Band To Sleeve With No Info!

[ihav2buyit 2]

I had band surgery January 16, 2006 and lost 84 lbs to date. The last year & a half has been VERY difficult to say the least!!!

It started with very bad pain in my upper back. After test after test & going to a pain management Doctor for a year I

decided I was tired of taking all these pain pills for a problem they could not pinpoint! I changed pain management

doctors & that was when with all my test spread out before him he said he didn't think the pain was coming from my back!!!!

On other fronts I was not being able to eat very well... Throwing up almost every meal!!! So when he said I want

your heart, lungs, & kidneys checked out. I went home & asked my husband do you think this could be my band????

Well long story short my band has slipped & is tightly sitting between my stomach and my esophagus!! My esophagus

is 4 times the size it is supposed to be!! So I have 2 choices: Remove band & hope for the best, or remove the band

and get the sleeve. My choice was the sleeve. I don't want to take the chance I will start to gain weight & be unhappy

for the rest of my life!!! I know nothing about the sleeve except what the doctor drew for me!

Are there any Bander's out there who can tell me their experience?? What is the difference between band & sleeve??

I am very used to not eating a lot & not drinking a lot at once. So what will happen....

The doctor says he can take another 20-40 lbs of me no problem. That is a huge plus as far as I am concern! But I have

been really happy with my weight these last couple of years, so like I said it is a huge plus!

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[1959JimmyJames 61]

I had a similar situation with my esophagus. I have a precancerous condition called Barretts Esophagus. I also had a band implant about 10 years ago. Everything was good for about 8 years. I lost 100 lbs and was feeling great. The band was adjusted right but I started throwing up all the time. I couldn't eat anything and I could barely drink. The opening at the band almost sealed off completely. The Barretts tissue had become irritated and swollen and closed up the opening at the band. My esophagus had dilated like a big balloon. They found all this because of a routine upper GI, that I have to have yearly. They removed all the liquid in the band. I had to drink a medicine for ulcers because I developed an ulcer in my esophagus. After a few months I had another upper GI and we found that the esophagus had returned to it's normal size except that now it was stretched out but the ulcer was healed. It was longer than normal because of the stretching and this caused a hiatal hernia about a year later. Your esophagus will shrink back down but it won't be normal again because of the stretching. I didn't adjust the band after I was healed so I put the 100 lbs back on. I love to eat and drink beer and talk with my friends and unless something stops me from doing that, then I will continue to do it.When I finally went in for an adjustment we found out the band was leaking and it slipped and would have to be removed. I had the sleeve revision surgery last March. My doctor removed the band, repaired the hiatal hernia and performed the sleeve surgery all at the same time. It took 4 hours. I was miserable for the first 5 days but by the start of the second week I started feeling good again. I am now 3 and a half months post-op and I feel great. I am down close to 50 lbs. I am not losing fast like some of the people on this site. I have back problems also. I am averaging about 2 to 3 lbs a week. I do not exercise at all. Just walk and sit in the sun when we have sun. You won't feel that plugged up sensation after the band is removed and it is nice to not feel the port anymore. I can eat more than I could with the band but it is not enough to keep me from losing weight because I am losing weight. I have had a stall but I didn't change anything that I was doing and after about 3 weeks I started dropping weight again. When I feel full I have a tightness sensation in my chest. It is not painful but I know that it means to stop. Even if I don't want to stop I have to. I have thrown up once because I ate too much. It was painful. I think that the sleeve is a much better tool. I don't throw up. I don't feel plugged. I can eat anything that I want, it's just not very much. I can still have the things that I crave. If I fill up on mostly meat like steak, the full feeling lasts a long time. If I fill up on salad or fruit then I get hungry again sooner. This is great. All of my suits are fitting again and my regular clothes fit good. I would recommed the sleeve surgery to anyone. I know there are people on this site that have had an awful experience with this, but I can only speak for myself and say that I think that it was very much worth it. I am wondering what my weight will be at Christmas this year. Good luck to you and keep us updated.

[ihav2buyit 2]

Thank you BeagleLover! It is nice to hear from someone who had the same problem I am having now! Makes me feel like there is a positive end to this very painful time for me!!!

Could I ask you another question??

I see that the time from the surgery and when you can eat "normal food" is huge!!!!

How did you get through the 50 days of no real food??? I barely made it past the

3 weeks with the band!

Thank you for all your help!

[1959JimmyJames 61]

I am not sure if you are asking me or Beaglelover this question but I will answer it anyway. My diet plan following surgery was Clear Liquids only for the first 3 days. From day 4 until day 14 it was liquids only. I drank a lot of Soup broth and ice tea and Water. I drank liquid vitamins. I tried the liquid Protein Shakes but I couldn't stand the taste so I gave up on them. Day 15 through day 28 was liquids and soft foods. I made a fruit smoothie everyday. My blender was a real pal during this phase. I had boiled broccoli and mashed potatoes with real butter and gravy once. The flavor was awesome. Day 29 until now I have been on a regular diet. I can eat whatever I want. I continued eating soft foods and Soup for a few weeks after the 29th day because I was afraid not to. I threw up once and had some real pain from overeating once. This might happen to you too. The pain lasted about 30 minutes. I guess that is how long it took to digest some food and empty out my stomach. I measured my food for a while. One half cup. I can eyeball it now. I eat from a very small plate so it looks like more food to my eyes. I can also tell from the tight feeling in my chest that I have had enough. A lot of people say that they are hungry all of the time at first and can eat too much. That didn't happen to me. I was never hungry. I get hungry now though. A couple of times I have noticed that if I didn't have this sleeve, I would just continue eating a tremendous amount of food. The food is tasting soo good and is something that I love but all of the sudden I feel that tightness in my chest like a wave hitting me and it snaps me out of it and I stop eating right then.

Today is the 4th of July. I will be having a barbequed cheeseburger with all the trimmings and french fries and beer. I will have to drink the beer before I eat, plus I mix it with Tomato juice because it takes some of the foam away, and I will not finish the burger or hardly any of the fries but I will feel like I did and it will be fun. And later on before the big event starts I will have a couple of Margarita's. It's Clear Liquids. Happy 4th of July. Remember the veterans.

[ihav2buyit 2]

Thank you to all of you that responded to my post!!!

I do the small plate a lot of food thing too!! LOL Funny how the mind works isn't!!

I am so happy to here about the first 60 days from you. That is the one thing that has

been really scarring me!!!

I hope all of you have a wonderful 4th weekend!