Was your band removal and revision surgery done at the same time?

[patricia999 2]

thank you for your story I am so in air on what to do here in Canada it takes too long and I do not want under go two surgeries,

I am just about 4 weeks out from revision lap band to sleeve. Lapband was in 2006 and complications at every turn.

My revision took 3 hours. 1.5 for lap band removal and 1.5 for sleeve. My lap band was encased in scar tissue and my port was hard to get out. Two incisions are still a little sore where they had to pull the band and port out and one incision they removed my stomach. Nothing that I need pain meds for, just notice the soreness still. I was on pain meds for 5 days and happy to have them.

My Doc prefers to do the revision in one surgery if at all possible because he feels it is easier on the patient. Two surgeries involve all the pre-op diets, anesthesia twice, recovery twice, etc.

For me, starting liquids and eating mushy foods after surgery was very different than with the lap band. With the band I knew immediately if I had too much or didn't chew well enough. My experience with the sleeve is if I start to feel nauseated it's probably too late.

With the sleeve they say to stop eating AS SOON AS YOU FEEL FULL which is right on. A few times thinking it was like a lap-band experience, I ate a few too many bites and/or ate too fast and vomited immediately. (which we want to avoid as much as possible so as not to challenge the new stomach and staple line) It took me too long to figure this out and I vomited about 6 times over 10 days. Once just on Water and a pill but I expect I drank too much Water in one gulp. Also on a Protein drink that I took too big of swallow. So being a slow learner, now for me, It is sip, wait. Sip, wait. Take a small sip of pureed drink, wait a few minutes. Take a small baby spoon bite of pureed food and wait. Try another, then wait. The lap-band let me know immediately that I had goofed up. The sleeve is very different for me.

With the sleeve I literally can only eat two tablespoons of mushed cottage cheese and it can take 15 minutes to eat that. Even a Protein Drink. With the band a Protein Drink would go right thru. This is not my experience with the sleeve. I'm told that this very sensitive time will pass and it will get easier.

My doc keeps reminding me that I'm healing for 3 months or more and to be careful, go slow. It takes a while for the new stomach to settle down. It is different for each person but swelling can continue for a while, especially if we vomit. After vomiting I had go back on liquids because they were concerned I had a leak due to the vomiting. Like the band after surgery we have to do all we can NOT to vomit. I'm just hoping I didn't cause a leak but it seems OK now after a few days of slowing down, I haven't vomited.

As for energy, it is about the same as for the lap-band. I'm slowly getting back to normal.

What I am eating is very limited. Protein drinks, mushed cottage cheese/beans, Soups without the chunks, watery oatmeal, nibble on cheese. Everything tastes weird. I loved plain water before, now it tastes terrible. I have to mix some fruit juice in it. Before surgery I could drink crystal light, now it tastes very bad. Things change.

Just my thoughts on the diff between the lap-band experience and the sleeve. Hope you won't make my mistakes.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I met with my doctor today (this is not the doctor who placed the band) and she said she could do the removal of the band and revision to sleeve at the same time. I am required by my insurance to do the 6 months pre-op diet along with all the other testing required (psych eval; chest x-ray, sleep study, etc..).

I feel a bit overwhelmed at this point. I mean I am 64 years old. Having lost around 75 pounds on the lap band journey (60 lbs. from 6 month dieting and 2 week liquid pre and 2 week liquid post op dieting) with only 15 pounds from the band. And I always felt hungry even though I couldn't eat more. It was like the bottom part of my stomach was saying - hey I'm empty - I need food in me. And indeed that is how a normal stomach works - when it is filled with food it stretches and sends the message to the brain - I'm full/satisfied. I NEVER got that with the band.

Anyway, I have gained 30 lbs back and am at a BMI of 35. I am less inclined to be doing this for medical reasons as none of my medical conditions improved with my weight loss - particularly my severe back problems where all those doctors urged me to lose weight to help. It didn't.

So, now I want to do it look thinner and look better and feel better.

I guess I am just looking for words of encouragement that this is the right choice at my age. After all, this is elective surgery.

Thanks!

[patricia999 2]

Hi

good for you, I am 60 and have to have the band removed, but they will not do both here in Canada, I want both done I am thinking of going to Mexico, I do not want to have the band removed and gain weight I have to wait 18 months before they will look at doing the bypass, I am sick to my stomach as I want something done right away. I think you made the right decision and you will have a great journey, I wish I was in your position. You will be ok and do great

Let me know how your journey goes. Thinking of you

Pat

I met with my doctor today (this is not the doctor who placed the band) and she said she could do the removal of the band and revision to sleeve at the same time. I am required by my insurance to do the 6 months pre-op diet along with all the other testing required (psych eval; chest x-ray, sleep study, etc..).

