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I'm having revision (band to bypass), on Monday morning (Yikes!), and I'm looking for a mentor/buddy. I'm nervous (par for the course, I would think), and of course, I want the surgery to be successful and I want to be a roaring long-term weight loss success. Anyone care to jump on the success bandwagon with me?

I hadn't thought about it before either, but I've had 2 c-sections, gall bladder surgery, and surgery for the band. So, there must be a fair amount of scar tissue there. Nevertheless, my surgeon does a lot of revisions and perhaps he didn't mention the possibility of not being able to do the conversion because he's really good and he's not concerned. OK -- that's the position I'm taking! No concerns! And you're right -- I need to be upbeat and positive here. You had your conversion 3-days ago and you're already online and all? I'm impressed! You must be home by now -- for how long were you in the hospital? It sounds like you're doing great -- I hope I do just as great as you're doing!

Glad to know I'm not the only one obsessed with their bowels at the moment. I'm feeling upset right now, because I just read that revisions (band to RNY), can only be done in 50% of cases due to adhesions. Once the surgeon gets in there and sees all the scarring, they can only do a RNY 50% of the time. My surgeon never said a thing about that as a possibility. Nothing I can do about it now, but I sure hope I don't come out surgery on Monday with no band (I do want the band out -- I hate that thing), and no RNY.

I am a self pay patient in new jersey, My insurance company does not cover weight me. I totally have a $13000 cash deposit I saved for this surgery. I found a new jersey surgeon has a $12000 sleeve package, but he does not offer any complications insurance for me to buy. I found a florida surgery he has a $13000 packet including blis complication cost coverage. But i need to pay hotel and flights for me and my companion. But if i really have leaking, infection, etc. How i could immediately fly to Florida for the revision? May I know how are your self pay guys prepare for the complications cost?

Hello, I need some help. I am looking into getting a band to sleeve revision. I really wanted to go to Mexico and get this done but unfortunately my dad, who is going to help me finance this adventure, will help me if I go to Mexico. I pleaded and pleaded my case that is was just as safe but he wouldn't listen, Over protective dads, even when the kids are all grown up..lol. Well anyways, I am looking for an affordable self pay revision surgeon. I am not meaning a cheap surgeon just someone who is reasonably affordable. I live in Utah and it is super expensive here. The lowest I can find is $18,000 and the highest is 22,000. I know that there has to be a slightly lower option out there. If any of you awesome people out there know of anyone please let me know. I don't mind to travel, a small vacation would be nice! Thanks everyone

I am having the same issue i had a defective lap band that embedded n my stomach tissue so i was revised to a gastric bypass to help with the severe acid reflux. Had my surgery 1/23/17 and have only lost 22lbs.

I think that anyone who has not had a band to sleeve revision won't feel what we feel. Alas...you are in luck. I know exactly what you are feeling and seeing and feel that I have adequately navigated through it. I was banded for 6 years. Lost 75 lbs, gained 50, lost 60, gained 10, etc. I had to have a revision because I couldn't eat foods that are good for me because of the restriction. If you are looking for the same feeling of restriction with the band and sleeve, stop now. You won't get it. It is so different. I can drink plenty of fluids, eat all of the slider foods, and anything liquid or soupy that I want without ever reaching that full feeling. I know my satiety depends on what I am eating. If I am doing sugar, carbs, dairy, fruit or anything like that in anything other than really small quantities, I never reach a "full" feeling. I know it is hormonal and blood sugar related. If I eat mainly protein and veggies with the occasional taste of sugar, I have to force myself to eat. I'm never hungry. I don't know if this helps, but it is my experience and it is a tough road to navigate! You can do this!

I had a Revision to MGB. I had a low BMI, today I'm at 7 weeks post op and the weight loss is extremely slow, lost 15 pounds. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong since there is a restriction but not as bad as the sleeve. I need to start tracking my carb intake, I'm sure that's the problem. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm doing the revision n my dr said 2 weeks preop

Having revision because i didnt ever get down to my goal weight and severe acid reflux. I lost a total of 93 lbs in about 8 or 9 months. Slowly started putting back on weight about 2 years after and also had a baby in may 2015. Have regained about 40 lbs so hoping the mgb will get me where i was trying to be. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using BariatricPal mobile app

May I ask why you are having a revision. I thought I was set on the sleeve but I wonder if at my BMI if it will give me the amount of weight loss that I want. I have a BMI of 51. I wonder if it is truly the correct procedure for me. Fine time for me to be questioning this!

