Most of the Lap Band blogs I find are written by women. Today, I found the Lap Band King – imagine that! This is from his “about” page:
I am Marcus. I am Male. I am 36. I have a wife. I have 2 girls and 2 boys. I have a big family. I have been over-weight for nearly 3/4’s of my life. I am not your normal guy. I run several companies including one multi-million dollar operation. I started in this venture in life a son a preacher man. I was raised in a small back woods town in East Texas called Votaw. Yeah thats right back woods. I was home- schooled for most of that growing up time. Thus my lack of knowledge in spelling. I was married at the age of 21. With no money in the bank. I never went to college yet, tried my luck in the pipeline oil and gas industry. I have had great success in this field. I have lots of friends that I love dearly. I am a giver. I believe that is how I am in this position in life. I have lived the American dream from driving a 74 ford to driving whatever I want to drive. THE ONLY THING I HAVE NOT OVER COME IS MY WEIGHT. In the start of my obsession to loosing and becoming the KING of my life my highest weight was 445lb. Thats a big SOB, If you know what I mean. So this site is dedicated to me and my quest to become who I see myself in the mirror – the person I really see. My day to day journey loosing weight with the help of the Lapband – I hopefully shall become the LAP-BAND KING. My surgery date was February 5, 2009.
Okay, that’s more than I can say for myself. Anyway, here is his archive of video posts. He just seems like a fundamentally decent guy on a journey. Here is the episode from his birthday:
Also, if you’re new to the site, I want to encourage you to read Robert Morgan’s 250 pound weight loss story linked on the lower right column. It’s quite a long story, but he is a journalist and a wonderful writer. Here’s a sample:
I felt doomed to die of a heart attack by the age of 32, but I didn’t know what to do. I don’t overeat so I figured eventually it would all go away. I was certain that putting on a few extra pounds was something that happens to everyone when they hit their 30s.
It hit me like a ton of bricks this year, and I have one immature, rude, disrespectful Decatur High School student to thank for it. I was at my first volleyball game of the season in late August when I walked by the student body section. I noticed in my peripheral vision as I approached the group that one boy in particular kept staring at me. Just as my family and I passed, he quickly turned to two of his buddies and said, “Did you see how fat that dude was? What a freak!”
This definitely was not the first time I was stared at because of my weight. It happens all the time. When I see others in my same position, I notice they all get the same kind of looks I get.
Those words that boy spoke back in August are still ringing in my ears. I didn’t sign up for this, nor did I ask to be overweight.
To say I didn’t cry that night as my wife slept would be a lie. What I heard come out of that boy’s mouth cut like a knife. Of all the great kids I work with at Decatur, it took one inconsiderate teenager to shake my world.
I thought about it all night, the next day, and for the next week. I wanted to change overnight before the next person made fun of me. I see it almost every day now that my eyes were opened by this one person. People look at me differently every day, it’s just I can’t read thought bubbles as they stare when I slowly pass by.
What I don’t like about most Lap Band videos is that they are too casual and ramble, or they are too corporate and don’t actual provide much substance. What I like about Dr. Ortiz’ videos is that he is very good at asking patients the questions that you want to hear answered. How much did you weigh beforehand? How much did you lose? How long did it take? How has it changed your life?
Here’s a YouTube clip of Dr. Ortiz talking about the difference between patients who are successful and patients who aren’t successful:
He has a lot of interviews with patients. This very pretty woman is one my favorites:
This young man had Lap Band surgery when he was fifteen. Dr. Ortiz is a big believer that we should take action with obese adolescents before their long term health is impacted:
Anyway, there is a lot of information contained in those videos and that’s what it is all about. Also, you’ll see the quality of the people who come to Ortiz for surgery, and it makes it very easy to be confident that the level of care he provides is superior.
I was poking around on YouTube to see what kind of Lap Band videos I’ve missed. I found this video from Dr. Kuri in Mexico. I like it for a couple reasons. The woman speaking is a nurse who had surgery with Dr. Kuri and addresses having the procedure done in Mexico. For so many of us who are self-pays, the option of having surgery in Mexico makes it dramatically more affordable but it’s scary going to another country. She’s an RN here in the US and addresses how comfortable she was with the bright, clean and modern hospital she found waiting for her. She also brought several of her friends who are RNs down after she had her procedure done and they were satisfied as well. Anyway, I think it’s one more reassuring video to watch as you contemplate whether this is the path for you.
I haven’t read up on Dr. Kuri but I like his photo – nice eyes.
One other video of note – this is a video with a mom and young daughter. Mom has lost 155 pounds with the band and the daughter, who had surgery at 12, has lost 110 pounds.
Becca has now lost 60 pounds since February, and she looks fantastic. This clip is about how much her life as changed as a result of having Lap Band surgery. She rides bikes without worrying about the tires deflating, she plays the piano without problems and she can even cross her legs now and yes, there are some before and after pictures.
Anyway, good work, Becca! Congratulations on your triumphs.
It’s always easier for men to lose weight, we know. This is a video from True Results with their patient Andrew S. He’s being interviewed while a make up artist is getting him ready for a photo shoot. Anyway, take a look, guys. At the end of the video, you can see how trim he is now.
And for those of you who haven’t clicked on Robert Morgan’s 250 Pound Weight Loss story, do it now. He’s a sports writer, who weighed over 500 pounds when he finally had a Lap Band procedure.
