strange to cry not knowing why you are crying.  Luckily it was short lived and it was explained that was a common side affect to one of the drugs that they had administered.

Finally I got to go back to the pre-op area where my wife can be with me.  She was a sight for droggy eyes.  By now I had found out that I was fortunate and they were able to move the port all in one surgery, so I was good to go, well sort of.  The one mistake that was made was mainly my fault.  I had asked Dr. Jessee to give me an adjustment while I was in surgery to save me from coming into the office later.  Well, they give you adjustments while you are awake for a reason.  Without being able to drink during an adjustment, you can't tell what the right level is.  Despite Dr. Jessee's best efforts, I must had gotten too much.  I exasperated that fact, by choosing ginger ale when offered something to drink.  Carbonation is kind of a no no when it comes to the Lap Band, but I was hoping it would help sooth my stomach from my earlier nausea.  It didn't take more than a few sips before the pain started.  It was hard to understand what it was exactly, especially in my post-op state.  It was a distinct sharp pain in my chest and there was no way to get comfortable.  After some discussion with the nurses, we deduced that I probably was fully blocked by my band being overly inflated.  They paged Dr. Jessee, but she was currently in surgery.  I had to wait for a while for her to come down to check me out.

When she did, she said that sounded like what it was.  She was concerned that it was going to be fairly uncomfortable to put the needle in so soon after surgery, but it was a relief actually.  Without even having to draw back on the syringe, a few CCs popped right out.  It was an instant relief.  Thank you Dr. Jessee.  All in all everything went very well and I experienced a very successful surgery.  The adjustment was just a minor issue that was easily corrected at the hospital.  Once I'm recovered from surgery I can go in for a proper adjustment in the office, and now that I have a secured port, it should be much easier than my most recent ones.  Going through some of these port issues is not very typical at all, but I consider it just a small chapter in my weight loss journey.  I was very amazed at how much better my body handled the surgery compared to the first time.  My health has really improved, and I feel a whole lot better and in the end that's what this is all about.  Thank you Dr. Jessee and Palms of Pasadena; without you my improved health would not be possible.

God bless!
me  :-)

Belly Button Wars!

My belly button and my port don't get along.  It's time to realize that they have irreconcilable differences, and they need to part.  The latest was yet another infection, and this one was particular bad, worse yet actually.  It came on very quickly and seemed difficult to fight off.  I was put on antibiotics and it took quite some time for them to knock back the infection.  Dr. Ache decided that even though the issues have always centralized with the port area, that we needed to make sure the band itself was not the cause.  Apparently one possibility is that if the band has eroded into my stomach, that some stomach acid may escape and travel down the tubing that leads to the port causing the frequent infections.  Honestly, I never felt that to be a real possibility as my stomach area has always felt really good and recently when we saw it under fluoro it looked well positioned, but it's always smart to eliminate the possibility.  I had also been experiencing some GERD, so we scheduled an EGD.

An EGD is a test where they put a tube down your throat with a camera on the end to check out the inside of your stomach.  I will say that it sounds worse than it is.  They do this under sedation, and Dr. Ache was very gentle as she made sure she did it herself, especially with the band concerns.  Normally for this type of procedure, they would deflate the band to make sure passage of the tube would be easier.  In this case, since my band is too difficult to access, especially with the infection in the area, Dr. Ache made sure they had a pediatric tube on hand if needed to get by the band.  Everything went very smooth and Dr. Ache said the band looked really good.  The stomach did seem a bit irritated, but that seemed to be from popping ibuprofen like candy due to the fever accompanying my infections.  She prescribed some medication and I need to avoid ibuprofen for a while.  As for my port/belly button area, Dr Ache would discuss it with Dr. Jessee as soon as she gets back in the office.

After I successfully fought off my latest infection, I was scheduled to come in and discuss my treatment plan.  Both Dr. Jessee and Dr. Ache came in to explain everything to me.  I will say, they really took the time and were very patient with all of my questions.  They have been incredible surgeons and care givers through all of the hurdles I've faced with my port.  I could see where other doctors may have abandoned me after some of the issues, especially since their services have been all free of charge.  They have an incredible work ethic and really care about their patients.  If anyone is considering bariatric surgery, I would give them my full recommendation.  I'm sure my issues are an isolated case; and just a matter of my belly button picking a fight with my port.  Thank you so much to the wonderful folks at Suncoast Bariatrics, especially Dr. Ache and Dr Jessee for this great gift and for all the excellent care that I've received.

My next step is surgery.  Dr. Jessee will go in and remove my port; time for the war to end.  The plan is to relocate it to the right side of my abdomen away from my belly button and the current area of the infections.  Depending on how things look when she gets in there, will determine whether she can do this all in one surgery.  If the infected area looks too bad, she may need to delay the placement of the new port  to a second surgery.  She has spoken to Palms of Pasadena and they are on board and willing to facilitate and cover another surgery as well.  My only out of pocket expense will be for the anesthesiologist.  Thank you so much to Susan Kay and the team there at Palms of Pasadena for being so generous.  My surgery was scheduled for April 21st.

God bless!

Gasparilla Race Report

I've been trying to keep up with my exercise regiment despite some of my abdominal and foot issues.  The abdominal issues have been well documented in previous posts, but my feet may warrant some detail here.  I have flat feet.  When I say flat, I mean flat!  There is really no visible arch plus they are some what deformed with this odd curly toe formation which virtually tucks my pinkie toe out of sight.  I've only come across one other person with such funky feet, and that was my poor mother; God rest her soul.  If you look at our feet you probably couldn't tell us apart.  I've always had a lot of trouble with them as they would cause me lots of pain and fatigue with just a little activity.  I saw a podiatrist as a teenager who said I had the feet of a 40 year old.  Now that I'm over 40 he would probably say I have the feet of a blistered corpse!  If they weren't bad enough when I was younger, they certainly got worse as an adult, especially as the weight I carried increased.  During a particularly active time years ago, I aggravated them to the point of injury.  I ended up with Plantar Fascitis, which is a particularly debilitating malady where the tendon across the bottom of your foot begins to swell and get damaged.  There is no real cure.  The treatment consisted of ice, stretches, anti-inflammatories, sleeping in a boot brace, using a custom made orthotic to try and give me a simulated arch as well as several cortizone shots in the heel.  Probably took over a year to get past it, during which I couldn't exercise much as I had to stay off of them, so of course that just helped my BMI climb the mountain of obesity!

Thankfully with the blessing of my Lap Band surgery, I was able to start my way back down that mountain.  It seemed that my plantar fascitis was gone and I just had some of my normal foot soreness for quite some time.  Well unfortunately that didn't last.  As I've increased my work out regiments to include more walking and running to prepare for my goal to complete a 5K, my feet couldn't take it.  The last straw was when I played tennis with my friend Mo and I didn't use my orthotic.  The orthotic can make me feel like I have a little elevation where the side to side nature of tennis makes me feel like I'm going to turn my ankle.  I pushed the feet too far and the plantar fascitis is back.  Apparently it is very common for it to recur once you've had it and will make exercise on my feet tough.  From now on I can't be without my orthotic for virtually any walking.  I've learned my lesson.  This happened about three weeks before my planned 5K Gasparilla race.  My training had to stop in hopes of still completing the race.  Luckily, I had already completed a number of weeks of training and the Lap Band was not allowing me to put my weight back on while I was grounded, like I had in the past.  Thanks to the Palms of Pasadena and the wonderful team at Suncoast Bariatrics, I wasn't going to let my feet sabotage me this time.

I had a lot of support for doing this race, which made things a lot easier having you all in my corner.  In fact several people even went as far as being there and doing it with me.  Thanks to my old friend Ilene, who was the original person who got me into doing these races.  Thanks to my dear friend Paul, who has been an inspiration through my weight loss journey for taking the time to be there.  Thanks to my family Jen, Dewey, and Ma for doing a 5K for the first time just to show their support.  Thanks to my incredible wife who did the race very pregnant to be there with me.  God bless you all!

