Lap Band Reversal

 
It could be that the purpose of your life

is only to serve as a warning to others.

- Demotivators from Despair, Inc.

Possible post-op complications 
to the lap-band include:
- Ulceration.
- Gastritis (irritated stomach tissue).
- Erosion (the band may erode the tissue on the outside of the stomach and enter the gastric lumen).
- Incisional infection
- Incision pain
- Leakage from band.
- Port site pain
- Port displacement
- Slippage/Pouch dilation (part of the stomach may prolapse over the band causing an obstruction).
- Constipation
- Dysphagia
- Diarrhea
- Gastroesophageal reflux
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Productive Burping, regurgitation of swallowed food from the upper pouch.

- Anne Collins on Gastric Banding

 

In my effort to find balance and to avoid being a fanatic (a fanatic never changes their mind and never changes the subject) I tried to look at the bright side of having the gastric bypass surgery in 2006.

Though I spend lots of energy argue that taking off weight does not require gut surgery and being negative about weight loss surgery in geneal, I forget how I benefited from the gastric bypass. 

I forgot that it was no ordinary gastric bypass.
My surgery was a reversal.
My bypass was a take-down of the slipped, deflated, leaky adjustable gastric band ("lap band" is the name of the band you insert via laproscopic surgery, my band was full incision)
that had tortured me for 17 years.

Though the band had stopped working (it no longer restricted my eating and NEVER restricted my appetite as it had promised) it was still in there
digging into my stomach,
causing pain,
hiccups,
a chronic cough,
reflux,
loose burning stool
and the occasional inability to hold down my food if I didn't chew it.

That band was a nightmare.
It hurt.

Because the band was surrounded by adhesions and scar tissue
my surgeon had to scrape the damned thing out of me before he could
perform the RNY bypass.

He did it beautifully.
I mean, I am one lucky so and so.



Really.
I sometimes sit in awe just thinking how fortunate I was to have such a good surgeon
to reverse the old surgery.

Lord knows the damage I would have suffered had I left that malfunctioning band inside me.
I got it out.
I am SO grateful.

Even the fallout from the gastric bypass is manageable because I had a brilliant surgeon.
I hear such horror stories about
espophogeal hernias,
abcesses,
ulcers,
obstructions,
(click here for more)
and other tragedies.
I count myself grateful that my main complaints
aren't nearly as acute as those suffered by others.

I am able to get plenty of food into my body.
My body can assimilate some of the nutrients.
That's something to be grateful for.

In comparison to the suffering of others who
have had the same surgery I'm doing OK.

Of course, I'd like to be better than OK.
OK is barely getting me out of bed in the morning.
I need FANTASTIC!!
Or at least PRETTY GOOD!!

For now I'll aim for Pretty Good and set higher goals once I get there.


*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
She's glad she had the surgery.
She's glad that she lost weight.
But this beautiful, smart, young girl
calls herself a failure.
Why?
The weight is coming back.
Her body is desperate for nutrition
and balance so it's holding onto the fat.
She uses the word 'journey' a bunch.
click here or click below