As I’ve said before, I’m grossly obese and very uncomfortable. The excess weight has caused me many problems, and my ability to lose it is quite obviously totally lacking. This being said, it means there are very few options left for me. I’ve often said that I can resist anything… except temptation. So having tried to control my eating to no avail, and having tried every diet that sounds like it had potential, and failed, it became obvious to me that I needed something ‘extra’ to facilitate my weight loss.
The answer, I thought, was medical intervention. This came in two parts, and I hope will be three by the time this blog has progressed much further. So, to begin with, I tried a Gastric Band. The idea with the band is it constricts the stomach and the food you eat is forced up against the area of the stomach that produces the ghrelin hormone, which pretty much controls the feelings of hunger in the body. The premise was that apart from just reducing the food intake by reducing the space available for food, it would stop hunger pangs. Seemed like a win-win. Well, it wasn’t.
It failed me, or perhaps I failed it, for two main reasons. Firstly, I arrogantly assumed that now I had the band I was all set to go so ignored the ‘follow-up’ support that was available. Turned out to not be such a great idea because I continued to eat what I had before, tho in smaller quantities, with no discrimination and of course put weight on instead of losing it. The second reason was intrinsic to the band itself. As said, the band constricted the stomach but it didn’t just reduce the size of the stomach, it created a ‘hole’ that food had to pass through. The good foods, steak, chicken, fish etc, were fibrous and solid and difficult to get through the hole and attempts were often met with regurgitation, However, the bad foods, e.g., chocolate, biscuits, lasagne etc were soft and slippery so went through with little effort. Basically, the band was its own worst enemy.
Eventually, I went to a Gastroenterologist to ask if the band should be removed. I had an endoscopy and she learned that I had developed what is known as Barrett’s oesophagus, which is a change in the lining of the oesophagus into a form which could become cancerous. The cause is linked is long-term gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD.GORD). which I’ve been combating using Nexium long-term. Her advice was to have the band removed. It was removed by the surgeon who had installed it, Dr Roy Brancatisano, who then told me that I was almost certain to put on weight and I should be prepared for it. Well, I wasn’t prepared, and *did* put on weight, around 30 kilos or so!
Not one to just give up I went back to my GP who suggested that a new weight loss series of injections might help me along. So I tried Ozempic first, but they became popular worldwide and supply dwindled, even for the people it was originally intended for, i.e. diabetics! In the end, the chemist couldn’t rustle up enough supply, so that had to stop. I next tried Saxenda which is similar in principle except that instead of weekly injections these were daily and increased incrementally from an introductory amount to a full dose. Well of course this wasn’t easy for me since I seem to always experience any side-effect possible and the injections made me feel absolutely, unbelievably ill. I persisted for weeks.., but was forced to stop.
This put me at a dead end… almost literally… until I happened to see information about Gastric Sleeves. I had been totally unfamiliar with this procedure so began to research it. after a few weeks it began to dawn on me that this might be the last chance for me to lose weight so after checking my Health Fund would cover most of the ridiculously high cost, I approached Dr Brancatisano again. The first thing needed was another endoscopy to check there had been no adverse developments from the Barrrett’s and that there were no other impediments to the surgery going ahead. Turned out I had a hiatus hernia that would need to be repaired but otherwise, I was all set to go.
I’d been discussing the operation with my wife and kids all of whom are/were very resistant. Each of them said they didn’t like the idea of me having yet more anaesthetics, and couldn’t see why I couldn’t just diet. I tried repeatedly to explain that after trying for 60 years surely they could see why I thought this was the only option left to me. I’m not jumping for joy about it but to me it seems I have two options. I can do nothing and die, or I can have the operation and maybe *not* die. If I live through it I may be able to enjoy my remaining years a slimmer, healthier and happier person. Well, that’s the idea anyway.
So, back we went to the Dr. who said all was well but would also need to repair hernia etc yada, yada, yada. The wife however wasn’t prepared to give up the fight easily. I know I would have to follow a pre-op diet that required me to drastically reduce my food intake for a few weeks prior to the operation. Her argument was (is?) that if I can do it before the operation, then why can’t I continue to do it afterward, instead of the operation. Quite a reasonable question really. To be fair the Dr explained that he’s been down this road many times and it simply doesn’t work like that. Given a discrete target to aim for I can control my diet because there’s an end point. Without the endpoint, I’d just get disheartened, go back to eating what is ‘normal’ for me, and put the weight back on. In the end, and to cut the arguments, she persuaded the Dr to impose an additional condition on my eligibility for the op. I have to lose at least 10 kilos before he’ll talk to me about a timeline leading to the operation. This isn’t as bad as it sounds because I’m aware I need to reduce the fat around my liver and other internal organs as much as possible before he operates and I’m quite comfortable with forcing myself to lose that weight because I know that once I get to *that* target then the operation is within reach.
The Eclectic Interweb 