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WASaBubbleButt, Thank you so much for replying. I have read your posts over the past year or so and appreciate your honesty. After being unfilled for two weeks (liquids only), I had an upper GI done. It came back "absolutely perfect". No slip, erosion, ulcers, or irritation. Because of this, Dr. Aceves said I could eat anything. I have been careful, but have eaten half a hamburger and a few fries for the first time in 2 1/2 years. It was nice to have real food and throw it up! The doctor now feels very confident that he can do the band to sleeve revision in one surgery. That was what I was hoping for. When you have some time, can you tell me exactly what to expect from getting to Mexico to leaving? I was happy to hear that Dr. Aceves has not had any leaks. I think she said no complications in any sleeve operation. Thank you for your help. I know I can trust that you will be honest in your experience. Cheryl __________________ Originally posted at www.lapbandtalk.com

Well you two it took me a bit to google and translate kilos into pounds lol, but I think I got the gist of the weight gains and losses. Like Chilo said there are many band to sleeve revisions on this site and they will be able to give you the low down on that idea. I was just curious though, I heard the port and metal on the bands were titanium like the staples used for the sleeve. If this is so you may need to go with a physician that uses threaded sutures and glue vs the staples if this is possible or maybe go with the gastric plication which is not excising the stomach only folding it within itself and suturing it up, to avoid the titanium. Hmmm

Hi everyone Was great to stumble across this forum and find out that Aussies visit too! I was banded on the 3rd of April (so 13 days today) at Bethesta Hospital (by Mr Kierath) in Perth. Im 6.5kg's down as I type, but have started to notice that my weight is starting to fluctuate (Im a scale junkie unfortunately!) and the last few days have seen me go from 99.9kg - 98.5kg then right back up again. Is this normal whilst you are still on liquids? I have my first appt with my surgeon since the "borg" was put in on the 24th of April - and boy I am filled with questions! My port is definitely noticable (which Im not happy about) and even my DH can see it sticking up through my tummy, just under my ribs. I am having nightmares that it has flipped or turned on an angle, and can see myself having some type of revision surgery. Has anybody had their port turn/flip - and if so whats the general action taken? Revision surgery? Sometimes I feel as though mine is floating around - or maybe Im just freaking myself out here! Lucylee - I had that tightness in the chest area that you talked about, and ended up ringing the hospital (because I was concerned) and they told me it was all perfectly normal. They reminded me that even though I had keyhole surgery, (and yes, it is less invasive) its still major surgery and that my internal organs were basically not settled and that the discomfort was caused by swelling of the organs and the gas that they use to pump you up to see what they are doing. Mine has only recently let up the last few days, so give yourself a good couple of weeks to let everything settle. However, if it doesnt feel right to you, the best advice I can give would be to ring your surgeon! Anyhow, enough of my blather.. I appreciate finding Aussies on the board, and look forward in getting to know you all better

My surgeon explained that a minority of people will have Gerd after surgery. He said that for the vast majority of those people, medicine alleviates it. He said there is a small percentage, I forget whether it was one or 3%, for whom the medicine does not work, and they need revision surgery.

I am a bit of a hypochondriac so I was inspired to read this as well! I have hope that a revision won't be needed and that I can keep my weight maintained!

So I finally got the call I been waiting for over a month! I will be getting my band removed (2/2011) and getting a gastric sleeve. I have had too many issues and can't get my band any tighter because when I do I can't literally even drink a sip of water. Other issues as well but I'm excited and would love any info on anyone who has done this and what is recovery time for this since my surgeon told me it will be longer and I also will have drainage tubes as well. I have a 10k scheduled for May 7 and my surgery is March 30th. Thanks

Good Morning Sleevers!! I have a question regarding the ability to eat without effort 4 oz. of food. I feel that I can easily eat more but, stop myself at that point. My surgery date was 9 Feb 15, so, I am about 2 1/2 weeks out. I started soft foods 1 week after surgery (fish, tuna, green beans). I guess each Surgeon is different. My surgery was completely pain-free and, though I am off work for 6 weeks, I could have gone to work the same week. I am losing fine (hit a stall now but, not too worried) but I am concerned that if I am able to eat so much now, in a month I will be eating a much larger portion. Also, it takes me about 5-10 minutes to eat meal. I have forced myself to slow down to minimum of 20 minutes. I can drink 32 oz of Water in about 5-10 minutes too. I can't eat salads yet. Sorry for the long post!! My actual question is: Are you or were you able to eat so much 2 1/2 weeks out or, is this due to my having a revision? Let me give an sample of a days worth of food: 1st meal: Protein shake 11 oz. mixed in my decaf coffee about 10 oz. 30 minutes later: water, water, water 2nd meal: 1 scrambled egg with 1 oz. of chicken and laughing cow wedge water 3rd Meal: 4 oz. grilled chicken breast w laughing cow wedge or chicken salad w light mayo 30 minutes later: water, water, water 32-40 oz. 4th Meal: 4 oz. grilled chicken breast, 4 green Beans water w Crystal Lite 5th meal: Protein Shake or string cheese with 1 slice of budding turkey wrapped around water, water, water

