Backed out last minute, but I'm back again...

[JerseyJules 862]

Well, long story short exactly 2 years ago today I backed out of Gastric sleeve surgery literally last minute. Like almost on the operating table last minute. To sum it up, I was not ready to make such a commitment as removing 80% of my stomach that god gave me.Sitting there waiting for someone to cut out parts of me I felt weak and helpless, the most helpless and scared I have ever felt in my life. I was not ready mentally.

I went on a very low calorie diet for a few months and lost 30 lbs or so, but you know the rest of the story... I haven't gained any additional weight in the last 2 years, but I haven't lost any either and I'm right back a few lbs shy of where I was that day 2 years ago...

After some hard thinking and soul searching the past 2 years I'm ready to get WLS. But I have decided to look into the Lap Band and I will explain why in a moment.

I'm currently 288-290 lbs at 5-11. I have a decent muscular frame underneath and probably should be about 225 lbs. I'm very active and work out regularly with weights, cardio and martial arts. All of my blood work routinely comes back nearly perfect, I'm just cosmetically fat....For now...And the FOR NOW comment is what has made my decision, after watching a YouTube video by a guy named Fighting400 where he said the point to get WLS was when you were healthy so you can prevent all the sicknesses associated with being obese. And this to me makes better sense then waiting till your fighting for your life.

I have been overweight my entire life and never was taught proper eating habits from a young age. I did my damage from 5 years old till about 16 years old where I was 250 lbs and a size 44 pants. I took control of my life and lost weight and was down to 210 lbs and a 34 pants by 18 years old. I maintained about 225-235 lbs most of my early 20's. In my early 30's following a few injuries and after we had a child, I gained a ton of weight and went up to 300 lbs. My wife stayed the same size, I put on all the baby weight lol..

The fact that I already work out fairly regularly and am able to maintain my wight relatively stable, made me decide the Lap Band would give me the perfect little boost I need to limit my food intake and get me to a good maintainable point in my life. I only slightly overeat with slightly larger portions than I should be eating. Im not subject to the massive binges associated with some people with hard to control eating disorders. I dont think Im that far gone where I need to subject myself to the more risk associated with the other surgeries, but I definitely need a tool to assist me a bit.

I have my consultation on Thursday, wish me luck everyone!!

Edited January 3, 2017 by JerseyJules

[Di_ 34]

Thats exactly why I did it. Im obese but had no co morbities or health problems. My husband howevet has type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea our daughters are still young and I was very aware that the next 5kgs I put on could have been the straw that finally broke the camels back and brought on countless health issues. I had vsg 3 months ago no regrets 30kgs down and although life still has its ups and downs weight definitely won't be one of those for me anymore. Wish you all the best on your journey!

[pvechiola 195]

Thats exactly why I did it. Im obese but had no co morbities or health problems. My husband howevet has type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea our daughters are still young and I was very aware that the next 5kgs I put on could have been the straw that finally broke the camels back and brought on countless health issues. I had vsg 3 months ago no regrets 30kgs down and although life still has its ups and downs weight definitely won't be one of those for me anymore. Wish you all the best on your journey!

Great story thanks for sharing

Sent from my 0PM92 using the BariatricPal App

[Newme17 3,444]

"I'm not going to end up like my mother". This pretty much sums up why I'm doing WLS; she's got a long list of problems due to her weight. I don't have any co-morbidities either with a bmi of 41; 38 years old. I know that if I continue I'm risking developments of such and I have very young children too. Congratulations to all of us who are making this decision to be healthy.

Edited January 3, 2017 by DCast78

[jimmc77 43]

Well, long story short exactly 2 years ago today I backed out of Gastric sleeve surgery literally last minute. Like almost on the operating table last minute. To sum it up, I was not ready to make such a commitment as removing 80% of my stomach that god gave me.Sitting there waiting for someone to cut out parts of me I felt weak and helpless, the most helpless and scared I have ever felt in my life. I was not ready mentally.

I went on a very low calorie diet for a few months and lost 30 lbs or so, but you know the rest of the story... I haven't gained any additional weight in the last 2 years, but I haven't lost any either and I'm right back a few lbs shy of where I was that day 2 years ago...

After some hard thinking and soul searching the past 2 years I'm ready to get WLS. But I have decided to look into the Lap Band and I will explain why in a moment.

I'm currently 288-290 lbs at 5-11. I have a decent muscular frame underneath and probably should be about 225 lbs. I'm very active and work out regularly with weights, cardio and martial arts. All of my blood work routinely comes back nearly perfect, I'm just cosmetically fat....For now...And the FOR NOW comment is what has made my decision, after watching a YouTube video by a guy named Fighting400 where he said the point to get WLS was when you were healthy so you can prevent all the sicknesses associated with being obese. And this to me makes better sense then waiting till your fighting for your life.