For those who don't know, the Gasparilla Distance Challenge takes place in Tampa and is considered one of the largest in the Southeast United States.  The total number of participants was in the tens of thousands.  This year it was on February 22nd.  It was a cloudy day with a high threat of rain.  Most of us car pooled down and parking was challenging, but we were able to find some not too far from the starting line.  The night before we had stopped at the convention center to pick up our race packets including our numbered bibs, so we didn't have to pick them up the morning of.  Plus we got to get ready at home pinning our bibs equipped with timing chips to our shirts with safety pins.  It was a good thing because people were like ants.  The turnout was phenomenal.  We were early enough to go and see Ilene and her husband Chip, who were doing the 15K and would be about finishing when we got there.  Amazingly we were able to find them in the crowd.  We spent a few minutes with them and then it was time for us to get into position.  We needed to find our waiting area for our waves.  Yes, this race is so large that they need to have several different waves to accommodate everyone.  Most of us were in the blue wave, while my wife and Ma were in the red wave as they were designated walkers.  There was no way my wife could finish in the time limit for our wave as pregnant as she was and Ma was nice enough to walk with her to keep her company.  Thanks Ma!  The rest of us got into position.  We tried and stayed to the middle of the pack as we didn't want to get trampled by the real runners up front, but didn't want to have to dodge too many of the fast walkers or real casual participants either.  We got our various listening devices and head phones ready and listened to the national anthem.  Bang! goes the starting gun.

We just stood there.  There were so many people it took several seconds before we even started moving towards the starting line and the mats that we would walk on to activate the timing chips on our bibs.  As we worked our way there over to our left we spotted my wife with her camera taking pictures and video of us starting as she waited for her wave, which started after ours.  She is so amazing.  I'm so very lucky to have her and all of her love and support.  Thanks babe!  In the end I think it took us nearly two minutes to reach the starting line.  I started walking and was going to try and do the race with a combination of walk/run in intervals of 30/45 seconds.  It wasn't easy as my feet were already aching from the plantar fascitis.  I decided to just bare it as I wasn't going to let it keep me from my goal.  The running was difficult and slow going as the crowd was massive.  I often found myself blocked by strings of side by side walkers, clumps of slow joggers, or any number of configurations of humanity along the route.  I would do my best to duck and weave on the runs, at times even having to run in the median or on grass embankments to get around the masses.  I was very pleased with my plan and stamina despite the foot issues.  There's no way I would be able to compete at this level if it wasn't for my Lap Band surgery.  It certainly is a gift and makes a real difference.  The race starts in downtown Tampa and makes it's way down scenic Bayshore Blvd and back.  The view of the water and opulent homes along the way is very nice.

Along the way, you find water stations where volunteers will hand you cups of water, so you can stay hydrated.  There was also entertainment with some people playing music as well as yelling encouragement.  It's a big help.  Once I could see the finish line, I started telling myself that it was within reach, even if my feet were telling me otherwise.  By mile two I was walking with a discernible limp and doing my best to trudge through the runs.  It was all worth it as I crossed that finish line.  I felt like I had accomplished one of my main goals as I started my weight loss journey and it felt good.  Shortly there after I saw Jen walking back to find me and Paul shortly there after.  It was great to see them both.  It meant a lot that they were there, and that they took the time to come find me and see how I did before even helping themselves to the food and refreshments.  I love you guys!  We made our way back across the Platt Street Bridge to where they were serving the refreshments, bottled water, fruit, yogurt, etc.  Along the way we were given our finishing medals.  I felt like it was a symbol of how far I came since surgery, and how much I had accomplished.  I had a great sense of pride.  It has been a while, since I felt good about myself.

Then the rain came!  And it was a deluge.  I had already finished my race, but my poor pregnant wife and Ma were still out there trying to finish their wave.  I was concerned especially with the potentially slippery conditions, that I decided to make my way back along the course to find them and walk them in.  It didn't take long to get drenched in these water works.  It was a slow trudge and my feet were ready to pack it in and disown me for sure.  I found them a mile or so back and was glad that they were both alright, despite nearly drownd from the weather.  We walked back in and found the others near the refreshments.

Despite the weather and the feet it was a great experience.  I would highly recommend it.  Participating in one of these has a lot of motivational value and is a great goal to help you along your weight loss journey.  I completed the 3.1 miles in 41 minutes and 46 seconds, which is about a 13:25/mile pace.  I was very please with this result especially considering all the human obstacles along the way.  It was a big improvement from my earlier attempt where I took an hour while walking the whole thing.  I'm not sure when I will be able to do my next one as I need time for my feet to recover as I was pretty well hobbled afterwards.  With the help of the Lap Band I was able to over come my feet to actually participate in this race and life instead of just watching it pass me by from the bleachers of obesity.

Thank you and God bless.  :-)

Fun with Flouro

The New Year is upon us and a time for new hope and resolve; maybe even a resolution or two.  My last fills and attempted fill were not so good with my elusive port.  We felt it was time for another try.  Unfortunately, the result was the same as that in December.  The port is moving and very difficult to access in it's current position.  Luckily Suncoast Bariatrics was getting a new machine that would allow them to perform a procedure such as a fill under Flouro emissions, pretty much under X-ray, allowing them to see what's going on inside as they work.  My next attempt was scheduled to be done using Flouro for this purpose.  Unfortunately on my next visit the machine was not yet in service due to some overdue safety badges to detect radiation levels from the machine.  Dr. Jessee still gave it a shot, since I had come all the way down there and she was the one that was able to access it before, even after things got difficult.  She wasn't able to repeat her magic again this time however, and we decided to try again only after the Flouro machine was in operation.

The very next week, in fact it ended up being on my previously scheduled 9 month follow up, we came in to try the fill under Flouro.  This was fascinating.  Standing in front of the machine when they fired it up, I could see my insides on an x-ray screen live.  I have to say it was pretty cool!  They could see my band, and it looked like it was still in great position.  My port on the other hand had flipped entirely, where the side that can be accessed with the needle for adjustments was now facing away from the skin.  Through some heroic efforts on Dr. Jessee's part, she was able to manipulate the port through the skin where she was able to access the port from underneath.  I have to say it wasn't easy and took more than one attempt, but the tenacity of Dr. Jessee made it happen.  They drained the band and gave me some fresh fluid with what they refer to as a reset.  Oddly enough in the end, they actually put less fluid back in.  We were able to test this fill out, while still using the Flouro machine.  I was given some tasty barium to drink, so it would show up on the screen as it went down.  It collected in the small stomach pouch and would trickle through the band just as designed.  Dr. Jessee felt we shouldn't rush to fix the position of the port as it would require surgery.  If we waited some time for me to further lose more weight and stabilize, it would be better.  Now she knew the exact method she would use from this session under Flouro, to give me subsequent adjustments.  I was concerned, what would happen in the event of an emergency and I had something get stuck in my band, and needed an emergency adjustment.  I was concerned that the doctors in the emergency room would be ill equipped to adjust my band through my port.  Dr Jessee assured me that she would always be available for me and could always be reached via pager.

I am continually amazed at the dedication of Dr Jessee, Dr Ache, and the rest of the staff at Suncoast Bariatrics.  My particular case has certainly had some challenges along the way, but they have always given me extraordinary care and gone above and beyond the call of duty.  It's been over nine months since my Lap Band surgery, and despite some of the unusual challenges, I certainly don't regret it.  I feel tremendously better; I'm able to sleep through the night; My diabetes is under control; and I've lost a bunch of weight!  Thank you for this great gift; it certainly has changed my life!

God Bless!

me

Where's My Appendix?

I'm back from my show and tell tour, and after enjoying my time there a little too much, it's certainly time for my next fill.  After having some difficulties during the last two fills where hitting my port with the needle has been particularly challenging for the doctors at Suncoast Bariatrics, I'm a little apprehensive about going.  The doctors have been as gentle as possible, but there is still some discomfort and inevitable bruising that takes place when you have a needle wiggling around in search of a port.  This time was no exception.  Unfortunately this one was even worse in that they weren't able to access the port even after sustained effort.  It was very disappointing, since as difficult as the last couple fills were, at least they were successful in that the adjustment was accomplished.  We decided to let things sit for a bit and try again after the New Year.  The cause seems to be that my port has shifted a bit and seems to be at an angle towards my belly button.  More on this development in a later post.

It's Christmas time now and along with the holiday cheer, I've got belly pain.  Not from the aforementioned aborted fill and resulted bruising, as that has already dissipated, but from my right side, no where near my port or band.  After several days of pain, my wife convinced me on a trip to the emergency room.  Apparently most of my symptoms seemed to point to an appendicitis, which if not caught in time could be life threatening.  On Christmas Eve Eve we ended up in the emergency room.  It was an interesting experience, which included a CAT scan to check my appendix, which they couldn't find.  This didn't give me a lot of confidence; for some reason I expected a hospital to know where my anatomy is located.  On the plus side they were impressed with all my vitals.  Thank you Lap Band surgery!  It seems it has made me much healthier along with the weight loss.  It was nice to get some physical confirmation of that.  The CAT scan didn't find my appendix, but it did see my Lap Band and they said everything looked really good, which was another nice confirmation.  In the end they didn't have an explanation for the pain and recommended I see my primary care physician as a follow up.

