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So I went back to the doctor Friday to find out that the leak is actually in my band.. something that my doctor has never had happen to any of his patients and has rarely ever heard about from other doctors. Luckily, the company of the Realize Band are willing to replace the band for free, but I still have to pay for the hospital fees and anesthesia.. another $2300 after the useless port revision surgery I had 2 weeks ago. I think that I am really just annoyed at the fact that I had no idea that these types of surgeries (ones that you have no power over) would cost a lot more money on top of what you already paid to have the initial surgery. Not only that, but when your doctor is wrong about a surgery I think he should reimburse you for it.. but I guess that's not going to happen. I pray that none of you guys have to go through what I have gone through because it's taking a toll on me.. I guess I just have to wait to see if I get approved for another loan to have this surgery as soon as possible and I will go from there.. Good luck to all! -Allie

Has your Gerd/Reflux cleared up? I had revision surgery in May and still have Gerd and am still on my PPI !!!

I'm home! No more surgeries! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA! OK, so this one wasn't SO bad. At least it hasn't been thusfar. They didn't start the surgery until about 3 p.m. yesterday and it took almost 6 hours, so it was 9 before I got to recovery! Since it was so late, they wanted me to spend the night, which was fine with me. Got to a room around 11. They'd taken the catheter our -- I don't even remember them doing that, but anyway, they kept pestering me to urinate, so I did, then settled down to sleep until about 5. I slept really well. So, we did quite a bit. We did the implants. I can't tell you much about them yet -- can't see the boobs at all because they're so wrapped up. They feel good, if that means anything at this point. By that I mean that they feel heavier but not too heavy -- kind of like a hug. I'm sure that makes no sense! Then we did a revision to my lower TT, combined with a mons lift. Can't see that either right now and have no impression of it. When he was marking me with a sharpie before surgery, it seemed like there was a lot of skin to take off there, so I'm hopeful. It's one of those things where even if there's just a modest improvement, it'll be a lot better. Oh, yes, and I got a low profile port while I was there. I think that's going to be GREAT. I'm sure there's swelling, but for the moment, I can't feel the port from pressing on my stomach, so I bet it makes a huge difference. TBD. Lastly, we did the inner thighs. OK, pals, this one is painful. The incision for me goes from the knee all the way up into the groin and at the top, it's quite painful. It's not HORRIBLE, but it's definitely the most tender spot this time.... So, pics to come in a few days once I'm feeling better. Take care all, and happy holidays. Julie

Hey Julie - wow you look wonderful, so tiny! I was also wondering about the tt after you lost the 60 lbs. Did it make a huge difference? I know you had a revision but when you say revision was it just a little tightening of the skin or did they have to do the full pulling tight of the muscle and everything?

You posted on the band to sleeve revision forum - I am thinking you will find alot more Oct sleevers on the main board.

I caution you to rethink getting another band, unless your current band is the old 4 cc band. I don't know of one person who's had the newer lapbands or realize bands who've kept their second band and I know many who have had them replaced. They've, without exception, had additional surgeries to remove/revise.

I had the same thing happen to me the port came apart from tubing after only 2 months of being banded . So I can relate . Had my revision on the 17th and my first fill yesterday . Finally feel it working .. Which is good since I gained 10 pounds of 50 I lost back..good luck to you !!