I have been overweight my entire life and never was taught proper eating habits from a young age. I did my damage from 5 years old till about 16 years old where I was 250 lbs and a size 44 pants. I took control of my life and lost weight and was down to 210 lbs and a 34 pants by 18 years old. I maintained about 225-235 lbs most of my early 20's. In my early 30's following a few injuries and after we had a child, I gained a ton of weight and went up to 300 lbs. My wife stayed the same size, I put on all the baby weight lol..

The fact that I already work out fairly regularly and am able to maintain my wight relatively stable, made me decide the Lap Band would give me the perfect little boost I need to limit my food intake and get me to a good maintainable point in my life. I only slightly overeat with slightly larger portions than I should be eating. Im not subject to the massive binges associated with some people with hard to control eating disorders. I dont think Im that far gone where I need to subject myself to the more risk associated with the other surgeries, but I definitely need a tool to assist me a bit.

I have my consultation on Thursday, wish me luck everyone!!

Good Luck Brother!!!!

[DecemberSleeve 18]

Just a few days ago I had my lap band removed and converted to a gastric sleeve. Personally, I can't say that I think the lap-band is a good option for most people. If you want to know why I don't recommend the band, I'll try to explain my experience :

I totally understand being scared of how drastic the gastrectomy seems. I was very scared of it too before I did it and had thoughts of backing out up until I had the operation. ANY weight loss surgery is drastic, so it is always good to make sure you really have tried everything before you go through it.

Even though the band may seem less drastic, if you look at long term results (for people who have had the band for 5 or 10 years) you'll find that many people have, like me, had problems requiring additional surgery because of problems with the band or port. Having the band inserted will cause scar tissue and adhesions to form inside your abdomen, so even though you can remove it, your stomach will never be quite the same as it was before the band was placed.

When I had the band, I had episodes of food getting "stuck" in the band and then either causing me a lot of physical pain for a few hours until the food passed through, or having to vomit it back up. When I lost weight, the port stuck out and it was tender whenever I pressed on it or laid on it. It felt weird using my abdominal muscles for things like sit ups because I was aware of the port being stitched on my side. My abdomen was actually visibly slightly uneven when I was naked because of the port!

Since your band needs "maintenance", it is a big hassle if the doctor who puts it in you retires, dies, or you move away. When I moved away from my original banding doc, I had to start paying $600 PER FILL to a new doctor just to have a PA do fills for me. Sadly, the PA did not recognize how serious it was when I had a nasty slip. She just unfilled me without bothering to get imaging done to confirm that the band remained out of place despite being unfilled.Well, at least that allowed me to eat again (I couldn't keep food or Water down with a fill in) but then the weight came roaring back and I regained half of what I had lost.

Yet, I was one of the "lucky" ones since my slip was not an emergency. There are stories out there of people who have to have emergency surgery because their band slipped and then cut off blood flow to their stomach or caused them to be unable to eat or drink even unfilled. I was so fortunate that I walked around with the slipped band for a few years without anything awful happening - yet in the back of my mind, I knew something wasn't right and that weighed on me all the time until I finally had the relief of getting the band out.

Sadly, even now, I have to be a little worried because having the band means that I am at a higher risk of having a dangerous post-operative leak from the gastric sleeve than I would have been if I had just gone with the sleeve to begin with.

If you really feel that you need some surgical help to lose the weight, I personally think the sleeve is a better choice. I feel much more "normal" with the sleeve, even just being a few days post op, than I did with the band. Many doctors no longer do bands because the long term results aren't great. Even though there are always pros and cons with any surgery, i think it says a lot that the sleeve has been around for a long time (although originally as part of the duodenal switch) and seems more popular than ever. The band definitely is not as popular now as it was back when I got it.

Edited January 4, 2017 by DecemberSleeve

[JerseyJules 862]

Just a few days ago I had my lap band removed and converted to a gastric sleeve. If you want to know why I don't recommend the band, I'll try to explain my experience :

I totally understand being scared of how drastic the gastrectomy seems. I was very scared of it too before I did it and had thoughts of backing out up until I had the operation. ANY weight loss surgery is drastic, so it is always good to make sure you really have tried everything before you go through it.

Even though the band may seem less drastic, if you look at long term results (for people who have had the band for 5 or 10 years) you'll find that many people have, like me, had problems requiring additional surgery because of problems with the band or port. Having the band inserted will cause scar tissue and adhesions to form inside your abdomen, so even though you can remove it, your stomach will never be quite the same as it was before the band was placed.

When I had the band, I had episodes of food getting "stuck" in the band and then either causing me a lot of physical pain for a few hours until the food passed through, or having to vomit it back up. When I lost weight, the port stuck out and it was tender whenever I pressed on it or laid on it. It felt weird using my abdominal muscles for things like sit ups because I was aware of the port being stitched on my side.

