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Tracey's Success Story with the Lap-Band
17 months ago, I had the Lap band placed by Dr. Cobourn. I had never met him because I had done my consultation via email and the phone. His warm smile welcomed me and explained it would soon be my turn to go in. His kind demeanor and ever present smile reassured me I was in excellent hands. The anesthesiologist came out and had a short talk with me and he joked around a bit, which once again kept me completely at ease and knew this was going to be a great surgery. Around 1130am , I was taken to the OR by the nurse, Marie, and I was up on the table and all I remember is seeing Marie’s face then slowly being gone. I woke up a short time later still in the OR as they wheeled me to recovery. I felt absolutely no pain at all and was immediately completely alert. By the time I was in recovery I was ready to sit up in bed and chat with the nurses. They were all very interested in the Lap band procedure because they were not familiar with it. I was banded in the hospital and not in the clinic so these nurses really knew very little about the whole procedure.
They monitored me there for 5 minutes or so then they quickly put me in day surgery section because I really didn’t need to be monitored on their equipment any longer. I was rolled to day surgery next to my friend, who was also banded the same day. Talked to her a bit then I just sat in my bed wanting water and lots of it. Dr. Cobourn and Marie both came into the day surgery room and told me that the surgery went well and off they went again to do another patient. I sat around day surgery until they finally released me at 345pm. I walked down to the cab escorted by a nurse of course and she told me to slow up because I had just had surgery but I felt wonderful and just walked like normal. Arrived back at the hotel, watched some TV and drank quite a bit of water. I got bored watching TV so off into the halls of the hotel I went to go walk around. I walked back and forth on my hotel floor a few times that night. Around 9pm, I decided I might as well try and get some sleep since I had been up since 5am. Went to sleep and woke up at 4am feeling wonderful and off to walk the halls again. I met up with Dr. Cobourn at the clinic before noon the next day, to have everything checked before I headed for my 6 hour drive home. I felt no pain at all during the whole ride and didn’t fall asleep at all. I talked to the other passengers in the vehicle the whole time. Arrived back home after 6pm, spent a few hours talking with my son and off to bed I went around 11pm. Woke up the next morning and felt great so off to my treadmill I went and started walking and I haven’t stopped.
I’ve lost 144 lbs to date. I knew going into this that the expected weight loss was 1 to 2 pounds per week and I was okay with losing between 50 and 100 pounds a year. I didn’t put all this weight on overnight and surely didn’t expect it to come off overnight either. Being the type of person who always has to excel at everything I do, I set goals for myself to exceed the expectations and I wanted to lose above the normal amount. I figured if I could wrap my head around all this and follow the rules as much as possible and just move more than I did before that I should be able to do that. I exceeded the 1 to 2 pounds per week in my first year and am proud of myself that I was able to stick to the rules as often as possible. I remember leaving the clinic and being told that successful bandsters say there are 3 things that made them successful; water, protein and exercise. I made sure I reminded myself of these 3 things every single day. I ate my protein and veggies, drank more than my share of water daily and tried to exercise every day.
I believe that being totally committed to myself has been the greatest factor in losing the weight so far. I could have decided to fall off and eat things that we are told to avoid on a regular basis but then I knew I would simply be cheating myself so I decided to make better choices most of the time. I’ve never once felt like I was dieting in the past year and I think that’s why I feel making better choices was easy. If I really wanted something that might not be such a great choice, I knew it was okay and it wasn’t like I was cheating on a diet because I’m not on one. I have found most of this first year almost effortless by just doing a lot of headwork and being in the right frame of mind. I wanted to lose this weight more than I wanted to eat any food out there.
A few things that have changed for me in the past year with the weight gone are:
- I don’t feel uncomfortable going to any venue for the fear that everyone would stare at me because of my size
- My feet have shrunk back down to their regular size they were when I was in high school and I am now comfortably wearing my high heels all the time since my knee doesn’t hurt
- I’ve turned back into this total shopping freak that can never have too many clothes or too many shoes
- Daily personal hygiene is so much better, having had a bad knee pre op, taking a shower was difficult at times for the fear of my knee giving out
- People are much kinder and smile at me much more often
- Men, oh boy the men, are constantly opening doors for me and smiling at me all the time…I’ve got my baseball bat ready to beat them off when I’m done losing…lol
- My son is so proud of me, as he always has been, but now he puts his arms around me and says oh mom you are getting so skinny that I think I could lift you up…haha
- I don’t have to shop at Pennington’s all the time anymore. Many clothes from regular size stores fit now. When I do buy at Pennington’s, I have to buy the smallest size they carry now instead of the largest one like a year ago.
- My BMI has dropped from 63 to 38.
- A year ago all I could do was walk on my treadmill and now I can jog for part of my workout. Me jogging, who would have ever thought that?
- I actually went up the lake to the cottage all last summer because I knew I could get in and out of the boat with no problem. I had avoided it for years for fear of embarrassment.
- I had my long hair cut off because I didn’t feel the need to hide behind it anymore. I always preferred shorter cuts but with my face so huge, I tried to hide it behind long hair. I’m so glad that mess of hair is gone and I can see my face again.
- I can paint my own toenails again without any problem.
- I can get in anyone’s vehicle now and not wonder if the seat belt will fit around me, no matter the make, they all fit now.
- I don’t have to worry about going into a restaurant or coffee shop and wondering if I will fit into their booths.
- Lawn furniture doesn’t scare me anymore, I know my butt will fit in any lawn chair out there and I know I won’t break any of them.
- The pressure on my CPAP has been reduced and hopefully as the weight comes off, it will eventually not be needed at all.
- I enjoy really good food even more now than before because I know that I can indulge and eat anything that is really good because I can only eat such a small amount that it won’t move the scale.
- I’m always the last one to finish dinner now and I’m only having a side plate size of meal while the others are eating full dinner plates and sometimes two of them.
- When I eat out, waitresses will say, you are such a dainty eater…me dainty…that’s funny
- I’ve been forced to deal with my emotional eating and have come to overcome some of the issues that always made me turn to food
- When I go to events, I don’t wonder what food will be served anymore, I just go to enjoy the company of the people there
- I have regained so much flexibility that some other adult activities are far more enjoyable.
- My thin, size 7 sister, jokes with me all the time that I’ll soon be handing down my clothes to her that are too big.
I’m sure there are tons of others that I am forgetting. I’m more than two thirds of the way to my goal and am so proud of myself for working so hard to take this much off already in such a short period of time.
I’m so grateful to Dr. Cobourn for implanting this wonderful tool inside me and his continued, ongoing support. He is one in a million that is for sure. I’m even more grateful to myself for being able to stay as committed as I have and doing so well to date.
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Tracey
Lapband surgery
Dr. Cobourn
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