I was able to get in to my regular doctor's office.  They didn't find anything wrong either and were concerned that perhaps it was something related to my surgery like scar tissue and I should consult with my surgeon.  My next stop the next day was to Suncoast Bariatrics and they sent me to another hospital ER where they can run another battery of tests for them to review.  As you can imagine, I was fairly frustrated by this point.  Every hospital and doctor's office was a full explanation and battery of tests with the same result until now.  Finally Suncoast Bariatrics had someone at the hospital that came right into radiology and made me feel quite better.  I went through the tests and got a much better diagnosis even if it was a somewhat embarrassing one.  Before I get to that, they did say that the Lap Band was looking good, but they did note that my port had shifted.  They decided that we should wait and see if it continues to shift as sometimes it may shift back based on how and where the weight comes off.  It wasn't a priority right now as the band was certainly not what was causing my current pain issue thankfully.

OK, now for the embarrassing part.  Apparently to no one's surprise, I was full of it!  Yes, it was as simple as being constipated.  I was surprised as I felt like I had been regular, but maybe I wasn't going enough?  You could see right on the CAT scan that I had my intestine full all the way around to my side where I was feeling the pain.  They prescribed me some stool softener and sent me on my way.  Again the hospital staff was impressed with my vitals as they indicated that my Lap Band surgery and certainly done a lot for my over all health, which was nice to hear.  I certainly feel a lot better over all.  I can breath; I can sleep; I can move comfortably on my own without feeling like I'm going to pass out.  It's been nice.  My body has gone through some changes and perhaps one of them is my body chemistry where I may not be relieving myself as often as I should.  It could just be I need some more fiber?  Within a week of taking the stool softener, I was pain free and back on the healthy track.  It made for a bit of a stressful holiday week, but in the end I felt better for it and glad to say I haven't had any constipation issues since.  Thank you to all of those at Suncoast Bariatrics for seeing me on such short notice during the holidays and helping me with my constipation.  They didn't dismiss me just because my issue had nothing to do with my Lap Band; they gave me excellent care and made sure they got to the bottom of my issue.  Without their care I may not have been able to go as I needed to.....

God Bless!

me

PS - The reason the hospital couldn't readily find my appendix on the CAT scan is that it is usually very small when healthy.  It only becomes very noticeable if there is an issue and becomes inflamed; at least that is my layman's understanding.  I certainly don't have a medical degree.

Show & Tell Tour

It's been over six months since surgery, and we are full in holiday mode.  Spending Thanksgiving with my wife's family, we went up to Connecticut to see my family the following week.  The air is heavy with anticipation, not only to see what people say about my weight loss, but also the added baby news.  Baby news did seem to trump Band news, and as much fun as it might be to recount the telling of our baby news to the family, it is a bit off topic, so I will let it go as it came as a big surprise, especially with everyone initially focused on my weight loss.  :-)

I will say expectations are hard to overcome, especially if they may be high, but I was over all pleased with the results.  It's funny, but reactions although varied from person to person, seemed to all have some commonality as well.  The initial reaction always seemed to be one of hesitant processing accompanied by a studying stare.  I'm not sure if it was more of disbelief or in some cases I wasn't meeting up with their expectations.  I will say I was handicapped by the weather and time of year.  Not only was it Winter, but I was coming from Florida to Connecticut, which probably net an equivalent temperature drop to match my weight loss!  I was forced to layer and wear heavy clothes negating some of the apparent benefits of my weight loss.  I must say that I was a bit disappointed with some of the reactions as a result.  I may have even got a comment of "that's it?" along the way.  However, any less than stellar reactions, were often followed by a more congratulatory tone, especially once I took my coat off.  I dare say that I may have been able to bask in the glory of better adulation in a warmer clime or better season.

I had some unexpected reactions as well.  For example, I got a surprise gush or two, not from how I looked so much, but seeing me actually perform some simple feat of agility, that prior to surgery would've challenged me as a monumental task, such as bending over to pick up something from the ground, climbing stairs without the accompanying huff and puff, or walking in general for that matter.  There were comments like "Oh my God, he's able to do......"  Fill in the blank.  I hadn't realized how poor my physical abilities had gotten to prior to surgery.  Seeing my progress through the eyes of others was an eye opener.  I'm very pleased with how far I've come, and appreciate all my friends and family who have supported me and gotten me to where I am now.  It's truly been a journey and not a destination, but sometimes it's nice to stop and look around and appreciate how far you've come.  Thank you all for all of your support.

I can't wait until my next trip, perhaps in the Spring, where maybe I can sport shorts instead of over coats!  It was also my first time back on a plane since surgery, and it was so nice to leave the seatbelt extender behind.  I fit comfortably into the seat despite being stuck in a middle seat.  I was amazed on the difference.  Last time I felt like I was stuffed into the seat like an over plump sausage in a narrow sausage casing.  I would have to endure the stares of fellow travelers hoping I wasn't sitting next to them and impeding on their space.  Now I felt like nothing particularly special or noteworthy on the plane; it was nice to just be one of the crowd.  Thank you to all who made this vision a reality.

Belly News

I would like to apologize for being way behind in my blog updates.  I've been side tracked due to a number of things going on and my blogging has taken a back seat as a result.  I will try and make sure that I don't lose the continuity on the news and will try and go back to where I left off back in October and hopefully after a number of entries I will catch you back up to present.

With my last entry I had mentioned I was still having some belly issues related to my port.  I would like to elaborate on that.  The issue is not with my Lap Band itself, in fact I've always felt that the band was very well placed and comfortable.  It is with my port used to give me adjustments.  Back in the Fall it was getting more and more difficult to access my port due to some underlying movement in the port making it harder and harder to pin down with the needle.  The resulting time with the needle in my belly just led to some discomfort and swelling that seemed to last a week or two afterwards.  This soreness really took me out of my normal routine for exercise and the like.  A couple of the times I believe even resulted in an infection, since the swelling and accompanying red streaking would only diminish after starting a regiment of antibiotics.  More to come on future posts regarding my port.

On the subject of bellies, my wife's has begun to grow even while mine has shrunk.  Some might think this is a result of her finishing meals I can't finish due to the band, or she is simply finding what I'm losing.  Neither is true...  In fact she is carrying our first baby!  I know this seems to be unrelated news considering this is a blog on Lap Band surgery, but I disagree.  Besides being a proud father to be, I honestly believe that Lap Band surgery and the corresponding weight loss has had a significant impact that may have led to my wife's current condition, and I don't mean that it made me more attractive to my wife either, although that may be true too.  ;-P  I'm speaking purely medically.  One of my medical conditions I have/had is/was low testosterone levels.  I haven't mentioned this before because I myself felt this was very unrelated to my obesity.  Well I may have been wrong...  I've been taking treatment for my condition for many years with minimal improvement.  However, around six months after surgery my testosterone levels have dramatically increased to nearly normal levels.  I don't see it as a coincidence that not long after surgery my testosterone level has begun to normalize and not long after that, I'm an expectant father.

Lap Band surgery is improving my health in even unforseen ways.  Thank you Lap Band for helping me to expand my family.  I much rather see my wife with a baby bump instead of the one I saw in the mirror my whole pre-banded life!

God Bless!

Race Report

I did it!  Yes I completed a 5K.  It was tougher than I expected, but that's partly because I have another infection in my belly around my port ( more on that on a future post).  I decided that with my belly swollen I should take it slow and walked the whole thing.  My wife was sweet enough to walk with me.  She has been incredibly supportive through everything.  It was her first 5K and we enjoyed walking it together.  The race started and finished in downtown Tampa on 10/12.  It also took us along scenic Bayshore Blvd, which is one of the nicest streets in America as it hugs the water in Tampa.  It is very exhilarating to participate in a 5K.  There are all types of folks competing from the seasoned runners to those just wanting to give it a try and get some exercise.  You see parents running with their children and strollers; you see seniors impressing with their fortitude.  I dare say sprinkled in among the rest are the Banded, myself included.  Thanks to the Lap Band I was there and I finished!  Thank you to all that made that possible.

