Ellisa

I'm not pro band or pro sleeve or anti RNY. I do think that each is appropriate for certain patients. And each person needs to make the decision with their health care providers. Dr. Trace Curry out of Cincinnati area is my surgeon. He's done over 300 sleeves, lapband is far and away his mainstay. When he did my band, he was the only surgeon in the state certified to teach other surgeons the procedure. I don't know the numbers on the RNYs but it's in the thousands. I actually learned about him through a RNY patients who by the way is 6 years out and doing very well. Most of his staff, including his wife have been banded. I would think that with his vast experience he would have a good sense of the complication rates of each type of WLS. In addition, he was banded himself within the last year. It stands to reason to me that if a large portion of his patients (not to mention staff whom he sees everyday) were having such high rates of complications he would have gone to the best surgeon he could find to sleeve him. But he opted to be banded. That speaks volumns to me. My guess would be that he has access to very reliable statistics not only in his own practice but nationwide.

WOW, I didn't start having those kinds of issues until about a year and 1/2 after my band was placed and then we finally found that my hiatal hernia had ripped out (worse than originally). It took so long mainly because I kept dragging my feet because I was afraid I'd lose my band, but unfilled it might as well have been gone anyway. My husband can count on one hand how many times he's puked since his surgery. My mother and sister don't either. Can't speak for the other people I know because I'm not that close. I assumed when they say they don't have problems they mean it. We've all accidently swallowed something not properly chewed and had some discomfort until it finally settled. There are foods that make my relatives and I uncomfortable like dry meat and white breads, white rice and other sticky things like that. But I was hoping that would continue to be a "problem" with the sleeve because I considered it a great tool to keep me on track eating healthier nutrition packed foods rather than calorie/carbs with little else of value. I only know personally one person (who I forgot in my original count, so I guess that makes 10 now) who went out of state. Ohio many facilities that are reputable and have a lot of experience. The person who went out of state actually went out of the country about 4 years ago. Her port flipped and she's never had a fill because she could barely afford the first trip and has not had the money to go back to have it fixed and it will cost more to do it locally. I don't know who she went to in Mexico, but doctor in Ohio who tried to fill it didn't bad mouth her surgeon. I guess that's something that can happen anywhere, though it's rare. I'm glad I'm sleeved, I don't have anything bad to say about it so far. But I hate to be overly praising it because I just don't feel we have the numbers of patients long term yet to know what the risks will be in a few years. I've seen the very people on another board who two years ago were practically "selling bands." Now because they had issues and they've been sleeved are acting as if ALL bands WILL fail and ALL sleeves will be successful. Heaven forbid if they have issues with their sleeves they will probably be badmouthing sleeves and "selling" whatever salvage surgery they end up with... until that has problems... I just don't think we know enough yet to think any weightloss surgery is THE one. It might be THE one for me, but not someone else. In weighing the pros and cons, I will say that if someone were going a good distance for WLS surgery I would probably recommend the sleeve over the band simply because the follow up is less and it's often difficult to find someone who is willing to take over fills if your surgery wasn't done with them. My surgeon used to, but he has so many patients now he feels it's unfair for his patients to have to wait longer for fills. I learned yesterday that I will have to take B-12 weekly because that is mainly absorbed in the stomach not the intestines. I just don't know if we know enough about what else the removed potion of the stomach does longterm. Time will tell.

Congrats to both of you! It only gets better each day. My hardest problems are remembering to eat and trying to get enough in. I'm sure as the swelling goes down that will improve. Hope not TOO much. LOL

Hmmmm, I'm wondering if the successful lapband patients have different surgeons than the ones who have had so much touble. Seems odd that I know so many who don't have issues and most of you know so many who have had horror stories. Maybe there's a case for checking out your surgeon, no matter which surgery you decide upon. Get to know patients personally who have been to YOUR surgeon.

As a former lapbander, I can tell you that while malabsorption is not an issue, with our small pouches every bite is important. So if you eat perfectly everyday, chances are you shoudn't need suppliments. If you tend to like to eat the way you did before, just smaller portions "some" days or for "special" meals, you can easily not get what you need. With the band properly adjusted and the sleeve, there's simply not enough room to hold what you need and the junk too. My DH has to take suppliments (banded) because he's on the road a lot and doesn't always make the best choices. Face it, most of us didn't need WLS because we like to eat only healthy food. I love healthy foods, mind you, but I like the other stuff too. That didn't change because of WLS.

