I got my band in 2010. Never had the proper restriction - I'd either throw up or be able to eat a side of beef. I gave up going for fills and just left it as is. Eventually, the area around my port got infected and I needed to get the band out. My doctor said that he'd been doing a lot of revisions because the bands just don't do well with some people.
I'm now 4 days post-op. the diet is not dissimilar from the band diet in the first few weeks. The pain is a bit more intense, but not unbearable. It's scary because it's non reversible, but so is death - I was afraid if I kept gaining weight, that's where I was headed. The risks are so slight (under 1%), to me it was worth it.