I have to warn you, this is going to be a long one. So get a drink, put up your feet, and relax. My husband would say "It is wordy," and my son-in-law, Brian, would say, "That's what blogs are about!"
Here's Lucy. Look closer.
If you said, "OMG is Barb pregnant and naming her baby Lucy!!!???" I am SO unfriending you! God is so wise, He knows at this stage in life I'm doing good to take care of a basset hound and honestly, some days He puts her in charge!
Okay, since you don’t have x-ray vision this is really Lucy.
Lucy (in my mind Loosey) is what I have named my Lap-Band. I’ve never been secretive about my decision to have weight loss surgery, nor have I gone to the mountain tops and yelled it for all the world to hear, but here’s why I decided to blog about my experience with it.
I have struggled with my weight for decades. If you've never been overweight here's how it usually works: Your self esteem is low anyway, then you see someone you know who has lost weight and while you really are happy for them - you think "If they can lose weight, why can't I lose weight???" You feel like a failure when others are successful and that usually results in more eating, your weight goes up even more, you feel even worse about yourself..... it is a vicious circle.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I could go on a diet (you name it I have been on it), and I would lose 30 pounds or so, but I would feel deprived and within a few months the pounds were creeping back on again and bringing their buddies with them. So each diet I attempted really resulted in a higher weight at the end of the process.
As I started to get older my health problems started mounting: high blood pressure, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, then high blood pressure not controlled on medication, then high cholesterol creeping up even on medication. Each time a new diagnosis was given, it was even more depressing and added to the vicious cycle. Both of my parents had heart problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, so my family history was really getting scary on top of what I was already experiencing.
About that time several things happened: an acquaintance’s husband passed away - he was just 2 months older than me, and seemed to be in good health. Why him and not me??? I then ran into an old acquaintance who had lost a lot of weight and told her how wonderful she looked (yep - you guessed it- let the vicious cycle begin!). She didn’t say how she had done it and I didn't ask, but in retrospect I am guessing she had some sort of surgery. Many people who have weight loss surgery are afraid to talk about it. There's a stigma attached to it and the words "taking the easy way out" are sometimes muttered by people who don't understand all that goes into it. But it's the fear of talking about it that results in us going through the vicious cycle. Lastly, about that time my sister-in-law was getting prepared for Lap-Band surgery and bless her heart - she talked about it!
I had looked at gastric bypass surgery online before and just felt it was too invasive for what I was comfortable with. I had also looked at Lap-Band surgery and had done some research. Each time I read the words "no soda" my research would stop right there. Seriously... give up soda!?? Next option!!
It was my sister-in-law doing it and talking about it, that made me realize it wasn’t a crazy option and it was the thought of not getting to play with my grandkids or be around to spend time with my husband and our family that sent me for a consultation. I admire anyone who can lose weight on their own, but in my case that was just not working.
So if you've stuck with me so far and are interested, here’s how Lucy works. The Lap-Band is placed around the upper part of the stomach to make a small upper stomach about the size of an egg like the picture above.
The band itself is a silicone ring (the center doughnut-shaped part above) and is placed around the stomach, leaving you with a small upper stomach and large lower stomach. The ring is hooked to tubing which is connected to a port on the end (the bottom part of the picture). The port is sewn to a muscle on my right side, kind of in the rib area, right under the skin. The benefit of the Lap-Band is that it is adjustable. In order to restrict how much you eat, which is the purpose of the band, a tiny needle with saline is inserted into my port (just a simple needle stick). The saline then travels through the tubing and as it reaches the band and fills the silicone ring, it tightens up, creating more restriction. More restriction means less food to make me feel full. It requires faithful visits to my surgeon to get the perfect restriction. If I am too tight (too much restriction) it is too hard to eat and I tend to go for malts, shakes, ice cream, things that go down easy, rather than good solid sources of protein. Been there done that. If that happens then I go in for an unfill (needle stick and 1/4 cc of saline or so pulled out). If I am too loose I am able to eat more than I should and I need to go in to have saline added. So it really is a partnership with your surgeon. It requires visits to your surgeon following surgery to slowly get you to the optimal restriction and a lifetime of getting fills or unfills as needed.