For anyone that had a revision from sleeve to rny, how long did you have to do liquid preop diet??

Jillmiranda, I also went through BeLite & it was a horrible experience for me as well & JoAnne & a few others were there, but it wasn't the hospital stay that was horrible, it was the service. I had questions after the surgery & no one would return my calls, but if my payment was late I would get a phone call really fast & several emails wanting their money. I hope your weight loss went OK, mine didn't. I had the sleeve & due to lack of information & all I gained most of my weight back. I will be having a revision, basically due to acid reflux & GERD, to the bypass. I am REALLY looking forward to that & looking forward to losing the weight like I need to.

Hi, looks like this was posted a while ago but I'll respond anyway. I had my band put in by Dr. Ortiz in 2011. It was the best experience with a doctor and staff that I have ever had. I am now looking at a revision to sleeve or bypass (now that my insurance covers it) but I would go to him again if I still lived near Tijuana. The hardest part was coming home and lugging suitcases so soon after surgery. We stayed at the Marriott in Tijuana, which was beautiful and amazing. Had to be at the clinic early in the morning and we were done by noon and left the clinic by 4. We stayed down there 4 days. Any questions, feel free to message me.

So I have had my band in since 2011, about 6 years. Nothing is wrong with it, I had an upper GI and all was fine. I have gained all but about 20 lbs of the weight back, and I never lost as much as I wanted to from the beginning. My doctor won't give me a fill as food gets stuck all the time and he says my band is at the correct restriction. He wants to do a revision to a sleeve, but I am worried about the long term complications of having over half of my stomach cut out. I haven't heard of anyone with the sleeve for 20-30-40 years or even longer. I am 37 so I would have to live with this for a long time. I made the wrong decision before and I don't want to make it again and end up on the operating table again in 5 years. Anyone out there who has had the sleeve for a long time, or anyone who had a band to sleeve revision longer than just a few months ago?

Scheduled for sleeve to mgb revision with Dr Illan in Mexico on June 19th. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using BariatricPal mobile app

I can't speak to specifics on the MGB, but when my wife and I first started looking seriously at WLS some fourteen years ago, it was an offbeat procedure looking to gain respect and legitmacy. Since then, both the DS and the VSG have gained general acceptance by the ASMBS, the insurance industry and Medicare as routine, mainstream bariatric procedures, while the MGB remains on the fringes. I would focus your research on understanding why this is. Usually the reason lies with some combination of effectiveness and complications. No one goes into this planning to need a revision (excepting the few cases where two step procedures are planned from the outset,), but having a viable "plan B" isn't a bad idea, and some procedures are more flexible in this regard than others.

I am scheduled to see Dr. Illan or a gastric sleeve surgery but am now wondering if the mini gastric bypass is a better option for me. Although the rerouting of the intenstines scares me a little. I have a BMI of 51 and i dont know if the sleeve will be sufficient to take me to my goal and i dont really want to have a revision later.

Sleeves don't stretch though, they aren't really that elastic, I know because I can still eat/drink too fast and feel the pain. So many doctors will tell you that. Sleeves are really not that flexible, I know I live with one. I don't even know how to drill it home more than that. It won't stretch if it is done right, that is basically the cornerstone of the surgery. A stretched sleeve is a complication or a failure. It defeats the purpose. The sleeve has 2 major parts that help with weight loss, removing the stretchy part of the stomach reducing portions and creating restriction and also removing the stretchy part of the stomach removes ghrelin the hunger hormone. The part we are left with is more muscular than pouchy or stretchy. The last link you posted is about a full regular stomach (did you even read it, or look at the picture? It is written by an English major for a BroScience website). A full regular stomach will stretch because the whole stomach is stretchy. The stretch part of the stomach is removed with the sleeve. It is not with RNY or the Band. Most WLS information lumps all these surgeries together. It really does not seem like you understand how the sleeve works or what the surgery involves. It looks like you are still pre-op, if you are going to have the sleeve, you should do more research so you can understand how it works. If you have a sleeve you won't stretch it, you risk other complication like ruining your esophagus creating a pouch at the top of it that food is getting stuck in. This happens because a sleeve doesn't stretch. Like @BigViffer said, you can damage the valve at the bottom of your stomach and make it open fast but a sleeve does not stretch. Many sleevers confuse healing with stretching. The restriction you have at the beginning is not the restriction you will have forever. That is because it is not true restriction it is swelling. It takes a long time for internal swelling to go down and to be fully healed, 6 months at least, and this even applies to other things like a lot of plastic surgery. My restriction at 21 months is the same as 12 months. If I don't eat for a day or two my sleeve can get tight as a drum, or it can just randomly be tight. Most people complaining about stretched sleeves are eating sliders not dense protein. If they ever listen to advice and eat dense protein, of they discover they have restriction again. Finally the sleeve wasn't covered by insurance just a few years ago in the US and a lot of people with complications now went out of the country to have their surgery done. They have complications from bad sleeves and are having revisions in the US now because WLS is covered by insurance more than it used to be and also everyone is currently is required to have insurance in the US. A correctly formed sleeve will not stretch. A RNY pouch will stretch, the pouch created by the band will stretch and bands can slip. A properly made sleeve will not stretch. Healing is not stretching. Eating sliders is not stretching.

