giveyouthemoon

I've had an unfill (and I've also had a slip and my band replaced, but that's a different story). Here's my thoughts. For the first week after a total unfill you'll feel crazy hungry. This is when to be THE MOST diligent. Eat lots of Protein (which is filling) and track what you eat and be on top of it. For me, after about 10 days, that *intense* hunger calmed a bit and while I could eat more, I wasn't so crazy about food every minute. Just my thoughts on the matter. Good luck!

Hi MaineMom - First of all, welcome to LBT. We're all in this together and here to be supportive. While I have only had the band, my first band was seven years ago and I can tell you that my pouch definitely relaxed over time. When I was exploring which surgery to have, my doctor told me that with RNY, over time not only does the stomach relax, it also starts to rebuild the lost cilia needed for the malabsorption. He said that in the later years of RNY, it becomes very difficult to lose. I'm saying this by way of saying....it's not your fault. You had a tool that worked great and then it didn't. That's one of the little tricks about any weight loss surgery. It's great for a while, but then, like anything, you have to stay committed to it. Ultimately my band slipped and I've just had a new one placed. It's given me a kick in the butt and I'm being SO careful right now in how I eat. Getting the new band is making me relearn all the lessons. I don't take it for granted anymore (I was really bad about that). So if you are considering a new weight loss surgery, I guess I come closest to understanding what you are saying. It's a big step. HUGE. The second surgery was harder for me than the first. I'm not as young as I was seven years ago. *smile* But it's an interesting thing to consider. Just like you did before your first surgery, research everything before you decide Wishing you a lot of luck on your journey.

Update: Just found out that Dr Alami is leaving the Bay Area to go back to his family home in Lebanon. I'm *very* sad as he was a true asset to bariatric surgery. I'm getting follow up from Dr Li now, who is the Director of Bariatrics at Kaiser. He's not a very warm, friendly guy, but has a great resume. And the rest of the staff at Kaiser in South San Francisco are top notch.

Hi all, just had revision surgery with Dr Alami at Kaiser and I can't say enough wonderful things about him. He has a great bedside manner, asks a lot of questions, and really cares about the patient. When the Dr got inside to fix my band, he found a lot of scar tissue. I think a lot of surgeons would have just taken out the band and called it a day. Dr Alami spend an extra hour in the operating room removing scar tissue and reworking my stomach so I could have a new band. He went above and beyond, and for that I'm very grateful. If you end up with Dr Alami, you are in good hands. Just wanted to give my two cents since I know many prospective bandsters will come here to look for recommendations.

Ok, let's take a huge step back and look at how far you've come this year. 73 lbs? SEVENTY THREE POUNDS!!!?!?!? Amazing! Stunning! Spectacular!! You should be so incredibly proud of yourself and use this, your one year bandiversary, to remember all the lessons from day one. Go through the checklist and gently correct areas where you may have stepped off the path. Are you drinking with meals? Drinking too many calories? How are your carbs doing? Do you need to drop them a skosh to get the weight moving again? Or up Protein? Do you need to add a day of exercise? Or are you exercising too hard and need to ease back a day? With just a little fine tuning (for me, it was always fine tuning my carb count) you'll get it going again. But first: Take time to Celebrate this anniversary and your incredible success. You've earned every pound!! Congrats!

Hi guitar4life3000! I just had band revision surgery on March 7, so I am juuust barely past that painful stage you are in. Stay strong! For me, it was real bad for a week and then suddenly I shot out of bed with all the energy in the world. I've already lost 7 lbs. Crazy!! Ok, so I'm going to publicly declare what I want to do...so far I've only told my husband and even he was a little surprised. I want to run a 5k. Walking a 5k was my goal at my first band surgery when I weighed 300lb. When I weighed 250, I successfully finished a 5k. After this revision surgery, I'm upping the ante. And now I'm *publicly* declaring it here on LBT. SCARY! I am not a runner. At all. I really, really don't like to run. But hell, even if I do a wimpy half jog thing and turn in a terrible time, I don't care. I'm going to run a 5k. Whew! It feels so good to share. And on my girly, vanity thing.... I want to be able to sit with my legs crossed again (as someone else said, sit like a girl). And I want to be able to sit in a chair and not have the arms of the chair jabbing in my sides.

Every bariatric surgery has it's problems. RNY is great because people lose weight so fast (due to malabsorption) but I recall my original band dr saying (when we were discussing options) that with RNY you have to work hard to get your weight loss done in year one because by year 2 the stomach begins to relax a little and the body adapts and weight loss becomes much more difficult. Then in the next breath he told me how much discipline it takes to lose weight with a Lap Band because there isn't malabsorption issues. I am hearing about more and more RNY patients coming back for a lapband, it's actually not so unusual. And so, she's on the same crazy journey we all are on. I hope she finds some peace.

Crazy days, indeed! I never thought it would happen to me as my first surgeon told me that slips were rare. My current surgeon showed me the xray, the band is now parallel to my spine. Whoops. Well, the good news is that an endoscopy showed my esophagus is in good shape and in two days I'm having a revision surgery. While the good dr is in there, he's going to put in the updated band which is supposedly is better for fills and tweaking amounts. I never had more than 1 cc in my old band and that was way too tight. Totally looking forward to having the new band. I really hope that things improve. Living with a slipped band isn't fun. Overall, I don't regret getting the band. I'm still 65 lbs down and that's really something.