Just 2 weeks ago I ate some beef stew. I was liking it - Lucy.... not so much. I ended up not feeling well.. for 2 days. I was trying to figure out why I was so tight all of a sudden and why it wasn't going away like a typical stuck episode. I hadn't had a fill for 1-1/2 years so I shouldn't be too tight. I actually had an unfill 1 year ago of about 1/4 cc. So what was going on??? I ended up going to the doctor - realizing it doesn't matter what is causing it, if I'm tight, I need to get an unfill so I can eat good protein again. Many things can affect how "tight" the band feels: stress, hormones, flying in a plane, etc. So I relearned again, that I can't question how I feel, I just need to work with Lucy.
Quick story about stress and the band being tight. A quick change of plans 2 weeks ago and I had to pick up the U-haul trailer we took the piano to Chicago in. Now I have never pulled anything behind a vehicle in my life and with this small U-haul trailer attached to my car I felt like I was driving a semi! On the way to pick the trailer up my chest (band) kept getting tighter... and tighter. It felt like an elephant was sitting right on my band. When I went to pull out of the lot with the trailer attached (praying to God to just let me get home without hitting anything or embarrassing myself), the tightness was at an all-time high. As soon as I pulled up in front of the house, got out of the car, and got in the house - that tightness was gone! That was an education for me. Stress = tight.
Life with the band means protein first (60 grams a day is the goal), lots of water (which I don’t drink enough of ), exercise (again not enough - although I am active and living life again - no more couch potato), and no snacking. The goal is to eat smaller protein-filled meals, taking in less calories, making you feel full through the protein and food being held in the upper stomach longer... kind of sifting through to the lower stomach like sand in an hourglass - thereby losing weight. I was able to give up soda before surgery, but admit I have had probably 16 ounces in the 3 years since my surgery. I don’t like the taste of it, but the crispness of it I miss once in a great while. The reason for no soda is we aren't supposed to have carbonated beverages, as carbonation can expand that small pouch with time and would result in less restriction.
Things like shakes, cookies, etc. are called “slider foods” as high sugar things go right through the band. Things that can be difficult to eat include stringy foods such as roast beef, and things like soft bread, which are doughy. Think of what you eat that just doesn’t seem to break down well as you chew, those are the things that struggle to get through the stoma created by the band, can cause it to become “plugged”, and make you “stuck.” Rather than feeling this in your stomach, it is in your chest, as the upper part of the stomach is right below the bustline. In fact, when my stomach growls, I actually feel it in my chest now. Odd, but true!
The downside of the band is that when you are “stuck” your body produces more mucus to send to help digest the food that is causing the problem - (I always say “Mucus to the rescue!”), but with the stuck food already blocking the small hole leading to the larger portion of the stomach, the mucus backs up and… yep you guessed it. It can’t go down, so it has to come up. It is usually just the mucus that appears unless I have a really bad stuck episode. Luckily that doesn’t happen often, but it is part of life with the band. To help prevent that stuck issue small bites and chewing well is very important. It is also important to really pay attention to how quickly you are feeling full. One bite can be one bite too many.
Another rule is no drinking with meals. Water can do one of two things - it can either cause your food to slide on through the band resulting in you not getting that full feeling and taking in more than you should, or it can combine with your food to make a gummy mess and cause you to become "stuck."
Here's Lucy. Look closer.
If you said, "OMG is Barb pregnant and naming her baby Lucy!!!???" I am SO unfriending you! God is so wise, He knows at this stage in life I'm doing good to take care of a basset hound and honestly, some days He puts her in charge!
Okay, since you don’t have x-ray vision this is really Lucy.
Lucy (in my mind Loosey) is what I have named my Lap-Band. I’ve never been secretive about my decision to have weight loss surgery, nor have I gone to the mountain tops and yelled it for all the world to hear, but here’s why I decided to blog about my experience with it.
I have struggled with my weight for decades. If you've never been overweight here's how it usually works: Your self esteem is low anyway, then you see someone you know who has lost weight and while you really are happy for them - you think "If they can lose weight, why can't I lose weight???" You feel like a failure when others are successful and that usually results in more eating, your weight goes up even more, you feel even worse about yourself..... it is a vicious circle.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I could go on a diet (you name it I have been on it), and I would lose 30 pounds or so, but I would feel deprived and within a few months the pounds were creeping back on again and bringing their buddies with them. So each diet I attempted really resulted in a higher weight at the end of the process.
