CarrieH78

This is my not so "Peachy Story" on my experience with the Lap Band and a few surgeons. Right now my husband is trying to get the band out of him and a revision as well; I used to post herea lot a very long time ago and even met some of the ladies from the DFW Band Group! I thought for a long time I failed the band, but according to the company's own research it is a rarity to make it as far as most of you guys have without complications. I myself had plenty of problems with the band and i hope those who were talking about problems drinking Water read my story below: Hello everyone my name is Carrie, I am originally from Texas, but currently reside in Washington State. I am 32 years old and I once weighed 302lbs at my all time high standing "tall" at 5'4". I was squeezing into a tight pair of 24 blue jeans and 3x T-shirts. It was at my highest weight I became pregnant. I was scared to death as I knew my blood pressure WOULD be a concern. Eventually it was at a level that put me at risk of having a stroke at 26 yrs old! Thus I was induced and eventually because my body wasn't ready to have the baby at 38 weeks after 18 hours of labor I failed to progress and ended up with an emergency C-section.When our oldest daughter was 10 months old we (my husband and I) began to look into surgical help as I was 297 after giving birth and he was 360lbs. We had a friend's girlfriend who had the Lap Band. She was doing great and totally loved life with the band. At 26 I was concerned about the safety of having my digestive system tampered with and decided that the band would be the best place for us to start, afterall it's reversable right? I had my lap band surgery in August 2005. I went from 297 to 160lbs in about a year. I was very close to reaching my goal of a normal BMI for my height. My hubby had his band surgery in January 2006. He works for a major computer software company here in Redmond, WA and isn't very active. He was raised to clean his plate no matter what and he eventually had to have his Fluid removed due to a dilation from over eating. Eventually I started having problems. I called the office of the Surgeon we used only to get a recording. He was gone. All of his patients were given away based soley on insurance to other doctors. It was at that time I began to realize that he was only in it for the money, he never cared what damage he did to the "meat" he operated on. He currently continues to Band people in California. So, I had done research and was told by this surgeon that the band is reversible. Well, yes, they can remove it but not the damage that IT CAUSES. I have permanent Esophagus Damage at 32 years old. I had two EGD (upper edoscopies) done and our surgeon's replacement only gave me a PPI and said the band looks great. He too didn't seem to have an issue in the fact I couldn't swallow WATER anymore and it took the nurses 6 tries to get an IV started in my dehydrated body!! Needless to say eventually he offered to remove my band and do a Vertical SLEEVE Gastrectomy. The Sleeve was a brand new surgery that he had recently learned how to do. He had never done a single surgery revision from Lap Band to Sleeve and insisted that it MUST be done in 2 seperate surgeries months apart. Of course he couldn't recall exactly how many times he had done this surgery, which his office manager didn't know either. Surgeons are generally very proud of their work and have no problem bragging about it. Thus I had a problem with his indirect lies. I told him he was just as bad as the other doctor as he was in it for the $ as well. His practice continues to grow and prosper in the DFW area. I found a surgeon based upon another lady who had suffered with a failing Lap Band and she had written about it on a forum directed to VSG. He was in Dallas and very close to my home at the time. He was educated in Mexico and praticed in Mexico for many years before coming to Dallas, so his English wasn't that great but for some reason I trusted him. I was very much the "dog who had been kicked too many times and snappy". I had constant sharp pains in my chest and couldn't swallow water very well. He had done several hundred revision from band to sleeves and mareketed himself as an Expert of the surgery. On August 26, 2010, I FINALLY had my Lap Band removed and the VSG surgery done. My new surgery was of course considered to be "investigational or experimental" thus our insurance covered the removal of the band and that part of the surgery. We paid $8k for the additonal time and skill needed for the VSG. I spent ONE night in the hospital and was more than ready to go home. The next few months was VERY rough. I had been primarily on an ALL liquid diet because my band had failed I had a hard time learning how to eat again. I knew if I ate too soon I could vomit and have staples pop thus getting the nerve to actually cheat was scary. My newest surgeon found that the original doctor had put my band in BACKWARDS and the second guy who did TWO scopes on me along with several films knew it. . The truth is most bands fail. Most are removed when the person it is put into can no longer tolerate the issues it causes. Do a Bing search for "Lapband Lawyer", yes, they too are starting to rack in the money trail for damages people had and bad medical care we got from doctors who didn't care if we lived or not. I weighed 243 on my day of surgery back in August 2010. I have since dropped down to 195. Take it I am still not "Skinny" but I can eat anything I wish, just not a lot of it. It's like I am ALWAYS walking away from the table of a big Thanksgiving meal. I no longer have intense hunger. As I am getting further out I notice my hunger is slowly returning which I'm happy about as I've not been interested in eating since surgery. All I can do is share my story and you must do what is right for you. I will say before you have any surgery you need to know the truth about what the risks really are. It seems that 2 out of the 3 surgeons I dealt with were after the money and didn't care about me as a fellow human being or someone's wife or the mother to two little girls who would have missed me had I passed away, which COULD have happend during my second pregnancy, I had a big belly from a full-term infant and a backwards band that was a few inches from my aorta, at anytime my baby could have kicked that band and ruptured my aorta. Scary huh? I'm here for anyone who wants to ask anything. As for future surgeries, even at 195 I am better off than I was at 295, so I will NOT be having anymore weight loss surgeries. My life is the most normal it has been since prior to my Lap Band surgery! The Sleeve has given me EVERYTHING that the band promised without the side effects, That alone is work a ton