We don't know how many of us sleevers will have regrets or need some revision in the long term. I mentioned my 3 close relatives with lapbands all of whom are doing great. We also know several people who have done just fine. In fact, we counted 9 people off the tops of our heads and I'm the only one with complications. And my complication (hiatal hernia) can come back with the sleeve. I just figured if I was going to have a hiatal hernia anyway, I might as well have it with a WLS that will (hopefully) allow me to lose weight rather than a band that can't be adjusted and weight gain. I guess what I'm saying is I don't have strong feelings about one over the other BUT I would not base my opinion of the Cathlic religion on a forum for "ex" Cathlics if I wanted to learn about it. I would probably give the "exes" a viewing but wouldn't consider that the experience of the majority. Though thousands of lives are saved by seatbelts every year, you will have people who are against wearing them because they think there are a few cases where someone was "killed because of the seatbelt." The sleeve may be the very best surgery for you and by all means ask people with bad experiences and good with various WLS. But in the end, it's your body and your life and you have to make a decision that you can live with. I feel like I'm a bit of a pioneer with this surgery. I don't know what the future holds 5 years out. I certainly hope it's all good.

I don’t mean to argue with anyone here, but before you decide what is best for YOU, I would not recommend getting your advice from this board alone. Those of us who are sleeved after being banded obviously had issues that lead us here. However, I have 3 close relatives who are banded, my husband… 5 years post op, he’s lost 170 lbs. and is keeping it off. At 55 years old, he doesn’t make any conscious effort to exercise and doesn’t follow a strict diet. He does however “obey the band.” Meaning, eats slowly, and quits when he’s full, yadda yadda. My 77 year old mother was banded over a year ago, same story, 50 lbs lighter. My sister nearly 3 years ago, same story, 80 lbs lighter (nearly at goal), she does exercise some. I had lost 90 lbs with mine before having it unfilled, I also am ashamed to say do not make a conscious consistent effort to exercise. My issue that lead to being sleeved wasn’t because my band slipped or did anything wrong. It couldn’t be properly adjusted with the large hiatal hernia I had. I’m happy to be sleeved, but know there are many people who are happy to be banded. Take your time, work with your surgeon and make the decision that’s best for you and your situation.

Oh, I'm sure if anyone looks into it their surgeon will have more than one option. My point though was how our well-meaning discussions can be offensive or appreciated... depending on the person/circumstances. But who knows which will be which? My points tend to get lost in my war stories. LOL

Exactly why I need to take the Calcium. I want to keep my teeth and strong bones. I'm at the age where that's a concern. LOL

Love the "hair barrette!" I didn't hate my band, but when it had to be removed, I opted for the sleeve, I didn't know at the time there was a reduction in absorbtion, but that wouldn't have changed my mind. I haven't talked to my PCP yet. Yikes. I was so busy with appointments with my OBGYN (unrelated) and surgeon to deal with the GERD/hiatal hernia, I just didn't take the time. I'm sure he'll understand... My surgeon does require a Multivitamin, Iron, Ferrous Fumerate or Ferrous Gluconate, Calcium Citrate, Subl-lingual B-12 (weekly) for his sleeve patients. That's going to be a tough one for me because I've never taken my vitamins like I was supposed to. That's why I loved my band, I could eat enough vitamins. My guess is that if you are a successful sleeve person whose health improves your PCP will be recommending it before long. Be the poster child!

I think sometimes people confuse low carb with NO carb and "high" Protein with "exclusively" protein (and fat). Not what low carbing is about at all. In my case when I'm low carbing, though the ratio of protein vs. carbs is "high" my overall protein intake is not "high" by anyone's stretch of the imagination. It's only what is needed to replace the muscle loss due to normal wear and tear. If I were an athlete with little fat reserve, I'd need more carbs for energy AND more protein to repair the damage. When I low carbed before WLS of course I could easily eat a lot of protein. But I love veggies and berries, whole grains, other lower carb foods a whole lot more than grilled chicken. I could eat nearly 100 grams of low glycemic carbs and still lose (that's including Fiber, not net carbs). Of course, falling off the wagon even for one meal could put a bunch of weight on and be very discouraging. With WLS I can have my cake and eat a (very small) bite of it too! There's wiggle room for a taste here and there and there's not enough space to get carried away. LOL Love the combination!

