pennreporter

on my second band and would do it again in a heart beat. First one failed but I think more of a surgeon failure. Went from 240 to 160 but throwing up all the time. Band removed and of course gained everything back over next six months. New surgeon, new hospital, new band. It's been a year and a half and close to 160 again. But for a year I hate very unhealthy, too many chips and ice cream. You know, all the things you're not supposed to eat. I maintained a steady 180 and just kind of accepted that. This summer I went dairy free and dropped 16 lbs in three months. I don't yo yo diet any more. My goal is 150. The dairy free has been great My daughter is a bander also. 100 lbs and reconstructive surgery for her. I still don't exercise as much as I should. Blood pressure is normal now with only 1 pill a day. Hoping I can go off cholesterol meds. No knee pain nor ankle pain nor apnea. No regrets except my choice of my first surgeon

My first band surgeon was horrible at the fills. They would poke you first to deaden area a little, pillow under small of back and push stomach out and they would remove all and then add it back in so they knew how much was in there. I had lots and lots of problems. Long story short second band surgeon including NP and bothe surgeons it's a breeze. Like other poster I just raise my feet up. Never a problem finding port and if I'm going for .25 cc that's all they add. They thought removing it all and then putting it back in was kind of silly. I know it's really awkward to tell your doc you'd like someone else to do it. I'd have a hard time doing that. Bad fils were just one of many things wrong with first surgeon. I guess cute doesn't equate to competent. Lol

Most fills the dr wants you doing soft food and liquids for the first day. Wouldn't have any removed until you see if it's just the swelling. 6cc is not a lot.

I agree that it would depend on why band is being removed. When my first band was removed it was because stomach and spleen were adhesed and because they had to separate them and use staples they removed band so no foreign object would be there. But I would think if you have no complications and you just think sleeve will be better it probably wouldn't be a problem all at once but I would sure want to know my surgeon's experience and success ratio. Surgeons here in pa love love the sleeve. If I could have done it all at once I would have but I also didn't know enough about the sleeve at that time

I had my first band about 3.5 years ago. Got down to goal almost but for six months a constant throwing up. They thought band had slipped. So they went back in and my stomach had adhesed to my spleen They had to remove band, separate stomach and spleen and stitch with 100 staples which according to surgery is not a lot. I was devastated. Had no idea the band might be removed. It took about 6-9 months of insurance company hoop jumping and finding a new surgeon. What a difference a more experienced surgeon made. The fills have always been a breeze. First surgeon fills were always problematic. Glad you're back on the road again. Even with my issues I'd do it all over again. Wait, I did do it all over. Lol. My daughter is a bander also.

I was plateaued for about nine months. Well, maybe not plateaued but just not working at it. Had just accepted 180 has my new norm. This summers went dairy free which emirates all the ice cream which I was in denial how much I ate, the cheeses and the half gallon of milk a week. Without changing anything else I dropped 16 lbs in 3 months. I'm working on going gluten free which isn't as hard because I can't really eat bread anyway.

Would be interested. I'm in tobyhanna but I work a lot in Scranton

I'm in the poconos and unfortunately don't have time to be a workout buddy struggling to find time to go two minutes to the gym. But glad to see someone else from the poconos on here

My daughter has reflux with her band also but it's such a small amount of fill that had to be removed to ease the reflux. My neighbor has the sleeve and it was only ever her choice. She wasn't a great dieter. It was tough without my band because I had basically thrown up for six months. So once band was out I was on a frenzy eating. But it sounds like you're starting off right mentally. Good luck and it will all be good

The complications of banding is why so many drs love gastric tony (sleeve). It doesn't have downsides of band or bypass. My dr thinks at some point it will be the primary surgery. Little scary but I think for some folks a necessity. My neighbor had one and has done wonderful. So sorry about your complications. It is a foreign body and some bodies want to reject anything. I had mine removed and later replaced but my stomach had adhesed to spleen and they had to remove band because again a foreign body would hinder healing process of staples. Good luck on your healing process

Oh please so don't worry. My daughters dr (one of the leading drs in us for banding) doesn't even put you on a preop diet just the night before. And post op was just a few days. He wants his patients adjusting to normal food as quickly as poss. As long as you didn't get jammed up I would think it just fine. Had you gone out and tried to eat a big ol ribeye maybe that would be diff. Lol

I'm 61 today. 3 yrs out from first band and one year from second one. Long story. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Still not at goal but not bands fault. I would do it at any age. My daughter and I are both banded which helps because we are our biggest support team.

