The.new.g

My apologies. I did not think before posting. I hope you are doing better.

My surgeon didn't do a post op leak test either. It was done in the OR before closing.

There are a lot of people here who have had band to sleeve revisions, myself included. One thing I have noticed universally is that surgeons will not do an immediate revision to a sleeve if there are any problems with the stomach and the band. Anyone who has an erosion or slip has to wait at least a few weeks, up to 6 months or even more before the stomach has healed enough to do the sleeve. When there has been a gastric complication with a band, there is just too much swelling and inflammation to do a sleeve immediately. This causes me to doubt this story. And it's really not possible for the band to "get under the spleen". If this really happened, I'm sorry you have had to go through this. But my experience and that of all the other band to sleeve revisions (plus my own experience working in the OR doing these procedures) leads me to believe you either have a woefully over-optimistic surgeon or something is not right here.

I was banded in 2007, and had a baby in Sept 2010. I had a barium study in 2011. I had a "perfectly placed band" as well, but it never worked after I delivered my baby. I finally had a revision when it was obvious fills were no longer doing anything and I was rapidly regaining weight. When I had surgery a month ago, my surgeon (a new surgeon, not the original one) discovered that the band was unbuckled and loose around my stomach. I am guessing this happened during my short, strong labor. Turns out the sleeve works the way the lap band was promised to work, but never did for most of us. I agree with above comments, it's not helping you, it's making things worse by causing pain and pressure and reinforcing poor eating habits by not allowing you to eat solid Protein. This revision board is filled with people who had "perfectly placed" bands removed, only to discover one problem or another that didn't show up on imaging. May as well go to a surgery that can actually help you, if you are prepared to make the changes necessary...and since you've been down the band road, you may be more than happy to make whatever changes are needed so long as the surgery WORKS. And it does. Good luck.

Check the Band to Sleeve revision board here on VST. Lots of us can tell you our stories about the band. Some never had success with it, some had some weight loss but lots of problems getting food down or keeping it down. I had success for 3 years, but my band broke after my pregnancy in 2010. Currently the statistics are showing that the band won't be in you forever even though they market it that way: 55% of patients have had it removed by 5 years, usually for erosions, slips, or failure to lose weight. I'm surprised surgeons are still offering the band at all. Of course, everyone here will pretty much be biased toward the sleeve. Have you checked out Lap Band Talk? You'll find more people who like their bands there...but also, a lot of people looking to revise it.

Yes, I have a very snuggly 2 year old who always wants "Mommy pick-a up". I was pretty good about the lifting restriction for 2 weeks. Then it was just too hard to not pick her up, esp since I was back at work and had to get her in and out of the car, into daycare, etc. Honestly though, I have been ok. I still try to keep it minimal. The concern is mainly for ending up with incisional hernias. It's not as likely with laparoscopic surgery, but we are at increased risk due to being obese in the first place. I guess the best I can say is try to keep the lifting as minimal as possible,, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyone with toddlers knows that never lifting them is pretty unrealistic.

call whomever is on call for your surgeon. They can tell you if you ought to go to the ED.

Welcome! There are lots of band to sleeve revisions here. Mine was a month ago. It seems like the people who have to have the revision in 2 stages are usually people who had erosions, slips or esophageal dilation. Then the surgeon wants time for the damage to heal before proceeding to the sleeve. My surgeon told me he would try to do it in one but couldn't guarantee until he got in and saw. Mine ended up being in 1 surgery and I am very glad it was. You wouldn't believe the difference between sleeve and band. Good luck!

Yes, there is a whole Band-to-Sleeve revision board on here. Congrats to you! It's a good feeling isn't it? I had my revision almost 1 month ago. I still struggle with the fluids like you. I didn't have much pain and felt ready to go to work after about a week. What kind of work do you do? It might actually be fine to go back. One caution though, my NP scolded me for going back soon not because I was harming anything but because I work in an environment where it is difficult to get fluids (I work in the OR) so she wanted me to have more time getting my hydration back up before going back. But beyond that, if you don't have a lot of lifting to do and you can drink throughout the day, you are probably ok to go back to work if you want. I still find it weird not having a port anymore. I had my band for almost 6 years. Good luck and welcome!

You look fantastic! Thanks for sharing your success!

My husband is Indian. He made some dal and its the perfect mushy food for stage 3. Tons of protein, yummy and nutritious.

Me too

Lorazapam is generic for Ativan, not Xanax. Xanax is alprazolam. You shouldn't have trouble taking the pills without crushing them. I take a handful of pills in the am and pm without any trouble.

Welcome! I have a similar timeline to yours--banded 2007, had a baby in sept 2010. My band stopped working after I delivered--it was actually unclasped so it no longer worked. I am about 3 weeks post revision now. I had terrible reflux during my pregnancy too, but none after until a few months before my surgery. I don't have any at this point with the sleeve. But I would trust your surgeons opinion on this. You can certainly get another surgeon's opinion. But that is what you are hiring him for, his professional expertise, not just to give you a one size fits all solution. I have heard that sleeves can have more reflux problems and that RNY is essentially a cure for reflux. Good luck with your decision!

I don't think any of this is surprising. I think most of us notice our negative emotions more because we used to calm them with food. When you can't do that you start feeling crazy until you learn different ways to cope--hopefully healthier ones. But it's part of why transfer addictions (alcoholism etc) are so common after WLS. I know I didn't even realize I'd been having anxiety all my life until a couple years ago--I've been treating it with food for so long I didn't even realize I was anxious until it got way out of control. Now I am dealing with this with my therapist and it is very helpful.