Hi, My name is Lauri, I am happily married to my husband Ray, I'm 48 years old & as the title says, I'm in Danville, PA. I'm looking for anyone around here that has maybe recently had gastric bypass, or even better yet sleeve to bypass revision. I am being fast tracked & am looking for someone that I can turn to for help, support, and who can relate to what I'm going through. Right now, even though I'm extremely happily married & my husband is more than supportive, he just can't fully understand the loneliness, and the changes that I have had to deal with in such a short time. On March 8th I quit smoking, on March 27th I started the diet that the hospital put me on. I was told that I only have to maintain my weight, but I have actually lost 10lbs since March 21st when I went to see the nutritionist. Yep, I defied the odds, I quit smoking AND lost weight LOL!!!!! As I said, I'm looking for someone who is going, or has gone, through the WLS through Geisinger

When I had my RNY my hubby was very well versed. LOL He had a Lap Band for 13 years. But the biggest thing that I feel helped him was I had Back Surgery 10 years ago. The VERY WORST SURGERY imagined. I actly had wished they would have let me die on the table. He was a trooper for sure!! He had to help me and his sick Mother who lived accross town from us. I loved him even more after I got thru my 3 months of hell!! I think he is well prepared for anything that may come. As I am for him. He had a failed revision from his Band to a RNY. The band had eroded into his liver. He was sick for 9 months with abcesses and 3 of them he doesn't remember even to this day. That was Sept 2013, jus 2 months after my RNY. I think we are both well prepared for whatever comes our way now!! Our marriage has survived for 43 years with each having their turn of caring for the other. It seemed to make our journey together even stronger. Good Luck with your journey!!

Did anyone start with a low BMI? If so, I am curious how your weight loss is going.

Hi, I am Scheduled for a Band to Sleeve revision due to complications, but have good amount of weight off. I was talking with my wife last night about upcoming surgery, She brought up how hard it to see me after surgery, and the Body Lift was the worst. it was actually done Out Patient, in an Excellent 1st Class Facility here in Raleigh. The Surgery was 8+ hr long. She was not prepared about how bad I would look, Guess I looked more than half dead as they wheeled me out to the car! ( They explained when i was brought out that is how they want you to go home) . I could walk and get to my chair etc, still kind of out of it, but I have no idea how bad I looked) Still Don't. So due make sure to discuss this with the Dr. so your partner knows what to expect when they see you! Especially if you go home.

Onmyway11, I'm so happy to find posts such as yours on BP. I'm also going to have Band to Sleeve Revision Surgery. My surgery is scheduled for Monday, April 10th. I had great success with the band for a few years; however, when I did begin having issues, my surgeon had moved away from the area and I was trying to deal/ignore my issues for a few years. Found a great surgeon and am now moving on to the Sleeve. I'm excited and also MUCH more nervous about this surgery. You hit the nail on the head with the reference to feeling emotional and nervous about "doing it again." and it really helps to hear from someone who feels the same way and went through the revision with success and with such a positive attitude and outlook! Thanks for sharing the great positive energy! Best of luck to you on your journey!

I'm a sleeve revision to bypass. My surgeon and nut have both said that revisions lose slower. Cells remember the previous loss and hold onto the weight more. I'm 5 weeks and down 25, but I have been on a stall for 3 weeks. I was down 28, but gained back 3 pounds right before the stall happened. I started tracking with MyFitnessPal as I do much better when I track, and I keep following the rules. My doctor said don't worry about the scale right now...easy for him to say. I also started at a lower weight. The less you have to lose the slower it will happen.