As I started to get older my health problems started mounting: high blood pressure, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, then high blood pressure not controlled on medication, then high cholesterol creeping up even on medication. Each time a new diagnosis was given, it was even more depressing and added to the vicious cycle. Both of my parents had heart problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, so my family history was really getting scary on top of what I was already experiencing.
About that time several things happened: an acquaintance’s husband passed away - he was just 2 months older than me, and seemed to be in good health. Why him and not me??? I then ran into an old acquaintance who had lost a lot of weight and told her how wonderful she looked (yep - you guessed it- let the vicious cycle begin!). She didn’t say how she had done it and I didn't ask, but in retrospect I am guessing she had some sort of surgery. Many people who have weight loss surgery are afraid to talk about it. There's a stigma attached to it and the words "taking the easy way out" are sometimes muttered by people who don't understand all that goes into it. But it's the fear of talking about it that results in us going through the vicious cycle. Lastly, about that time my sister-in-law was getting prepared for Lap-Band surgery and bless her heart - she talked about it!
I had looked at gastric bypass surgery online before and just felt it was too invasive for what I was comfortable with. I had also looked at Lap-Band surgery and had done some research. Each time I read the words "no soda" my research would stop right there. Seriously... give up soda!?? Next option!!
It was my sister-in-law doing it and talking about it, that made me realize it wasn’t a crazy option and it was the thought of not getting to play with my grandkids or be around to spend time with my husband and our family that sent me for a consultation. I admire anyone who can lose weight on their own, but in my case that was just not working.
So if you've stuck with me so far and are interested, here’s how Lucy works. The Lap-Band is placed around the upper part of the stomach to make a small upper stomach about the size of an egg like the picture above.
The band itself is a silicone ring (the center doughnut-shaped part above) and is placed around the stomach, leaving you with a small upper stomach and large lower stomach. The ring is hooked to tubing which is connected to a port on the end (the bottom part of the picture). The port is sewn to a muscle on my right side, kind of in the rib area, right under the skin. The benefit of the Lap-Band is that it is adjustable. In order to restrict how much you eat, which is the purpose of the band, a tiny needle with saline is inserted into my port (just a simple needle stick). The saline then travels through the tubing and as it reaches the band and fills the silicone ring, it tightens up, creating more restriction. More restriction means less food to make me feel full. It requires faithful visits to my surgeon to get the perfect restriction. If I am too tight (too much restriction) it is too hard to eat and I tend to go for malts, shakes, ice cream, things that go down easy, rather than good solid sources of protein. Been there done that. If that happens then I go in for an unfill (needle stick and 1/4 cc of saline or so pulled out). If I am too loose I am able to eat more than I should and I need to go in to have saline added. So it really is a partnership with your surgeon. It requires visits to your surgeon following surgery to slowly get you to the optimal restriction and a lifetime of getting fills or unfills as needed.
Just 2 weeks ago I ate some beef stew. I was liking it - Lucy.... not so much. I ended up not feeling well.. for 2 days. I was trying to figure out why I was so tight all of a sudden and why it wasn't going away like a typical stuck episode. I hadn't had a fill for 1-1/2 years so I shouldn't be too tight. I actually had an unfill 1 year ago of about 1/4 cc. So what was going on??? I ended up going to the doctor - realizing it doesn't matter what is causing it, if I'm tight, I need to get an unfill so I can eat good protein again. Many things can affect how "tight" the band feels: stress, hormones, flying in a plane, etc. So I relearned again, that I can't question how I feel, I just need to work with Lucy.
Quick story about stress and the band being tight. A quick change of plans 2 weeks ago and I had to pick up the U-haul trailer we took the piano to Chicago in. Now I have never pulled anything behind a vehicle in my life and with this small U-haul trailer attached to my car I felt like I was driving a semi! On the way to pick the trailer up my chest (band) kept getting tighter... and tighter. It felt like an elephant was sitting right on my band. When I went to pull out of the lot with the trailer attached (praying to God to just let me get home without hitting anything or embarrassing myself), the tightness was at an all-time high. As soon as I pulled up in front of the house, got out of the car, and got in the house - that tightness was gone! That was an education for me. Stress = tight.