Hi Cocoabean! I must be hardheaded, because I keep going back to drinking liquid with food. Ridiculous, lol!!

I think that's only part of it. I think also that if you drink with meals, it sort of pushes all the food to the stoma and if it can't get through it gets stuck. And also, like you said, it can puff up certain things and make them so hard to get through. Ugh!

Hi Vicki - Thanks for chiming in to let me know about your experience. I'm always so glad to talk to other bandsters who had a slip and to hear about their revision surgery. I also had issues with my lungs and that drowning feeling prior to surgery. It's so great to be able to sleep with out waking up in a pool of my own saliva! I'm having that puffed up feeling you describe, but I'm only a week out of revision surgery, so I don't know if it's just healing stage or will go on for a while.

A couple weeks! Yikes! I agree, this pain is way, way worse than anything going on with my stomach! Soooo bad.

Nope, the shoulder pain is still really bad. It makes me cry sometimes it's so bad! And yeah, I'm on liquids for another week, then mushies. I can hardly wait to have mushies!! My first lapband was done in June 2005 so I've been a bandster for a long time. This new band feels like the beginning, though. I'm relearning all the things I need to do to be a better bandster this time.

Hi Adriana - How very, very scary!! I'm so glad that everything worked out well and your band is back in place. Isn't it crazy how hungry you get with no fill in the band? Soooo crazy. Once you get the fill you'll feel right again and that little bit of weight will come back off. I have to wait six weeks before I can get a fill. That's going to be a super long six weeks. Today has been a bit tough, a bit of a setback day, I guess. The pain has been pretty tough. Tomorrow is one week since my surgery. How time flies!! ***** Edited to say: I've already lost four pounds, hooray!!!

Ooooh, that drinking with meals thing...that's my super bad habit. I got really bad about it in the past few years. I was so good at first, but then just got lazy. Awesome reminder! Thank you!!!

Right on, Xavier!! I'm learning it all again, as if I am banded for the first time. Good stuff, you are doing great!!

Hi Xavier - Yes, my first band was sewn in. I believe it's called fundiplication. While having that done greatly reduces the risk of slip, it doesn't eliminate it. My case is a prime example. Word to the wise, don't take the fact that the band is sewn in for granted! Take care of your band and if you do vomit, be extra, extra careful.

Hi Andrea, thanks! I did start taking GasX and it helped some and I'm now walking A LOT. This shoulder pain is crazy!

And then let's talk about the growing number of RNY patients who, at several years out with a relaxed pouch and weight gain, end up getting a band. None of the procedures are a magic fix, and it still boggles me that there is a weird caste system around bariatric surgery (I've experienced it too).

I was diagnosed with a slip and waited almost two years before having revision surgery. I don't know, I guess I hoped it would fix itself? I have to say, even though I'm just five days out from revision surgery, having my band fixed is amazing. I feel so much better and eating goes SO much more smoothly. Don't hesitate with that slipped band, have it fixed. You will be happy you did.

Grapes are one thing that even after many years I still can't eat. The skins bunch up and my band rejects them entirely. So I'd say don't even try them at this phase. Wait until you are well into solids and then be extra careful.

Whew, I'm back from the hospital. Things went a bit rougher than I'd hoped. Dr. Alami got inside and found quite a bit of scar tissue on my stomach since I'd had the slip for so long. The surgery ended up going a bit over two hours because he had to remove a lot of scar tissue then decide if everything was in good enough shape to have a new band placed. The very good news is that yes, I have a new Realize band. Yay! But I'm in quite a bit of pain. The Dr said that since he had to do so much work on my stomach, I'll be swollen for a few weeks. This time around I have MASSIVE pain in my left shoulder. I didn't have that last time. Anyone have any good suggestions about easing that pain? It's far worse than the pain from incisions! Anyhow, it's good to be back home and happy to still be a member of the band club!

Hi Birdie. Thanks for the good thoughts! I think a combination of eating too much at meals and vomiting caused the slip. It's hard to know the exact cause, but for a few years, I wasn't a very good bandster. Yes, it's unfilled now. That was tough to have zero fill and I am hungry all the time. In some ways, this slipped band is way worse than a too tight band. I have a really hard time eating solids at all. That tilt to the band makes it hard for food to go down. So I'm VERY hungry (no restriction) but can't eat much (slipped band). It's a bit of a living hell, really. I also have violent acid reflux. It keeps me awake at night. Just got a call from the hospital. I'm on deck for 10:30 tomorrow. Send good thoughts and prayers if you got 'em!

Yes, I did vomit a lot and I'm sure that's a big key for me. Slippage can also be caused from constantly eating too much and dilating the esophagus. That constant dilation pushes the band down. I'm guilty of that too. Yup, a LOT of lessons learned the hard way.

No, not free. For me, the good news is that I self paid the first time, but now my medical H M O (Kaiser) does the surgery and it's covered, so it will be a LOT less out of pocket than it was seven years ago. Whew! Thank goodness for insurance!!