I started with such great expectations. In 2009, the Lap-Band system for gastric banding made by Allergan was going to be my savior. At first it was, I had the surgery March 22, 2010 and I rapidly lost about 50 pounds, feeling better than ever. Then last August, I came to a stand-still. Despite following my diet and exercising at the Y, I stopped losing weight. I had gone from a 30/32 on top and a 26/28 on bottom to an 18/20 on top and a 22 on the bottom. Not exactly where I had planned to be, but doable, especially because I was going to lose more weight. Except that I didn’t. No, in all actuality, I gained about 10 pounds. And nothing else had changed except for some of my psychotropic medicines that I take for my multiple mental illness diagnoses.
Then the dysphagia started. I got the stomach flu and couldn’t keep anything down in October. They loosened my band. In November, I went in for an adjustment and they took more fluid out. Of course I wasn’t losing weight without my tool. Yes, I blamed it on that and not the holiday cookies that slid down so easy. After the holidays, the vomiting started up again. Every time I ate anything healthy, it came right back up. I( was living on protein shakes, soup, and even those things didn’t always work.
That’s when I started eating slider foods (food that would break down in my mouth like cookies and crackers), because that is what was staying down. I gained five more pounds. Every time I tried chicken or meatloaf, I would throw up violently. The one exception was fish. I could always eat fish, until I couldn’t.
During this time my diet declined even further and I wasn’t even trying to eat something I couldn’t eat with a straw. Do you know how many calories you can take in with a straw? It was enough that I gained 3 more pounds, bringing weight lost to 38 lbs.
So I went and had my band deflated more. Yet this time I was so blocked water didn’t make it through. That night the heartburn started. The lap-band is not recommended for patients with a history of heart-burn or GERD, yet this was never brought up to me when I applied for my surgery. Had I known I may have had a RNY stomach stapling procedure. I would wake up in the middle of the night my chest on fire. One night it was so bad I went to the ER thinking I was having a heart attack. There I learned that my lap-band had slipped. I saw my surgeon the next day, and he deflated me the rest of the way. Even this did not help. The heartburn was constant and by this point all I could keep down was water and a watered down protein shake. Yet on this diet, I waited another week. Then I saw my surgeon again. I told him I wanted my lap-band out, that I was done. It was at this moment that I felt at peace for the first time since I started having problems. I was taking charge of my life. I was going to eat again. I was going to have a quality life.
This also meant that I had to be honest with myself. The lap-band and I had failed at the “miracle” that was going to make me thin. So I did some research, and I am astounded by some of the specifics. The lap band has almost a 40% 5-year failure rate, with failure being either a reoperation to fix the problem (6.3% band slippage) or less than a 25% excess weight loss (so 51.5 pounds, which I never reached, would have been my 25%). More staggering is the only 43% 7-year success rate, with a person losing 50% of the extra weight loss (about 103 lbs for me if I had been successful.). In fact, had I been successful, I would have still been an obese 235. According to the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, Gastric banding can “no longer be considered as the procedure of choice for obesity” (Obesity Surgery, July 2006).
I had the removal surgery on August 8, 2011. I stuck to liquids for the first few days, but enjoyed a bowl of strawberries and blueberries this afternoon. My family had pizza for dinner. I had one slice and am satisfied.
So what is next for me? I’m considering Weight Watchers. I am also food and exercise journaling. Next Thursday I meet with an endocrinologist. Maybe she’ll have some answers. And maybe not. Maybe I’ll gain back the weight I lost. No one really knows. However in most cases it is calories in and calories out. A healthy life is the life I want, and now I know I am strong enough to make those choices.
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