Jeniiake

I'm a 36 yr. old female living in Virginia. I had the lap-band surgery in November 2009 weighing 236 lbs. Within the first 6 months I was down to 200 but quickly gained back 15 lbs. During the last 5 years I've gained and lost between 10-15 lbs. several times over :wacko: Finally in February of last year I decided I wanted the band out and a revision for the gastric sleeve.
 
Insurance paid for my 1st procedure: I was 29 at the time and planned on having another child so I opted for the band because I felt it was the safest option for my situation. If I would have know what I know now I would have definitally went with the sleeve (although it was a "newer" procedure at the time). The fills and unfills, GERD, food constantly getting stuck, not knowing if my protein drink would make it down, hoovering over the trash can day after day was the most miserable thing EVER! :( My wonderful and caring hubby saw my misery and told me that I needed to go for a revision cause he felt so bad watching me endure this horrible nightmare. So after a ton of research and reading about revisions, in Feb 2014 I went to see my original surgeon for a consult. 
 
My doc was very supportave and understanding. He stated a lot of people were getting revision due to the high failure rate on the band and a revision wasn't an issue :D  I was sooooooo happy and relieved to hear this. I imediately went in for an "unfill" to help soften the scar tissue. Now for the paperwork to submit to insurance.....DENIED! I appealed and just asked for the removal of the band......DENIED again! :angry:  I have never been more frustrated and furious....you mean to tell me with all the complications I've had with this foreign object in me and not to mention the FAILURE I have to live with this crap in me? ::sigh::
 
Self-Pay for my Revision: In November 2014, after I came to grips that insurance was not going to pay for my revision <_<, I made the decision to self-pay for my Band to Sleeve revision. In the process, I also found a more experienced Surgeon who had done several 1 stage revisions (better option if you are self-pay) and assured me if he didn't like what he saw after removing the band he would have to close me up and we'd have to do a 2nd surgery.
 
Sleeve Revison; I had my surgery on February 11, 2015. Thankfully my doc spent some time working on the scar tissue enough to proceed with my sleeve (there was a lot of scar tissue, I imagine this was from all of the throwing up I had done for the last 5 years). He also sent in my removed stomach lining for a biopsy only to find gastrits (more then likely casued by the band) It's been 2 weeks and I'm now on soft foods! I was so nervous to eat for the first time yesterday because of my band experience I just know something was going to come back up. My first food to try was some tofu (I love tofu!) and no issue at all! I was only able to get about 2 oz down and I was full ;). I'm in high hopes of my new stomach and very excited for my new journey! 
 
This site is great for reading the experiences of others, I love reading the success stories and feel at ease seeing similar stories to my own. This is a great support system for those of us who do not have time for support meetings. I hope to be helpful to others with questions in the future :)