blosmtx

I was scheduled to be banded next week until last night I decided to look at the before and after pics, and gave myself cold feet. I was startled by the number of people posting there that have since (noticed the updates in signatures) had slips, erosions, needed a new band, "upgraded" to the sleeve or RNY, etc. It seemed to me, it was more common than not to have some sort of complication and additional surgery following the initial band for those people that got it in 2004-05. I got so diseartened and scared, I called my doctor and cancelled my surgery today What exactly is the average lifespan of a band? What % of patients are still happy bandsters 5 years down the road? Do people being banded today have better odds at band success than those being banded 5 years ago (since it's more common, more practiced doctors)? The thought of losing this weight of my own, without the tool of WLS for support, is overwhelming. I have been dieting or "changing my lifestyle" for the past 15 years at least and all I have to show for it is an extra 80 lbs on my body. But the thought of going thousands of dollars in debt (yay for self-pay!) for a surgery that will only work as intended for 2-3 years.... I feel so ambivalent about the surgery now... I wonder if I chickened out over isolated, rare, incidents or if my impression was correct. Can someone point me to some information (either studies, statistics, or personal stories) about actual long term results with this surgery?

I just got my date this morning- August 7th. Started my pre-op diet today, and I'll be 2 days shy of a full 2 weeks on the pre-op diet, but hope that will be good enough. I think it will be since some surgeons only do a 1 week pre-op diet... I'm cash pay and this has all happened so fast! I was not expecting to be those close to surgery so soon.