Alix's Lap Band Journey Thing
To start out, I really suck at making web pages. This is like- the 3rd one I've ever made, so please dont laugh... I will update this as much as I can to make it the least sucky (sp) as possible... :)
Continuing... I decided about 10 minutes ago to make this page. It is 3:35pm, May 4th, 2003. I am having my surgery on the 14. In case you're bad at math, that's less than 2 weeks. I started researching WLS when Carnie Wilson went public with hers. Long time ago- yes, but sh*t happens and I got off track. I'll be doing that alot on this page as well. Anyway, I started this page for 2 reasons. 1 was to keep myself on track during the before and after process, and 2 was to try to help everyone else who is considering the surgery and can only find complicated web sites and needs something plain and boring and easy to understand :D
Ok- to make a long story short, I moved away from home after high school, broke my feet (long story), healed and moved away again, and ran out of money and came home- again. I wasn't a big believer in the whole 'destiny' thing until now, and yes, I will proceed in telling you why. Since I have been back home, I decided to put my education degree on hold and try to become a cosmetologist. Needless to say, that blew and I dropped out. BUT- I still somehow manage to convince the girls at the Beauty Supply store that I'm
still in school- so I get a huge discount. Anyway, I was chatting with one of the girls there (who's like- a size 7), and somehow we got on the topic of my fine hair. She said that was nothing, because when she had her furgery almost all her hair fell out. I was like- What the hell kind of surgery was that (notice my tact) and she told me she had the Gastric Bypass. I was like- Wow the Carnie Wilson thing- blablabla... She said she would do it again in a heartbeat, even considering all the crap she went through. So I went home and started re-looking into it. It seemed like such a dramatic thing- with vitamins, and hair loss, and "dumping" and all that... So I decided that I was to much of a coward to do all that, so that's when I stumbled upon the LAP band.
That was a few months ago. Since then, I went back to school for education, and am now in the summer of my 4th year. No, not my senior year, my 4th year. LOL.
Anyway- I finally decided that the LAP band was what I wanted/needed, whatever. I have always been overweight but I somehow kinda brushed it off... I got the "pretty face" thing more often than I care to remember. I was in cheerleading and dance team for a while, but was always the 'big girl' and at the bottom of the pyramids. Needless to say, the teasing got worse, and I dropped out of Nationals, which- to my amazement- we ended up winning.
May 16, 2003
well i finally had the surgery on the 14th. but before i get started on that, let me say something about the pre op tests. i DID NOT have to have a camera put down my throat. i had blood taken, a chest xray, a sonogram, and an ekg. no camera thing at all. just to clarify...
ok, so back to the surgery. i wasnt allowed to drink anything past midnight the night before, but neither was my friend kaylee, whos surgery was two hours before mine. so i figured that i would have 2 extra hours to drink. which would have helped if i hadnt been sleeping. anyway. the morning of surgery i was hysterical. thank God my mother was there. a few times i could have turned right around and gone home, if it was possible. needless to say it wasnt, and we went to the hospital. we had to arrive there at 8:30 for my surgery at 10:30, but of course, the traffic here in monterrey totally blows, and we didnt get there until about 9. but we went to admissions, did all that crap, and got brought into the back to change into a gown. they let my mom come with me which was a big relief. of course i couldnt wear anything underneath the gown, so my mom walked behind me on the way back to my little section. they gave me some kind of calming pill, which totally didnt work. then proceeded to give me an iv. well, after about 15 tries of stabbing my veins, a doctor referred to as īdraculaī finally put an iv just below the elbow on the top of my arm. damn tiny veins. they ended up giving me ANOTHER pill to calm my nerves (the first one had worn off by the time i finally got ready to go) and i got whisked off to the operating room. at this time i was supposed to be drowsy, but was still managing to keep a constant conversation with the doctors. i remember going into the room and getting rolled next to the operating table, and asking me if i could get over to it. i guess i still had enough energy because i managed to just leap right over to it. then i had some ace bandages wrapped around my legs and some other stuff happened but im not sure what. the last thing i remember was dracula telling me to enjoy the margaritas in my iv and that was it.