Have you considered the sleeve? I would do that before a bypass. A friend is ten yrs out in bypass and they're starting to find serious health issues. Her dr was top dr at Nyu they're starting to do reversals now. But I had my band removed last yr because of some issues. Ins approved either band sleeve or bypass. Bypass for me was never an option. But I k we going in depending on what new dr found I coul end up w sleeve. Luckily he did the band. But bright has had great success w sleeve. Good luck. Oh when band was out I gained about half of my weight back because now I could eat without throwing up. Good luck

My ins co paid for what was supposed to be revision and ended up bein a removal and then approved the replacement of either band or sleeve and I was almost at goal weight. The argument is that it took the band to get you to your weight nd you would still need the band for maintenance. Now they may have approved mine because I think we all new surgeon 1st surgeon screwed up. My stomach was adhesed to my spleen which I believe was an inexperienced surgeon touching something w instruments he shouldn't. If they don't approve I would definitely appeal w or without an atty. but because it's a complication of first surf they usually will ok it.

I went through the same issue you are. Surgeon had to go in because he thought it had slipped. I was throwing up all the time. Granted I was at goal weight. Lok. Got in and they had to remove it because personally I think surgeon screwed up. My stomach and spleen were adhesed together. So they had to remove and band separate organs and staple. I was devastated. Options then were another band or sleeve. All of the doctors love love the sleeve. My dr had never done a haste tony for weight loss. It's commonly for for severe acid reflux. I went to new surgeon and ins approved sleeve or band because new surf didn't know what he would find as far as how first one removed band. He was able to do another band. Weight loss has been much slower but my fault. Can't eat chips and ice cream and exp to lose. Lose. Neighbor across the street had sleeve and she's done great but very very limit on amounts if food.

Well, I got my schedule for my revision surgery....July 9th. So I will have a month on my own with no fill. I will say for the first few days I've eaten anything and everything but now I've gotten that out of my system and I'm back down to controlled portions and HAVE TO EXERCISE this next month. When they go in the will check everything out to make sure my band is all intact, which is good. Kind of like a tune-up :thumbup: If there's anything they can see wrong with the band at that time, they will replace it. The port is fine as far as they can tell. But I did have the conversation with the surgeon that in the future if what I can eat changes radically from day to day...like one day I can eat Soup and the next day I can't eat the same kind of soup, then that's not normal. I guess the guilt my mother instilled in me my whole life led me to think that clearly there was something I was doing wrong..:smile: But the plus side is I don't have to do the two week liquid diet but after puking for five days straight, even that wouldn't have been a problem...:tt2: Wish me luck guys trisha pennreporter

so this is kind of like a sleeve without actually removing 3/4 of the stomach? I know the surgeons are all so excited over the sleeve. I was just rebanded and the surgeon (actually two different ones) wanted to do the sleeve. I think because of the slippage issue, it's becoming more popular to do instead of a reband. My first surgeon had never done one...so of course, I wouldn't even consider it. Second surgeon had approval from insurance company to do it if once he got inside and realized he couldn't do another band (because of scar tissue or the original flap not being undone). Luckily he was able to do the band, but I have to admit I'm somewhat anxious with starting the fill process over again. I'm being very cautious my second time around. But I had never heard of this plication procedure good luck trisha

NCIS, when I went in for my revision, I also came out with no band. All I could do was cry because going in, I had no clue they would be removing it. My stomach had adhesed to my spleen and they had to repair it and throw in some staples. So rather than risk an infection with a foreign body in there, they removed it. Luckily insurance agree to pay for it one more time...go figure. But it is horribly distressing when they remove it. Recovery was great for the removal. New band placed last month. But I was so afraid they were going to have to do a sleeve once they got in there and found they couldn't replace the band maybe because of scar tissue, but it went well (of course, a different, more experienced surgeon for the second band) good luck and hang in there.