I feel a bit overwhelmed at this point. I mean I am 64 years old. Having lost around 75 pounds on the lap band journey (60 lbs. from 6 month dieting and 2 week liquid pre and 2 week liquid post op dieting) with only 15 pounds from the band. And I always felt hungry even though I couldn't eat more. It was like the bottom part of my stomach was saying - hey I'm empty - I need food in me. And indeed that is how a normal stomach works - when it is filled with food it stretches and sends the message to the brain - I'm full/satisfied. I NEVER got that with the band.

Anyway, I have gained 30 lbs back and am at a BMI of 35. I am less inclined to be doing this for medical reasons as none of my medical conditions improved with my weight loss - particularly my severe back problems where all those doctors urged me to lose weight to help. It didn't.

So, now I want to do it look thinner and look better and feel better.

I guess I am just looking for words of encouragement that this is the right choice at my age. After all, this is elective surgery.

Thanks!

[bewell 222]

Cleo, I understand, it was really hard for me to decide to do the revision from band to sleeve. I am also a self-pay. I had to rob my 401K to pay for it.

I thought about it for months and then researched it and followed all the blogs for a few more months. All the while trying to lose weight but only gaining more. I was miserable. It really came to the bottom-line that there was no way I could lose the weight myself and as I aged being obese was causing more health problems. I know my husband was ready to retire and we wouldn't be able to travel or do fun things, and he was concerned he'd have to take care of me for years to come.

It is elective surgery but at my age, I really feel I had no choice but to do it. I was scared to do it but even more scared not to.

But so far so good. No complications with the sleeve. A few rough days but at 4 weeks out, I'm glad I did it. There is no way I could do this myself. I'm committed to do this. I have to.

I don't really have any words of encouragement but at our age I think we have some wisdom to know we only have one more chance to get this right and be healthy. We know the dangers of being obese and watching our joints fail. We are more aware of the lies we can tell ourselves about having just one bite of something sweet. I could still ride a bike at 260 lbs but it was getting harder and harder. I could see me in a wheel chair before I reached 70 along with hip and/or knee replacements and diabetes. The future was looking pretty grim.

I'm glad I decided to get the revision to a sleeve. I know there is still a lot of hard work ahead of me. For the rest of my life I'll have to watch what I eat. I have to make serious life style changes. (just read the blogs of people with any WLS who gained back all the weight, it can happen)

I have to do this or my final years on this planet will be miserable.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Bewell- thanks for your reply. I go back and forth with this being my second attempt at WLS. Am I too old? How well will I recover? But I too need to lose weight so that the excess weight doesn't cause any future health problems that would result in a restricted life or caregiver because I am a widow (my husband died 9 years ago of cancer)so I don't have anyone to take care of me. I do almost everything now, including exercising but I notice my knees are starting to hurt. Some of the problems are from my osteoporosis due to the cancer meds I was on for 10 years (breast cancer). I've been through a lot medically, so I hope this journey is worth it.

I think years from now (maybe a hundred or more) people will say - "Wow, they used to cut away stomachs or reroute intestines for people to lose weight" because by then they will have discovered how to do gene therapy for everything including obesity, which is a disease.

My whole family on both sides is obese. My paternal grandmother was born in the late 1890's when there was no fast food, prepared foods and all the foods we have loaded with fat, salt and sugar which gets blamed for our obesity epidemic. By all and any medical standards she was obese. She was a very large, eastern European woman and I take after her. I was a thin person once when I was young - in my twenties and then it was like a switch was flipped and the weight just kept coming on.

Someday they will cure obesity but for now we just have the options we have.

[krasher 1]

My band was removed first. The band was very effective for me for a little over 1 year. i lost 62 pounds. Then I started to have difficulty eating and lost only a few pounds over the next year. Suddenly I had intense, horrible pain. Went to ER and had multiple tests. The band had slipped slightly, enough to allow some food but not working well. Removed all the Fluid and suddenly felt fine. The band was removed two weeks later.That was in May 2014.

Due to multiple reasons my sleeve was delayed until January 2015. Most of these reasons were insurance oriented since my employer changed administrators from Aetna to Anthem. I had the surgery just a couple of weeks ago. I am 75 years of age. This surgery was as easy as the first. I had no gas, no pain, up and walking soon after surgery. Laying in the hospital bed overnight was another story. Severe agony there. Now that I am home I am on fluids for three weeks. So far everything is going well.

