Stuart Holt's Lap Banding Experience

If this is your first time to my blog, I suggest you scroll down to where it says THIS WAS THE START (in red), and after reading to the end come back to that spot and read upward until you get to the top. All future Blog entries will be at the top of the page.

Monday, September 29th: I have lost 45 lbs. to date. I am not complaining, at least its progress and not going backwards, but I think it would be more if the past four weeks hadn't been so crazy. Of course, that is an excuse, but it really has been hard to avoid a liquor drink with the many dinners out for business and entertainment I have had over the past four weeks. Plus I have not gotten to walk every day. On another note -- when you have the lap band you can experience two situations. The first is called a "clog". That is when a piece of food goes down that is too large and clogs the opening and you get a painful heartburn feeling. It takes awhile for it to finally pass. I have had a number of these situations. I need to chew more carefully the food to prevent this. The second situation (which will sound gross) is when the food won't stay down. I had this happen for the first time this past weekend. I hardly ever eat bread, but I had not had a thing to eat all day and as I was leaving Collegiate's football game at 3pm in the afternoon and I grabbed a sub sandwich they were practically giving away. Big mistake. I ate this as I walked and shortly thereafter I was throwing the sandwich up completely. My whole life I have hated throwing up and can't remember the last time I had, but this lap band will definitely not let you choke down a sandwich. Lesson learned. That's it until November. Keep me in your prayers that my progress will continue. I feel confident it will.

Friday, August 21st: I have lost 39 lbs. since June 11th surgery. I had another band fill today to tweak the tightness. I am maintaining my 1 to 2 lbs. of loss per week (which is my goal). With the tighter band, I should maintain this momentum for quite awhile. That's it for now. Next blog up date approximately a month from now.

Monday, July 27th: I have now lost 33 lbs. since surgery (June 11th). I no longer consider the weight I lost before surgery because I actually don't know my weight before the two weeks of dieting before surgery. I ate a ton the two weeks before the two weeks of dieting before surgery, who knows what my weight was actually. Therefore it is easier just to keep up with it since surgery. I have had zero problems and have no hunger pains what-so-ever. Its amazing! I am still walking my 3.5 miles a day. With my brother on Saturday, we made the walk in 56 minutes. That is 16 minutes a mile. Many people walk much faster than that, but for me, that is a great pace. I have to continue to have patience to know that I will only lose 1 to 2 lbs. a week. So far I am doing that. I just can't wait to lose the next 30+ lbs. That's it for now. I am headed on vacation with my boys in Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the Hamptons. My next blog update will be August 13th after back from vacation.

Thursday, July 16th: Today was great because I went to the doctor for another slight "fill". What made it so great is that I have lost 37 lbs. since the beginning (which includes two weeks before surgery of 10 lbs.). Since surgery I have lost 27 lbs. (which is really all I keep up with any more). They want me to eat more protein, but say I am doing better than most people. Unfortunately, when you lose a ton of weight over a year, your stomach "belt" doesn't firm up in such a way that its no longer there. Bottom line: once I get close to my target weight of 180 lbs. I will need to have some cosmetic surgery to get rid of that "belt". But what a great problem to have. And as a friend said today, and not being judgemental what-so-ever toward me, about others dealing with much larger problems (i.e. cancer), worrying about a weight belt they would trade in a nanosecond in comparison to their battle. And he is so right! A good reminder for us all. On another note, I am still doing all my walking and feel great. Just passing on the news. I'll write again in a couple of weeks.

Thursday, July 9th: As of this morning, I have lost 21 lbs. since June 11th plus the 10 I lost before surgery, which brings it too 31 lbs. so far. I am excited to say I am now officially on regular food and it's amazing, but this really is working. I eat two scrambled eggs for breakfast, a little tuna fish for lunch, and another deck size bite of fish with vegetables for dinner. I have yet to feel hungry after eating so little. Matter of fact, I went to dinner twice this week and each time ordered soup and some vegies and was more than satisfied. Actually at one of the dinners I ordered the scallop appetizer and only ate half of one scallop. I never miss a day with my chewable vitamin (which is no hardship to remember since I have been taking daily vitamins for over 10 years). I also have to make sure I get 60 grams of protein each day, which that too has not been a problem. I eat chopped up broccoli a lot for greens and have fruit for snacks. I am still averaging approximately 750 calories a day. I feel great and have a ton of energy. My cloths are too big (had 6 pair of pants altered this week and my belts are on the last available hole). I also walk each morning hard and what I thought was fast, but the other day I was clipping along when a women walking a dog flew by me and did not appear to be even breathing hard. Very humbling. That got me going the next day so I decided to run a portion of the distance. Big mistake. While going down the hill I ended up with a pain in my back. The pain is just about gone, but it was a reminder that I need to not worry about other peoples pace and stay focused on the year long goal, therefore take it slow and steady. Steady will win the race. Thank you for your support and prayers. Next blog in two weeks.