The "advice" 3 dieting attemps ago was NEVER lacking in my case, LOL. We low carbed for 2 years at one point. (Hubby lost 100, I lost 50). Mind you most people can't get through their heads that there's a difference between LOW carb and NO carb. Even sitting across from you watching you eat salad, cooked veggies, and berries they are lecturing about the dangers. The minute we'd pass on white bread all the other stuff became invisible. Although my meat portion was no bigger than theirs the fact that I chose green Beans over baked potato meant my meat was going to destroy my kidneys. HUH? It was almost comical. Then many of the same people reminded me of how successful we were at low carbing when (after regaining what we lost and more) we decided on WLS and thought we should do that instead of surgery. ANd there were people who thought hubby should have WLS and praised his success then 2 1/2 years later made it clear that I should "consider" diet and exercise first. I really think that people (and we all do it in different ways) find giving advice and/or back-handed compliments to be a way of showing interest and care. It makes life less frustrating if I think of it that way. LOL I recently called a beloved niece who’s had RNY and has gained some weight back to tell her about the “band over bypass” surgery. I tried to think of how to bring it up so she’d have the information without coming off sounding like, “hey I’ve noticed you’ve gained a bit of weight too.” Know what? There is really no way to say it without that coming across. But I love this niece heavy or thin. AND she DOES have a pretty face heavy or thin. (I didn’t say that of course.) But knowing how much she’d gone through and how much WLS has changed her life I wanted to share that her weight gain isn’t because she failed to do what she should (as most people assume) but because the surgery had failed her (5 yrs out). I could tell that even though she still loves me and we are still close, she didn’t love that I mentioned it. She had previously mentioned her weight gain and what she’s trying to do to reverse it before I called with my golden information. Some areas are just touchy no matter how well meaning and encouraging we think we are being. Of course I also knew she was noticing MY weight gain due to having my band unfilled. But she didn’t call me to tell me to try RNY or sleeve. LOL Ironically just last night I was telling another RNY person the same (band over bypass) information and SHE was excited and is going to look into it. This whole conversation wasn’t initiated by me directly making a phone call. Maybe that made the difference? Maybe the relationship? Who knows. But I’ve obviously been on both sides of this fence. So since my comments are out of genuine love and concern, I have to assume other people's are too. :thumbup:

Awwww come on! People can say "you're so pretty" to me all they want. LOL Yes I get what you are all saying. I was banded 2 1/2 years ago; last summer was at my lowest post surgery weight. It's true your life DOES change. This was a one-day experience for me last summer. I'm a married grandmother of 5, oldest is 14, I'm not unattractive for my age. Anyhoo... One morning I went to the grocery to get food, ice, etc. for a large get-together. So I've got a huge cart full of stuff. (All of the following men are about my age, I didn't realize how many middle aged men shop alone). As I was loading the ice into the cart a man startled me when he came up to ask if he could help with that." No thanks, I've got it. As I started out the door another man came out of nowhere and asked if he could push the cart for me, it looked heavy. No thanks, it's really not too heavy. When I got to the truck, a man actually zoomed into the parking spot next to me, I was thinking, he must be in a hurry to shop. He jumps out of his vehicle and ran over and began unloading my cart into the truck for me without asking! I really hadn't noticed how much more help I'm offered as a thinner person until it came literally in triplicate that particular day. Of course I told hubby he better be making sure he's paying plenty of attention to me these days. LOL But of course it makes you realize that you were judged as either not worthy of help when you are bigger or perceived stronger or something. I'm actually better able to do all that now than I was before. I've had a lot of fun joking about it, but also a bit of discussion on what is it really about? Maybe the same thing could have happened if I hadn't lost the weight and I wouldn't have remembered... who knows. Is it my perception or is it really so?

Look at you go! 18 lbs! Congrat!!! Right now my main concern is fluids. I can't hold more than a few tablespoons of pureed food and it takes awhile to get that in. I put Wendy's Chili in the blender. A small one is a lot of little meals. For convenience I've heated some frozen dinners (the little ones) like Salisbury steak or roast turkey etc. Put it in the magic bullet. Then have several small meals out of them. Make sure when you thin your pureed food in the blender that you don?t dilute it with water or it will taste bad. Use broth or tomato juice, something appropriate for the food that doesn?t take away flavor, but adds flavor.

No need to be sorry for disagreeing. In fact I agree with you 100% on eating healthy low carb. Though everyone is different, in my case, if I eat protein and low carb veggies, the carb count takes care of itself with WLS. There simply isn?t room to do much damage. One bite (remember, my ?bite? is a little bigger than a pea these days) isn?t very many carbs. When I did Adkins before WLS there was simply NO wiggle room. As a lapbander Pasta, rice, white bread, etc. ?stuck.? I sincerely hope that?s my experience with my sleeve. Right now, I?m not concerned with what I eat so much as fluids. But I?m less than two weeks out. Of course being a low carb fan, I automatically eat protein first. I didn?t count much of anything on a daily basis (when my band was properly adjusted) but before an office visit I would track a few days. I?m supposed to be below 60 carbs and it was almost hard to get in more than that IF I ate my recommended protein. I do eat whole grains (Atkins ongoing weightloss, rather than induction), but is a ? slice of whole grain bread at Breakfast a huge concern? LOL I would find it very difficult to consume 1200 calories following a strict low carb diet after WLS. I guess the calories could be boosted by increasing healthy oils without using up a lot of space. You are doing fantastic! Keep up whatever works, I say.

