how long did you think about WLS before you had it

It seems forever ...... but, in reality it has been a few years.
Seriously though, last year I spoke to my GP in canberra about WLS and she went through my WL history and felt I should give Reductil a try first. Ok i did about 5 months on it and lost 2kgs. Then i had to have my right knee replaced and then we moved to Qld and I lost my wonderful GP!
My best friend and I were talking about WL and she told me I would be a fool not to pursue it because of the health repurcussions if I didn't!
Even after that conversation it took me a couple of months..... I sent away for information from J&J who manufacture a lap band and went through it all, visited a few websites and was amazed there was more than just bands and bypasses!
Had the surgeons number by the computer for about a week before I got up the guts to call and when the receptionist asked when I would like an appointment i told her as soon as possible so I didn't chicken out. I had a free appt. with the practice manager/nurse who went through all the options etc. and then made another appt. with the surgeon. It's been an absolute whirlwind for me as i know that there is no other way for me.....roll on September 3rd! It's the day after my 1 yr anniversay of my new knee.....and that's another reason I want to lose weight, so my knee will last longer!!
And that's my story...... a bit of a rambler aren't I

Cheers,
Linda

Hi there,
my "journey" started when a close girlfriend had a lap band June last year. After she lost over 20kgs by November, I thought to myself "I am not going to wake up tomorrow and eat healthily for the rest of my life, I have to do something about this!"

So I started reading about Lap BAnds (something I have been opposed to as a nurse, because I got to look after the people with complications years ago) and found literature about the sleeve. Honestly, the lights just went on!!!!

For Oct/ Nov, I just thought about it, then in December, I went go for it girl!!!!! I made the decision to "get done" in Jan / Feb.

I was sleeved in early FEb, and 28 kgs down (now at Dr's goal, still a few off mine) here I am!

I am so glad this op exists!!!!

Sophia

You don't get to 166Kg without being an expert about denial.

I first came across someone back in the early 90's who had stomach stapling and the change was dramatic.

I always thought (denial) that surgery was an extreme and in New Zealand you have to be near death for the public system to cover the procedure.

Despite my weight I haven't suffered any chronic issues apart from some joint pain etc, approaching 45 I realised that my ability to stay healthly was diminishing.

About 2 years ago I made an active decision to make a change in my life by eating 6 to 7 small meals a day and I have maintained a weight of between 142-144 kg.

To continue to lose weight I would have to starve myself and like many others I felt that I won't have the stamina to go the distance.

This site and other research lead me to the decision of getting on with it. I was opting for a lapband but changed to a sleeve, I was in denial, obesity is a disease and a permanent solution is required.

I look forward to my surgery on Sept 28th and I thank this forum for the support todate.

Surgery in this country isn't cheap (17-20K), finally had my private insurer make a contribution ($7.5K), but the difference in cost is cheap when you compare the quality of life and length of life I will achieve.

Haven't already spent 2 years eating small meals, I will still need to make some changes, but quality of food is far more important to quantity.

Ive finally got some time to sit and write, so here goes-
I thought about having a lap band done on and off for several years, but I was always a little afraid, so i would give some new diet regime a go first and end up losing some piling on more and being unhappy. I was at uni, and I hated going on teaching prac's because kids are blunt and honest and I was the fat lady, no matter how much i tried to be the best teacher I could be.

After my last prac (2 weeks in the library doing grades K-6) I found it so difficult to be on my feet all day, and keep up and have good energy, I thought I needed to do something about it. I resigned myself to having a lapband, and even after the info night in December, realising I had to move home to have it done by the surgeon I knew, I took a leave of absence from uni to get it done. I was very lucky that mum and dad work together, and offerred me a couple of days a week, and full weeks when they had to go away for work, so Ive not had to search for a job only to take leave for the op.

Mum and I jobshare, so she is enjoying a bit of time off, and doing things around the home, and I am enjoying being kept busy, if only to realise how badly I want to finish my degree and be a teacher!

When I saw the nurse, about an hour before the surgeon, she had had her sleeve done 2 weeks before and was telling me about that, and basically the thing that swung my decision was the no ongoing visits to the dr, and being able to eat everything just smaller amounts. This suited me better as I had planned to take a teaching position further west than where we live, and there are no surgeons out there to keep having follow up sone.

