JewelJ

I have had a LAPBAND since 2007 with only 60lbs weight loss. Now i'm going to have it removed on oct 9th. After new healthy tissue grows in Jan I will have the Gastric Sleeve done. I hope I will do better with this surgery and get move weight off. I'm 60yrs of age and suffer with metal in my back and a lot of arthritis. Has anyone on here tried two different surg and had more weight loss with one than the other? thanks for any help you can give in this matter.. JewelJ

WHO ARE YOU? If this happened to you ? Tell us about it. I can put up with needles before you asked me to drink something. I would rather take a shot than you ask me to drink something that will make me Gag!!!! yuk!!! Than I thought. Maybe it is just Band people that have to do this.. They want to check to see if the Band left us with any damage, before they send us home. So give us a shout out if you went through this. We need to know. So we can get ready for the "shake MONSTER"... YUK, YUK.... JEWELJ

Dear Poorehouse you have had no RESTRICTION FOR TWO YEARS.. So it sounds like you have the feeling for the past two years of not having a band at all. So the doctor does not have to do anything before surgery, they just have to remove your Band.... Right now I still have my Band in. It has 8cc of fluid in it. That is full restriction..very tight... I will have this Band removed on Oct 9th, than have to go through the holiday season before getting the Sleeve.. wish me luck..JewelJ

Dear Sleeveconverft, I think you are right, we should just trust the Doctor and go with it. I do want to ask, Do most people have to DRINK some "gastrogaffin dye" before leaving the hospital to make sure everything will pass through?? Just checking.. Wish you well my friend JewelJ

It is to the Doc advantage to do this... He is getting two surgeries out of it......Let me know how it works out...If my Doc did it, I'm sure he knows what to say in the letter.. I'm sure he knows what they want to hear.....good luck JewelJ

Dear PPQJ, Do You think it would help if the Doctor wrote a letter to the Ins company saying your needed the surgery... That's want my surgeon did , he wrote it for both surgeries.. so both would be approved before removing the band...Just a thought...Good Luck JewelJ

Dear PrettyPuffy Why don't you ask your Doctor to ask your Ins Co. to approve you for both Surgeries? This is what my Doctor did. He explained that he was taking the Band out, and waiting 3 months for good tissue to grow and than doing Gastric Sleeve. they than gave approval for Both Surgeries. Can't hurt....JewelJ

Kami wishing you luck with Ins...I wanted to tell you I love your Doggie. I have three of my own.. JewelJ

Hello Everyone, I just joined this forum. My Doc has the same policy of waiting in between both surgeries. I think it makes a lot of sense. If you are going into someone's stomach and going to staple all this tissue into a shape of a banana , you would want it to be good tissue and not want it to come apart and have problems down the road. This is what we pay good doctors to do. So I don't mind waiting If the Job is done RIGHT. However, I do worry about the weight gain just like the rest of you. My Doctor, when dealing with the Ins company wrote them a letter and ask for approval for BOTH SURGERIES AT THE SAME TIME. So i got the approval for both surgeries already. He said he wanted me to have my band in while I was getting approval for these surgeries. Now I will have my Band removed on Oct 9th 2013 and Jan 1014 have the sleeve done. I will do my best not to gain, but I know it will be hard over Holiday time....But I want good tissue for him to work with.. and after having a band in for so long, it can only be wise to let good tissue grow... I do want to ask "what is "BCBS" THAT you speak of?? I don't think I have ever heard of that? Wishing you all well Jewel J

Dear Jeizygurl do you mean Jerseygirl? Loved your story, I'm new here also. I hope to get the Sleeve by Jan 2014. I got approval already, it is just I have to get my Band removed first, than wait 3 months than have the Sleeve done. I wish you the best. JewelJ

Hi! I have had a Band since 2007 . I first lost 35lbs than just stayed like that for 2 months than lost another 22lbs. than just stayed like that for 8 months. than gained 8lbs. than lost 5lbs. than stayed same for another year. Now in the last 8 months I think I gained 9 or 10lbs. My life has changed. My husband has been told he has Alzheimer's Disease. I have a lot of Arthritis. So I went to my Doctor and said this needs to change. So we started working on it. He wrote letters to the Insur Co. about the two sur that needed to be done "Band removal, and Gastric Sleeve" 3 months Later. You need to wait, due to Scar tissue and you need good tissue for the Doctor to staple the sleeve. You don't want to have a problem with the 2nd proceedure. Best of luck. I have approval , My Band will be removed on Oct 9th. I will prob get my Sleeve in Jan 2014. Nice to meet you.. JewelJ

Hey Shells, It sounds like you are pre-surgery like me? Good tip on the raisins. I will for sure remember this.. it is an on going problem for me. How do you make friends on here? I just joined? I'm removing my Lapband, Than having the Sleeve Done. Their will be 3 months in between. Talk soon I hope. JewelJ

Thanks laura-ven I went over and checked it out. Thanks so much for the Link...makes me feel so much better. JewelJ

Thanks so much slikchik10 I just got on the forum for Band/sleeve and posted there. That is so Great their is so many here that did it. Makes me feel so much better about it.

I'm new here tonight Cowgirljane, This was a great story, i'm so nervous about this, and now I feel great. I go Oct 9th to remove my Band and the Doc will do the Sleeve in Jan. He said it is better to have good tissue to work with. We did get approval for both surgeries already. He wrote them about both and wanted approval on both. I am nervous about weight gain when the band comes out after reading all these, but i'm so glad their are so many of you here to talk to. This is great. Thanks to all of you. :wub:JewelJ :wub:

Hi! i'm JewelJ I just joined tonight. I have a different story. I am 60yrs old. I had a Lapband done in 2007. after it was done I felt that I did well. I took off about 35lbs. Than stopped for two months. Than started to lose again. I took off another 20lbs. But than just stayed the same. Last Aug my husband was told he had Alzheimer's Disease so now i'm a caretaker and my world has been crashing with changes. Over this past year I put on mabe 20lb , than took off 8lb. It seems to be harder to work with as I get older. I can't move as well as I use to. I have had mgr Back surgery since the Band and I have two plates of metal in my back as well as 8 screws. I can still walk with my two small dogs and my Grand Daughters. I will always take the last parking place in the parking lot just to make myself walk more. But I have a lot of arthritis from driving a School bus for 25 years. So my same Doctor talk to me about taking out the Band and doing the Gastric Sleeve that I might have more success and be able to walk more as the weight came off, and one thing might help the other. So the first thing he did was get approval to have two operations. the surgeon feels that he has to go in and take the band out and have me heal and have good tissue grow before he can do this surgery. So I will have this band taken out on Oct 9th. Than by Jan 2014 I can have the Gastric Sleeve done. He said he is not going to staple bad tissue and have a problem with it. So that is my story.. I hope I can work this board and get the info that I need. Thanks for the welcome. It would be nice to know if anyone else on here has had a Lapband and went to the Gastric Sleeve, and how did they make out??? Thanks again.. JewelJ