Wow! Thanks for the great responses. Sure gives me a lot to think about. I agree that my surgeon would probably be the better one to listen to (over the gp doctor) just because he's more experienced with it. But I am getting good support from the gp either way, which is nice.
It does seem like it will be weird having this foreign object in my body for the rest of my life. Plus, I live a good 2-hour drive from my surgeon and not having to go back and forth for refills sounds really good. I had also heard that, with the band, sometimes the stomach actually grows so that if you do remove the band you've got more of a problem.
I'm leaning closer to the VSG, but am not there yet. I have been reading up on ghrelin, leptin and cortisol. Adding your comments to what I'm finding, I am feeling more comfortable with that issue. But I guess what's making me hesitate is that it's still new and we don't have years' of research on it yet. Wasn't ghrelin only discovered a couple of years ago? I keep thinking of phen-phen, sacarin (sp?), hormone replacement therapy, etc. - things we thought were great but then found out after a few years that it wasn't such a good thing to do because of side effects that took a while to show up.
I know my insurance will cover the band, but I don't know about the VSG. It may just come down to that and my decision will be made for me. Who knows - maybe insurance will cover the band now, and then later on down the road they will cover VSG and I can get a revision.
I think a good thing for me to do would be to write out all of my questions (so I don't get off-track and forget anything) and take them to the surgeon before making the final decision.
Argh! I tend to be a wishy-washy person, and I felt really good having made a decision about the band. Then they had to go and come up with this VSG and I have to think all over again.