I made the band decision for a couple of reasons, all personal: 1. When jets head coach rex Ryan got the band and Chris Christie followed (let's leave politics out of this please) it made me wonder why recreate the wheel- these two individuals have access to the best and the brightest and ultimately chose the band so to me that said something; 2. I am only looking to loose 100 pounds. I have noticed that some sleevers look too thin- almost sickly. It was also a concern of my wife in not looking too thin. 3. Worried about the higher incidences of serious complications immediately following gastric sleeve survey versus what I perceive to be minor annoyances of band life in general; 4. Easier to eat 3 meals a day than 4 with the sleeve. Also worried about if I was sleeved and started exercising heavily with weight loss, would I be more prone to dehydration problems (I live in the Deep South- high heat and humidity); 5. Alzheimer's runs in my family and if I get it down the line, it could be dangerous for myself and caregivers in taking care of me- where with the band I could just have it removed at that point. 6. If the band doesn't work by the end of year 2 I will just suck it up and go with a revision to a sleeve. What amazes me the most is no matter how many years of research I did concerning both surgeries, I never could get enough info about which one was better. Thus, I had to make my final decision on the criteria above and choose the procedure that best matched those self-imposed criteria.

My revision was a bit more... complicated than most. Due to unforseen issues (basically one anastomosis was not done right), the surgery in March had to be aborted after 3hrs. New surgery was scheduled for June to allow for healing. 2nd surgery, the surgeon discovered another surprise. My common channel was only 25cm and the configuration of my intestines was not the rny configuration. He had to back my common channel to 300cm, cut out a portion of my pouch and small intestines due to necrotic tissue. This surgery took 8hrs! So almost 9months post op, I do have better restriction than I did with my surgery 22 years ago, but I'm absorbing more. I'm down 50lbs so it's been slow going, but I'm still losing. Thanks for asking, Hope you are doing well on your journey.

Good Morning Everyone!! Approved for band to bypass revision on 9/26, I found out when I called Aetna on 9/28, pre-op appt schedule for 10/4.. my advocate told me to start my liver shrink diet Saturday (yesterday) which will put me at a 6 day advantage on this 2 week liver shrink when I go to my preop appt.. and a possible early October surgery date if available since I started the liver shrink diet already..I'm excited!!!!

I am in the process of trying to get the revision from Lapband to RNY in 'Erie,Pa. Just had second of 6th physician supervised diet I need to do before trying to get the Ins Approval. Looks like it will be spring before I will get a surgery date if all these pre op testing does well. I know alot of things are going to be different with this go around with getting the band removed and then the revision done to RNY, Not sure if I have to go through all the pre-op testing or not. It's been 4years so my guess is I will have to get updated tests. I know I have to meet with psychologist, pulmonologist, the nurtritionist visit is the 9th of Nov along with the esophorgram, and then the EGD in late Dec.I think I had to see a Cardiologist as well before my lapband surgery. chest xray and ekg I think are done for everyone Im wondering what kind of down time I am going to have with RNY compared to what I had with lapband. I think we have to stay in the hospital longer and more than likely a little longer to be off work do the more intense surgery, Maybe someone else on here can give me some time ideas

@@Jerziegirl, @@chasingpolaris321,@, @@ausmith Hi everyone...sorry I've been absent. I have had numerous complications and procedures done in the last couple of months. I'm interested to hear whether the person with GERD working overseas has had the revision from sleeve to bypass and how she is. There has been so much going on and so much has happened it would be easier to answer questions than to tell it all but for now I am on a feeding tube 20hours a day 7 days a week and my GERD and reflux are back in full force.

Ok, I am now scheduled 7/18 for a revision to gastric bypass! Im scared to have another surgey but I don't want to live with this reflex anymore. Also Im hoping I won't have an issue with my insurance company..Should know soon.

The symptoms you had were the ones I had when I found out my band had slipped and caused a hiatal hernia. I had to have a very painful and long band revision and hiatal hernia repair as well as tons of scar tissue removed. My slippage was caused by a fill that was too tight that caused the band to slip. I had horrible reflux that woke me up at night. These were my only symptoms and I could still eat so I though nothing of it until it got to the point I was waking up choking on it. I went in and boom there is was on the xray. What followed was weeks of misery and pain. So don't take it lightly as I don't anymore.