Since your band needs "maintenance", it is a big hassle if the doctor who puts it in you retires, dies, or you move away. When I moved away from my original banding doc, I had to start paying $600 PER FILL to a new doctor just to have a PA do fills for me. Sadly, the PA did not recognize how serious it was when I had a nasty slip. She just unfilled me without bothering to get imaging done to confirm that the band remained out of place despite being unfilled.Well, at least that allowed me to eat again (I couldn't keep food or Water down with a fill in) but then the weight came roaring back and I regained half of what I had lost.

Yet, I was one of the "lucky" ones since my slip was not an emergency. There are stories out there of people who have to have emergency surgery because their band slipped and then cut off blood flow to their stomach or caused them to be unable to eat or drink even unfilled. I was so fortunate that I walked around with the slipped band for a few years without anything awful happening - yet in the back of my mind, I knew something wasn't right and that weighed on me all the time until I finally had the relief of getting the band out.

If you really feel that you need some surgical help to lose the weight, I personally think the sleeve is a better choice. I feel much more "normal" with the sleeve, even just being a few days post op, than I did with the band. Many doctors no longer do bands because the long term results aren't great. Even though there are always pros and cons with any surgery, i think it says a lot that the sleeve has been around for a long time (although originally as part of the duodenal switch) and seems more popular than ever.

Well, now you got me thinking again....grrrr.....lol

[JerseyJules 862]

Im just curious if there are any long term studies and results on these WLS procedures. Long term like 20 to 30 years? Anyone know how people in their old age fair with these procedures down the road?

[DecemberSleeve 18]

Aw, I didn't mean to freak you out again. I just want to make sure people know that the lap band has some major downsides that may not be readily apparent. If I had known then what I know now and had the option to get a sleeve gastrectomy instead of the band (back then it was not as widely available as it is now), I definitely think I would have done better and felt better with the sleeve to begin with.

The other side of things is that there is risk in choosing to avoid surgery too. "Morbid obesity" implies that one's weight has reached the point of being a health risk. I was actually doing ok health wise other than the band-related problems before I had surgery - no diabetes, high blood pressure, or even much joint pain - so a part of me wondered if I should just live with being fat. However, one thing that helped me find the courage to follow through with getting the sleeve done is that I looked up the risk of death for people with BMIs as high as mine and realized that even though it didn't feel like a risk, I WAS taking a risk with my life and health by choosing to stay fat.

It's not easy making the decision to have surgery. I wish there was an easier way. Even though I am now feeling pretty good, with little pain and doing ok on my post-op diet, I still wish that science would give us a pill to take or something.

Edited January 4, 2017 by DecemberSleeve

[JerseyJules 862]

Well I saw the surgeon today and Im leaning more towards the VSG rather than the band due to my level of activity and profession. I need to go through the whole process all over again prior to surgery including a sleep study. They remembered me and said to date Im the only one to back out that late in the game..lol

They said if they have to hold me down this time they will get me through it this time..Im sure part of my stress was waiting there for like 4 hours in pre-op just thinking...

2 years have gone by, I have not changed for the better, and need to take control of my life NOW. I need to do this this time around and need to lose weight for my future.

[Bugaboo77 18]

I was banded in 2010. I had all the things described above---many Stuck episodes and either having to suffer through the pain and spit slimy saliva out for a couple hours, or throw it up. I ended up having anemia and taking Iron pills. I wasn't able to eat the healthy foods, but the foods bad for me went down easy.

I had lost maybe 60 lbs overall, and have gained it all back. The doctor put into insurance to get the band removed, so I am waiting on that. In 3-6 months after things heal, we will try to get sleeve or bypass.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

[JerseyJules 862]

I just had my Psychological eval and my Nutritional Eval today as well as saw a sleep specialist. I start my at home sleep study tonight.

[JerseyJules 862]

Well I made up my mind on the VSG procedure and have my surgery date set for February 27th 2017. I have to just complete the Endoscopy procedure next week and that will be my last step. I had to do a sleep study this time around also.

This time around I have been researching tons of stuff, watching tons of Youtube videos and talking to way more people who have done the process. This time I am ready and want to see what its like to be a normal sized person for once in my life.

[JerseyJules 862]

I was banded in 2010. I had all the things described above---many Stuck episodes and either having to suffer through the pain and spit slimy saliva out for a couple hours, or throw it up. I ended up having anemia and taking Iron pills. I wasn't able to eat the healthy foods, but the foods bad for me went down easy.

I had lost maybe 60 lbs overall, and have gained it all back. The doctor put into insurance to get the band removed, so I am waiting on that. In 3-6 months after things heal, we will try to get sleeve or bypass.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Many stories like this have steered me towards my decision to just get the sleeve in the first place. I dont know a single person in my life that had the Lap Band that has been successful.

[JerseyJules 862]

Surgery date is tentatively February 28th. Wish me luck!! Any advice on how to prepare myself leading up to and out of surgery?