When I saw the Dr. an hour later, I said I was having a sleeve, and he agreed with me and then we booked it in, and two months later I was done. (had a family wedding and I was a bridesmaid so it waited a bit longer than i wanted)

Now I have lost over 31kg, and I am feeling so much more normal than I ever have before, I havent been this size since leaving school, and that was about 9 years ago...

Hi Moolie,

Thanks for your good wishes. It's something I hadn't heard of either! The lap band and bypass were the only proceedures I'd heard of. The sleeve was the recommended op. I'm halfway through my puree stage now. And,.....I've driven today for the first time! Life is returning to normal...just a lighter, newer version of normal.

A friend called today and commented on my weight loss so far. I haven't told many people, but probably will eventually!!

Thanks again. It's good to chat!!

Moolie---

Quote :

Us canny Scots (well especially this one) won't part with my cash without a good bit of research first - LOL

You made me laugh my mum is from scotland and would say this all of the time :-)

Best wshes
chrystale

You are more than welcome Daisy May.

I hadn't even heard of the sleeve until my consultant mentioned it at my first appointment. Us canny Scots (well especially this one) won't part with my cash without a good bit of research first - LOL.

The only reason my consultant did not fully explain the sleeve cause he said that there was no long term data (well not past 5 years anyway) so the bypass is the surgery most recommended. But he did add that people who had the sleeve as a means to getting a bypass (due to being in a medical high risk category) were coming back and saying that they were happy with the sleeve and didn't want the bypass. This made me research it and find this wonderful site. YEE HA.

Keep us updated DM and as I said before ask anything!

Thanks Del. Thanks Moolie.

It's just amazing ..... I'd only ever seen this done on TV and read about it in magazines ....and then of course the people don't seem real. And now here I am among people just like me who've taken the same path!!
WOW!!

Hi Daisy May

Welcome and congrats on your op. I too thought about the op for a while and tried to get it done on the NHS but couldn't. I like you found my health beginning to really suffer and it was all due to my weight. I am 10 days post op and doing fine on my liquid diet.

This is a great site and gave me the confidence to go ahead with the op and that I was doing the right thing. I was the first one to be sleeved in Aberdeen so I am out on a limb. There is a gastric support group but no one with a sleeve.

Thanks girls & guys for the continued support

hi daisy may,

congrats on your new life!!!! it's the best decision you could have made!!!!

hugs

del.

Two years ago (2007) the Health Commission refused my GP's request for funded surgery. My own enquiries made me think that to spend all that money on me was too indulgent.
However, one year later I made my own appointment with the bariatric nurse and discussed the options. I resolved to give myself another year and if nothing happened then I would go for surgery.
Then six months later, at Christmas 2009, things started to go downhill. I was diagnosed as a borderline diabetic but even that fear didn't stop my compulsive habits. So, after discussion with the GP, and this time armed with real determination, I met the surgeon, the anaesthatist, dietician had the medical checks done and hey presto, here I am three weeks after surgery and feeling well. In the end it all happened so quickly and I am so glad it's done. I feel able to look positively to the future and hopefully with better health!! I have had huge support from a fellow sleever who introduced me to this site.......it's great!

YIPPEE!!

hi ricey

it was first mentioned to me years ago when i had my gall bladder out, i said no. then three years ago i was diagnosed with PA and decided then i would get the band done, only it took me ages to find a surgeon, then i decided against it, two reasons, couldn't afford it and didn't like the surgeon. then i met apple and she told me about her surgeon, he made me wait a year pretty much to the day and he offered the sleeve not the band, which i didnt really want. very happy with the decision

Probably only one nano second.

In 2003 a friend at work told me about her sister who had the lapband done and had lost so much weight. I went straight to my doctors and asked for a referal. Probably only waited a couple of months for the actual surgery.

I had never heard of any 'bad' things about the band. I suppose coz it was all so new and exciting. Only ever lost about 15 kilos with the band. I still had about 30 kilos to get to the healthy weight range.

Then another friend had a cousin that had the sleeve surgery and I knew this was what I needed. The permanancy of never being able to over eat. Saw my doctor and booked the lapband removal immediately.

Sleeve surgery booked in for the 15th of September 2009.

I'm not sure how long I thought about WLS as an option for my excess weight but I do know that when I went to the surgeon in June 2008 I was looking at the Lap Band. After discussing this he told me about the sleeve. It only took me seconds to realise out of the two if I was going to have anything done it was going to be the sleeve. Now 14 months on I am just waiting on a surgery date. I am 100% confident about the procedure and excited about the future. Bring it on!!! lol

I thought about WLS, specifically a lap band, for quite a while, but not for me!! I probably spent about 12 months, on and off, researching and investigating it.