Just curious...do you have insurance coverage at this time? Because even if they didn't cover your band, if you're having a complication, you may still have coverage for complications. But I would definitely try to find out what's going on. But letting your band get overfilled...well, whoever was doing the fills should have monitored it better also. Vomiting is not necessarily a sign of overeating. When my band was slipping, everything was coming back up and then it would correct itself and then I'd be fine. You might want to possibly consider having all the fill removed and give it a rest. I had all my fill removed in June of last year because I ended up in ER completely blocked. As soon as the fill was removed, the stomach dropped back into normal position...it's not really the band slipping as much as it is the stomach coming up through the band. They then slowly started to refill it again, only to get to 9cc in an 11 cc band with still no restriction...filled it to 10 and I was blocked. Band was removed in October and just replaced last month. So I do feel your frustration. I gained 40 lbs over the process. I would seriously check with insurance, if you have any, and see if they will cover for you to have a fluoro to see what's going on. Good luck Trisha

Been there, done that. I can feel your pain...:) Hang in there. I gained 40 lbs from when fill was removed in June of last year...Now rebanded and going for first fill since second band put in..can't wait...and I CAN EAT anything trisha

I'm a rebander. On my second band. I did get some grief from some folks, as to why would I want to do it again at my age, 60 in June...my answer has always been that I would like to live as long as most of my female relatives, well into their 90s but with no weight issues. If I kept up the yo-yo dieting, it has to take a toll on your system. So I am starting over but with a much more experienced surgeon...go for first fill (again) next week. My daughter and I are both banded...so my biggest supporter has always been my daughter and even my first surgeon who probably screwed up has been a great supporter, even referring me to a different facility for second opinions So good luck to any newbies..even with my complications, I didn't hesitate a second to get rebanded!! Trish

Also, another comment from Dr. Spival to my daughter when she had her surgery....that the two most important things with the band are the placement of the port and the placement of the stitches to hold the band in place (the flap they make), that that's where the experience and knowledge of teh surgeon comes into play. (Clearly my first surgeon didn't have a clue)...I'm sure the other doctors the other poster has mentioned are probably okay too...but to me if you can get the best for around the same price, why not. But I will say Houston has some of the best surgeons around, hands-down, not just bariatric. So whoever you decide to go with, as long as they're experienced, you'll be good. (I should have listened to my own advice two years ago.) :)

So clearly there's a sign here, right? What are the odds. If I had it to do all over again, I would have saved up the cash and went to Houston. My concern was because of my age, if I had complications I wanted a doctor close by. In reality, my doctor close by screwed up...so I should have just made the trip. But he's like 3k dollars cheaper now than 3 years ago. I don't think you would go wrong...if you can have the best, why not? But I agree, what are the odds that you would have run into him? Did you just know it was him by seeing his website or did he have his name on his doctor's smock? Trisha

It really will all be good. It won't be near as bad as you think. I like the clear liquid Isopure Protein drinks you can get at GNC, but my daughter hates them. But really, if you like yogurt the Chobani Greek yogurt is really high in protein and low in calories. Cottage cheese is great. So you don't have to beat yourself up on Protein Drinks. I think for women it's like 40-60 grams of protein a day. So you don't have to stick with protein drinks. Even a can of tuna is high in protein. I had my rebanding on the 23 of February. I haven't lost but five pounds since then but I've been sick for a couple of weeks with the flu...so too much of higher caloried juices. But going to start back at the gym this weekend and go for my first fill (again) in two weeks. Can't wait. Good luck to you and it will all be good!! Trisha

The way my first surgeon explained it was that it took the band to lose the initial weight and to keep comorbidities under control. That if you could do it without the band, you wouldn't have had it in the first place. I absolutely had no problems with my insurance company. So much so, that they even approved two different procedures should I not be able to have the band the second time around, because of scar tissue or whatever, which almost no insurance company gives you a blank check basically for two procedures. My thought is that my first surgeon screwed up and maybe this is why the approval process went so well. Could I prove he screwed up, no, but my spleen and stomach adhesed together, which doesn't just happen on its own. It was only his fourth band and my thought is that his laparoscopic instruments touched on organs they didn't need to. There were lots of issues with the fills, lots of slips. I would think if they don't approve it, there are attorneys that specialize in appealing insurance companies decisions, which I would go that route in a heart beat. My problem was I was concerned that even doing a band after they had to staple my stomach where they separated the stomach from the spleen, whether I could even get another surgeon to redo it. But luckily I did, and even more luckily my first surgeon removed the first band properly, so that second surgeon had no problem putting new band in. Good luck and don't take no without a fight. Trisha