We completed the course in exactly 58 minutes; certainly not record time, but prior to surgery walking even half that distance would have been unthinkable.  I feel like I've come along way, but I'm just getting started!  As I get in better shape, I plan on improving my times in future races.  Thanks to my Lap Band surgery, I'm able to participate in activities that were previously impossible.  Completing a 5K just got checked off on my list of goals after surgery and I have a not so lousy t-shirt to prove it.

Thanks,
me  :-)

How Sweet It Is, Not To Be So Sweet!

I had my first follow up with my regular physician since my surgery.  I was very anxious to get the results of my bloodwork.  I'm happy to say that my glucose has gone down 67 points and my A1C has gone down nearly 2 full points!  Although I'm still considered diabetic, these numbers represent a tremendous reduction in my sugar and gives me high hopes for a future free of diabetes.  None of this would be possible without the generosity and support of the wonderful folks at Suncoast Bariatrics and the Palms of Pasadena with their life changing gift of free Lap Band surgery.  Thank you!

me

Swelling, Shorts, and Milk too!

Seems like a while since I've made an update to my blog, so I apologize for the delay.  I was waiting for a more significant event, but in a way I'm pleased that things have begun to seem normal.  I decided to throw a few odds and ends together instead of waiting for a significant event.  Normal life is more subdued; seromas and surgeries don't happen every day after all.

First I did run into a minor issue in the area of my port.  I began experiencing some soreness or discomfort around the port followed by some swelling.  After a few days of no improvement and it began feeling warm to the touch, I called the doctor and they had me come in.  Dr. Ache examined me and probed me with a needle to see if we could drain any fluid.  Fluid was minimal and we took advantage of having the needle already in to give me my second fill.  She indicated that swelling around the port can be a common occurrence when your activity level increases.  I certainly have been trying to up my exercise a notch, so this made sense.  She also told me to keep an eye on it just in case it could be something else.  I could call in and she could write a script for an antibiotic if needed.  Over the weekend the swelling seemed to increase and the area became very red and warm.  Also, I began to have a fever.  I called on Monday and got the script and within a few days of taking the antibiotic, the swelling and redness began to subside.  All told I would say it lasted about a week, so it was no big deal, but still noteworthy.

A small note on milk.  On an earlier post I mentioned Skim Plus, which is a fortified skim milk with extra protein and vitamins and the taste more like whole milk.  This is a great option, but there are others.  If you visit the dairy section of your local grocery store, you will find many products with similar attributes.  There are varieties of these fortified low fat milks, but also some complete substitutes as well.  My friend Ilene made the suggestion of trying almond milk.  I found a coupon and tried Almond Breeze, which came in many varieties itself including an unsweetened original and unsweetened vanilla, both of which are only 30 calories per serving.  That was even less than the Skim Plus milk, yet still had the extra protein and vitamins, even more so in some instances than the Skim Plus.  I've been using it ever since.  Thanks Ilene.  There are of course other alternatives as well including lactose free as well as many varieties of soy milk.  My suggestion is to explore and find one that works for your tastes and needs.  I primarily use it for the shakes and cereals and the almond milk works great for both.

I want to end with a great note and a first for me.  I have begun noticing a difference in some of my clothes.  They are hanging loose and some are even making me look awkward.  One particular pair of jean shorts, I even turned in to Suncoast Bariatrics for their clothes room.  To keep them from falling I had to tighten my belt to the point it would even create a pleat in the front.  Luckily I covered it up with a shirt.  This was a significant break through for me.  Traditionally I would get rid of clothes because they would rip or become unwearable for being too tight or unbuttonable.  Over the years I've given away bags and bags of clothes to Goodwill or the Salvation Army; all way too small as my midsection would grow and grow.  Now for the first time I got rid of something because it was too big!  It was only one piece, but it was a start and I'm happy to be moving in the right direction!  Thank you Suncoast Bariatrics and Palms of Pasadena!  This is an awesome feeling and it's all thanks to you.

me

Holiday, Vacation, and Anniversary; Oh My!

I'm sure anyone who's struggled with weight loss knows exactly what this post's title is all about, Temptation!  Any of these, or quite frankly a number of other situations like birthday parties, graduations, celebrations of all kinds, social situations galore...in other words life! can jump up and bite you in your weight loss goals.  During Independence Day week I faced the triple threat all at once.  My wife and I decided to enjoy a little time away to enjoy our first anniversary together.  We didn't want to go too far as I was still less than two months out from surgery and had recently had my first fill.  Luckily we live in the Sunshine State, so we headed for the wonderful beach at Siesta Key.  We thought we could do a lot of outside activities and enjoy some of the local cuisine guilt free.  Well, it rained 90% of the time, so much for the Sunshine State!

We did manage one limited trip to the beach where we got a nice long walk along the water and some mini golf, both led to good sweats in the Summer's heat and humidity.  Unfortunately the weather left more time for the local cuisine.  We did get to enjoy a couple Food Network visited eateries in Yoder's, home cooking Amish style, and Jose's Real Cuban Food.  If you ever get the chance, you have to try some pie at Yoder's; it is worth the trip and the 30 minute line to get in.  When I mean pie, any will do, we ended up trying a few varieties while we were in the area, and all were incredible.  Enjoy!  Jose's had an excellent array of Cuban food.  They start you off with a sample of their pork if you are a newbie.  We tried a couple items on special and everything we had was delicious.  Again, don't see where you can go wrong here.

OK, I'm through torturing you with the food.  This is supposed to be a blog about losing weight, not what to eat in the Sarasota/Bradenton area of Florida.  The point is I was able to enjoy eating!  The Lap Band didn't prevent me from enjoying the food, but it did help me not to over do it.  It was a nice change from the vacations and special occasions of the past, where it was always a good excuse to binge myself into oblivion, leaving any diet in waste.  Not this time!  This time the Lap Band was my ally; it limited my portions and was a constant reminder of my ultimate goals and why I shouldn't lose control.

I was even able to enjoy our one year old wedding cake without too much guilt.  It was pretty good too!  Great job freezing it babe!  With the Lap Band, I guess you can say that I can have my cake and eat it too!  Sorry had  to say it.  ;P  Now don't think there wasn't a weight loss cost to this.  I certainly had a weight gain for the week, but instead of the usual complete derailment of a diet, I had a minor setback thanks to the Lap Band.  The setback was easily reversed and I was back on track the following week.  You need to get back to good habits with what you eat and your activity, which is so much easier after Lap Band surgery.

Life happens and it is unrealistic to think you can be on the straight and narrow all the time.  The Lap Band allows you to enjoy the finer things in life without letting them sink your weight loss goals.  Life with the Lap Band isn't harsh and hungry.  Instead the Lap Band allows for a full and flexible lifestyle.  You can have your cake, just remember to run with it too!

Thanks,
me

My First Fill

For those who may not know, getting a fill in the Lap Band world is when you inflate your band with a liquid solution, usually saline.  It's certainly not filling up on lots of food as I might have thought in my pre-banded life.  When the band is initially placed it is not inflated because there isn't a need for additional restriction while you heal from surgery.  Once you heal it is necessary to use your Lap Band tool to make sure you restrict yourself before your body goes back to old eating habits.  I will say that my stomach had begun to feel a little frisky, so I was glad Dr. Jessee began the fill process.  The Lap Band is a very flexible tool in that you can have adjustments done through adding liquid or even removing liquid if you find yourself too restricted.  It can be tailored to the individual's needs.

The process is simple.  As I lay back on the medical table in Dr. Jessee's office, she placed a cylindrical pillow in the small of my back.  This allows your port to be pushed up to as close to the surface of your skin as possible.  The port is the part of your band that is sewn into your abdominal muscle where the needle can be inserted to either add or remove fluid from your band.  This was my first fill, so I confess to be a little nervous, but I had the good fortune to witness a fill at the seminar I had attended, so I remembered it was a pretty straight forward procedure.  The needle was fairly large, but it only pinched for a moment.  Dr. Jessee asked me to sit up before I even realized that she had already inserted the liquid.  That was easy!  Now came the hard part.  I had to drink water.  Yes, it was hard because now I had to judge based on my drinking whether I had too much liquid.  It's tough when you don't know what to look for.  I had this feeling like I needed to burp, but couldn't.  Dr. Jessee realized before I did, that I indeed had a bit too much and the water wasn't going down.  She then had to reinsert the needle to remove a bit of the liquid.  To be honest it was very confusing on what normal should feel like as I still felt a bit too restricted at that point.  I feel it's more a matter of experience and as I get adjustments I imagine that I will get better at reading the signs.  For now I was content in relying on Dr. Jessee's experienced and better judgement.  She was really good at reading the signs, and she wasn't the one swallowing the water!