Then one day impulsively,I made a phone call and found them to be so helpful and encouraging that I made the appointments - for ME! I guess I'd been in denial before this, always thinking I could do it for myself - which I could temporarily, but always gained back with extra!

So I had a band in March 2007 which failed and then went onto the sleeve in April this year!

I didn't think about it for very long at all...

Someone mentioned to me in June 2008 they were having lap banding done. I didn't really start thinking about it until a month later. GP appointment on 4 August 2008, initial surgeon appointment on 11 August 2009 and surgery on 1 September 2008.

People may think I was a bit hasty and didn't think it through, but nine months later and I have no regrets. I wasn't completely convinced about the band, but when I heard about the sleeve, I just knew that was for me.

Kaili.

Less than 1 second

I had begged my cardiologist to clear me for a gastric bypass for about four years - ever since my first heart attack and he absolutely refused- said it was way too dangerous. Then a year ago now - June of 2008 I heard about the lap band for the first time and he said he would consider it. Went on line and learned about the sleeve (mostly here) in the week before I went to the weight loss surgeon and he said that the was a better choice for me... would I consider it - and I was jumping up and down saying yes, yes, yes. The cardiologist very, very reluctantly went along with him if the surgeon agreed to take extra precautions.

I was really worried about doing the band because I had heard of so many people who didn't lose much weight with it, and I was terrified that I would be one of them but I was willing to give it a try but when I heard I could get the sleeve- well that decision was absolutely positively instantaneous. And never, never, never have I regretted it... not even once.

Hmm well my story isnt that much different to most of you

Had heard about it...probably kidded myself that I didnt need it...mind you I cannot remember the last time I was under 100kgs!! so I did need it :)

Thought about it seriously about 2 years ago, I was finished with my babies, 3 is plenty (plus we foster children as well) and now it was time for me...but my husband and I broke up for about 6 weeks, in the first 2 weeks I lost 11kgs (obviously not the healthy way), we got back together and started sorting our issues and I put back on 3kgs. I was 129kgs the heaviest I had ever been before the separation. So i decided not to let the loss go regardless of how it happened...I went on Celebrity Slim shakes and in 3 months I had lost 24kgs...got closer to 100 than I had been in god knows when...but 3 months of hard work and drinking non stop...thats how it felt anyway...lol I got fed up...plus I was feeling great...bottom line is I am back to 124kgs.

Went to the doc, more than happy to provide referral, she delivered my 16yo all those years ago and knew that I had been struggling with my weight since a youngin :) Went to info session wanting the band, walked out wanting the sleeve!!

Took out PHI and am still waiting, but its drawing closer ;)

I wistfully thought of weight loss surgery for years and years having heard so many success stories about people with lap bands and knowing a few of those people myself.
It wasn't until a close friend started to investigate a band for herself and told me about the ability to access your superannuation to fund the surgery that I realised surgery could really be a reality for me. She had the option of a band or a sleeve, was initially leaning towards a sleeve but ended up getting a band last December. I really wish she had got the sleeve. My surgery was about a month later and my results have been so much better than hers in terms of weight loss and she has already struggled with fill levels etc and able to eat a lot more than me.
Thankfully she is a true friend and doesn't seem to resent my results. I would really miss her friendship if that became an issue. We were operated on by the same surgeon and I am trying to encourage her to exercise more and get the maximum benefit from her band too. I really hope she gets to where she wants to be as well.
Anyway, once I knew about the super scheme I pretty much booked a consultation straight away. Took a couple of weeks to get an initial appointment but booked my surgery date that same day. Another 4 weeks wait until date of surgery and the rest is history.

It's been two years since I starting looking into it. I like many first looked at lapband surgery, I watched the boards and read everyday about people with bands and decided I wanted one. So I took out private health insurance and waited.

Then for financal reasons I had to drop my private health insurance and had given up hope. But it was a dream I still wanted, so I continued to read the message boards most days, wishing it was me talking about it.

Then I came across the sleeve, and instantly I knew that was for me. Set and forget, living in the country also without decent medical help if anything went wrong with the band like a blockage or something would mean a 2 hours trip to Adelaide to get it sorted as well as fills etc. I also read so many things about the band, slippages, ports flipping, band rejections, etc and thought it was just too hard being so far away from medical help.

