Goodbye Lap-Band, Hello Sleeve!

I have a new story to share with you!  It is a long one, so stay with me.  Especially you long time banded people.  I had always preached that the band was meant to last a lifetime and that fully intended to die with a band in my body.  I was an FDA Trial patient for the lap band and I working in the banding business for about 14 years.  I was the success story.  I dropped 200 pounds with my lap band and kept it off.  Well, that is until a few years ago.  

I started having issues.  I would spit up every night.  I usually could pinpoint what I had done wrong that day and promised that I would do better the next day.  Well, it happens for a few days and then that becomes a few months.  Then I started aspirating fluid out of my nose at night.  This would start about 20 minutes after I fell asleep and would continue at random times throughout the night.  I would wake up with loads of mucus coming out of my nose.  It was awful!  At times it would burn.  It did not matter if I had eaten early or late, liquid or solid, alcohol or none.  I always promised myself that I could correct this and would do better.  It had gotten so bad, that it was rare NOT to aspirate at night.  I was exhausted!  I wasn't getting any worthwhile sleep.  I had fluid removed.  I gained some weight.  I had fluid put back in.  I aspirated every night.  I had fluid removed.  I gained weight.  And so on, etc.

I got sick several times last year.  Since I had lost all the weight 15 years ago, I was never sick.  Last year, I had 3 times where my temperature was over 101.  The last time I ended up with pneumonia.  This was a more chemical type of pneumonia because it was due to all the times I was aspirating at night, fluid was going into my right lung.  That was over Thanksgiving.  I spent it in bed.  Scared. 

I am Director of Bariatrics at USMD Hospital at Arlington.  The surgeons I work with had come across so many people that were having issues with the band, that they decided that they would no longer place bands into a body.  They have done quite a few removals over the past few years and many band to sleeve or band to bypass operations.  They felt that there were too many complications with the band that made it old technology.  When I got sick at Thanksgiving, they all asked me if I was listening to them now.  I was.  At this point, I had gained back 50 of the 200 pounds I had lost.  I was the FDA Trial Patient.  I was the success.  I helped hundred of people get bands.  I was a failure.

The numerous fill/unfill I had under fluoroscopy  showed my band in perfect position.  I also had a CT scan.  It also showed the band in perfect position.  I decided to get my band out and convert to a sleeve.

I came through surgery well, but found out it had been a 5 hour surgery due to the large amount of scar tissue they had found.  I had web-like scar tissue all over.  Just to lift my liver off of my stomach, a process that takes about 5 minutes, it took them 1.5 hours as the scar tissue had fused my liver and stomach together. They had to cut the tubing in several locations to get the tube out of the body.  When this happens, your band, which is pressurized, loses all its fluid.  Mine did not.  They found my band was encased in scar tissue.  It had clamped down on the tubing.  No fluid was getting in or out.  So, when I got those fills and unfills?  Chances are, they were taking fluid in and out of the tubing only.  They had to pop the band in order to get it out of my body.  

My esophagus had sort of made a stomach for me since so little was getting through.  I am told this will go back to normal in about 4 months.  My stomach itself was looking good.  He said it was nice and small.  Yay.  Something was small!.

I am 3 weeks out from surgery and feeling pretty good.  I am down 25 pounds (half of the weight I gained) and not hungry.  Not one bit!  I am getting my protein in and my water.  I have to really follow the rules because I am in Bariatrics, but to be honest, they are not hard to follow.  I am actually getting sleep at night, which is awesome!

Ok, so here is my point: once I told some people what happened to me, all the sudden I am getting emails and texts from my longtime banded friends stating how they had to convert due to issues OR others are stating that they are HAVING issues.  

The take away?  If you are having issues, look into it.  If I had waited much longer, we could have been looking at infection and that would have been so much worse!  Get your band checked.  Be smart.  If your doctor is a doctor that only places bands, get s second opinion.  I can recommend 3 excellent surgeons here in Arlington.  Get it checked out.  Mine showed perfect placement.  They didn't know until they were in there, what a mess it actually was.  I constantly had a raspy voice.  I sounded like I always had a cold. My body was sending signals. I chose to ignore those signals.  If it can happen to me, it can happen to you.

Ok, I have taken up enough of your time.  No longer banded, but loving my sleeve!
Cynthia Jones O'Kelly

Change and Fear Go Hand in Hand

My LapBand is making me sick.  It needs to come out of my body.  That means surgery.  Dang!  I am not the type of person who likes to resort to surgery on a whim.  I have thought this out since I got Pneumonia at Thanksgiving.  I also added 15 pounds since the fluid was removed from my band.  I looked over my journal from 2014 and noticed I had been sick with fever 3 additional times.  It seemed like I was always dealing with a stuffy nose or some sort of sinus issue.


I don't like being sick all the time.  It interferes with my life.  Once the fluid was removed, I ate everything.  Pants got tight and my extensive wardrobe dwindled to just a few pieces that fit.  I was not about to go and buy anything new as I was not going to remain at this size.


On Tuesday, January 27, I am going to convert to the gastric sleeve.  I have done all the thinking and research and believe this will be the best step for me.  My surgeons did loads of conversions last year and once I made the decision, I have found that quite a few of my old banded buddies have had to convert to the sleeve as well.  Seems that I am following a trend. 


Change.  ARGH!  My life will drastically change for the next few months.  Currently I am on liquids prior to surgery.   I have already gotten through breaking the sugar addiction and am impressed that I didn't kill anyone.  Just a side note:  we really have way too much sugar in regular foods.  Eat clean people!  Read labels and know what is going in your mouth.  Low fat products usually mean added sugar.


I feel like I am getting a reset.  Am I scared?  Of course!  I trust my team and my decision.  It has been great getting tips and tricks from my patients.  They are so supportive.  So, stay tuned for a completely new point of view. 


Oh and if you could say a little prayer for me on Tuesday morning, I would be grateful!