WASaBubbleButt

But Cosmos... you may or may not have been burned. While I agree that Rodriguez probably has the highest erosion stat in the industry, it is STILL a known complication of the band and this was well known when you were banded. Even the bad docs get it right once in awhile and erosion still happens. I'm sorry it happened to you but I'm not convinced you were burned because you eroded and had to pay to have the band removed. You would have had to pay here too and had NO legal recourse because erosion is a KNOWN complication with the band. Now, if he would have put the band in upside down, or left scissors in you then you'd have a point. But he didn't, you had a known complication. You would have paid more in the US for band removal so let's get realistic here.

No need for that, I feel great! I meant what I wrote.

I would have been the person gaining immediately without any WLS type. If I can eat, I do. If I can't, it's no big deal. Denise, you have been very cool throughout all of this. (Denise has known about the revision). You have been a fantastic friend to me! Thank you. Everyone here is great, I love this board.

Ahhhh, but the great pumpkin is real! I saw him on TV~ BJean: Maybe we have felt it too, we just don't credit that feeling to a god?

If I lose my band and don't change surgery types I'll just regain. If you think about it, there isn't much value in regaining then going through a 3rd procedure. (Original band, removing the band, doing the revision) So the standard of care in the US and Mexico is to do it in one surgery, less anesthesia time, lower risk, maintain vs. regain then having to lose again. If I would have waited much longer I wouldn't have been a good surgical risk and they could have only removed my band. I didn't want yet another procedure down the road after regaining for a revision so I opted for the Standard of Care and had it all done at once since it would have to be done eventually anyway.

Any revision surgery is going to be harder than working on a virgin stomach so I can't really answer. My sleeve sister and sleeve brother that day were fine, they were up and walking and doing great. I was in bed on morphine but I had been warned that revision is much harder. I'm pretty tough, you know? But the first 48 hours were not fun. I can only tell you that the others with virgin stomachs ... it was a piece of cake. Revision was harder but totally doable and worth it.

Brandy... You know, I've never been one to play into this kind of manipulation and it isn't working today. Shoot you? I suggest we move on because that is silly. If you don't want to diet then fine, but it's not that the band isn't working, you aren't working. This is not a band failure, this is you spending all your time focusing on how this isn't going to work when you could be using that time to make it work. There was a person on OH that was complaining that she hasn't lost a pound with the band in five years. She's still at the same weight she was five years ago when banded. We all suggested she exercise, she claimed she didn't have the time. I pointed out the number of hours she spent posting on the boards complaining about having no time and then she said she had no motivation. Who cares about motivation, who needs it? Freak'en well get out there and do it. We are ALL in the same boat, none of us WANTS to do it in the beginning, so what? Then she decided that she was going to go to a therapist to see why she had no motivation. What better way to use her time than to focus on why she has no time. There are people that want a treadmill and they spend so much time researching treadmills they never make the time to actually go out and buy one. They are so busy researching they make no time to damn well go out and get a treadmill because then they would actually have to use it. It's a great method of procrastination. If I were you I'd just get the band removed, stay obese, and focus on something new for a bit. Take up knitting, sewing, something more productive for you. This is getting you nowhere.

The band works verrry well for some. The thing about WLS is sometimes you don't know which one will be for you until you try it. Banding afforded me a 127# weight loss but I just can't do it anymore. Thus, the sleeve. Some don't tolerate a band, I guess I am one of them. :)/

I haven't quite figured out the "gaining on the post op diet" yet but I'm working on it. I'm supposed to be on clears but my doc told me to use milk in my Protein shakes instead of Water. Gahhh... the dreaded white carbs.

Don't invest a lot of money in Isopuke, I think it's gross. It's not the flavor that is bad, it's the texture. It tastes like it has a bit of pond scum in there, just gross.

I got sleeved! Denise knew I was going to be doing this and has been very supportive about my decision but I had my band removed a week ago and revised to a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. I now have a stomach the shape of a tube and the size of a man's middle finger. I was having severe band problems the last three months and just couldn't do it anymore so I'm now without a band. But I think the sleeve is going to work for me and be a bit easier in my case. So does that mean I am still a 12/06 bandster? ;o)

So far I am pretty excited about it. I think it will be an easier journey from here on out. I think I would have lost weight equally as well with a band or sleeve but I think it would have been easier with a sleeve. I like the Ghrelin issue with sleeves, I like the fact that there is no maintenance with it. I like the better stats with a sleeve. Mostly, I just think life will be easier in my case. The only pain I have is where my port was. I think removing it hurts more than getting it to begin with but it's not severe either way so it is no big deal.

HA! Too funny!!! Candle: I did do it all again! But two times is a charm, not doing it a 3rd time. This is it for me. I do believe I'll find better ways to spend my time. I decided a couple of months ago that I was going to get a revision. I planned on waiting awhile but that plan didn't pan out. I must say, the drain was the most fun part of the entire experience. I can't wait for plastic surgery drains next. HA!