Cheri, sounds like you are progressing wonderfully! I don't get my drain out until next week. But I can shower. It probably could have come out today, but they make the appointments when you leave the hospital. And it's only a 3 hour drive for me to get it out.

That's what I thought. I figured going in I'd have that to pay if we went this route.

Jill it's been nearly 3 years ago since I was going through that, but at the time but it said the the requirements were 40+ BMI or 35+ BMI with two co-morbsand a 5 year history of obesity; I had to have one weight from a doctor's office for each of those years.. I had to get them from my PCP, OBGYN, various urgent care facilities, because I'm not good about going to any one doc every single year... and sometimes I had (stupidly skipped the weight in.).The co morbs weren't an issue for me because I met the higher BMI. But I do remember that the insurance person in my docs office knew which ones our policy considered co-morbs and which they did not. BTW, I did not have to provide months of medically supervised weight loss. I only had to list diets I'd tried, weight lost/regained and so forth as well as a medical history proving 5 years of obesity. Though my BMI wasn't even above 35 the entire time 5 years, I explained that I was constantly trying to lose weight. They approved it without ever denying it.

I have BC/BS Ohio. But I'm understanding that my employer is really self insured. BC/BS just administer it. With my band, I went through the pre surgical approval process. They said they didn?t have the paperwork numerous times but in the end, and so many copies of it that the woman who personally called to say it was approved couldn?t understand why my doc?s office had bombarded them with so many copies. LOL But all in all it was approved without any denial and really within maybe 6 weeks. We didn?t even attempt to have the sleeve approved, well frankly, I was planning/hoping to KEEP my band. The sleeve was discussed and agreed upon only if removing my band was necessary for the healing of the hernia. I was having so much discomfort I couldn?t wait the weeks it would take to get the denial, then how many more for appeals? I?m definitely going to look into appealing though and thanks for all the information.

Food for thought for sure. I will try the appeal process, do you know if "after the fact" surgeries are even eligible for appeal with insurance companies? Mine does not approve WLS for BMIs below 35 and then with two co-morbs, and I have no co-morbs. GERD isn't considered a co morb on my policy, has to be high blood pressure, diabetes or sleep apnea. etc. none of which I've ever had. I've heard some insurances count things like GERD, incontinence, arthritis, Fibromyalgia, etc. Mine does not. My BMI had to be 40+.

My insurance considers it to be experimental. It will cover the band and GBS, but not sleeve. Since my BMI no longer meets their requirements it won't cover any WLS for me now. But it did approve the hiatal hernia repair and band removal.

Lynn, I know you must be soooo excited and relieved! Insurance will not cover the sleeve portion of my surgery, so awaiting the bills. Ugh. But it'll be worth it. I really think my reduced stomach mass will contribute to the hiatal herna repair holding.

Milli, Hope you are feeling better today! Those of you who haven't had a previous WLS, it's just soooo exciting for the first time to see that you CAN lose weight (you know, like those skinny people who just say the word diet and drop 5 lbs.) and this new tool actually WORKS for YOU. Yes you HOPED it would, but and wanted to believe it would.... but in the back of your mind you wondered.... will it really work for ME! And it DOES. At least that was my experience. Even this time around I kept thinking that maybe since I already had a measure of success with my band, maybe this wouldn't work as well for me as for someone who hadn't had previous WLS. Every one of those great diets I was successful with in the past gave me great results the FIRST time I went on it. Each time after the results weren't as dramatic even though I had more weight to lose each time (imagine that) and didn't make as many mistakes because I knew the plan better. But this time I went into my second WLS 78 lbs lower than before my lapband, and OMG the weight is coming off FASTER! Granted, this is mostly fluid, but I can only assume I had more fluid the last time around. So exciting. Thinking of all of you being sleeved today!

Lynn this is awesome news. I hadn't seen that you'd gotten approved and a date! Don't worry about what you've gained. Trust me it will come off FAST. I gained 22 lbs. since my band was unfilled (around (Oct, most was taken out the, last 2 cc's a couple months prior to VSG), 17 lbs are off as of yesterday. Not giving you a licence to go for broke, LOL but don't stress about it. If you are able to maintain or lose a little I'm sure you know that will be all for the better with regard to your upcoming surgery. Happy to hear this news. And Sept is just around the corner. Can't believe how fast this summer has flown by!

FUNNY! (Worked for me too, though).