For the first day you are back on a liquid only diet followed by one day of mushy foods before getting back to solid food.  This wasn't a hardship, as I certainly didn't want to eat anything solid.  I kept feeling like I may have had too much of a fill, but later realized this is exactly how it's supposed to feel.  I had my liquids and had them sparingly for the first day and a half.  Then I cautiously introduced some mushy foods like cream of wheat, soups, and the like.  Before I knew it I had the confidence to go back to solid foods probably by day four and haven't looked back since. It's amazing that I thought for sure that I was going to have to go back to have some removed, but felt just fine and back to normal a mere few days later.  My advice is trust the process.  Your doctor knows more than you do, so rely on their expertise especially at this stage.

I certainly feel restricted on how much I can eat, but that's exactly what the band is designed to do.  It keeps you honest and encourages you to stick to the program.  It is the tool I always wanted to help me on my journey.  I always fell short in my weight loss goals, because at some point I would give in to the cravings.  I couldn't stop myself in time before consuming mass quantities.  No longer.  Now the band will help me not go over the line.  It will give me the strength to persist; I can now see it through; I won't falter.  Thanks to the band, I have confidence in the journey; I have confidence in myself.

Banded,
me  :-)

My Seroma

My surgery was on May 15th.  On Saturday June 1st I was feeling great; I felt like I had really turned a corner on my recovery and it was full speed ahead.  I had a real vigor during my morning walk.  Things were great....until....My Seroma.  Later that night I was having some soup on my recliner while watching some tv.  I got up at some point and my belly felt really wet.  I looked down and my shirt was soaked through and so were my shorts.  Did I spill some of my soup?  I lifted my shirt and there was a small waterfall of fluid coming from my belly button incision.  A scary sight to be sure, but I didn't feel any real discomfort from it.  My wife and I looked at it and decided to give Dr. Jessee's office a call.  I felt bad since it was late and a Saturday to boot, but they have a paging service at her office for emergencies.  Dr. Jessee called me back herself within a few minutes.  I was impressed.  I explained the situation and she knew right away what it was; it made me feel better not only to find out that it was common and not that big a deal, but that I had a great surgeon who cared and was there when you needed to get a hold of her even in the middle of the night on a weekend.

This is where I first heard the word seroma.  Plainly said a seroma is a pocket of liquid that forms in the body often associated with a surgical procedure, which will leak.  The important part was the liquid.  It was translucent of a yellowish tint, which is as good as it gets.  The real danger is infection, which would be a thicker pus like discharge.  Dr. Jessee told me to keep an eye on it and if there were any changes to let her know.  If not I would call her office first thing Monday morning to get in to see her on Monday.

Despite a bandage, nine hours later I woke up to wet sheets with reddish yellow stains.  After some cleanup we discovered that the fluid was changing to a more reddish tint and certainly wasn't abating.  We decided to call Dr. Jessee's office to have her paged again and again she called back within minutes.  She still felt I was probably fine, but just to be safe she sent me to the emergency room at the Largo Medical Center.  I was told to see Dr. Hewitt who she works with so that he can better assess the situation.  If he felt it was more than a seroma, she would come see me there.

We jumped in the car and headed down as it is about an hour away.  During the drive, I drenched a couple of kleenexes and began feeling more discomfort from the area.  It was a bit frustrating at the ER as even though we wanted to specifically see Dr. Hewitt, they have their procedures.  We had to check in and be seen by a couple of nurses to check my vitals and determine my issue; both of which had never heard of Dr. Hewitt..very frustrating.  After some impatient waiting on my part, Dr. Hewitt strolled in the door.  I was very happy to see him.  He took a good look and was able to drain a decent amount with some belly manipulation.  He said it looked fine, but prescribed an antibiotic to be safe.  They were nice enough to give us some bandages and tape, so that we can regularly change it.  He also warned that it would take some time for this to drain and for me to schedule a follow up with Dr. Jessee for the end of this coming week.

We went home with our supplies stopping on the way at Publix to fill the prescription. Unfortunately by that night I started to notice another change in the seroma.  It started to pus.  By the next day it was certainly infected.  I was gross, ooey, gooey, a mess.  Luckily I was already on antibiotics and was free of the infection a few days later.  I continued to drain consistently all week long.  We went through a lot of gauze and tape that's for sure.  I had some discomfort, but too be honest I think my skin took more of a hit from the tape and frequent changing of the bandage than from the seroma.  I also spent some time trying to imitate Dr. Hewitt by squeezing my belly to speed the drain along.  I think this contributed to a general soreness in the area.

At the follow up appointment with Dr. Jessee, she cleaned out the wound further and was very reassuring in that it was quite normal and looked like it was healing really well.  Of course it was still leaking, but she said that it may take some time and we scheduled a follow up for a couple weeks later.  She also suggested I create some pressure with a weight belt or back brace to help the seroma complete draining and the layer of skin could fuze back with the muscle.  The body doesn't like the space and wants to continually fill it with liquid, so we needed to not allow the space.  My wife actually came up with using a pregnancy band to create the needed pressure, which Dr. Jessee endorsed.  Great idea as it turned out to be much more comfortable than the other options.  Thanks babe!  Also, thanks Jen for the actual pregnancy band.  It wore well and was glad it was in the gender neutral black; it would have been slightly awkward to walk around in pink.  Lol!  I'm in touch with my feminine side, but I draw the line at going into labor!

Gradually my leaking diminished and finally stopped altogether just a few days ago.  Today I had my follow up with Dr. Jessee and am happy to say I can close the seroma chapter after nearly three weeks.  She even gave me the green light for any activity including swimming as of this weekend.  Time for me to turn another corner in the journey and get moving!

Thanks to all for all of their help along the way.  It's been very encouraging to have the support of so many along the way.

me

First Banded Days

I've had my surgery; now let's see how my first couple weeks went.  First I want to emphasize that there is nothing earth shattering in those first few days.  I just had surgery and it's more about healing than your new world of eating with the band.  For the first night I was only allowed clear liquids and I was thrilled enough with ice chips and some gatorade.  From day 2 through the first full 2 weeks post surgery, the diet consists of  only liquids.  Broth is the name of the game and some light soups that can be strained of anything too clumpy or solid.  I continued on the bariatric protein shakes, using milk instead of water.  A small note on the milk...my wife found a product called Skim Plus, that is wonderful.  It is essentially skim milk fortified with extra protein and vitamins to be of the consistency and taste of near whole milk.  I've been using it ever since and feel like I'm getting a good deal of bang for my buck with the shakes as a result.  The nutritional value is well worth a little extra cost and I lucked into a nice sale at Publix as well as some coupons at the time.  It has a pretty good shelf life before being opened compared to other milk as the expiration dates I found to be a month out.  Stock piling it in my fridge whenever I catch a sale!

Cream of Wheat is another good item as long as you make it with a thin enough consistency.  Pat the wonderful nutritionist at Dr. Jessee's office went through the suggested menu items and there was a lot of yogurt suggested.  I really don't like yogurt, so this was hard.  My wife did find me these Fusion yogurt drinks that I was able to stomach.  Unfortunately you may want to consider those sparingly as their sugar count was kind of high.  I guess it is a tradeoff, but Pat you can see I'm trying.  ;-)  Juice is a good option, but another spot to watch your sugars.  Wal-mart had some nice no sugar added options including a nice apple and a white grape peach.  Both I found to be very tasty without too much sugar.

The toughest thing is the more you heal and begin to feel normal, the hungrier you get.  Hungry may not be the right word.  I felt like a divergence began between my mouth and my stomach.  They used to always agree.  Now my mouth craved stuff, that my stomach would over rule.  Commercials can be rough;  My mouth would say oh that looks good only to be quickly followed by my stomach saying I don't think so.  I began to feel schizophrenic.  Lol!  I chose the smart choice and followed my stomach's lead.  The cravings would generally be short lived and easily managed, certainly compared to what I used to have to deal with when the stomach and mouth ganged up on me and the next thing you knew I swallowed a pizza or a box of cookies or both!  I appreciated that the Lap Band was taking the edge off and allowing me to act responsibly.

Probably the hardest part of this phase is there is only so much variety in what you can manage with a liquid diet.  The first week I was fine, but the second started to get old, so I started allowing some substance in the soups and allowing for the normal thickness of the cream of wheat.  It's all just a part of the process as you heal.  This was a natural progression into the next two weeks which would allow for a mushy diet consistency.  The biggest advice I can give is it is perfectly normal to start testing your band some in this phase, just proceed cautiously.  Take your time and chew thoroughly.  No reason to rush it.  I may even be enjoying my food better now than ever before as I no longer feel like I'm in a race where I assume whoever eats the most the fastest wins!

