Larger Bougie Size For Exbandits

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I am sure you fear the unknown. We all did when we had bands and nothing to compare that to

I still go to the WLS support group at the clinic where my band surgeon practices. He is now doing sleeves, but at the time I had my revision he wasn't doing them. I remember a girl who came to support group who was really freaked out because he had to remove her band in an emergency surgery and she was sleeved. She agreed to be sleeved but knew nothing about it and was so afraid of what she had done. I asured her she was going to be really happy she did it.

She came back a few times and talked over and over about how much she loved it. She could eat small amounts of anything she wanted and she never threw up or had food stuck.

There is no way you will be able to eat a cup and a half of food for a very long time. I can now at almost 3 years eat a cup and a half of salad, or anything mushie. There is no way I could eat that much solid food. I can eat a piece of steak or chicken about the size of my palm and a few bites of veggies.

I recovered very easily from this revision surgery. After the first 24 hours, I really could not even tell I had surgery.

[trishah 2]

wow you have no idea how much that post just squashed my fear oregon. Today was a particularly bad day worrying about everything from the issues I have mentioned down to wondering if I can complete a clean 2 weeks VLCD prior to surgery.

I know I am being a worry wart but I thing my round with the band did my head in and stole my trust with WLS.

I am so glad that you all have taken time to answer me honestly...Thank you all very much

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

It took me close to a year to get the courage to revise from a band to a sleeve. I had all the same fears... fear of reflux, fear of failing AGAIN, fear of horrible complications and it not being "reversible".

I am just a few months out, but feeling very confident this was the right decision. I am not saying it is easy, but I love that i am not hungry all the time. When I eat a meal, it is not just a pouch that fills, it is your whole stomach and to me I feel pretty normal, just eat small quantities. I never felt normal with the band. I think people who have been through a band first find some of the "challenges" with the sleeve to be a piece of cake by comparison. The main thing that was harder with the sleeve was the exhaustion/recovery during the first 6 weeks post surgery. I don't remember anything like that after being banded.

I have a long way to go on my weight loss journey, but so far, hands down, 1000% better then the lapband.

wow you have no idea how much that post just squashed my fear oregon. Today was a particularly bad day worrying about everything from the issues I have mentioned down to wondering if I can complete a clean 2 weeks VLCD prior to surgery.

I know I am being a worry wart but I thing my round with the band did my head in and stole my trust with WLS.

I am so glad that you all have taken time to answer me honestly...Thank you all very much

[trishah 2]

I find solace in hearing converts advice. I sometimes need the comparison of band to sleeve and it helps to hear the difference from someone who has suffered ( and I mean suffered) through a band and on to a sleeve.

Having said that Sleeve only people have been wonderful with their advice and have helped me so much that I am beyond grateful.

It is very true that most of the fear stems from worrying that the sleeve will just be the same issues as the band but permenant.

This morning I woke up and after re reading all of the posts written here, I feel peace about the situation. I can not continue this self destructive eating pattern I am in and it wont end... I know it wont because I have nothing to stop me.

I understand that I have to do an aweful lot myself but not banded nor sleeved I am running up hill in mud wearing gum boots... and Im getting bogged down.

Thank you all again,

Trish

[Wheetsin 714]

To all of you saying that you "failed" with the band - try to see it in a different light.

Unless you knowingly ate too much or ate incorrectly, irped the food back up, then tried again until it stayed down, you didn't fail. Unless you opted to eat ice cream all day because it's what you wanted, then you didn't fail.

Having a mechanical device that is supposed to give you fast satiety, but never does, is not failure. In reality, it's having gone through surgery with high hopes, and finding you still have to "diet" to maintain weight or lose weight. Having a band that maybe worked for a while, then failed, is also not you failing - it's you not having the ability or resolve to "do it on your own" but why would having had surgery change that? If we could do it on our own, we would have long before surgery... and definitely would have long before a second (or third, or fourth...) surgery.

The sleeve cannot have the same issues as the band. The sleeve cannot slip (prolapse), it cannot erode through your esophagus, etc. It can limityour intake. You will still have to work at it. Since it is not (or maybe just lightly) a malabsorptive procedure, you will still have to own what you eat. If you cannot own what you eat, then frankly the sleeve might not be the best option.

