I can not belive it will be 7 years since my journey began! My lapband is my best friend ,all my life like a lot of you have struggled with weight issues,my issues stopped the day i was given my lapband,thoughout the 7 years i have had 6 fills,oh i have the old band that holds 4 cc,i have had 3 unfills for a few surgerys. It took about 2 years to go from280,260 @ surgery to 127 ,i have had 1 set back of weight gain of 30 pounds because i was on prednisone for 8 months this last year but i have made it back i am @ 145 today,the band is always there for me. In the beginning i had a few slimes and a few upchucking but i learned,i never deprived my self of my love of cookies or icecream i had them at least twice a week sometimes more,i followed my rules of no drinking,chew chew chew,i do not eat bread,crackers yes breads no,i do not eat rice,or pasta,except once in a blue moon and i cheat 4 times year@ red lobster i have my long islands while i eat alot lol! I have not had any issues through my 7 years, but last month bad chest pains ,it looks like i have a hernia that is pushing on my band andd that is now pushing on a nerve and on my diaphame,doc says because i have lost the weight i have that he has to remove my band and also says because he sees so much scar tissue that he cant replace my band. I am the saddest person in the world right now! The dr says i can do the sleeve so the even smallest thought of regaining all my weight is just out of the question so i said yes to the sleeve,surgery is nov 21st, doc also said once he is in and if scar tissue doesnt look as bad as it did on film he will fix everything and leave my band! I am praying fr that very hard. Sorry so long of post and for not being on the boards like i used to be, i should have stayed and helped othhers for that i am a bad bandster.