Questions to ask during consultation: 2) Research the doctor. What kind of follow up care is provided? (ie: fills, unfills, endoscopies, fluroscopies, port revisions, removal, etc). Ask to speak to about 5 or 6 of his patients before you make a decision. Ask those people if they have any complaints or issues with their care before, during and after the procedure. How many of the procedures has he done? What types of complications can occur from this procedure and how frequently do they happen? (ie: perforations, etc) What types of complications has he personally ran into doing this procedure? What is his policy when a complication occurs during a procedure? (ie: does he discuss options with family or immediately convert to bypass or other WLS). Is he Inamed approved for the procedure? If not then who qualified him to perform the procedure and can you have literature to verify this? 3) Research the procedure. How is the procedure performed? Will you use the Pars Flaccida approach? What type of sutures do you use? Can I request glue and not staples? Will I have a catheter placed? If I am on my menses, can I wear a tampon? What will I need to have prepared when I get home in way of food items? What are the short term issues? What are the long term issues? How will I be able to take my pills? Will you write today for liquid pain meds? Do you want me to take antibiotics post-op? If so, will you write for Diflucan? 4) Follow up care. What is the schedule for fills? When can I get my first fill? How is the fill procedure performed? (ie: with or without fluroscopy) What is the cost for fills? (under fluro and not) How often will I need to be seen? Will I have access to a Nutritionist? How do you handle unfills? Is there a direct line in case of Emergencies? Does your doctor have email address? Should I continue to take Metformin? What Vitamins should I be taking? Will I need to crush my pills? If so then for how long? Are there any pills that cannot be crushed? If so then how will I be able to take them?

Dr. Aceves in Mexico is $12,500 for a revision surgery from band to sleeve. He is an excellent doctor and the hospital he works out of is like a 5 star hotel. He is very experienced with band to sleeve revisions and I would not go to anyone else. I didn't feel that way when I got banded, but Dr. Aceves really has a lot of experience and is an excellent surgeon.

After my band to sleeve revision 4 mths ago (I started out at 250 lbs 4 yrs ago but was only 174 when I had my revision), I was in the ER for a bad medication reaction (thought I had a leak). They did an xray to be 100% certain there was no leak. I heard the tech behind the window say to the other tech "They will do wls on anyone nowadays. She probly paid cash" Meaning I wasn't fat enuf for wls. Maybe I wasn't fat enuf for wls #1 (at 174 and a bmi of 28) not sure if any dr would have done the sleeve on me (even with cash) but it doesn't matter if ur below target weight for revision. I knew if I had my band taken out without a revision, I would've soon weighed 250 again. Oh and btw, my insurance paid for it, not cash. Actually made me feel kinda good. Like she was saying I was skinny or something!

Good luck everyone with your upcoming surgeries! May God bless you with fast recoveries and smooth sailing. My revision from lap band to sleeve is Nov. 5 and can't wait yo get this lap band out. The lap band was a nightmare. I can't wait to get the sleeve!

Both times for my lap band and my revision to sleeve they gave me Versed after I told them I was afraid of the anesthesia. I don't even remember going into the operating room either time. I talked to the anesthesiologist and he told me that it's extremely rare for someone to wake up in the middle. They have all kinds of high tech gadgets monitoring your every response. He also told me if you have had surgery before and it didn't happen to you then, it won't in the future.

I hate to alarm you but something is definitely not right. She should be back in the hospital and a doctor who specializes in sleeve surgery should probably do an endoscopy to see what's going on. She should also be hooked up to an IV for fluids as well as an eating tube until they figure this out. Too much time has passed for her not to be getting any better. I would get a different doctor involved. As a mom myself I sympathize what you must be going through. As someone who had the lapband 7 years ago and was revised to the sleeve a few months ago- I'm no doctor but feel very strongly that this is not a normal recovery