Well enough about food.  Lets talk about healing and moving.  At the Palms of Pasadena and Dr. Jessee's office they emphasize you start moving as soon as you can to minimize any chance of blood clots forming.  A couple days I even got a follow up call from the nurse who worked with me at the hospital at the end to check on my progress.  That was a nice thing as it gives you the option for any further questions.  Again, the Palms of Pasadena is a great facility.  I started the first few days with just wandering around the house at a pretty slow pace, but it felt good to get moving and quickly graduated after a few days of that to an outdoor stroll.  Again this was at a comfortable pace and a short distance with gradual increase of speed and distance over the first couple weeks.

There was a certain amount of discomfort in my stomach especially in the area around my belly button.  I was prescribed two pain killers, one that was stronger than the other.  I quickly weaned myself from the stronger to the weaker over the course of the first couple weeks.  By the end of the first week I only needed the stronger stuff at night to help me sleep and by the end of the second week I was down to an occasional weaker or even ibuprofen for at night with nothing during the day.  I'm not a big fan of taking pills and wanted to not become dependent on anything.  My incisions were covered by Durabond, which is krazy glue for surgeons.  They didn't give me much concern except for my belly button where I felt a certain amount of swelling as well as discomfort.  Somewhere along the line I also started to notice some small residue marks on my shirts in that area; more to come on a later post with regards to this.  Through the end of May I was feeling stronger and stronger and able to do more.  Biggest obstacle seemed to be bending over as I felt some pulling in my stomach and I was told not to lift anything over 20 pounds; Good advice as I found groceries to be a bit heavy the first couple of weeks.

I believe it all made for a great start and was looking forward to what was coming, but I feel like it is just a start and I have a long way to go.  It's important to remain patient and not to try and get ahead of yourself and do too much, no matter how anxious you feel to do it all.  At this stage you really need to allow yourself time to heal.  Remember weight loss is a lifestyle journey, not a diet destination!  Thanks to all for their support and wonderful advice along the way.

me

Surgery

My surgery was on May 15th.  The day had finally arrived.  I can't say I got a lot of sleep the night before, but why would I need it?  It's not like I will be performing the surgery;  I'll be in the wonderful care of the team at Palms of Pasadena Hospital and the skilled surgeon team lead by Dr. Jessee.  I should get plenty of rest while I'm on the table and in recovery.  Yes I was nervous.  It's normal.  Selecting elective surgery no matter how minimally invasive it may be such as with the Lap Band, is still not a natural act, you really need to have done some soul searching and be committed to the lifestyle change and believe in the process.  Again there are risks in having the surgery, but I felt there are far more in being obese; my diabetes for example would certainly get me in the long run if I didn't make a change.  Of course the usual questions will come to mind of whether I'm doing the right thing, etc.  The point is that is normal and you just need the fortitude to be confident in your decision and push forward with the change.  It's time for a new me!

I had plenty of time to stew in my nerves on the way over as it's an hour drive to the Palms of Pasadena Hospital from my home.  It was nice to break my mind's tension with some reassuring chit chat with my wife.  She's been a rock for me through the whole process that's for sure!  I'm getting ahead of myself here.  I started the day with a walk.  Figured I don't know how long before I am able to get out there I should take advantage.  It may have been a mistake.  You are not allowed anything after midnight including water, so partaking in any kind of exercise even walking will make you even more thirsty than you already are.  I don't regret it; felt the walk did me some good, but there was a downside to it.  Next was my shower...  I went through my normal routine until the end when I had to use the Hibiclense, which is a strong antibacterial solution they give you to use before the surgery.  It comes in a small bluish green bottle and the solution is of a reddish hue.  I used a wash cloth and repeatedly scrubbed my stomach area and then I had to let it sit for five minutes before rinsing.  I guess the idea is to eliminate as much bacteria from that area before they start poking holes in you as they can.  I got dressed(no deodorant).  You aren't allowed any lotions of perfumes or anything like that.  I took off my wedding ring, which was hard as I hadn't taken it off yet, but jewelry wasn't allowed either and certainly didn't want to take a chance on losing it.  We had already packed a small bag of a few items just in case, such a s a book in case I had some down time(not needed), slippers(not needed), etc.  The biggest thing was the anti nausea medication called Emend.  It was to be taken two hours prior to surgery, which would be approximately on our arrival at the hospital.  We brought a bottle of water and I was allowed just a swallow to get the pill down.  For a single pill the cost was $30 and that was with insurance; expensive but it worked as I never felt any nausea.  Time to walk in and face my future!

The facility is very nice and enjoyably located near the water in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Once you pass the information desk, there is a waiting area next to registration.  During the short wait I took advantage of the facilities down the hall.  Not sure how I had anything to pass with so few liquids, but I've always been a nervous pee-er.  Oddly enough I must have a large bladder as I can often go most of the day before needing to go, but when I'm nervous, feels like every 10 minutes I need to find somewhere for a squirt!  It was a very short wait and they were calling me to register.  The process was quick and painless and resulted in a wrist band identifying myself and my doctor.  Someone came and got me from there immediately to bring me down the hall to the pre-op area.  On the way we passed the waiting room for family where I had to drop off my wife.  I would have rather keep her with me(remember she is my rock and my courage), but I guess they needed to go through the next few steps alone.  She would come back and see me prior to me getting moved to the actual operating area, so knowing that made it not feel too bad.

The pre-op area is large with many semi private partitioned(via curtains) areas each containing a bed.  Each area is numbered and I don't remember which one I had.  The area has nurses and orderlies moving around managing their patients.  First thing I had to do was get a weigh in around the corner.  Next I sat in the chair by the bed and filled out a bunch of medical forms.  The usual what are you allergic to, family history, and release forms. Some of the wording can be alarming, but I suppose they need to make you aware of all possibilities.  Again I wouldn't be here if I didn't feel the benefits of the surgery weren't well worth any usual risks that any surgery and being under anesthesia involve.  I mention this mainly to hopefully reduce the shock value anyone may experience on reading such forms and are standard in any medical facility.  After the nurse went over everything with me, it was time to get naked.  They didn't waste any time; so much for my comfortable clothes.  I was provided with a pair of non slip socks and the customary hospital gown, which I almost choked myself trying to tie in the back, but the nurse was nice enough to help me with after I gave her the all clear to open the curtain.  All my stuff went into a bag until later.  I got in the bed and under the blanket; more for modesty than warmth.  Everyone was very polite and concerned that I was cold, so was often offered more blankets including some that were already warmed.  I am rarely chilly, so politely declined.  While I was waiting for the inevitable next steps of pokes and prods, I took a look around and there were a number of other patients in the same boat I was in.  This was kind of comforting in a way as I didn't feel alone in my predicament.

Here came the needles.  I got a finger prick to check my sugar no big deal.  I needed an epinephrine shot in my stomach to prevent blood clotting during surgery, which wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined in my mind.  You feel the prick, but not much besides and was over in a couple seconds.  The rougher experience was trying to get my IV in.  They didn't like the looks of the veins in my arms, so even wrapped them in those heated blankets for a while to try and get them to pop.  Those were nice I must say.  Unfortunately it didn't seem to help.  Despite her best efforts the nurse was unable to get the IV into either arm.  I'm sure not being able to have any liquids since last night made my veins difficult targets.  Since she could tell I was in some pain, she thankfully decided to let it wait for the anesthesiologist.  Hopefully he would have better luck.

Shortly thereafter Susan Kay, who is head of the contest and the bariatric department of the hospital stopped by for a visit.  She's been very nice and an inspiration as she is herself a success story.  It was very nice of her to stop by and offer her support.  When you are laying there you feel like you can use all the support you can get.  Finally my wife was allowed to join me and help me pass the time until it's time for them to wheel me into the operating room.  I was relaxed or at least as relaxed as anyone who is about to have surgery can be.  I filled her in on the process up to date.  To be honest I'm not quite sure why she couldn't have been with me that whole time?  They have their procedures, and I'm sure they have their reasons.  I was a little anxious due to the IV not being in yet and I hadn't seen Dr. Jessee yet.  I know she had surgeries scheduled earlier at another facility and I was her first here at Palms of Pasadena, but still wanted to see her. She has this calming affect.  I really get a sense that she knows what she is doing and I know I would feel better when I got to see her.  It was time for the ride to the operating room, so here we go...

