CowgirlJane

I am a patient at PSSC. I am pretty sure my insurance will cover this, so I am trying to decide if I am really comfortable with the outpatient business. Dr Billings also has priviledges at a couple of good local hospitals so that is an option, i know. On the one hand I HATE hospitals. They make me feel bad and are filled with sorrowful memories (too many deaths of loved ones in recent years). I also fear mistakes and being awoken all the time (isn't that what they do in hospitals..lol). On the other hand, I am scared of being home and having excess pain or even worse, nasuea. I do have a dear friend who is a nurse who has volunteered to stay with me at my house for the first day or two or three. she says that monitoring heart rate and stuff like that can be early indicators of any infection or similar problems. That gives me some peace of mind. So, cost aside, what are the advantages of this outpatient approach? (BTW, I really like Dr Billings and staff. They have been warm, thorough and caring so far.)

I am horse crazy too! My trusty stead is heading toward retirement, but my dream is to ride Drill Team and maybe take up barrell racing. A skinnier me and a younger horse are both necessary to fullfill that horse dream!

Hi everyone, I am so glad I found this forum! I am wondering if anyone has found much info/research on success with the sleeve 3+ years out. I know this is not a new surgery (ie step one in a two part and was used for stomach cancer etc in the past) so you would think there would be some data on long term health issues/concerns as well as weight loss maintenance. I was banded 10 years ago, in Europe where I lived at the time. I would have never gotten that band had the long term risk of complications versus "success" percentages been known to me. I had thought risk of slippage, erosion etc was in the 1-2% range but it is really much much higher. I fear that I am sold on the sleeve based on short term success and I really don't know what the 3+ year timeline looks like. So, I did "ok" with my band the first year. I lost about 70 pounds, and because i didn't loose well unless I exercised like mad, I was pretty fit and happy even though I never got below 200#. (I had a home gym that I used nearly daily, rode my bike to work and did daily walks - losing weight was a huge focus, but I have to tell you, I lost better on Weightwatchers later on in life). Well, I regained all that, plus. At one point I was at 332, but lost a bunch on weigh watchers and got down to 245 about 4-5 years ago. Right now I am floating around in the 285-290 range and NOT happy. I don't exercise like I used to, but still remain active with my dogs and horses. I don't need to tell any of you, you all get this, but I am really desparate to get the extra weight off. My knees are shot due to arthritis and I have alot of physical pain that seems to be weight related. So, I started having problems with the band in ... well, who am I kidding, from the very beginning. In 2003 I was regaining AND having the horrible side effects, by that time back in the USA. I had a hard time finding a doctor to take care of me since my surgery had been done out of the country. I had a flouroscopy and had pouch dialiation so had all the Fluid removed. I SHOULD have gone to Mexico and had the band removed right then and there, but I didn't. I had the wrong impression that an empty band just parked there was "harmless" - it is not. I finally got off my butt and started exploring revision and find that years later, surgeons aren't scared of taking on a foreign implanted band like they were back in 2003/2004. Now, I am having a lot more stomach irritation etc and I had a flouro Monday and found out that my band has a big slip. Doctor said there is a change of getting totally closed off and not being able to drink Water, so that thing has got to GO. Friday, I did the upper endoscopy, and although I was loopy when I talked to the doc, I do remember the great news NO EROSION. Thank goodness, I was scared of that. He did biopsy to check for ulcers and that precancerous espohogal condiion (Barretts?). I was out of it from the twilight sleep, so I can't remember if he said he saw anything suspicious, or if this was routine. I guess I will find out next week. I LOVE the doctor I have found. He was the second Bariatric surgeon I met with and I felt like he was the one that gave me the cold hard facts about risks of leaving the band in, risk of revision. The bands they used 10 years ago where "smaller" so even with all the fluid out, slippage and erosion are still very likely - I am a case in point as I do now have the slippage even with no fluid. When I found out how risky revision is to Gastry Bypass (due to stomach damage from the band) I was SHOCKED. He estimated that risks are something like 5-10X as high as people who have never had WLS. I don't remember THAT in the band promotional literature! I had mostly ruled out the bypass anyway, but that finished it for me. In order to reduce the risk of leakage with the sleeve, I plan to have the band removed, time to heal and then be sleeved. He has done alot of revisions, and based on his own practice as well as other information within the bariatric community, the risk of leakage for revisions IS higher due to the scar tissue etc. The healing time will help, but I still have a higher risk. The good news sees to be that once you get past that initial leakage risk, he felt that band revisions fall into "normal" population in terms of results and long term risks. I got a little scared though after reading how horrible the recovery from a leak can be though... I am curious if this info is consistent with what others have been told by their surgeons. The sleeve sounds like what I need so I can get this weight off, but i would sure feel more confident if I could get a better indication of how people are doing a few years out.

Thank you all for the information and sharing. I am inspired to see people with similiar BMI starting - 49 - have had such good results. I am 47 YO and have gained and lost weight so many times I don't know that I will lose as well or as fast, but I would be pretty happy to move out of obese and into just plain overweight! Getting to and maintaining a normal weight/BMI almost seems to hard to believe after all these years of failing.

Hi there, I am new here too. I had similiar problems, healthy foods like lean meat and veggies were the hardest foods to eat. Made it hard to have a normal life! From what I gather about the sleeve, eating is hard at first, but after that initial 6-18 months you can eat most foods so don't have that problem of choosing foods based on what doesn't hurt! good luck with your revisions!