Matt Z

I was banded in Nov of 2011.  Prior to starting the process, I hit my max weight of 370.  I was around 348 at the time of the band installation.  I got down to 300ish and that's where I stayed, floating +/- 10 around 300.  I was stalled out hard core and nothing else I did would move the needle.  Foods that shouldn't hurt, did.  I felt like a total failure and I stopped checking in with my surgeon.  In 2017, after way too much pain from salads, I caved in and with my wife in tow, I trudged back into my surgeon's office, and admitted my failure to my surgeon.  I was very shocked to hear that my story wasn't at all uncommon.  That the Band was over hyped and under performed.  That my situation, wasn't my failure at all.  We discussed my options for revision.  I had originally planned on revision to the Sleeve, but after talking with my surgeon and going over the added complications of revising from Band to Sleeve, I agreed to revision to the Bypass.  I spent a year jumping through hoops with my insurance.  Once approved, things moved quickly.  I checked all the required boxes, got my surgery date and had the revision.  Surgery did not go as planned.  All my pre-surgical testing, imaging, etc showed no issues with the Band.  Yet, there were issues.  The Band had become totally encapsulated in scar tissue, it took my surgeon and her team more than 3 times longer to remove the band than what's normal.  My 3-4 hour surgery, lasted over 6 hours.  Who knows what would have happened if I didn't revise. 
The band is gone.
My insides have been rearranged.
And I'm working my way down to my goal.
One day at a time.