Life with the band means protein first (60 grams a day is the goal), lots of water (which I don’t drink enough of ), exercise (again not enough - although I am active and living life again - no more couch potato), and no snacking. The goal is to eat smaller protein-filled meals, taking in less calories, making you feel full through the protein and food being held in the upper stomach longer... kind of sifting through to the lower stomach like sand in an hourglass - thereby losing weight. I was able to give up soda before surgery, but admit I have had probably 16 ounces in the 3 years since my surgery. I don’t like the taste of it, but the crispness of it I miss once in a great while. The reason for no soda is we aren't supposed to have carbonated beverages, as carbonation can expand that small pouch with time and would result in less restriction.
Things like shakes, cookies, etc. are called “slider foods” as high sugar things go right through the band. Things that can be difficult to eat include stringy foods such as roast beef, and things like soft bread, which are doughy. Think of what you eat that just doesn’t seem to break down well as you chew, those are the things that struggle to get through the stoma created by the band, can cause it to become “plugged”, and make you “stuck.” Rather than feeling this in your stomach, it is in your chest, as the upper part of the stomach is right below the bustline. In fact, when my stomach growls, I actually feel it in my chest now. Odd, but true!
The downside of the band is that when you are “stuck” your body produces more mucus to send to help digest the food that is causing the problem - (I always say “Mucus to the rescue!”), but with the stuck food already blocking the small hole leading to the larger portion of the stomach, the mucus backs up and… yep you guessed it. It can’t go down, so it has to come up. It is usually just the mucus that appears unless I have a really bad stuck episode. Luckily that doesn’t happen often, but it is part of life with the band. To help prevent that stuck issue small bites and chewing well is very important. It is also important to really pay attention to how quickly you are feeling full. One bite can be one bite too many.
Another rule is no drinking with meals. Water can do one of two things - it can either cause your food to slide on through the band resulting in you not getting that full feeling and taking in more than you should, or it can combine with your food to make a gummy mess and cause you to become "stuck."
I should also mention that you don't decide you want surgery and have it the next week. There is a long process you go through to be approved for surgery. The surgeon wants to make sure you realize this is not a quick fix, it will take work, and that band (if all goes well) will be with you FOREVER. There is a psychiatric evaluation and numerous education classes - and those are just the tip of the iceberg. It was about a 9-month process for me.
In the 3 years since my surgery I have lost 100 pounds. I’m not at the weight I had visions of getting to, but my health has improved and that is the barometer I have found is important in determining success. My surgeon is happy with my results too! I am still on blood pressure and cholesterol medication, but due to my family history my doctor said those may always be needed. However, rather than my blood pressure creeping up, even on medication, the new norm is now about 107/70. And the dietitian who took my fasting bloodwork told me my numbers are better than hers! They are pretty awesome I have to admit! I no longer have sleep apnea. I still snore once in a while, but it isn’t the gasping for breath that I had, more allergy related. Hopefully I’ve done what I can to stave off diabetes and heart problems, that’s all I can hope for.
Is the LapBand for everyone? Absolutely not. Neither is bypass, Weight Watchers, Adkins, Jenny Craig, you name it. The reason there are so many different weight loss programs and surgeries is that people have success with different things.
I know the Lap-Band "rules" may seem like a deal breaker for some (like the "no soda" was for me early on), but every health condition that needs improvement needs to have changes made, whether you are diabetic, have had a heart attack, or are trying to lose weight.
My hope is that people will see weight loss surgery for what it is - a life-saving measure. It's not an easy way out. I love Lucy and wouldn't trade her for the world. I wish she had been around decades ago. But she is only a tool. I have to try to make good choices and follow the rules or it was all for nothing. I'm not perfect - wasn't before the band and am not going to be after. The band does allow me to do less damage when the cravings call in that the binging I did in the past is just not possible, but in the end I need to listen to Lucy as she is in charge :)
The benefits have been numerous: more energy, I can keep up with the grandkids easier, I can hike with my husband, and I just plain feel better.
But the biggest benefit of my partnership with Lucy?
Getting to spend more time with these guys :)
Wonderful post Barb. After deciding to do the RnY, I know the hard work that goes into the lifestyle that we now have to live. Congrats on the weight loss.
ReplyDelete