Friday, July 3rd: The race to lose weight is officially on!!!! Up to now it has all been preparation for my first "fill". Pre-surgery efforts, surgery recovery, and smooth food consumption....that's all behind me now. Yesterday I went for my first "fill" where they put the saline solution in the band via a needle through a port I have right below the skin. It took a total of 10 minutes but I had to wait over two hours in a sitting room before hand. By the time it was my turn (close to thirty people in front of me) I was fit-to-be-tied. I can't imagine what our health care world will be like if we get universal health care. Not all doctors are this way and not all medical practices are this way, but many have no clue how to deliver good service or a good experience. I think they just don't care about service beyond the medical treatment. If we get universal health care I think the doctors are partly to blame. Sorry for my ranting and editorial points.... back to my lap banding journey. I have to go on a liquid diet for two days (and while you are eating hot dogs, ice cream, and beer over the 4th, whatever you do, don't complain. If you do, just think about the liquid crap I'll be drinking instead. Not very good timing on my part), and then two days of a mushy diet, and then my life long eating pattern begins Tuesday July 7th. That consist of three meals a day with a deck of card size of protein, a small portion of chopped vegetables, and a small portion of chopped fruit. That's it. I'll feel full and I will get all the nutrients I need. On another note, I am thrilled I broke the 34 minute two mile walk three days ago and have stayed under 34 minutes each day since. Matter of fact, one of the days I was under 33 minutes. This may be no big deal to other walkers, but I have carved off 8+ minutes since I started and this two miles has a few monster hills on it. That's it for now. I'll make another post on the 7th. Have a terrific 4th!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 25: It has been 10 days since my last post and everything is going great. I have lost appx. 1 lb. per day over the past ten days, until yesterday, where I actually gained a pound. I walk 2 miles fast, fast for me, every day in appx. 35 minutes. It is a ton of up and down hills with some steep inclines. I was told by friends that you should walk two miles in 34 minutes, but I can't quite meet that time yet and rationalize it because of the many inclines. But as I lose the pounds I bet I get to 34 minutes and even lower. Who knows, one day I'll be running the two miles if my knees can take the pounding. As to my food intake, I am on "mushy" food only. Applesauce, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, etc. I have kept the calories under 750 each day. But in the last few days I have felt very hungry and called the doctor to see what's up. They don't tell you everything in the beginning and now through discovery I am learning a few kept secrets. What I discovered is that when they put the band on, the days to follow is all about healing from the surgery. You have swelling in that area and that is why I had some digestion pain. But I learned that the band is not "filled" at all at this stage and therefore not really acting as the tool it is suppose to until they fill the band. They want you to be healed from the surgery before they do the first fill, which for me is July 2nd. Bottom line: I am hungry now because I have no tool working to help suppress my appetite yet, therefore I am in a "diet" mode of soft food that is low in calories. That's good for the healing process and a good way to hold my weight steady until the fill on the 2nd. All-in-all I feel great and appreciate all the inquires and prayers. Be sure to pass this blog on to your friends who are fighting weight problems and have them call me any time if they have questions. That's it for now. My next post will be on July 3rd to 5th to tell you how the fill is working.

Monday, June 15: Woke around 6am (now that is a lot of sleep for me - 8 hours). Feel great. I have lost 4 lbs. of additional water. Weighed in, and I have lost a total of 16 lbs. since I started all this with the Liver Shrinking diet. Took it easy in the morning and then with my son drove to Norfolk and back to set up a booth for a trade show I attend on Tuesday. Around 4pm my middle back area right below the shoulders began to hurt a ton. Plus I had a little heartburn sensation. I kept drinking water as required, but that only made it worse. I put a call into the doctor to get advice. Advice wasn't very helpful.... take an antacid chewable. Did that, but hours later still have the pain. Oh well, I guess it was too easy so far, therefore a little pain was inevitable. But, back pain, are you kidding? I have to head to bed early because I leave at 4:30am to drive back to Norfolk for my trade show and try to beat the traffic of the tunnel. More posted tomorrow.

Sunday, June 14: Slept well. Woke at 5am. Doing more filing in my office. Some indigestion, but no real pain to speak of. Took it easy, did some reading, watched the golf. Went to bed around 10pm (which is very early for me. Must be more tired than I realize).