[pancake1271 57]

Krasher, its nice to here about the sleeve from someone who is older( sorry no nice way to put it!) My husband, sister in law and I and trying to convince their mother ( shes 71ish)to get the sleeve done but she keeps coming up with excuses. Medicare.. Problems coming out of anesthesia, the recovery... Blah blah blah... I think recovery from the sleeve was easier than the band. Hopefully she will see its not as bad as the other surgeries she's had, 3 back and one heart. We are so concerned for her health.

[bewell 222]

• Cleo's Mom
• I hear you! I had a lot of fear and concerns.
• Even now as things are fine I wake up in the AM and wonder what have I done? But given the alternatives, I'd do it again.
• I was out weeding in the yard today. Normally I never get down on the ground for fear I"d never get back up. But I tried it and got back up with pretty easily. Not lifting an extra 30 pounds made a big difference. I had a big smile on my face and day dreamed about being 50, 60, 100 lbs lighter and getting up from the floor. YES! I avoid so much because of my weight.

Also agree with you, even in 10 years they will have much better alternatives for obesity. I also believe they will find obesity is even more complicated than they know today. In 20 years they'll look back at the sleeve and think it was barbaric. (35 yrs ago I knew a women who wired her mouth shut to lose weight. OMG!!)

Wishing you the best and whatever you decide will be what's right for you. No one can tell you what to do. It is very individual. But also want to say that who you really are is not about your body, or your size, your age or anything else. You are beautiful just the way your are right now!

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Bewell, thanks for your kind words. I have to say that of everything you wrote what jumped out at me was that you were gardening today. I had to look where you live - is it Washington? Aren't you in the middle of winter? Here in PA we had a ton of snow today with high winds blowing it so that it caused white outs. Roads are a mess. So gardening is both far in my past and future.

But I agree with you about all that you said. They keep coming up with new ways for WLS. I saw a show where these people had gastric tubes put up their noses and into their stomachs and walked around like that and then put some kind of liquid food through the tube. Pretty drastic but there was the doctor who did it standing by this decision.

There aren't many things I can't do now with my weight but my knees are starting to hurt and I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor coming up. I am going to Disney World for the first time in April with my daughter and grandson. I want to be able to walk comfortably. I have been diagnosed with slight effusion (Water on knee) and some osteopenia. I am hoping there is some temporary solution and that weight loss will be a better solution. However, I have to say, when I lost the 75 lbs during my lap band journey (mostly from the diets beforehand) none of my medical conditions improved.

I am so glad you are doing well and getting around better and wish you nothing but the best in your journey.

P.S. Our wind chill factor is something like 30 below. Please plant a flower for me. lol.

[kaninag 35]

I have had a lot of small things wrong with my band over the years. Needless to say I keep getting reflux with every little fill. Undergoing revision on March 3rd. insurance would not pay so I'm going to do one surgery cash pay. Dr said shouldn't take more than 2 hrs.

[VSGmary 418]

I had two separate operations 10 weeks apart; 1 to remove the band and to enable my oesophagus to go back into shape as the band had formed a pouch above it. 2nd to have the revision. Im in Australia and this was covered by my insurance as the band failed. Ive lost more weight now with the sleeve in 4 months than what i ever lost in 4 years with the band!! I love love love my sleeve and wish i had this option sooner!

Best of luck to you with your journey ahead xox

[soon2Bscandalous 53]

Mine was

[Jeniiake 6]

I just had my band to sleeve revision on February 11 and love it! Unfortunately I had to self pay for this procedure; my wonderful doctor said he would try his hardest to complete the revision with 1 surgery. During my consult, he did inform me that if there was too much scar tissue then he would have to close me up and wait a few months for the tissue to soften. I was fine with whatever he decided because he had my health and safety as a priority.

Once he got in there he did have to spend and extra 30 minutes working on the scar tissue and said it was pretty bad. Thankfully he took the time to do what was needed for a single surgery.

I never had a slip but my band was so tight at one point I couldn't even get my Protein shake down. I'm sooooooooooooooooooo glad I had the revision.

[kaninag 35]

Insurance denied me so I am having to do self pay as well. My surgeon thankfully feels confident that he can do it all in 1 surgery. Getting revision completed March 3rd!!

[GEAUX SAINTS 143]

Had mine done at the same time!