Search the Community

I figured I'd follow up on my post. I got the call today that the revision is covered. The only things I need to do are the Nutritional Counseling, Psych Eval and get a letter of medical necessity and medical clearance from my PCP. I do still have to have a BMI of 35+ with a co-morbidity or just a BMI of 40. Which means I technically need to gain 8 lbs. But someone on another page recommended that I just wear some 10lb ankle weights to my weigh in appt. lol. I'm starting college on Monday so I'll be shooting for mid March, during my spring break from school, to get the surgery done. Just wanted to let ya'll know what happened with it.

Follow your plan of action and heal....the scale will make you happy...Patience...I am writing to you 8 days post op Revision RNY.....pain etc....this is my second shot at WLS...the band failed...I have to make this work.Be thankful...

I had the sleeve as a revision from the band, the band slipped after 5 yrs... it worked great for me

Anyone out there who carries the slightest belief that weight loss surgery (of any type) is the "easy" way out should have to read your story. I'm a RNY and so have no experience with the band so I can't offer you any more then my sincerest wish that you are able to get a revision some day. My heart truly goes out for you.

Our stories are nearly the same. Same timelines, revision surgery after a slipped lapland, gaining the weight back. I am glad to hear I am not alone as far as another person at the same stage from surgery date. I didn't reach my goal either, but I was losing weight then started emotional eating that spanned over five years of some pretty major life events, not to mention getting out with friends a lot more, food and drinks, etc. So.......I had cash paid my surgeries out of state and didn't have a local office that worked with nutrition, and most importantly follow along. I called a local provider a few weeks ago and went to see them Monday. My plan is to link with people who work with folks like me everyday. We set three goals for the next two weeks...1. Eat Protein first 2. Drink Water ( I had lapsed with this) 3. Journal. When I go back we will keep working on current and new goals, etc. Today is my official day 1 and its hard. I too have been grazing through the day, all the while feeling very guilty about it. I think it is about becoming a bariatric patient again and living that way. I wish you the very best. Keep up your focus and good work! Joan

Thank you for the support pink girl! I am trying to be positive, but if I gain weight on the scale insurance might not approve the revision, so I am really trying to get it down. It's amazing how some people start walking or give up soda or bread and pounds just fall off and here we are fighting with all we've got and gaining. So glad I found this forum, really need this support, thank you!

Hello! I started my six-month stint the first week of December. I am getting a revision from lap-band. I actually had my lap-band removed December 22. I'm going for by-pass this summer. I'm glad to meet you and everyone here. Dawn

I have read a lot of stories where this has happened. Really irks me. I only wish when they did it to me that they at least would of stuck to the basic sips even and not change that too! I have read in revisions loss is slower so hoping it just continues but that 8 lbs was 2 days after getting out of the hospital so most likely just from no food. Time will tell!! Feels better just to vent at least. Going to my first support group today since surgery also. Maybe someone will be there that had the same surgery but at least knew they did the sips. The one person I found that had it said she was talked into it. I have not met her yet.

I was feeling the same....don't get bogged down in negativity...nothing great is gonna happen while you have the band...please know this...your system is screwed up right now with the band....don't look to see results....just coast until you can get revision to bypass... Keep positive Revision is a must...your current tool is faulty.... Don't give up!

Honestly I cannot even imagine that I will be able to lose the weight... Been at this all my life....revision is my only hope.

What was the process or what symptoms you guys had that you had to have a revision? I'm always uncomfortable, I vomitbat least 3 times a week, today I had half of the liquid removed to see if it gets better but now I'm afraid I'll just start getting hungry at all times

It sounds like your surgeon was comfortable doing everything at once, though, so that's good! It really is rough at first, though. I had a JP drain in for 2 weeks, too, and that thing drove me crazy!! I had to laugh at myself, though. With the scars from the band and the partially-healed scars from band removal, plus the 7 new scars from revision AND the bruises everywhere from the heparin injections I looked like I had been jumped in a dark alley, lol!

