When, Why, What, Where & How

First off I want to thank my cousin for giving me the idea of starting a blog. He just started one and it hit me that it would be a great way for me to let everyone know about what I'm doing. Those of you who know me know I have always been on the large since size since I was little. There was a period during high-school with football and track that I lost weight and kept it off. After that I slowly gained weight over the years to reach my all-time high of 292 Pounds. WOW. I just lost my mom a little over a year ago from heart disease and here I was at 30 years young weighing that much. A lot of people ask, (usually skinny people) why don't you just diet and exercise. Well I have always kept up with the exercising. I love to golf and I usually play Racquetball 5 times a week for a couple of hours, and even enjoy jogging (albeit slowly) now and then. I have always been the athletic fat guy. There have been numerous times since college that I have dieted and lost a lot of weight. One time that comes to my mind is back in 2003 for my wedding. I lost over 80 pounds over the course of a year and looked (if I may say) and felt great. By the end of the honeymoon I had gained 30 lbs back. By 3 months I had gained all 80 lbs back and then some. It wasn't that I was gorging and eating everything in sight, I was just eating how I always had. This YO-YO dieting has been going on the last 12 years of my life at least. There are a lot of studies out there that show this is very very bad for a persons health, some say even worse than staying heavy. However, staying heavy itself is very unhealthy and leads to a much sooner death. I was in a quagmire. What should I do. Fight for another year or year and a half starving myself on less than 1000 calories a day (which isn't much if you really count everything that passes your lips) or stay the same weight. Well I couldn't stay the same weight anymore. My knees started hurting, my back hurts all the time, my ankles give out a lot, it's hard playing on the floor with the kids, and I'm just generally really tired most of the time. I had to do something. I had been looking into the gastric bypass for many years. I watched my mom have it done and then saw her slowly deteriorate after 13 more surgeries. I still had it always on my mind and was thinking of giving it a try. About 6 months ago I read an article about a fairly new procedure called the lap band. It was much less invasive than the bypass, and even though you don't lose the weight as quickly studies were very promising that eventually you could get to a good weight and more importantly keep it off. It has been proven to be very safe with a less that 1/2% chance of serious complications. Compare that to a 3 times more likely chance of dying early of being MORBIDLY OBESE and the odds are terrific. My interest was peeked. I bought a few books and read them quickly. I went online and talked with others who have had it done. I researched all the hospitals and found what I think is the best one BIDMC and started the process. Jen went to the info sessions with me and at first was very against it. After listening to the nurse, doctor's, and nutritionists, we went home and talked about it. After she found out how much thought and research I had done she decided to support me. Now after having gone through this whole 4 month process of numerous Dr's appointment, psychologist appointments, dietitians, group meeting, and specialized testing, she is my biggest supporter. A lot changes when someone has all the facts and can make an informed decision. If I had a nickel for every time a person who I tell what I'm doing says "you don't need to do that", or "just diet", or "your not that big" I would be rich. The fact is people are basing there response without knowing any of the facts. 95% of them don't even know what a LAP BAND is. Strangely, the people who usually are the most negative are very heavy themselves. Oh well just human nature I guess. While a lot of Lap Band people hide their decision I freely tell everyone who will listen. I'm not ashamed of what I'm doing neither am I going to hide it. To the contrary I feel empowered to have a tool that will help me become a healthier person. Now that I have covered the WHY. Let me let you know the rest...

When: Monday March 10, 7:30
Where: BIDMC Boston by Dr. Jones
What & How: A Lap-Band is a silicone band that is implanted laparoscopically around the very top of the stomach. There is no modifying the stomach or anything like that. The band is placed to make a very small pouch above the band and then you regular stomach below the band. A tube is attached to the band and a port is put just under your skin in the muscle wall. After about 8 weeks post-op you go back to the Dr and they fill the band through the port with a needle with saline in it. This fill makes the band tighter around your stomach. As you eat a small amount of food you feel full very quick. You also feel full for a long time after you eat because the food slowly passes from the small pouch through the band into your stomach. Eventually when you are filled to the 'sweet spot' you can eat about 1/3 of what you ate before the band and in doing so feel full for a long time. Hence it's a tool. You can still eat ice cream, shakes, and chips all day and not lose a thing or even gain weight (but why even have the band if you are going to do that). With the right food choices, exercising, and the help of feeling full with a lot less food the weight should come off steadily... That's it. If anything should go wrong they can laparoscopically go back in and remove the band and your stomach returns to normal... Medical Technology is great isn't it. Well enough rambling for one day. I will post a couple of pictures of a band on here soon. Thanks for listening (Reading actually) and have a great day everyone...