My wife was allowed to accompany me part way until we got to a turn where we went left and she had to continue down the hall back to the waiting room.  That was tough, but I had to go the rest of the way on my own.  There was another waiting area before the operating room itself.  I thought of it kind of like being lined up on a runway waiting for your turn to take off.  There were some OR nurses in gowns there and they were all very friendly.  In fact they treated me like a celebrity and were very interested in my story as the contest winner.  I really appreciate their time and attention.  I started to have some heartburn and acid issues and I got to meet my anesthesiologist.  He was a wonderful man with a kind disposition and ordered some antacid to be added to my IV.  As for the IV or lack there of, he went ahead and put it in the top of my hand as was my expectation.  To relax me he told me to think of my lovely wife and walla it went right in with ease.  Thank you very much!  Apparently I wasn't the only one with IV issues as there were at least a couple other patients with similar experiences in the queue next to me.  Now all I was waiting for was Dr. Jessee and my antacid to come up from the pharmacy.  Again the nurses went over my stats and I had more armbands indicating anything from my diabetes to my allergy to penicillin etc.

At this point I confess to being very nervous, but then I heard her voice.  It was the voice of Dr. Jessee and somehow my nerves and anxiety just fell away.  She came over and checked on me and her presence was very reassuring.  I'm very grateful to have such a talented surgeon as Dr. Jessee.  She discussed with me that she had planned to do as much as she could through the incision in the belly button as she knew I was disappointed that the Spider technique wasn't available with the contest.  It was great that she was going to try and accommodate me as much as she could for as good a cosmetic result as possible.  At that point they wheeled me in for takeoff and shortly there after the antacid arrived from the pharmacy, which was added to my IV.  Suddenly I was feeling dizzy and I asked my buddy the anesthesiologist if he had given me anything and he confirmed that he had started something to relax me.  I was groovy.  Then they told me the good stuff was about to go in and I still heard the doctor's for several more seconds before becoming airborne....

I woke up in recovery.  Groggy is just a word, but apparently so much so that I quickly went back into sleep again and again.  When consciousness finally returned I found myself in a large room with lots of beds, one of which I was in.  I felt a little stifled with regards to my breathing, but quickly realized I needed to blow my nose badly.  I tried to get the attention of the nurse who was circling around, but seemed unable to actually communicate audibly just yet, and apparently my ESP wasn't up to snuff.  Finally I could actually hear myself speak instead of just thinking it and he brought me some tissues.  I asked for ice chips and he said just a couple for now to keep from getting nausea.  They were the most wonderful ice chips in the history of mankind.  They must have been made with some fancy exotic waters or sprinkled with fairy dust or maybe I was just so dry I could gag after no liquids for virtually 16 hours.  Oh yeah that's probably it.  I kept asking for more and must confess decided to try and take it easy on them after a few as I did feel a slight stomach turn that quickly subsided when I slowed down a little.  He checked with me a few more times to make sure I was alright before releasing me to the pre-op area from where I started.  My wife came and joined me and she was like an angel.  I went from dazed and confused to just plain sleepy, but was feeling some discomfort from my belly button area.  There was another nice nurse there that brought me some Gatorade and kept checking on me to see how I was doing.  Ironically enough just when I was feeling comfortable enough to really want to take a nap, he was starting to insist I get up and walk.  They can't discharge you to go home until you walk, drink, and pee...not necessarily all at the same time or in that order, but they all need to be accomplished.  I was a bit unsteady and slow at first, but felt pretty alert with a few laps around the room.  I was given a portable container to capture my urine as I headed into the bathroom.  I needed to produce evidence of the event.  He said just a little bit would be enough, but before you knew it I had filled the container with some to spare.  I guess check off the kidneys functioning off the list.  Yeah!

I got some paperwork and instruction on what to do next, which luckily my wife was there to make note of, since I can't remember much of what was actually said.  I also got a nice photo of my insides including the band with Allergan printed on it visibly.  Thanks to them for donating the actual device, looked very shiny and new.  In the picture you could see my liver and also my hiatal hernia before and after correction.  It was a pretty foregone conclusion that I had one due to all of my acid reflux issues and it was very nice of Dr. Jessee to correct it free of charge while she was installing my band. I guess it's like changing the timing belt while you replace the water pump in a car.  It's all close together so it makes sense.  Like I said she is a world class surgeon. Kudos!  It all seemed fine.  I suppose a kind of memento of the occasion; maybe not quite like pictures of goofy at Disneyland, but my banded stomach could have passed for Pluto with a collar around his neck.  ;-)  I even got serial numbers associated with the band.  Good to know just in case something happens down the line.  All seemed pretty thoroughly documented and my wife signed off.  Next she went to pull the car up to the door while I got the standard wheelchair ride out the door with my bag of goodies.  Some where along the line I must have gotten dressed just not sure when at this point.  I'm glad nobody let me roll out of there in a hospital gown!

I confess not to being very comfortable and I swear I felt every bump in the road on the way, but I was glad to be headed home.  This whole process took place in a day and my life was changing.  I have a lot of hopes for the future to which this may be a first...I may actually now have the arrows in my quiver to conquer my biggest foe; obesity was no longer going to control me or my life going forward.  I was in charge now.  But now I wanted to sleep.  Not long after getting home I took some of the pain killers they had prescribed and had some more Gatorade they sent with me.  To bed to sleep and per chance to dream of a bright new Banded Day.  Goodnight obesity...Goodnight!

me

Pre-Surgery

The following was actually my first write-up related to the surgery.  It was written shortly before my actual surgery took place.  As a requirement of winning the contest, we are to submit a monthly write up of our experiences and progress.  I've decided to include it here as the obvious next step in the chronology to which I've put forth in this blog to date.  I should be up to date to my current status within a couple more posts.  I thank you for your patience along the way.  I hope you have found this blog informative and maybe even a little inspirational.

Thanks,

me

Excited and over whelmed!  What can I say?  I won, but now what?!  It has been an incredible ride really.  I've celebrated with family and friends and feel very humbled by the outpouring of support from everyone.  So many went the extra mile for me during the campaign, that it would be impossible for me to thank everyone here, but rest assured I appreciate you all; it was a great team effort.  I would like to briefly offer special thanks to a few.  First and foremost to the Palms of Pasadena, Dr Jessee, and the wonderful folks at Allergan as well as anyone else responsible for donating the Lap Band, facilities, and their time and talent to make this contest a reality.  This is an incredible opportunity especially for those of us that are insurance challenged.  Thank you to my family and friends for their votes, campaigning, and support.  Humberto, Jen, Pedro, Deco, Higor, Mo, and Monica thanks for the Facebook blitzkrieg!  Maria Irene and Our Lady of Fatima church congregation in Hartford thank you for your prayers as well as your votes.  Special thanks to all the teachers who helped get the word out to the next generation.  Thanks to Michelle, Beef's, and all the bikers and truckers out there who took my campaign on the road.  Thanks Dad for spreading the word to all those I didn't have contact info for.  Eric, Paula, Paul, Haley, Jen, Monica, Kayleigh, Humberto, Ilene, Suzy, and my beautiful wife Heather thank you for being my foot soldiers and spending countless hours passing out cards, fliers, and the like to the masses; it is no easy task to approach strangers to solicit votes.  Extra special thanks to Paul for being the guinea pig and showing me how successful you can be using the Lap Band as a tool in creating a new healthy reality.  Now it's my turn.  God bless you all; you may very well have saved my life.

Now it's time to get serious and get down to business.  I've had some follow ups and pre-op items to complete and have checked them off the list.  I would certainly recommend you read through the materials including the binder your doctor provides, because it is a wealth of information.  Some of it can be scary as they have to cover the legalese of risk as is inherent in any surgical procedure, but I have felt that there are far more risks associated with my diabetes and assorted health issues that await me down the line hadn't I chosen to have the Lap Band surgery.  During this last couple of weeks of follow ups I have been on a strict liver reducing diet to prepare for surgery.  I have to confess I was very anxious about this step as I didn't relish the idea of further dieting without the benefit of the band being in place yet.  I considered it kind of a necessary purification, a transition into my new life almost like a baptism if you will.  In the end It really hasn't been that bad.  The shakes are hearty enough that with a modicum of will power along with some dinner creativity(think stuffed peppers with ground turkey) and sugar free jello will get you through.  The secret is to avoid temptation like the plague.  I knew I was in trouble when I was pumping gas and the succulent aroma of the neighboring eateries were making me consider a hideous attack on the next unsuspecting passerby who just happened to have the misfortune of carrying a takeout bag.  At that point I decided to spend as much time at home and out of everyone else's harm's way as possible!  I was lucky.  My incredibly supportive wife actually has done the diet with me to make it easier on me or it may have been for her own safety(just kidding).  She drank every shake and every lean and green meal right along with me and her sacrifice and support has meant the world to me and made every difference.  Thanks babe!