As I said in my post, I'm under a doctors care. I've been checked for a slip and that's not the problem...believe it or not, many people suffer without a slip, erosion, etc while they are waiting for ins auth for removal. My situation is becoming the norm rather than the exception. I belong to a couple of online groups of people who overwhelmingly agree this is becoming the expected outcome of banding. However, I have lost 82+ lb and feel great other than my tummy issues. I'm hoping to revise to sleeve in early 2013, so I need to baby this thing in the mean time.

Hello, everyone! I have posted previously in this thread about my horrible reflux since my sleeve surgery July 2012. I finally had the barium X-ray last week & am now sitting here with a Bravo monitor that was placed yesterday. I kept putting these tests off because they are so awful to do & I wasn't sure I wanted to go thru bypass surgey. Well, the Prilosec & Zantac that I have been taking daily for almost 2 years seems to not be working. I see the surgeon 5/15, so will know then if I can get a revision to bypass.. I NEVER had reflux when I was overweight & I would eat lots of junk!! Im also lactose intolerant now so it is difficult for me to eat. The good thing is I now weigh 122 lbs!! However, I would give anything to be able to eat fruit, veggies, salad once in awhile ! Maybe even enjoy an ice cream cone! Take care!!

Nursetab did you have to prove your band was "defective" prior to getting approved for the revision to rny? I have been banded for seven years and it has not helped me much at all. It hasn't hurt me, caused me any pain or anything. Just never have lost more than 25 to 30 pounds and always put them back on and they would bring a few friends. I like you thought the rny to invasive, I so wish I had done it the first time. I understand about not changing the habits. I also fell into the trap that soft and carby things went down well with the band. Now I am waiting for insurance approval for the revision, but since I don't have a slip or anything I am so afraid they will not approve it.

BILLING/CODING INFORMATION: CPT Coding: 43644 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; with gastric bypass and Roux-en-Y gastroenterostomy (Roux limb 150 cm or less) 43645 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; with gastric bypass and small intestine reconstruction to limit absorption (investigational) 43770 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; placement of adjustable gastric band (gastric band and subcutaneous port components) 43771 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; revision of adjustable gastric band component only 43772 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; removal and replacement of adjustable gastric band component only 43773 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; removal and replacement of adjustable gastric band component only 43774 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; removal of adjustable gastric band and subcutaneous port components 43842 Gastric restrictive procedure, without gastric bypass, for morbid obesity; vertical-banded gastroplasty 43843 Gastric restrictive procedure, without gastric bypass, for morbid obesity; other than vertical-banded gastroplasty (investigational) 43845 Gastric restrictive procedure with partial gastrectomy, pylorus-preserving duodenoileostomy and ileoileostomy (50 to 100 cm common channel) to limit absorption (biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch) 43846 Gastric restrictive procedure, with gastric bypass for morbid obesity; with short limb (150 cm or less) Roux-en-Y gastroenterostomy (may be done laparoscopically) 43847 Gastric restrictive procedure, with gastric bypass for morbid obesity; with small intestine reconstruction to limit absorption (may be done laparoscopically) There is no specific CPT or HCPCS code to report mini gastric bypass. A laparoscopic approach is used with the mini-gastric bypass. The stomach is segmented similar to a traditional gastric bypass; the jejunum is anastomosed directly to the stomach, similar to a Billroth II procedure. The mini gastric bypass is not based on its laparoscopic approach, but rather the type of anastomosis used. This on the Blue Cross Blue Sheild page: http://mcgs.bcbsfl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.main&doc=Surgery%20for%20Clinically%20Severe%20Obesity

Congrats on your weight loss success, I am sure it is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you see the change in your body and your health, keep up the good work and keep us posted, I am awaiting my revision from Lapband to VSG surgery on July 12th I am on my pre op diet which is not bad I must do all lean proteins and fruits and vegetables, and my vitamins but No Carbs, its funny because there are good carbs and then the obvious ones...lol so I am learning to do this all over again and I must do it the right way, well you continue on your Journey and I wish you the Best.

My tummy tuck held up AMAZINGLY well and, so far, the fat grafting to my butt seems pretty well intact. I haven't been losing the fat there on my way back down. The main issue I've had is that my left breast implant has become malpositioned with the weight gain and re-loss. Like as I gained the weight, the real fat tissue expanded and pushed the implant out of position and now that I am losing that fat again, the malpositioning is obvious. I will have to have a revision to fix it. I've had a consult with a local surgeon and I've had some talks with my original surgeon back in Mexico. I haven't completely decided what and when I am going to do about it. I've decided to sort of take a "wait and see" approach, since I still want to lose about 25 more pounds. I think I'd rather wait until I'm at goal and maintaining for a bit before addressing it.