I'm pretty far post-op by band standards. I know a lot of people in the 5 - 7 years post-op range. Those who still have their bands, shouldn't, but are too afraid it will be removed to seek the medical care they need. It has let down a lot of people, and mentally is about a 30x magnification of the standard diet "failure" emotions we've all experienced more times than we care to count.

I suspect I will spend the first 6 months with my sleeve "just waiting" for it to somehow fail. I mean, 100% of my bariatric experience tells me that eventually, it stops working, right? But try to focus on the fact that the band is not PERMANENT. Ok, in theory it's intended to be a permanent device. I'll give it that. I don't know anyone 5, 7, 10 years out who still has theirs, so it's not THAT permanent. Every sleeved person I know 5, 7, 10 years out still has their sleeve.

I understand your fears, and I share them. We have "failed" at weightloss most of our lives. We "expect" failure again, it's what we've become conditioned to. But if you didn't at least have hope, you wouldn't be here, so run with it.

[trishah 2]

Having a mechanical device that is supposed to give you fast satiety, but never does, is not failure. In reality, it's having gone through surgery with high hopes, and finding you still have to "diet" to maintain weight or lose weight. Having a band that maybe worked for a while, then failed, is also not you failing - it's you not having the ability or resolve to "do it on your own" but why would having had surgery change that? If we could do it on our own, we would have long before surgery... and definitely would have long before a second (or third, or fourth...) surgery..

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I was banded in 2001 in Germany as i lived there at the time. Last year I pulled out the brochure from Bioenterics (lapband at that time) and there is a clearly a statement that the band should NOT be considered a permanent device. I even found a statement that I had signed, indicating that I understood that it was not a permanent implant and would likely need to be removed! Knock me over with a feather, I didn't remember ANY of that. I guess the mind sometimes blocks what it doesn't want to hear....

As for the reason for failure, it is a complex topic but living with the band was really hard for me from the beginning. I hated that I couldn't eat normally. With the sleeve, I feel like i eat normal foods, just in very modest portions. I have no negative feelings about that, it feels right.

I regained all the lost weight with the band after I had to have all the Fluid taken out due to reflux.

I suspect I will spend the first 6 months with my sleeve "just waiting" for it to somehow fail. I mean, 100% of my bariatric experience tells me that eventually, it stops working, right? But try to focus on the fact that the band is not PERMANENT. Ok, in theory it's intended to be a permanent device. I'll give it that. I don't know anyone 5, 7, 10 years out who still has theirs, so it's not THAT permanent. Every sleeved person I know 5, 7, 10 years out still has their sleeve.

I understand your fears, and I share them. We have "failed" at weightloss most of our lives. We "expect" failure again, it's what we've become conditioned to. But if you didn't at least have hope, you wouldn't be here, so run with it.

[trishah 2]

Yeah I cant say I remember either reading or being told that major detail either.... Ha haaa guess I was a sucker.

I like that I will be able to eat in reduced amounts... I dont mind a bit of self control but I do need some back up. I hated the fact that with the band I would be starving hungry and had no feeling of ever being sated... I never once the whole time I had the band brought food back up. If it was stuck or wouldnt go down it would just sit there and I would have to sip coke to force it (painfully) through the plug hole.

It drove me nuts and I was becoming a not nice person to live with because I was hungry all the time I was also crabby and petulant. Then started the reflux so I was not only hungry and couldnt feed but I was having acid rush up my throat all day and all night.

Hearing that I will feel contented with food is heartening...I dont mean stuffed to the gills but just knowing I can eat something and walk away feeling that Im done on a small amount pleases me. I love to go out to dinner with my family and have BBQs at home with them. With the band as you know this is an ordeal so again with your words of wisdom I know Im not going to be a party pooper at birthdays and happy gatherings...that I wont be the one sitting there tearing a paper cup to shreads and flickiing it spitefully at everyone who is happily eating their meals.

( I wasnt really that bad but on the inside thats what it felt like....all alone in a group of people)

I guess at the end of the day I and I would undoubtably say all of us get WLS to be "normal"...the band made me another kind of abnormal... I was the weird kid whose eyes ran when they ate and had to leave the table and drink coke.

Baaaah... it sucks to be metabolically superior to our skinny counterparts... sadly I dont see me getting stuck on a baren island anytime soon and having to live off my fat for and extended time...pity, I recon I could get a good five years off my butt alone!