Banded!!!!

Hi. It has been a while since I last posted.

What's with the title? Yep, I am banded! I had lapband surgery on January 28, 2009.

I have been overweight for almost 31 years. I lost 70 lbs at one point back in 2003-2004. I loved it. Then things started to go downhill after breaking up with Dustin..... gained back weight :(

I was thinking of the lapband back in 2005, but Group Health did not have that (they finally started that in fall of 2007). I kinda put it on backburner bec there were other issues going on with trying to find out why I was having so much pain in my back, it was finally diagnosed back in July 2006.http://pinkbubbles1.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html

Life was a blur until fall 2007 when my former employer announced that they were dropping Group Health and other carriers and going with Aetna. I was so mad. I didn't like Aetna so much. I did start thinking about the lapband process again in January 2008. I made an appt. for a consultation in April 2008 but I cancelled that because I got a new job with Group Health. As soon as my benefits at Group Health kicked in, I made an appt. with my PCP in May 2008. When I told him I was considering lapband, he "rolled his sleeves" and got right to work doing paperwork, going over medical history with me and made referrals.

Timeline:
May 20, 2008 met with PCP
June 24th, 2008 met with Pulmonary specialist on sleep apnea.
June 30th, 2008 met again with Pulmonary for testing (tested positive for sleep apnea - stopped breathing 39x hr.)
August 12, met with Julie Grimm, the case manager for baritac surgery.
October (I can't remember date) Mammogram
Had series of labwork
had to save up some money to pay for a year of Accomplish weight management counseling before they can give you a date.
Paid that end of Nov.
Got a surgery date on December 1 or 2nd via email from Julie saying January 28th. I got all excited. I started the countdown ticker on the Obesityhelp forum where I hang out.
Dec 10th. Met with Nutriutionist . Started 1200 calories ... lost 15 pounds on my surgery day! YAY! :) It is amazing how fast calories can add up by eating and liquid calories! YIKES. I played around on sparkpeople.com and inputted 15 funsize snicker bars and it came out to 2400 calories!!!! That's alot! Unbelieveable!!
Anyway back to timeline:
January 9th, orientation for 4 hours. It was very good and informative.
January 12th, met with surgeon Dr. Landers. He is very nice.
Had more blood work done that day.
Waiting....
waiting...
counting..... January 27th is here! Had to do all liquid that day, no food! No food or drink after midnight January 28th. Went to Overlake Hospital after work to register. UGH!
Mom came over the night before surgery to spend the night.
Woke up at 415 am, took a bath, got ready.
Left at like 5 am... dad and mom were too worried about traffic, but I just rolled my eyes at them because I know more about commute than they do since I am a commuter! Check in was at 625 am.
INterpreter showed up, friend showed up which I was very happy about.
A few mishaps along the way. First Overlake called for an interpreter the night before, and that interpreter showed up, we didn't need two, they didn't realize that my interpreter was already arranged for. So that interpreter left. I hope Overlake paid her for her wasted time!
Took me to my pre op room, gave me gown to change, I went into the shared bathroom to pee. I locked both buttons but the next room person came in and I screamed and swore! LOL ... it turned out the "In use" signal wasn't working in that other room. The person apologized to nurse which the nurse relayed the message to me. LOL. Then I got weighed, got in bed, just sat and chatted with interpreter and friend, then asked for my mom to come join us. Nurse came in, with questions, etc... putting IV in, etc.. the anesthia guy came in, very good looking! Then Dr. Landers came in. Then I got wheeled to the operating room. I don't remember being knocked out. I woke up, and I looked around, saw Dr. Landers smiling at me, and then interpreter came ... (grr the interpreter was supposed to be in room before I woke up). I was told that I kept signing "finished".. I think I was trying to ask if it was all done, but I don't remember that just do remember asking twice when the interpreter showed up.

I had to have insulin shots for the first time in my life :( Blood sugar went high to 258 after surgery. It is going down now. I have had 4 injections during my hospital stay.

I'm getting sleepy now so I will stop here and post more later tomorrow!