My son received his liver shrinking diet from Dr. Kuri’s patient facilitator this week.  He must be on this diet for exactly 3 weeks before gastric banding surgery.  I know it’s to shrink the liver before the lapband is put on but I never really knew much about it until I read the intro to the diet:

The liver can become enlarged and contains abnormally large deposits of fatwhen a person is obese. This causes problems for laproscopic placement of the Lap Band because the liver is “in the way” of the surgical area during band surgery. The liver must be held back with surgical instruments, and when enlarged, it is very fragile and bleeds easily when touched or manipulated. This bleeding can be difficult to control and the extra care required with an enlarged liver increases surgical risk, as well as anesthesia time. Longer surgical and anesthesia times can make both immediate and longer-term recovery much more difficult for you.

An especially large and fragile liver has even caused some Band surgeries to be cancelled for the safety of the patient.

There is absolutely no cheating with this diet and if he does, chances are they won’t do the weight loss surgery.  If any of you are interested in the diet, I’m happy to share it with anyone who requests it.

I just returned from a trip to the US to visit my elderly mother and my grown children in Atlanta and Orlando.  I had a great time.  Ate too much, now I have more pounds to exercise off but that’s ok.  When you live away from the US and go back, you just _have_ to eat all your favorites, don’t you?

Why is today a great day?

My son weighs around 400 pounds depending on the day you ask him.  While I was there I talked to him about a gastric lap band and if he’d be interested and he said that his doctor wanted to give him a gastric bypass but he was scared shitless of doing that.  So we investigated getting a lapband for him and he’s scheduled to have it done in Mexico at a special hospital that caters to lap banders.  My really good friend had hers done there and she couldn’t be happier.  The cost is $7500 for everything.  Not another cent owed.    So he’s having his surgery on December 18th.  I’m SO stoked.

This surgery will save his life.  He’s over 40 and has two very young children.  My youngest grandchild turned 1 the day I left.  This is very good news for a very worried mother.