Hi all. I'm a 34-year-old mom of 2, dd is 10 and ds is 7. I was banded in August of 2006. Immediately after my port flipped and needed to be repaired. THat should have been my first clue I made the wrong choice! I managed to lose almost 100 pounds with the band in the first 2 years, but it was s-l-o-w. At the end of 2008, my band surgeon said I should get a consult with a plastic surgeon about my huge apron of skin. It was horrible, hung down past my girlie bits, made me look a lot heavier than I was, my skin was constantly tearing and it gave me rashes. So, in Feb of 09 I had a tummy tuck and breast lift. Holy crap what a difference! He took off 16 pounds of extra skin and the surgery took 11 hours. The recovery was horrible. Because of the band, I've had problems with medication working right and it took a bit before we found an oral pain killer that actually worked. I was off work for 6 weeks and the recovery was horriblle. I managed to mess up my knee the day after surgery so it was always going numb and giving out on me. No one knew why. Then I got a stomach virus and puking after a tummy tuck, with a lapband, is it's own special kind of hell. Just as i was starting to feel human again I got scarlet fever. Which I thought went out of style with hoop skirts and mutton chops! Evidentally not though. My pcp said because my system was so screwed up due to the surgery, a strep infection just went haywire. That took another 2 weeks to recover from. I'd finally gotten to a weight that, while it wasn't as low as I wanted, I was happy with my body. I looked good, felt normal for the first time in my life and liked the way I looked in the mirror. I no longer walked into a room and got that horrible feeling of "Oh no, I'm the fattest person here". I felt like people noticed me and not my weight. A couple months ago I started having restriction problems, bouncing between too loose or too tight, and waking up at night with horrible reflux and choking on my stomach contents. Yuck! Had an upper gi done last week after an unfill didn't help matters and surgeon says the band needs to come out. It is extrememly tight, which he said makes no sense because it's empty and I don't feel like I have any restriction (which is why I've gained some weight back ). So, now we start the process of getting insurance approval for the band removal and revision to the sleeve. He said he'll push for the sleeve instead of bypass because bypass does not appeal to me. I'm already deficient in B12 and vit D and take injections and supplements for that. I'm afraid of what would happen if I had the malabsorption issues to deal with too. If insurance (Anthem Blue Cross) wil only cover the removal but not the sleeve, I'm hoping it will be cheap enough for me to self-pay for the sleeve. And I really want to get this done soon! The idea of being on a liquid diet over the holidays is not at all appealing. I've been reading all your stories since finding out I might lose my band and have gotten so much help from them! Thanks for sharing your stories. :001_smile:

I'm so sorry you are going through this. It sounds terrifying and painful. I had a revision from vsg to rny in August. My recovery was same or easier than with the vsg. I chewed Mylanta mini tabs to get rid of the excess gas after surgery. Physically, I don't feel different either except that my appetite is much less after RNY. All my issues were resolved after the revision (acid reflux, hunger problems... Etc.). I don't have any issues anymore, not bowel related or stomach related. So far (knock on wood ^^), it has been the best decision I've ever made concerning WLS.