You dont ask for "special" cover. Policies differ in what they offer and I believe at one stage when we were young and newlywed we did have a health insurance policy that excluded certain things like cardiac surgery, stuff we felt really positive we wouldnt need at that age. But your stock standard health insurance policy will cover almost everything apart from cosmetic surgery and other really unceccessary (from a medical viewpoint) surgery. Where they differ is in the extras. You can elect to have (or not have) optical, dental, physio, chiro, naturopathy, stuff like that and the amount of hospital cover they provide - blue ribbon cover will mean you get your total hospital costs paid without any excess paid by you for instance. What happens is that our public health system, Medicare, pays for most things for everybody. Medicare will pay 85% of the scheduled fee for all conceivable services (but doesnt cover optical, dental or physio and the like). Most physicians will charge more than the scheduled fee for their services, so you have a "gap" by which you are out of pocket. Some health insurance policies have gap cover and will refund a portion of this gap, but you will almost always be out of pocket slightly, but not by an awful lot. In this way, anyone with or without insurance can seek out a surgeon, you dont have to wait months on a public list to get in to see him for "free" unless you cant even afford the gap. If you dont have private insurance though and you need an operation through the public system, you dont have the freedom to choose your specialists, you get who you're given. So Medicare will pick up much of the cost of surgery, anaesthetist etc and your health insurance will pay for your hospital bed basically. Then what most lap band surgeons seem to do is charge you a once off fee that is not covered by your health insurance or medicare (since its above and beyond the scheduled fee), mine was $3000, and all your aftercare is covered after that since the surgeon only bills the scheduled fee direct to Medicare so you dont pay for fills or anything. If you went self pay, it would cost you around $20,000 or more probably and of course, Medicare would cover a fair bit (85%) of that, so you wouldnt be out of pocket by that much. But you'd have to pay it and then go to Medicare for the refund. The trouble is, many surgeons wont accept self pay becuase of the difficulty with aftercare - people tend to be slack on their review and fills because they cant continue to find the money, a fill may cost you $250 or so each time, and if they need revision surgery they're stuffed - again Medicare will pick up a lot of the cost but not for the hospital and you could be paying $1500 per night for a bed etc. You can go self pay on most things though if you so desire, such as having a baby or getting your child's adenoids removed etc. You really do feel thankful for your private health insurance though when you're 32 weeks pregnant with a broken hand that has been unsuccessfully set in plaster, and hasnt healed and you go back to your surgeon and demand that he fix it surgically becuase you're about to have a baby and you need your hands dammit and he looks at his watch and says "can you meet me at the hospital in half an hour?". I'd still be on public waiting list for that one, and my hand would be ruined. There are a few anomolies in our system though, to have a baby through the public system cost you pretty much nothing, but having the "priviledge" of private health insurance means it cost me about $3,000 per baby, lol. Still private hospital, five day stay for a normal birth, decent food, Doug staying the night, private obstetrician who attended me for all 3 births, it's worth it to me rather than going into a public hospital, giving birth assisted by whomever happens to be on duty that night and having to go home the next day.

Cleo's Mom-- I think you have a bad band placement, besides the fact that your original Dr used an older version of the band, I think he installed it poorly. Have you talked to your new Dr about a revision? I wonder if you could get insurance approval to take out the old band and replace it with a newer version and install it properly? My Dr really stressed the importance of using a Dr who had performed hundreds of band surgeries, he said placement was more important than band size, type, etc.

i had the revision too. i never heard of removing the band pre surgery tho. my doc removed it at the same time he did the rny. no point in going thru an extra surgery. he just unfilled my band about 2 months before surgery.

How long ago was the revision? Could you have a stretched pouch? Have they done flouro on you?

okay guys so, i have had my band for over two years. things started off great. i started at roughly 320 and got down to 148-ish. after this i had a complication and had a revision. scince the revision things havent been the same atall. i have a 10 cc band and it is filled to 9cc's i have been assured there is no leak when the band reached 9cc's however, i feel that somethign is wrong. i can eaat whatever i put in my mouth and more of it than im supposed to as if my band wasnt even there. i am really nearvous about having to do a 2nd revision and i feel like a complete failure. andy advice or input would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Congrats. That's soon [emoji4] Michelle Pre-op revision band to bypass Starting weight 275 Healthy BMI 154.

That's kind of how I feel with the band. 50 years from now (or hell, 10 even), they may say that the band causes.. stomach cancer (just a random example). I am not opposed to diet pills. I took Metabolife with Ephedra when I did Atkins.. the only time I successfully was able to diet. It kept me from being hungry, so when I did eat- I could stick to low-carb. Eventually my head overcame me and I fell off the low-carb wagon, which goes back to what WasaBubble said. My brain never was 'fixed', but the pills helped. I did gain it all back + some, so there's something to be said about fixing the root of the problem. Now with the band, before I had a fill my doctor gave me ONE Rx to Phen--The not deemed dangerous one--.. and it didn't do crap for me. Since Ephedra isn't banned anymore, but was, I can only get it online, so I normally don't have it.. but I ended up ordering it, and even though I didn't have good restriction for 6 months-after revision surgery on the port, I still lost weight till that time. I still forget to order it, so I pick up Stacker 2 at the gas station.. which is no longer sold with Ephedra in stores like I said, so now it's just a HUGE dose of caffein. I don't necessarily take it for weight loss at this point, it just gives me my get-up-and-go. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I get my caffein via a pill. I like it, and I don't see the harm. If I found out my BP was bad or something was happening now to affect me, I'd be more concerned. Just like the smoker who doesn't stop till they get lung cancer, we're invisible..right? :smile2:

