TexasT

Thanks for the info. Just today I made an appointment with a gastrointerologist for a second opinion on the gall bladder issue. My appt is on 9/23. I also have a call into my surgeon's office to talk about the outpatient situation too. His receptionist had VSG two yrs ago and she's the one who is supposed to call me back to tell me her experience, along with what his other patients do. As for the morphine pump, I've heard some people take liquid morphine, so that might be something my doc does. I'll just wait to see what his office says.

If you have insurance you must check your policy. Mine will not pay for anything related to obesity help - no matter what. So I would to have to pay for anything to do with complications. My revision from band to sleeve surgery is scheduled for 10/30, and now I'm not even sure I'm going to go through with it. I'm self-pay, but am also have gallbladder removal, which is covered by insurance. My doc is charging me $5000 for the sleeve portion of the surgery. I'm just afraid of having to pay for complications if something were to happen.

So basically my answer so far is a resounding "NO!". Boy, oh boy - do I need to have another talk with my surgeon. Oregon Rose, no - I don't know anyone in the medical field locally, so I have no one to call on in that area to help out. I'm actually even re-thinking the decision to have surgery again in the first place. I went in to the doc because I've been having abdominal pain and think it's probably from adhesions (after 2 C-sections I had tons of them, which were removed during a hysterectomy) caused by the band surgery. There was a report in my file from my internist showing I might have gallstones, so my surgeon jumped on it and and said we should remove the gallbladder, get rid of any adhesions and do a sleeve while we're at it. I had never even heard of a sleeve before he mentioned it. My husband thinks the doc just wants to get more $$ from me since I was a self-pay, and that I really don't need to get a sleeve. I'm afraid that I may have complications in the future, so why not get the band out now while I'm already being operated on? Since I'm prone to adhesions, more surgeries in the future will just make them worse. I know it's my body and only I can make this decision of what to do with it - but it 's just a lot to consider...

This is my first post on the forum, so here goes. I got a band March 2006 and was self-pay. I'm scheduled to have a revision to VSG on October 30th with my original lapband surgeon. I went to him for a checkup because of abdominal pain. After an abdominal ultrasound it was found that I have gallstones. After discussing my band "issues", he suggested we do the sleeve. My insurance will pay for gallbladder removal, so we're going to do it all in the same procedure. I will pay $5000 for the band removal and VSG. This is much less than most revision surgeries since the insurance is already paying for the hospital, anesthesia, etc. I know this is not the way to go about it for most people, but it is something to consider if you have gallbladder issues and your insurance will cover removing it. Good luck!