Then my circumstances changed again, I got a real job with a regular fortnightly pay. The very first pay I took out my private health insurance again and this will be ready to go from 31st July, which happens to be the date I see the surgeon.

It's taken a while, but now I'm getting so excited because it is really becoming a reality for me now, I can't wait to change my life, I don't have much support from family, they think it's just going to be yet another failed attempt, and why waste so much money. Well I'm doing this for me, I'm finally doing something that I've really wanted for myself.

They can all swallow their words when the results prove themselves.

I had been looking at different types of WLS on & off for 12years ( was even looking at going over seas to get it done) a year after I gave birth to my oldest son. I had seen a number of surgens but decided to wait until I had all of my children incase I put on more weight which I did do. I went on & off PHI during this time as I still was unsure what I wanted to do, I mainly heard of stomach stapling & bypass which I'm not suitable for & I heard of people getting 2 stomaches from staples. I put my name down twice to sit in a lapband seminar but didn't go. Then when I lost Hope ( I lost her near my 2nd Tri) I decided I was going to get it done. I fell pregnant with Kaeden with help of meds & metformin (I have PCOS) waited until he was born and that all was alright with him. Called up put my name down for the lapband seminar and went. Was all for the lapband but as soon as I heard about the sleeve I knew that was the better one for me. So for WLS on & off 12 years, Time I thought about getting the sleeve less than 30min

Chrystale :-)

I waited three years to have mine done. I researched weightloss surgery for 2 years then was just over 1 year getting on and waiting on public listing. x

DUSTY wrote:

I have been trying since 2002 to get my surgery . 2 Diffrent times i had private insurance while i was self employed and they turned me down claiming they dont cover for cosmectic reasons even tho i was over 500lb and had several doctors letters and a cardo heart doctor letter. in 2005-06 I got what i thought was great medical insurance thru my employer but they also turned me down twice at the last stage.. I have been on a roller-coaster for seven years of getting close only to be denied and had givin up hope that it would ever happen. It was not until i was layed off and got the state medical insurance that i was excepted and coverd , it went so fast once i had a medical backer that had no red tape to cut. I went to my 1st visit to Dr. Ben-David on dec.09 . he wanted me to lose 30 lbs by Feb 09. I lost 40 and they scheuled my surgery for apr.18th . THEN IT GOT MOVED TO APR. 25TH , THEN MAY 6TH. THEN MAY 18TH !!! I thought here we go its not gonna happen again , but on my May. 26 th date it did happen and in closing in on my 2nd week pre-op and feel great !!

Dusty: Wow you did go through a bit , I can't believe that they would classify being morbidly Obese as surgery for cosmedic reasons, thats ridiculous.

I look forward to following your journey and watching those kgs/lbs melt away.

Did you have any complications after surgery?
How much weight have you lost so far?

In comparision to some of you I guess I didnt think about it for that long. IT would have been about April 2008, that I started thinking about a lapband, I spoke to a friend who's daughter had just had the band done and thought that I was pretty set on wanting it.
It took me a couple of months to ask my gp for a referral (as I was worried that she would think I was a failure), in the end it was silly as she was very supportive.

I first met with the surgeon in October 2008, jumped through all his hoops, and then got cancelled twice, got a new surgeon and had my op in January 2009.

I have been trying since 2002 to get my surgery . 2 Diffrent times i had private insurance while i was self employed and they turned me down claiming they dont cover for cosmectic reasons even tho i was over 500lb and had several doctors letters and a cardo heart doctor letter. in 2005-06 I got what i thought was great medical insurance thru my employer but they also turned me down twice at the last stage.. I have been on a roller-coaster for seven years of getting close only to be denied and had givin up hope that it would ever happen. It was not until i was layed off and got the state medical insurance that i was excepted and coverd , it went so fast once i had a medical backer that had no red tape to cut. I went to my 1st visit to Dr. Ben-David on dec.09 . he wanted me to lose 30 lbs by Feb 09. I lost 40 and they scheuled my surgery for apr.18th . THEN IT GOT MOVED TO APR. 25TH , THEN MAY 6TH. THEN MAY 18TH !!! I thought here we go its not gonna happen again , but on my May. 26 th date it did happen and in closing in on my 2nd week pre-op and feel great !!