Wow, a week is really early! I got lucky and our department was outsourced 8 days before surgery, lol. Lost my job of 10 years but it was great to actually have time to adjust to everything. The main problem for me early on was fatigue. I was soooo tired. I thought that I was feeling hunger right around that time and I started asking questions. Turns out it was actually thirst! As long as I could stay hydrated I did not experience hunger. I do think that since this was not my first weight loss surgery, I was prepared to go through all of the phases of the post-op diet, and I was able to stay on track with that. I found that some of the allowed foods did not sit well with me (eggs were hard at first) so I just put that food aside for a couple of months until I felt more healed. It was definitely a process of trial and error, but I really have changed my eating habits for the better and I don't even care for the sweets and carbs I used to crave. I live by the "Protein first" rule, and even if I am having a salad for a meal it is topped with protein. I did start taking B12 when my doctor suggested it, and that helped greatly with fatigue. I still take it daily. I am, however, off of my blood pressure meds and the early diabetic regimen I used to be on! The one thing I struggle with is exercise. I know I need to get a good routine but I just haven't been able to make myself do it. I am about 20 pounds from goal now, though, and I know these last 20 pounds are not going to just lose themselves, lol. I am so glad I decided to do the revision. It really has changed my life for the better. I am excited to see your progress, too! Remember that you will likely experience a stall in a couple of weeks that can last quite a while. Mine was two looooong weeks (almost 3!) but I knew it was just my body adjusting to all of the changes. Once that stall ended I started dropping weight very quickly. That's when things really get exciting!! I agree....I am going to go in for a few hours and that's it....damn finances. Outsourcing...ugh...different blog.... I think you have lost a great deal of weight..,doing really well.Exercise is ok now because you can now slowly move into it without all that extra weight.I will incorporate gradually walking...,not the marathon type. That's my plan, too! I have a bad back and was actually receiving steroid injections prior to surgery, so I still have a fear that I am going to throw my back out. At this point it is more of an excuse than an actual fear, though. I have not had a single episode since surgery! What I need to do is walk. I do walk more than I used to, and I am up and moving a LOT more than I used to be, but the next step for me is to add an actual routine into my daily regimen. I am really hoping that I can muster up the motivation I need to get that started. Swimsuit season is right around the corner. Woot! Yep, I was a medical transcriptionist for my local hospital for 10 years. We got a new manager who had zero experience with transcription, so she got rid of us. Now I am back in school and working on my Bachelor's in Business so I will have some skills that will not be outdated anytime soon.

I had terrible scar tissue and if I look back I probably should of had 2 phase instead of all in one revision. Rough

Hello, Moo! Congratulations on your upcoming surgery! My surgeon told me that all of us revisions have scar tissue that needs to be dealt with. Apparently they expect it! Sometimes it necessitates doing the surgery in 2 phases, but that will depend on your surgeon and the level of scarring. I was pretty bummed when I woke up from band removal to find out that I had not had bypass and would have to wait 4 months for that part, but my I completely trusted my surgeon. He said my innards were so beat up he just couldn't do the bypass at that time because there was an extremely high chance I would have complications if he did. I am very glad we waited. I felt much more comfortable knowing that my surgeon had my best interest in mind.

Wow, a week is really early! I got lucky and our department was outsourced 8 days before surgery, lol. Lost my job of 10 years but it was great to actually have time to adjust to everything. The main problem for me early on was fatigue. I was soooo tired. I thought that I was feeling hunger right around that time and I started asking questions. Turns out it was actually thirst! As long as I could stay hydrated I did not experience hunger. I do think that since this was not my first weight loss surgery, I was prepared to go through all of the phases of the post-op diet, and I was able to stay on track with that. I found that some of the allowed foods did not sit well with me (eggs were hard at first) so I just put that food aside for a couple of months until I felt more healed. It was definitely a process of trial and error, but I really have changed my eating habits for the better and I don't even care for the sweets and carbs I used to crave. I live by the "Protein first" rule, and even if I am having a salad for a meal it is topped with protein. I did start taking B12 when my doctor suggested it, and that helped greatly with fatigue. I still take it daily. I am, however, off of my blood pressure meds and the early diabetic regimen I used to be on! The one thing I struggle with is exercise. I know I need to get a good routine but I just haven't been able to make myself do it. I am about 20 pounds from goal now, though, and I know these last 20 pounds are not going to just lose themselves, lol. I am so glad I decided to do the revision. It really has changed my life for the better. I am excited to see your progress, too! Remember that you will likely experience a stall in a couple of weeks that can last quite a while. Mine was two looooong weeks (almost 3!) but I knew it was just my body adjusting to all of the changes. Once that stall ended I started dropping weight very quickly. That's when things really get exciting!! I agree....I am going to go in for a few hours and that's it....damn finances. Outsourcing...ugh...different blog.... I think you have lost a great deal of weight..,doing really well.Exercise is ok now because you can now slowly move into it without all that extra weight.I will incorporate gradually walking...,not the marathon type.

The great thing is that surgeons who do revisions are very used to dealing with scar tissue! It's good that you have some time before your surgery because you will learn a lot in that time. Believe it or not, it will go by very fast! There is a lot to be done to be totally ready and you will be busy learning about the surgery and aftercare. This is an exciting time!

