Friday, August 22, 2008

Sleep-at last-SLEEP

Nothing like an unbroken night's sleep to give you that ahhhhhhh feeling. I'm on liquids till MOnday when I go in for a test to make sure all is still well with my band (and I do hope it is)...but NO reflux thanks to the partial unfill.

So-what have we learned? It's better to go get a little unfill out at the first sign of trouble (or after stomach trauma, like, uh FOOD poisoning) then later put some back in (about $200) than it is to try to gut it out, get in worse trouble, and have to be tested ($1200).

That was an expensive piece of gas station chicken!

10 comments:

soulbrush said...

omg i had no idea you were still having so much trouble after that f....chicken. this band sounds like hard work to me. does it give you lotsa pain?

switch said...

wow.. you have been suffering all this time after the chicken incident..

what is an unfill..is it different than an empty?

Debra Kay said...

A unfill is where they take some of the fluid out of the band-relieves the pressure. I was hoping to get the swelling to go down (caused by the puking) without an unfill, cause prior to the chicken I felt I was at a perfect level of restriction.

Of course, the doc is keeping notes and can put it back when the swelling goes down.

The band IS a lot of work-and the adjustable feature is both a big pro and a big con.

For me, the immediate risks (I wasn't THAT obese, did not have diabetes, etc) didn't justify a more radical, malabsorptive procedure. For many people, if they don't get the weight off, and soon, they won't have to worry about an extended illness, etc. where nutrtition could become a problem-they won't have time to get sick. So, I am in no way knocking the more radical procedures.

Also, every weight loss surgery can be eaten around-meaning you can find a way to stay fat-so there isn't any one procedure that will avoid the mental process of changing your eating habits. Lately, in advertising, that part seems to be getting glossed over and (of course I'm hyper critical of advertising) that really bothers me.

If I ever had to remove the band, I'd get a gastric sleeve-essentially they just remove 75 percent of your stomach and you're done with it....which is what the band does mechanically. For ME, I'm just really wary of the malabsorption thing-but again, my risk factors were not that high.

I've been in the business world too long-everything is a risk/benefit proposition....LOL. I've known several people with sleeves and I'd be totally OK with doing it now-but when I was deciding, I only had first hand band evidence-so I went with what I knew and the only reversible procedure.

The market has really changd since last year-now self pay patients can get good affordable surgery in the good old US. Remember, I flew off to Tijuana, and while I don't recommend it for everyone, for ME, it was the right thing to do. It was like a purposeful adventure, and sick puppy that I am, I had a big old time (mentally that is, I was really upbeat). Because the banding surgery is really pretty easy, I was OK with the risk. I don't think I'd want to do it for a more involved surgery, and I would never do plastic surgery without touring the facility first and going back on a seperate trip.

At first, like everyone else, I was gung ho-weight loss, then tummy tuck and boobs! One thing they can't gloss over is the pain factor in a tummy tuck, and it's looking more and more like I won't be doing that.

Boobs-I have a funny story. My ex and I got a little ahead and he said he'd buy me some boobies or a used Camaro-I took the car.

sukipoet said...

Sorry you are suffering all this distress. Sounds complicated and uncomfortable, but glad you got a good night's sleep.

Debra Kay said...

Complicated and uncomfortable pretty much sums it up. That pretty much sums up a lot of life!

kj said...

debra kay, you have a good and unique way of catching life's challenges...

:)

Mim said...

Oh Deb - thought the misery from that chicken was over! Poor baby, take care of yourself OK?

soulbrush said...

whew that explains it to me, somehow we all need some sort of complicated uncomfortableness to make us feel that 'we can do it'. mine is a lingering ed...sigh...fight it as i do, sometimes i win, sometimes i lose (very tied in with stresses too) i sometimes think 'what would i be without it?'

Debra Kay said...

I think the human mind is hard wired to be problem solvers-so we create problems to solve. (Thanks to the border collie, Moonie for that insight)

human being said...

oh really expensive... but it gaurantees that you never choose to eat in such places anymore...
:)