Thanks, Frangipani! I didn't really say much about it, I kinda learned my lesson about that on another board when someone who is pro-band and anti-revision offered her opinions. It was just easier to wait until it was done. I was thinking about it six months ago and finally decided to do it. Revision surgery is verrrry hard surgery, I didn't like it much. ;o) I have decided that I don't want to do that again. But in the meantime I am bandless (it is sitting in a baggy on my dresser) and I have a stomach the shape of a tube and the size of a man's middle finger. BTW... I have picked my plastics guy!!! After a year I finally chose one. Dr. Juan Luque in Mexicali. He's very cool, I like him a lot.

Wasa didn't like her band. ;o) I was having mega band problems, esophageal problems, stoma spasms, I've been on liquids for over three months now. It was time for a bit of a change. I was losing too much weight. I was really happy at 140 and then some new band problems hit and I couldn't overcome the issues anymore. I got to 125 and that is a bit lower than I wanted to go. I had a plastics consult in the hospital and the plastics guy said that he'll be removing 10# of skin (gahhhh) and that would put me at 115# (I'm 5'5"). So I have to gain 10#. I can't get over it, a plastics guy telling a bariatric patient to gain 10# before he'll do surgery. Who would'a thought?

I just got my revision from a band to sleeve a week ago. Clearly, I did a lot of research on it. The largest five year study is coming out in a few weeks. So far things look fantastic for sleeves.

How many things that do not exist are you angry with? Are you angry with the spaghetti monster? Are you angry with flying pink and purple monkeys? Are you angry with pink elephants who bark? Seriously, how many things that do not exist are you angry with?

Thank you, Denise. Thank you very much. Yes, I do care a great deal. I want the whole world to be thin!

I hate walking, I hate running. I hate cleaning the toilet, I hate cleaning the kitchen after a holiday meal. Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do. I used to run seven miles a day and hated every bloody minute of it. But I wanted weight loss more than I hated running so I ran. Well, there you go. You have your answer.

Yes, it is proven about RNY and dumping. Not everyone dumps. But the point the other poster made is still accurate. If you get RNY and if you do dump, you'll be facing the same situation you do now. Are you aware that it is a myth that you mess with your metabolism by yo yo dieting? The only people with a dead metabolism are dead people. You are telling us that you are eating junk food and this has ... what ... to do with your metabolism? If you eat junk food you will not lose weight, that doesn't have a darn thing in the world to do with metabolism. It has everything to do with eating junk food. Okay, I'm just going to say it. Banding is hard, sleeves are hard, RNY is hard. You either want weight loss or you don't. You can sit here and talk about how you can't do it or you can get out there and do it. You can exercise, work out, bust your butt getting it done or you can talk about how you can't do it. If you can't do it then just have your band removed and go on with your life. Honestly, it's a choice. Seriously, you think this is easy for any of us? It is not, you find a way to make it work or you don't, that too... is a choice.

HAHAHAHA!!!! OMZ, I'm LOL in real time here! If you knew where I was and what I'm do'en, you'd realize how much I needed this laugh tonight! I relate to every damn word you are saying and I understand every single frustration you have right now. All I can say is... Men! sheesh...

I believe you mean they are not FDA approved and they are FDA approved. All the better surgeons only use Inamed and J&J on US citizens for the very reason that they would have a hard time getting fills otherwise and Inamed and J&J are most certainly FDA approved. There are something like 9 bands approved for use in Mexico but that does not mean they are all used on US Citizens. I only know of one doctor that uses the midband and he isn't one of the more popular docs in TJ anyway. But he gives patients a choice. Midband or Inamed. Actually, if I were to get banded again I think I'd go for the midband. Hopefully that one will get through the FDA process someday as well.

Funny thing is, I have ADHD and I get the stuff by the truckload and I hate them. I never get the Rx's filled, my husband used to get them filled and they are all sitting in the cupboard. Someday I need to go through that stuff and throw them away.

I could not agree more. I suspect this is exactly why sleeves are becoming more and more popular, there is no routine aftercare, no routine follow up visits, no fills and restriction issues. They are probably cheaper in the end as well when you figure in aftercare. Weight loss is better and a bit faster as well. (slower than bypass but certainly faster than a band) If someone is banded in the US or Mexico and their doc moves, retires, dies, or if the patient moves... they have a hard time finding aftercare. Many think this is just if you were banded in Mexico but that's not true. If you were banded in the US people face the same issues. Or what if they don't like their doctor? They want a new fill doc. It's hard. I think doctors are cutting their own noses off in spite of their faces with this crusade to only provide aftercare for their own patients. There are alternatives procedures out there, namely a sleeve. What procedure do you know of other than banding will a surgeon refuse to see another doctor's patient? There aren't any. It's just banding. I think docs are making a huge mistake here.

Nooo, completely different. Sleeve is purely restrictive, RNY is restrictive and malabsorptive. Bypass is bypassing intestine, there is no intestinal rerouting with a sleeve procedure.