If I may ask - what repair to your esophagus did you have? I was diagnosed with achalasia and am revising my sleeve to a bypass as well as having a myotomy. Just curious what it was that you were treating. As far as recovery for my sleeve, I work a desk job and took 2 weeks. I was fine, physically, at about a week, but was still very tired all the time due to nutritional intake (or lack thereof) and being tired as my body healed.

Personally, if you KNOW your tum empties quicker than normal, then I would want to start with the sleeve procedure where you keep your pyloric valve. When you do RNY, you cut out the valve and only have a stoma, so it's an open system. I think you will have issues with satiety in both surgeries. But you might have a better chance with satiety in the sleeve where more of the vagus nerve is cut, more of the grehlin producing portion of the tum is cut away and the pyloric valve is intact. Also, if you have to revise, you would be able to revise to DS with more malabsorption for better weight long term sustained losses. Also with DS, you can eat quite a lot of food due to the malabsorption. So if you were struggling with satiety, would have better tools to deal/manage it. An RNY surgery is pretty much the "golden shot surgery" and no really helpful revisions can be made from it.

Hello everyone, My name is Kirstyn and I am finally introducing myself after lurking here for a little while. I am just starting the process of having a revision from the lap-band to the sleeve through Kaiser Fontana. I self-paid to be banded back on Nov. 6, 2002, 9.5 years ago, and did very well with it for about 7 years. I lost 112 pounds, got pregnant, gained 30 pounds, lost 18 of those pounds within a month and a half of having my baby and then maintained for about a year. Then everything went haywire and I have now gained back 82 of the 112 pounds that I lost. I have requested that Kaiser do the revision and am scheduled to have any Upper GI on Thursday, May 31 and also to start my Options classes that night. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone out there that had had a revision through Kaiser Fontana. I have had contact with others who had revisions through different Kaisers in SoCal but never Fontana. I am also interested in learning more about living with a sleeve and look forward to getting to know some of you here! Have a great weekend everyone!

Becky I am kinda hoping for the bypass myself. After reading and learning more about it these past weeks - I am not afraid of it anymore and in fact think it would suit me much better then the sleeve. Sweets has always been the hardest thing for me to let go of - the bypass would help to make me suffer if I dont let them go! though I also know some people are still able to tolerate them - but I wont risk getting sick... I'm only on a 3 day liquid diet, my surgeon tailors it to your starting BMI. food funerals are very common and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm enjoying some foods that I love knowing it could be the last time ever if I have bad dumping and if not at least for a while. Though, if you get the sleeve you will definitely be able to eat your favorite foods after you heal. I'd also be lying if I said I'm not praying hard for you to get a bypass, I know you wanted the sleeve but your GERD worries me so much since I had the same thing and am now in bad shape 2 years later and revising. Don't overdo the food funerals because you don't want to put on weight prior to surgery but I don't think it's too naughty to enjoy some food before you have surgery

I'm only on a 3 day liquid diet, my surgeon tailors it to your starting BMI. food funerals are very common and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm enjoying some foods that I love knowing it could be the last time ever if I have bad dumping and if not at least for a while. Though, if you get the sleeve you will definitely be able to eat your favorite foods after you heal. I'd also be lying if I said I'm not praying hard for you to get a bypass, I know you wanted the sleeve but your GERD worries me so much since I had the same thing and am now in bad shape 2 years later and revising. Don't overdo the food funerals because you don't want to put on weight prior to surgery but I don't think it's too naughty to enjoy some food before you have surgery