You can order samples of everything Vita Lady carries. (Vitalady.com). That apple one from nectar sounded good to me, but it was awful. Glad I just got a sample. So far I've only liked a few.

My revision was 12/29/12. I was banded in march 2007, lost 70 lbs. had a baby in late 2010, and the band never worked after delivery. Imaging was "normal". I tried to get it working again but when it became obvious that it just wasn't, I pursued revision. After surgery, my surgeon told my the band had somehow become unclasped and was just loose. I believe this happened when I was in labor. I asked him about scarring, and he said all band revisions have scarring, some more than others. Mine wasn't terrible because the original surgeon didn't sew my stomach over my band. Anyway, my sleeve is working, and other than post op nausea I have had no troubles so far. Very minimal post op pain, never even filled my rx for oxycodone. I spent 1 night in the hospital. My revision was all in one surgery. Hope this helps, good luck!

That is very difficult for you to be dealing with when you are probably already nervous about surgery. This will be something you have to deal with for a long time after surgery as well. I think if you can work on setting limits with her now it will help you after surgery. She lacks appropriate boundaries and you can set your own so she doesn't derail you. You could say something like, "I appreciate your concern, but this is my personal decision and I would rather not discuss it with you. " Then refuse to discuss it further with her. Good luck to you!

Quinoa is very high in protein. It's considered a "super food" because of its nutrition density. We eat it a lot (although I'm not ready to advance to it now, we ate it all the time before my revision). My husband is East Indian and we use it with curry instead of rice. Much more nutritious. It does need to be rinsed several times before cooking because the seeds have a soapy-tasting coating that needs to be removed. I use warm water, but YMMV. Just rinse until it runs clear, about 5 or 6 times. We cook it in the rice cooker--3 parts water to 1 part quinoa, add boullion, whatever seasonings you like. Yummy.

I can understand that. Your experience isn't uncommon. But if you are hoping for insurance coverage, it will probably be difficult this soon. The policy for my insurance required 2 years minimum after the failed WLS before considering a revision. Policies vary, but I think you may have a difficult time even finding a surgeon to operate again this soon. It is definitely worth doing everything you can to make this band work for a while longer. It took me about 4 or 5 months before I felt my band working at all, after 3 or 4 fills. It could be that the fills you are getting are too aggressive and causing too much swelling. Or you could be advancing to regular food too soon after getting a fill. Or perhaps the foods you are trying to eat just won't be tolerated with the band. There are many variables with the band, it would take working closely with your surgeon and nutritionist to troubleshoot. Good luck.

Honestly, with the current statistics available on the band, there is really no reason for anyone to be getting a band these days. Obviously those of us with revisions did it for a reason, and there are some people out there who are still happy with their bands. But the latest numbers say that at 2 years about 20% of band patients have had it removed and at 5 years it's about 50%. Weight loss is not nearly as good, and some of the complications are really terrible. I didn't have any of them, but my band broke during my pregnancy and I regained a lot of weight before my revision. It is looking like pretty soon the band will no longer be done at all in the US, because the other surgeries are all superior. Already I am doing better with the sleeve than I did with the band--to me it's a no-brainer. Good luck to you!

Awesome! Glad you are doing so well. My experience was similar, except the first couple days I had a lot of nausea. It gets better every day.

This is a wonderful post, thank you. I'm just starting with my sleeve (12/29/12) but I had a similar experience with my lap band. It took me 18 months to lose 70 lbs. It was hard for me to see others lose their weight so much faster, but 18 months isn't really so long in the grand scheme of things and for me it was safe and steady. I was the world's slowest runner but eventually was able to run in Bloomsday in Spokane WA, which is 12K (the largest foot race in the US). Then I had a baby, and my lap band broke. (Literally.) Already I am doing better than I ever did with my lap band. But I expect, for many reasons, that I will still be a relatively slow loser, and I have to keep remembering that it is okay! Thank you for this very encouraging topic.

About stalls. I lost 16 lbs after surgery on 12/29 (started 228) and then stalled for over a week. Finally lost 1 more lb. on Monday. I was confused until I remembered that I saw a bariatric endocrinologist last year when we were trying to get my lap band working (turned out it was broken, but it wasn't visible with imaging). He tested my metabolism and informed me that long story short, I would have to stick to 1000 cal a day or less to lose 1/2 to 1 lb per week. I knew I couldn't do that with my (broken) lap band so I pursued revision. My metabolism is 88% of expected. This is partly because of my lap band--with my weight loss I lost a lot of muscle mass, despite working out and getting enough protein. I then had a baby--lost more. My point is, what you might think is a stall may be normal for your metabolism and calorie intake. I had this surgery because I knew I could not maintain a low enough calorie intake without it. Hope this helps someone.

No. I think most of us have tried this kind of thing without surgery and found it impossible to stick to. The sleeve makes it possible. I had a lap band before my sleeve (2007) and was just revised 3 weeks ago. I experienced life with my band working (lost 70 lbs, rarely hungry) and life after my band failed (regained almost all of it). This is better than my best days with the band. I don't regret it at all, but I certainly have a bit of grief for the things I can't eat now. It's part of the process.