This was the Start:
If this is your first visit with my Lap Banding Experience Blog, welcome. My goal is to journal my experience for friends and family, but also to have it available for others researching this procedure. Be sure to pass this blog site on to others so those over weight read it and get encouraged about a way to do something about it. I hope it helps.

My journey began with me looking in the mirror for the umpteenth time and realizing I was really over weight. I knew it. I have known it for years. I had family and friends tactfully encourage me over the years to address my weight. I tried a number of diets. I even exercised. But each time a small injury or an ice cream bar got me back to my overweight situation. I lost 20 lbs. 20 times. At 280 lbs., this is no fun. So a friend told me about Lap Banding. I had never heard of it and was curious.

Lap Banding is an alternative to Gastric Bypass that is much safer, reversible, and just as effective. A Band is placed above the stomach that limits the amount of food to enter and how fast it will enter. Picture a funnel. If you fill it with water, a small amount flows out the bottom, but if you fill the funnel too fast it overflows the top. The Band acts as a gatekeeper for how much can enter the stomach. You feel full all the time. Plus only certain types of food will process correctly to make this work, so there is a new eating regime. But because you feel full, everyone I talked to that has done this says they have no desire to eat more. It's actually considered a tool. Yes it helps you lose the weight down to your maintenance weight, but it's most helpful as a tool to restrict you from eating your way back up to the weight you started with. If for some reason you just hate this situation, you can have the band loosen so you can eat more like people with normal eating habits, but to prevent gaining the weight you must exercise enough to keep the weight gain from happening. If you just don't care about the weight gain, you can have the band opened all the way and just hope the whole turkey you eat doesn't turn you into a turkey.

My first step was to go on-line and research this procedure. I did this in early February.

Second step, in late February, I discovered a medical group in the Richmond area that does this procedure (Richmond Surgical Group and Dr. Schroder) and attended a 2 hour seminar on the procedure given by Dr. Schroder. It was fantastic and extremely well done. I was ready to proceed.

Step 3: I scheduled a medical appointment with Dr. Schroder in the middle of March. You must do this to proceed. My insurance does not cover this type of appointment (appx. $100). After my review with Dr. Schroder, he felt I was a candidate for this procedure (no kidding, I weigh 280). At the end of my review with Dr. Schroder, Irene who works for the hospital and the group and is fantastic and very friendly, came in and reviewed the many steps needed to proceed. This included the financial ramifications.

Step 4: You have to then meet with a Psychologist. This too was not covered by my insurance and cost appx. $100. I was not exactly clear why they have everyone do this, but my guess is that there are people who actually get more attention being heavy and that losing the weight could alleviate that attention (why anyone would like that type of attention beats me, but we have a diverse world) and they want to make sure you are up to the task. Plus I am sure this is one more cover-your-??? in this litigious society.

Step 5: I then set a number of meetings up through Richmond Surgical. First, a 4 hour meeting on the whole procedure, what to expect, what eating habits are needed to be successful before and after surgery etc. etc. Very informative. Lots of notes.

Step 6: I then came to the Richmond Surgical office to meet with Irene again for a meeting on an insurance policy they offer to cover you 18 months after surgery that is additional if you don't have insurance for this procedure ($1,300). Because my company insurance does not cover this type of surgery I am what they call a "self pay" (my cost for the entire surgery is $13,500). I do not get an overnight stay in the hospital unless there are complications. Even though done under anesthesia, I am out of the hospital in just a couple of hours on the day of surgery (unless of course you have problems with the anesthesia and then it's in the hospital for the night and another $5,000. Let's hope there are no problems). The procedure does cover catastrophic situations and fortunately there has never been any deaths to this procedure in Richmond. The few deaths that are recorded any where in the country were due to heart attacks on the operating table and not related to the surgery. Obviously, over weight people always run a greater risk of a heart attack (especially under duress) than other people. Duh, we are overweight!!!! But the risk of carrying the weight for years is even greater.

Note: on Sunday evening 5/24/09, my two boys and older son's girlfriend and I went out for steak since I only have a few days until I stop eating steak for a long long time.

Step 7: I went in for my blood work and screening today 5/26/09. It took a number of hours. It began with check in and then waiting in lobby. Then going to desk to pay for upcoming surgery (ouch!), then wait again. Then down the hall for a write up of info, then down the hall to area to draw blood, wait again. Then to the drawing of blood in two places. First from vein (checks for many things from this) and then from artery (to check oxygen in blood). They never can hit the vein on first try with me, but she was better than most and hit it on second try. I didn't cry. Then you head to EKG and Xray area. Wait again. Then get both. Then to surgeons office. Wait again. Paid for extra Bliss insurance, then to the anesthesia department. No wait here, hallelujah! Pay for anesthesia in advance. Now its over. 3 1/2 hours total. A small price to pay for the future advantages.