Now I find myself a mere two days from my surgery.  (Thoughtful Pause)  I'm embarking on a journey; one where I hope my destination is good health and sanity.  I will be trading the endless cycle of ups and downs of yo-yo diet after yo-yo diet for the promise of a new reality.  The new reality of a long-term solution.  Dare I say?  Yes, lifestyle change.  Even though I've heard many stories of what it will be like, I won't truly understand how it feels until I've been banded.  It makes me a little nervous I confess, but I have a wonderful support system and for the first time in my life I'm moving forward with an optimism and a confidence, that I hope will lead me to be successful on my weight loss journey.  I'm joining the great fraternity of the banded.  May it welcome me with a new healthy outlook and not a hungry stomach.

The Contest

I would like to tell everyone a little bit about the contest.  This may be very unique to the area and am very ignorant to whether if there are other municipalities that offer such opportunities.  I live in the Tampa Bay area and locally we are fortunate enough to have this contest offered by the Palms of Pasadena hospital in St. Petersburg.  They have a nice Bariatric center and are affiliated with some of the best surgeons in the field.  Their website has a lot of great information on it including info on the contest.  You can access the site at http://obesitynomorefl.com/ .  The contest has been offered yearly and starts in January for a sign up period.  The contest is a great opportunity especially for those of us who are insurance challenged such as myself.  If it wasn't for the contest I wouldn't have had this opportunity to change my health and my life.  Thanks again to all that are involved.

The requirements were simple; I had to attend an informational seminar on the procedure, which is a no brainer as you better understand what you are signing up for.  In fact it was at a seminar that I first heard about the contest.  The only other requirement is to sign up on the website consisting of some personal questions on how obesity affects your life and what it would mean to you to win.  My best advice on this part is to be honest with yourself and spill it.  As much as we have been programmed over the years to be ashamed of our obesity by society, you need to open up.  It is a medical condition and should be treated as such.  It was a difficult chore, but I felt better afterwards.  I'd like to believe that it was this frank honest approach that got me to be a finalist.

Once the period for entry submission closes, there is a committee at the hospital, which will go through all the entries to select six finalists.  I never heard an exact figure, but I heard estimates of upwards of 3000 entries were received.  This waiting period was tense as I'm not a patient person plus had a solid no from my insurance already.  This was my only chance and a recent diabetes diagnosis weighed heavily.  I was very fortunate that on Friday afternoon on March 8th on my way back from the Strawberry Festival ironically enough, I received the call from Dr. Jessee's office.  I didn't know what to say.  It felt like I had just won the lottery.  I may have even shed some tears.  The feeling was amazing!

My next steps were to fill out lots of medical forms to become an official patient of Dr. Jessee.  I had to have these forms completed prior to an appointment on Tuesday March 19th.  I got a brief intro to the process plus a photo session.  This photo would be used on the website for the voting period.  Along with this photo, the site would contain a small synapsis of your story.  This was compiled for me from my answers to the questions on my contest entry.  I also needed to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist that they are affiliated with, which I scheduled for the same day to take advantage of being in the area.  As part of this process, I had received a 500 question questionaire,which is to help Dr. Baum(the psychiatrist affiliated with Dr. Jessee's office), evaluate me as a good candidate for the procedure.  My interpretation of this step is to make sure you are in a mentally good place to have the commitment needed for the lifestyle changes required.

Lets talk about what it means to be a finalist and how the actual winners are determined.  As a finalist, I had come a long way, but I hadn't won anything yet.  Out of the six finalists only two would receive free Lap Band surgeries.  Those two are determined simply by votes on the before mentioned website http://obesitynomorefl.com/.  The voting period was from March 29th through April 14th.  Let me tell you, this period of time was very exhausting and stressful.  You have no idea how you are doing.  There isn't a running total some where that you can check and you have no idea what your competition may be up to.  The whole process gave me new respect for some of these politicians who spend months campaigning for a position and in the end may have nothing to show for.  It's not easy to leave it all on the line without any though of chance of success.  Of course they at least have periodic polling.  I tried to say positive as my chances were one third and those odds are pretty good compared to what my insurance was offering, which was 0.

My advice if you find yourself in such a situation is to go all out.  You don't want to lose in the end and feel like you could've done more.  That would be the worst.  You need to get creative with your outlets.  Of course there is the usual friends and family aspect as well as Facebook, but that won't cut it.  The way I look at it, everyone will do that, so if that's all you do, you are going to lose.  You win on the strangers you can mobilize and those voting circles can payoff big as they are reaching out to whole new sets of families and friends besides your own.  My biggest push was through business cards.  I didn't want to do the usual impersonal thing as just leave them on car windows as through experience most of those would just get thrown away.  Instead I walked the parking lots of malls, shopping centers, and the like and physically spoke to each person I handed a card to.  I handed out thousands!  Let me tell you this was no easy task.  I'm not a social person and am anything but comfortable talking to strangers, let alone asking them for their votes.  I felt I had to do it; I had to get out there and try; I owed it to myself.  This was my life we're talking about after all.  If you can't do it for that, then when could you?  The reception was better than I expected.  Of course I got some no's or just plain walk aways, but I also got a lot of positive responses.  People are very sympathetic if you can get your point across and convey that you aren't asking for any money.  I had a good percentage say they would vote and even get others to vote as well.  Sometimes I would even find someone who was willing to help campaign, maybe by taking some of my cards to pass out, sometimes by putting it on their Facebook pages.  Again this was extremely beneficial as this got the word out to whole new voting pools, that were way beyond my knowledge or reach.  I imagine some of these are what won it for me.  My other windfall I believe was my global reach.  I have friends and family world wide and it is my understanding that I received votes from Brazil, Japan, Portugal, Israel, etc.  I was able to mobilize a greater portion of the globe as a potential voting pool than perhaps others did.  I'm very greatful to all of those who helped in my campaign and will do my best to thank them in another post as this one is already getting long.  Suffice to say that I owe you my life as I view this surgery as my one way to reclaim my life.  No longer do I have to wage the losing battle against obesity. I now have won the tool, Lap Band surgery, that gives me the upper hand or should I say upper stomach? As the upper stomach is where the Lap Band resides in my body.  I also already had a trip scheduled at the tail end of the voting period to visit my family in Connecticut.  I used this trip as a campaigning opportunity.  I passed out cards along the way and when I got there.  I ended my campaign on the last night when I was actually asked to leave a Stop & Shop parking lot by the police.  Apparently there was a complaint that I was intimidating the customers.  I think you always feel like you could've done more, but I was spent and freezing.  My hands had gone numb in the cold wind of New England and I was almost greatful to the officer for sending me away.  I was proud that I overcame my fears and took my campaign on the road and was hopeful I had taken it to victory.  Now I had to just wait and see.

Luckily I didn't have to wait too long as they were to be officially published on Friday April 19th.  To not keep the finalists in suspense until then we all received personal phone calls on Wednesday April 17th.  I was at my honorary niece Heley's dress rehearsal for her upcoming recital.  I confess that when I received the call, I was so nervous I had to run out of the theatre to take the call.  Unfortunately I didn't quite make it and had to call back and play a small version of phone tag.  I got the word from Dr. Jessee's office to schedule my free surgery.  I had won!!!  My surgery was scheduled for May 15th and I cried.  How could I not?  It was a big relief.  I was about to change my life.  I confess to being nervous as well.  For so long I was focused on the contest and campaigning that I nearly forgot what I was doing it all for.  After all of this work and effort, what do I win?  I get to have someone cut me open!  Yeah!  I had nearly a month to adjust myself to this new reality and prepare myself for what lies ahead.  I'm so thankful, words cannot express.

Just a footnote here, but all that I've detailed here represents my experiences and in no way guarantees anyone's future success with the contest or even whether the contest will continue in future years.  That is all up to the Palms of Pasadena and the participants who have donated their time, talent, and materials.  Please check http://obesitynomorefl.com/ to stay up to date on information on future contests.

Thanks again,
me