Hello, Sorry this a a long post but I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's had similar experiences. Has anyone had a gastric bypass that didn't work? I knew something was wrong pretty soon after my surgery as I had no restriction. I'd known all of my surgical team since 2010 when I had a gastric band. After a year of filling and un-filling and coming to the end of my free fill period (they would have cost £100 after that), the bariatric nurse and I could never reach that sweet point between nothing going through the band and so being sick all the time and no restriction at all so I knew I had to give up on this. Then in 2012, I lost 9 stone (125lb) by following a very low calorie diet (VLCD). I did this for 9 months, eating just four sachets of food at just under 600 calories a day. I got down to just over 10 stone (140lb) on my 40th birthday at the end of 2012. But in 2013 when I was off the VLCD, I struggled to keep the weight off. By October 2013, I had tried everything and decided to go for further surgery. I was initially going to have a sleeve but the team's dietician had said that sometimes band to sleeve revisions weren't as successful and I'd read that the bypass is the recommended revision for those who've had bands. Add to this that it was sold to me as the 'gold service' of weight loss surgery and I'd read that it's the operation that has been done for many years and has lots of experience and evidence behind it, I went for the bypass. I knew something was wrong pretty soon after my surgery as I had no restriction. In early December 2013, the dietician agreed that I should not physically be able to eat or drink Fluid in the volumes I could (I felt and still feel like nothing had changed) so he sent me for x-rays which were inconclusive and the measurements/calibrations weren't noted at the time. However, one of the surgeons said in an email that he thought the stoma was around 20mm in diameter. Everything I read says this is too large as food goes straight through the stoma, meaning I never really feel full. The smaller stomach and stoma should mean that I feel feel on less food. It took months for me to push for a second set of xrays and I really felt that I was being ignored. Emails were replied to only after a few weeks when I chased them up and I have an email from the same surgeon saying they were deliberately slowing things down in the hope things would rectify themselves. But they didn't. They did agree to a second opinion and I chose a surgeon in London who not only runs a centre which is ICE accredited (International Centre of Excellence) but has performed over 2500 bypass surgeries and specialises in those that go wrong. He sent me to another hospital in London on that day for some more xrays and then delivered his report. He identified and the xray specialist agreed that the stoma was too large to have any effect i.e. 'no functional effect' at the site. He also discovered that I had a sort of extra bit of stomach or additional reservoir. They call this a hockey stick or a candy cane but the effect on the surgery is unknown. He recommended that my hospital carry out an endoscopy to rule out a stricture. My hospital received the report and said they didn't feel the stoma was too big and in fact it was a good thing as "one of the theories as to how the bypass works is getting food that is eaten into the small bowel quickly as this has hormonal feedback to tell the person to stop eating". I have never read anything like that before and that certainly wasn't how they explained the procedure to me. I've always understood a bypass to be the creation of a smaller stomach so you feel full on much less food (that's what makes you stop eating, I know nothing about hormonal feedback) plus the shortening of the bowel meant some calories weren't absorbed after bypass. My hospital also didn't think the endoscopy was worth doing either as I'd had no sign of a stricture. Throughout, I have been asking the surgeons whether an endoscopy would help them to see what's going on inside there but they thought not. One of the most disappointing things was how disinterested my hospital were from the beginning. I felt that they'd taken my money and I had to fight to make them believe there was a problem. Even then, they really didn't move to try and explore what had happened. I don't understand this as they are still doing this procedure on people. I thought they would have wanted to know what had gone wrong with me so that it didn't happen to anyone else. Also very disappointing was the fact that I woke up to a LEAD surgeon I'd never met and never even heard of. Like I say, I've know this team since 2010. They hadn't mentioned there was a new member, let alone that he would be involved in my operation and certainly not that he would be my LEAD surgeon. I trusted this team and I felt this was a breach of that trust. I also trusted them to look after me if anything went wrong. I'm in the process of taking on a lawyer plus, because of my tweets about my experience, a local journalist who's interested in the fact that many bands are being revised, how surgery is sold to patients and what happens when they fail, has contacted me. I feel I should raise awareness that there are things that can go wrong that you don't hear about, as in my case. Would I advise anyone not to have bariatric surgery? No, all I would say is don't use a hospital just because its local to you or you know them. It doesn't mean they'll look after you if things go wrong. Find an ICE, look at patient feedback like mine and get a cast Iron guarantee that they'll take care of you if there are problems. The hospital's final letter to me told me that they would not be refunding my money and advised that I pursue diet and counselling. I feel like they just put me on the 'it doesn't work for some people' pile when I didn't even know such a pile existed. Aren't diet, exercise and counselling things we do over and over again before considering the massive step of surgery? In fact, my hospital's own website begins ... "If you’ve exhausted all other weight loss options, you might be considering weight loss surgery”. I'm still paying off the loan for this and I'm left in the cold! David & Goliath. Please share your feedback with me. Thanks for reading.

I don't know if ur on solids yet but this site is a really good suppor system and we do look at each others reciepes if ur on mushies still then I know I loved drinking the premixed musle milk I especially liked the banana flavored and someone posted a protein drink that they said tasted like a butterfinger just without the crunch and I mixed one it was so good also I love non fat or sugar free frozen yougurt but I went from a large to a small one with fruit , sometimes nuts but it helps if u have a sweet tooth so every once in a while that's what I get I'm going to the doc for my 3rd fill tomorrow , oh I wanted to let u know go to lapband reciepes and scroll on spark people receipes then u can scroll to whatever I know my son revised some holiday foods and they tasted normal so that was good k ttyl good luck

I have the band and I'm getting ready to have a revision to the sleeve due to issues with the band. My insurance won't cover anything bariatric related so I'm looking at going to Mexico. Anyone recommend a good surgeon or have good advice for me? Thanks.