Wow, a week is really early! I got lucky and our department was outsourced 8 days before surgery, lol. Lost my job of 10 years but it was great to actually have time to adjust to everything. The main problem for me early on was fatigue. I was soooo tired. I thought that I was feeling hunger right around that time and I started asking questions. Turns out it was actually thirst! As long as I could stay hydrated I did not experience hunger. I do think that since this was not my first weight loss surgery, I was prepared to go through all of the phases of the post-op diet, and I was able to stay on track with that. I found that some of the allowed foods did not sit well with me (eggs were hard at first) so I just put that food aside for a couple of months until I felt more healed. It was definitely a process of trial and error, but I really have changed my eating habits for the better and I don't even care for the sweets and carbs I used to crave. I live by the "Protein first" rule, and even if I am having a salad for a meal it is topped with protein. I did start taking B12 when my doctor suggested it, and that helped greatly with fatigue. I still take it daily. I am, however, off of my blood pressure meds and the early diabetic regimen I used to be on! The one thing I struggle with is exercise. I know I need to get a good routine but I just haven't been able to make myself do it. I am about 20 pounds from goal now, though, and I know these last 20 pounds are not going to just lose themselves, lol. I am so glad I decided to do the revision. It really has changed my life for the better. I am excited to see your progress, too! Remember that you will likely experience a stall in a couple of weeks that can last quite a while. Mine was two looooong weeks (almost 3!) but I knew it was just my body adjusting to all of the changes. Once that stall ended I started dropping weight very quickly. That's when things really get exciting!!

I just had revision to sips which is not what i wanted or knowingly got, surprise by the surgeon but i do know the paranoia! I am not going to do another surgery this is my last chance and worried since they did a new surgery and extended the limb to 450cm instead of 300 like all the info i find i just don't know if it's going to work or not!! Not sure what kind of work you do but i had open surgery Dec 20th and was out and about 4 or 5 days later and on new years day driving my classic car in a car cruise if that helps any. The incision is a bit sore cause the staples were irritating my skin and had them removed before my post-op which is a couple days away still. Oh and a big ol camera hanging on my neck rubbing my belly with made it a little sore. Otherwise i'm doing great so if your job isn't real physical i think you will be fine.

I have read of surgeons doing the sips surgery and the patient thinking they were getting the traditional ds but didn't have a clue when it was done to me!! I'm new here and just had revision from sleeve to sips Dec 20. I have my post-op tomorrow, dreading it and looking forward to expressing my opinion on the surgery though too. I was supposed to get the traditional DS but the resident decided he was doing the sips which, even though he said we discussed it previously we did not so had to be a different person. In fact I didn't even know they were doing the sips at this hospital and needless to say I expressed my opinion with him when he checked on me the next day. Not only that but he said he made the limb 400 or 450 and I have not seen one that length at all in my research, it is usually 300 which is another thing i'm bringing up. When I was in the office the surgeon said he didn't see why he couldn't do the ds that some he has to go in and lengthen because of too much weight loss but I would be fine as they were light weights. I was 275 and 5'3". Being a training hospital half the time the surgeon you talk to isn't the one that actually does it which is the case here. Morning of surgery I even asked to verify on the alimentary, common etc measurements to be sure what I was getting. Sure didn't do me any good!! Now i'm worrying i'm not going to lose any weight and I refuse to go through another surgery. If I don't then i'll take that as i'm meant to be overweight! I might not be so upset if they did actually bring it up pre-op and if it had been done with a 300cm limb but I feel like a total guinea pig. When I got the sleeve in 2008 I was the only one in support group with that surgery and this time I was determined to get a tried and true one. In fact November 18 I was in the hospital to get the rny and things were a mess in surgery and they still hadn't done it by 12:30 that night so I told them I was going home! So many roadblocks this time to get surgery and now this. I do think the sips should be a good surgery maybe but I didn't want another experimental thing. My first surgeon didn't want to give me the ds cause of acid reflux which i'd had for a few years before the sleeve and he was the one that did the sleeve surgery. I just worry more about the 450cm and too the deception as i'm pretty sure they didn't just decide to do it at surgery ya know. I guarantee if I ever have another surgery for anything the consent form will be more detailed in case they decide I don't need a kidney or something! I don't trust them anymore and wish I knew they did the sips as I would of had the consent form to state traditional ds with measurements etc. They will hate me for sure, the one that has to type the consent! Time will tell as I've only lost 8 lbs since surgery even which doesn't help with my paranoia on not losing any weight! ​

Never heard of not doing the sleeve along with it, who knows though, might still work out as you will still have the malabsorption. I typed out a big rant on my own experience with revision from sleeve to sips but deleted it. Figure better to start a new topic on that one!! lol

Hi crazy, Welcome! That is my fear as well, but when I talked to my surgeon about doing revision and I asked him if he does it in one surgery, he didn't seem very concerned... But maybe it depends on a surgeon, some prefer to do it in separate occasions from what I've read.