And I got that way by following the standard American diet. With a busy family and a job that keeps me constantly on the move into the evenings on most nights, I ate a lot on the run – McDonald’s, Chicken Express, Wendy’s and other such food.
I remember there was a time when we ate out more than we did at home. And I remember thinking at one point that I was getting healthier because I switched to Taco Bell. At that point I was getting burritos with lettuce and cheese rather than quarter-pounders. And boy, I thought that was a huge improvement.
But deep inside I knew better. I could not stand the pain shooting up the heel of my foot or that I was out of breath walking back to the car after a football game. Better yet, I knew I was in trouble last April when I was at Odessa’s Ratliff Stadium for the regional track meet. This massive, college-size stadium has no elevator and hauling a wide load up 50 flights of stairs several times a day about gave me heart failure.
I felt doomed to die of a heart attack by the age of 32, but I didn’t know what to do. I don’t overeat so I figured eventually it would all go away. I was certain that putting on a few extra pounds was something that happens to everyone when they hit their 30s.
It hit me like a ton of bricks this year, and I have one immature, rude, disrespectful Decatur High School student to thank for it. I was at my first volleyball game of the season in late August when I walked by the student body section. I noticed in my peripheral vision as I approached the group that one boy in particular kept staring at me. Just as my family and I passed, he quickly turned to two of his buddies and said, “Did you see how fat that dude was? What a freak!”
Well, that would definitely be a wake up call. I got one of my own the other night. A young friend came by and saw a photo on the wall that my husband had taken about ten years ago. It’s a black and white shot of barefooted me in a long dress and denim jacket sitting on a stone bench. My hair is long and fluffy at the time. My hands are folded in my lap and my legs crossed. He looked at it for a second and said, “Wow, that could almost be you only much younger”. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.
I’ve had Ashley’s Lap Band blog, The Band In Me, linked on my blogroll for several weeks now. She’s a twenty-something Lap Bandee in Seattle, Washington who has amassed a pretty amazing series of videos on YouTube. She starts 1.5 weeks before surgery. She weighs 235 and has just lost five pounds.
Cut to a year later. Here she is two weeks ago, talking about her progress.
The amazing thing is that she has a total of 51 videos online in addition to her blog. Here’s the link to her channel at YouTube where you can see all of her videos. Ashley certainly doesn’t pull her punches on the complications of a Lap Band but talks about how worthwhile she has found it to be.
FYI, she had her surgery done at Northwest Weight Loss Surgery in Everett, Washington. These people have a great site with a lot of information available to prospective patients although a lot of it is applicable to everyone regardless of where you’re having surgery. Here’s their page on how to approach your insurance company for coverage. They have an active study going on about adolescents and Lap Bands and accept teenagers for surgery starting at age fourteen. They have offices in Yakima, Bellingham and Spokane as well.
There’s a lot of information here. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Becca, Indiana Lap Band video blogger extraordinaire, has a new episode up in her Lap Band video blog. She lets us watch her adjustement. She comes back a week later and talks about how she feels. Her physician is Dr. Keith McEwen – whom she obviously adores. Always a good thing.
Cruising around YouTube today, I found Becca’s video blog. She’s only got two videos up, but she’s very well spoken. She’s lost, I think, 50 pounds in the past few months and has gone from three chins to one. 🙂
And here is her second video where she talks a lot about the process of having a Lap Band. She only needed Tylenol to deal with the pain – nothing stronger. She had her surgery on Thursday and was back at work on Monday. At the very end, she shows you her scars and I know there are a lot of questions about that out there.
Her surgery was performed by Keith McEwan at the Indiana Obesity Center.e.com/watch?v=V1VG824lr6M&hl=en]
Anyway, enjoy.
In some ways this is my favorite clip in the entire series. The interview was over and we were packing stuff up to leave, when I finally remembered to ask Lorraine about her career change. She talks about becoming a script supervisor and how she never would have done that when she was heavy. And she also talks about her life as a professional musician and performer and how that has changed with her weight loss.
Los Angeles Lap Band patient Lorraine Kay shows us a couple items of clothing from her pre-weight loss days. I like her whole thing about skinny clothes versus fat clothes – she’s right. Skinny clothes are so much more fun. She says it’s been 25 years since she wore anything smaller than a size 16.
While grabbing the embed code for Lorraine’s clip, this popped up as a similar clip. It’s a video clip of a doctor performing a fill on a patient. You can see the whole process is very quick and easy.
Los Angeles Lap Band patient Lorraine Kay talks about a few different things in this clip. She talks about exercising, her husband’s reaction to her weight loss, and most importantly for most people thinking about getting a Lap Band, she talks about the process of having a fill. Doest it hurt? How long does it take? What do you do?
I like this clip – it’s purely practical. Lorraine talks about what food she can eat and how much she can eat. She also talks about when she eats too much and gets “in trouble”.
In this video, Lorraine Kay talks about the first month after surgery. Lorraine had congestive heart failure and wrestled with a tremendous amount of edema – which largely disappeared the first month. Her legs had been so swollen that she couldn’t bend them to walk up stairs. Now, she could walk and felt like a different person. She didn’t need pain pills but she was kinda hungry.
BiBi is a YouTube blogger who had a Lap Band procedure a number of weeks ago. She’s got five videos up on YouTube documenting her progress. She went in for her first fill this week and talks about that process. She says she’s going well, but we haven’t seen photos yet. Anyway, here’s BiBi!
Love My Lap Band! 