Well, I thought it might be helpful to know what exactly I did. I mean apparently not everyone is up on their current weight loss surgeries. So here it is:
The surgery is laparoscopically performed; mine had 5 incisions. They place a band around the top part of the stomach, reducing it's size below the junction of the stomach and esophagus. The band has an inflatable balloon within it's lining to allow adjustment of the size of the stomach to regulate food intake. The small gastric pouch (the size of a golf ball) restricts the amount of food that can be consumed at a meal. Ingested food consumed passes through the digestive tract in the usual order, allowing it to be fully absorbed into the body. They then attache the access port to a stomach muscle (under the fat), so that they can they access the band around my stomach. This allows them to increase or decrease the amount of saline in the band; adjusting the restriction. They access the port with a needle.
The band that I have can inflate up to 10 cc. The more fluid you have in your band, the more constricted you are. When they performed the surgery, they filled my band to 3 cc - I guess that was the amount need to just be able to "install" it without having it move around or be too constricting with the post surgery swelling. Like I said previously, my first fill (which was at the end of November) they added 2 cc (bringing me to a total of 5 cc). On my second adjustment (Jan 3), the doctor added 1/2 cc (total 5 1/2 cc).
It seems that because he did such a small refill this time, my "recovery" from this fill is much faster. I definitely have my appetite back and it's only been 3 days. It's definitely shrinking (my appetite that is), but I still feel that I can eat a fair amount.
I chose this particular surgery and not the gastric bypass surgery, because I felt that it was a healthier option. I mean this is more of a weight loss tool than a weight loss method. Do you know what I mean? With this surgery, I think you are only as successful as the amount of effort you put in. You need to eat properly (you are getting much smaller amounts of food, and need to choose the right foods). And the secret to weight loss, no matter what approach you take, is balancing that equation. Now, I hate math, but what it boils down to is: If you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you intake. This surgery facilitates my equation (does that even make sense???). All that to say, that you have to excercise. You can only be über successful if you choose a healthy lifestyle. If you are ready to do that, than I think that this can only be moderately successful. I mean I think that no matter what you will lose weight with this surgery, but you may not obtain your goal if you aren't committed.
Another thing I liked about this surgery is that it is a slower, steadier weight loss. Not as dramatic as gastric bypass, but in the end you end up with the same overall accomplishments. The fact that it is slower (roughly 1-2 pounds per week) means that your body has time to adjust to the weight loss, and you may not need all that plastic surgery post weight loss.
I know you are all so terribly concerned, waiting with baited breath even, so I will let you know that Kelly has returned to work (after tending to her sick family - whateves!) and we will be walking tomorrow. I have already decided to have salad for lunch tomorrow, but will need to find a protein for it. Pretty excited. Sad but true.
Something else I noticed about this whole procedure, is that when I used to eat, it was like a love affair. I mean I LOVED everything from looks to taste to texture when it came to eating. Now, I feel way more like it's sustenance. I mean it's sad, but just the way things block my esophagus on the way down makes me really think hard as to what will be "easy", nutritious and not to boring. The fun has been taking out of eating, and I am not sure that is necessarily a bad thing. Not to say I don't enjoy heading out to the restaurant and having a lovely meal. Just that day to day eating is more... not sexy.
Let me know if you have any questions in particular. I am trying to share my experience and demystify the whole procedure.
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