-now the fun part. waking up. all i remember is excrutiating pain in my stomach. well, and i remember asking the nurses for some medicine for my pain, and they held up theirthumb and pointer finger and did the īlittle bitī sign, and walked away! i was like, what the hell, you didnt give me a little bit of medicine, you didnt give me anything!!! apparently they were telling me i would get my medicine in a little bit, but i was unaware of that at the time. after a while, somehow i finally got some drugs and remember hearing some lady telling me that she couldnt find my mom.(she was walking around the hospital trying to get in her daily walks). anyway, i was wheeled through the hospital, on a big elevato, and put into this really big room under an enormous light. some guy was with me and told me that i would need to change beds, and i did somehow... and i layed there by myself for what seemed like an hour, but was really like 10 minutes. the light was right over me, and was so hot, and the room was so quiet and empty and i had no idea where i was. finally my mom came in and turned down the horrible light, turned on the tv and adjusted my bed. sigh... relief... i still felt like i was going to die, but it was a lot better. i got more pain killers at this time, and met one of dr. rumbautīs assistants, dr. moralis. hes 24 and about 6feet tall and my mother apparently thought he was very attractive. i have to admit, he is cute, but i was in pain and am happily with someone so i wasnt really paying attention... they told me the surgery went perfectly, no complications. and i got the inamed band that i wanted. there was a chance they were going to have to put the new johnson and johnson swedish band in, but only if my stomach was extra large, or something like that... anyway, my mother stayed with me in the hospital that night, and the next night (i just wanted to be extra careful) and i got released back to the hotel today. walking is still pretty difficult, but i think im doing better than i had thought i would. im also eating a lot more, which is kinda sh*tty. but hey, the first 6 weeks are about healing, not losing weight... i must keep reminding myself. anyway, mom is sick of playing on the other computer, so we will now ascend back up to our room. out flight is tomorrow afternoon, and we will be arriving in orlando late tomorrow night, so i will try to update this on sunday.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Ok, so I didn't update it on Sunday. lol. Anyway, it's been 1 week and 1 day since I went under the knife, and suprisingly, I dont feel that bad. I still have some pain around my port site, and the incisions are itchy as hell, but other than that, I feel pretty ok. What sucks though, is that since I'm young, I heal much faster than the older people, and I have a lot less swelling... How does this suck you ask? Well, I feel like I could eat a cow, thats how. I am completely starving! I'm still on liquids for another 6 days, then on to SOFT FOOD!!! I think when I get there I'm going to eat about 20 lbs. of mashed potatos. Also, the fact that I quit smoking a week before surgery isn't helping much either. For some reason, I dont think I'm allowed gum (and Dr. Rumbaut hasn't writtin back to tell me for sure) so there goes the Nicorette. SIGH... The things I do to be pretty.
I saw a website yesterday about some protein vitamins or whatever, with a girl on it named Wendy. She was about my size, and had the gastric bypass. Holy sh*t is she hot now. (From a total straight girl standpoint) She looks like she could be the postergirl for Hooters or something. I'm like WOW I WANNA LOOK LIKE HER!!! So I printed out her pictures and put them in my folder. Oh, thats a major reccomedation from me- get a big binder and print out everything you can find on the band. I have a bunch of different sections in mine: Doctor (all stuff about Dr. Rumbaut), Medical (all the medical stuff behind the band), Journals (Stories and Journals that I have found helpful), Inspiration (100 reasons to lose 100 lbs, etc), Rules (rules of the band), and Ads (different protein things, etc). And I also printed out the entire LAPband patient book, and put it in the back. I know it may seem excessive, but it has been extremely helpful. I highly reccomend making the folder to everyone. I will try to scan in some of mine so you can print it out, but it will probably take a year for me to figure out how to do that. So maybe I'll just put a link to all the pages and you can print them out that way. LOL. My centralflabandsters yahoo group is meeting again on june 7, at denny's near the fashion square mall, in east orlando. I've only met a few of the girls (at the last meeting) but they're the nicest, most sincere bunch I've ever met. If you live in central florida, I also reccomend joining. I seem to reccomend a lot. LOL. I have to remember to get the digital camera from my boyfriend's house so I can take my 'before' picture and put it on here. Ok that's about all for now, I'm going to try to put the links in now. I'll write soon.
Monday, June 2, 2003
19 days post op. Wow. Almost 3 weeks. In a little over a week I can eat REAL FOOD again! LOL. Today at work, my friend told me that she could really see that I've lost weight. Today I wore my infamous black pants (that I wear every day to work) and a not baggy black shirt. She was like "Wow, you're getting skinny!" LOL. Very nice compliment, yes, but I've only lost like 10 lbs, and I guess last time I worked she couldnt see it through my baggier shirt. hahaha. Everyone I work with was asking me sooo many questions about it. I have no idea how many times I had to lift up my shirt and show my incisions. Now about 3 other girls want to get it done. One held up a $2 tip and said something along the lines of "only 9,998 more to go!" It was pretty funny. For some reason, we cant seem to find the battery charger for the digital camera, so that's the only reason I havent posted pics yet- there are none.
Yesterday I bought some of the Luzianne smoothie stuff, and I had one and it was sooo good, but today I saw the carbs in it. HOLY SH*T!!! There's like 19 in an 8oz serving. So back to Publix it goes... Sigh. I'm always so hungry now. I probably dont drink enough water, and everyone says that most of hunger pains are actually dehydration, but I think that's a bunch of crap, and I'm just really hungy. I would kill for some swelling right about now. I had a whole can of cream of broccoli cheese soup with pieces of blended chicken in it, an ensure, and a yogurt smoothie- for lunch. Sigh... I cant wait to be full off of like- a third of a yogurt. But no, I'm young and virile or something, so I heal well... I keep trying to remember that the first 6 weeks arent about losing weight, but about healing, but it's really hard. I want to look like Kate Moss so bad! LOL. Well, ok not exactly THAT skinny, but Angelina Jolie definately. Anyway, that's about all that's new here, well, in the WLS front that is. I will keep looking for that stupid charger so I can get some pics.