@@Dallas Powell What really rubs my ass the wrong way is the way your surgeon keeps giving you at a minimum bad advice, at worst he is blatantly lying to you. I guess the whole "Do no harm" thing means little to this guy. It's possible he was trained in some third world shite hole and knows the bare minimum about surgery. I chose my surgeon as he was a 14 year Navy combat surgeon. He did four combat tours, combat surgery is about the most intense training a surgeon can get. I have a good friend of mine in NY who is a GP. We used to golf together, have dinner and just sort of hung out. I have no idea why but we just clicked. Anyway, I was going on one night at dinner about how residents are treated horribly and work for near slave labor wages. He became VERY upset! He explained the whole process of being a resident is to work in the absolute worst possible conditions, and make the right choice every single time. He said the harder the residency the better the doctor. I had never thought of it like that, but he is right. If you can make split second decisions with imperfect information and save lives, the complete control and relaxed atmosphere of an surgical suite must seem like a vacation. This brings me back to your surgeon, he made a decision or several when he was operating on you. Those choices were obviously not the right ones. It's time for him to man up and explain to you what he did wrong and pay the piper. What he is putting you through is ridiculous. I am a big guy and have no problems intimidating people. You are even bigger than I am. You must be very calm, if it were me, he would be scared shiteless when I saw him. Not that I advocate kicking his ass (although the personal satisfaction is hard to deny) but learning everything you can about the surgical procedure, and asking him technical questions. For example, "Doctor, what was the port size of my antistomosis?" "How long a Roux did you use" "Which surgical procedure did you use to route the alimentary limb?" Answers should be, 10mm, 150 cm and there are a number of routing techniques used to route the interior plumbing. Another interesting question, "How many staples did you use?" I personally have 3400 of them. I nearly fainted when my surgeon told me that. But he explained the logic and it made sense, he went way out of his way to seal off my old stomach to prevent a fissure. If you get some general, I have no idea how many staples I used answer, I would be alarmed. My surgeon, did not even think about it. It is his SOP. Get out of town find a reputable Doctor at a reputable Center of Excellence and have him scope you and see what is going on inside. Revisions are becoming very common, why? Numbers. RNY GB was the most popular surgery for so long, millions of people have had it done now. Many are 20 even 30 years out, and need a bit of tightening up. It makes sense. Read the history of the RNY GB it is an amazing read, remember this started in the 1960's! Granted a lot of people died, but the surgery is so well known now, there are no variables. Every single one should yield the exact same results simply because of the level of refinement the procedure has gone through. Lastly consider this, my surgeon explained to me that a RNY GB is, as far as severity, about a major a surgery as open heart surgery. It's major. Very major. Time to get answers, then a lawyer and sue. Sue him for two reasons, one to get money, that is how the legal system dishes out 'justice' second, if his insurance lets this get to court, you stand a good chance of ruining his career, not out of malice, but to save the countless future victims this tool is going to mess up. If you have the means to get to Long Island, North Shore University Hospital is as good as it gets. Further, if there is ANY complications, some of the best hospitals in the world are within a 40 minute drive. North Shore is NY's ONLY Tier 1 trauma center, well fully ranked, they are tier 1 from neonatal, through all age/sex groups through very old people. Best of luck to you my friend, please post back and let us know what your next move is.

Before I met with my surgeon, I was leaning toward the sleeve. One reason is I have a friend whose husband was very successful with sleeve. The second was I felt it was less complicated and therefore safer. Then I decided I would let the surgeon decide because of my high BMI and well the doctor was surely smarter than I about the various surgeries. So when I met with him he recommended Roux NY gastric bypass because of my really high BMI, my admitted outrageous sweet tooth, and because bypass is actually safer than the sleeve. He explained that with the sleeve a large part of the stomach is completely removed with lots of staples holding together the new stomach. It's a smaller but long stomach so there is more area for possible leaks, infection. He also explained the high incidence of gastric reflux with the sleeve. I have just over the past year (before surgery) developed GERD. That is one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. The surgeon said that with gastric bypass, no GERD. If you had it before surgery you would have it no more. Immediately. I liked that. So we agreed on gastric bypass all the way around. Remember the friend who had the success with the sleeve. Well I called his wife to tell her I was having gastric bypass and she started warning me of changes I would face and said, did they tell you will get acid reflux? I heard her husband in the background say no, that only happens with the sleeve and he is thinking about a revision to gastric bypass. So that is my long story. I had surgery on October 26, 2015 and I feel better each week. I feel better about myself than I have in decades. I'm so glad I did this. Oh no more GERD. Not ever. My blood pressure is back to normal. This is really a fine thing to do!

Hi all , Just registered on here , I am having Band to Mini bypass revision on Friday after 5 years of the hideous band and an absolute nightmare! I am SO worried after reading some of the posts that the surgeon will say when I wake up that he couldn't do it due to scar tissue :-( Is it more common than not for that to happen does anyone know ? Or not that often? Thank you in advance :-)