May 27th: Had my last supper with a good friend. Ate a terrific seafood meal. Tasted so good!

May 28th: I started a liver shrinking diet today, two weeks before the surgery. This is Slim Fast for two meals a day and one very lite dinner. This is done for two weeks and will shrink the liver down to make it easier to work around when doing the surgery and placing the band. They say I will lose 10 pounds in those 2 weeks.
May 28th: had exactly what I was suppose to have. Two Slim Fast and lite salad with chicken for dinner.

May 29th: Slim Fast for breakfast, a lite salad with chicken for lunch and Slim fast for dinner. Don't feel hungry. Walked 2 miles.

May 30th: Slim Fast for breakfast, Slim Fast for lunch, and 7 pieces of Sushi for dinner. Fell good. Did a ton of yard work for exercise.

May 31st: For golfers I am bragging (forgive me, don't mean to sound upeddy), but flew private plane to NJ to play Baltustrol Golf Club. One of top courses in America. Got a good 5 mile walk in. Slim Fast for breakfast, Diet Coke and 1/2/ turkey sandwich for lunch (no mayo), two beers after golf, and a Slim Fast once back in Richmond.

June 1st to June 9th: Lost 7 lbs. so far, but I think I was suppose to lose 10 lbs. I have done a good job of keeping to the Liver Shrinking diet, but a few very minor slips may have kept me from doing all I could (for example: two beers on one evening and two vodka tonics on another evening. Note: no excuse, but no alcohol for a long time had me enjoy a toast or two). I have walked most days a two mile circuit I mapped out that is up and down a number of hills and takes me a bit less than 40 minutes. Slow I know, but even when I was the proper weight years ago, I have always been a shuffler when walking. I would rather run or walk slow. I plan on increasing my speed to get more of a workout, and as I lose my weight, I look forward to running when my knees can take the pounding.

June 10th: Yeah! I actually have lost 10 lbs. by today. Walked my two miles. A ton of well wishers called and/or emailed wishing me luck. I appreciate that a lot. Got things organized for my return from the hospital by setting up a comfortable place to work from in front of the TV. I hooked up a portable computer, laid out a few books, a friend bought by some magazines, and a few odds and ends I put all within reach of where I will sit out the recovery. Had a small meal and to bed by 10:30. I have to be up early

June 11th: Today's the day. I am up at 5:00. I arrive hospital at 6:30, got checked in and then to pre-surgery prep. Knocked out by 8:40 and woke at 10:00. Surgery done and all went well. Had to continue waiting in recovery room until noon (very boring. No TV, no magazines. Just a wall to stare at). At noon you go do an upper GI. You drink some nasty tasting liquid while they xray you to make sure there are no leaks. Everything was good. My dad was there to meet me and I was home by 1:30pm. Very little pain. I sip Protein water all afternoon and take small walks to make sure to not have any blood clots. Many friends come by and/or call and/or email. Most appreciative. Watched a couple of movies with my boys and then went to bed at 10:00pm.

June 12th: I slept well and feel great. A little gas pain, but that's it. Went and retrieved my car that I had driven to the hospital at 6:30 the day before with my friend Ambrose and enjoyed the morning talking with him. I have workers at the house (I am redoing my kitchen), and are taking short walks. A little gas pain, but that's it. Talked with surgical group to cover a few items. Everything is going to plan. I felt so good I ran a number of errands. Not to sound gross, but most people stay constipated for a number of days due to the anesthesia, but not me. Yeah! Home tonight taking it easy. Went to bed at 9:30.

June 13th: I woke at 3:30. That's six hours sleep for me which is normal. Feel great. Went down and worked on my filing of papers project in my office for a couple of hours. Went back to bed at 5:30 and woke at 7:30. Had a number of wild dreams that were cool. I am filled with saline liquids that the surgeon puts in you during surgery, so I pee a lot. I decide to weigh myself and I have lost another 3 lbs. I decide to remove the Pain Ball tube (which I am suppose to do. It is a ball that automatically pumps very mild pain medicine into your system). I shave and shower for the first time since surgery. It feels so great. I dress and head to my office to do more filing. I feel fantastic. I ran a couple of errands. A few friends stop by. I head to bed at 10:00. Continued at top.................

Thank you for your prayers.

That's it for now. I will post more info and my journey on a regular basis. If you ever have any questions just ask. Thanks for following my Lap Banding journey.