New Doctor for Me

[brittu 42]

I'm 2 1/2 years out from getting banded and having trouble. I started gaining weight and being able to eat more. When I went in to see my doc two weeks ago he seemed completely unconcerned about my weight gain and merrily sent me to get a fill. But during the fill there seemed to be a problem, swelling and perhaps a slipped band (the nurse didn't say slipped but the xray sure looked like it). They sent me home unfilled and on 2 weeks liquids. I was going to go back today but on Friday sent an email to a clinic much closer to my home that also does VSG just in case I need to consider more surgery. The coordinator called me right back (she's banded) and we talked for a long time. They take my weight gain and swelling seriously and want to do another fleuro and possibly endoscopy to see what's going on. And it turns out that they're a provider under my insurance (my surgeon isn't any more). So fills and any additional things I might need will be covered. Plus it's near my home and not two hours away.

The coordinator said that VSG isn't covered but replacing the band is. They do VSG but insurance won't pay. They do lots of band replacements and the smaller bands like the one I have seem to be the culprit although I'm not clear why.

So I'm headed in tomorrow for an appointment and to find out more. It was a huge relief to find a practice that really seemed to care that I have gained weight and also ready to do more testing to find out what's wrong.

For those that might be interested I'll report back what I find out...

Britt

[brittu 42]

Well the fleuro showed limited inflammation and a slight pouch above the band. The surgeon told me that if it was a slip it was very minor or nearly resolved but they don't want to add a fill until it resolves a little more. He said it would be possible to do a revision with a larger band. I learned that larger bands have fewer slippage issues because they put less pressure on the stomach. But given that it isn't clear I had a slip and that I had been doing well before my last fill he recommends we keep working with the band.

I'm going to have an endoscopy on Friday just to make sure everything looks good inside. It feels kind of weird, dull or pressure and I don't remember having that feeling before. Insurancecovers the endoscopy so it seems worth doing.

The bad thing is that they charge $3,500 for their aftercare program if we leave this band in. It includes a year of visits plus nutritional and behavioral counseling. It would be cheaper to stay with my current doc even with the long drive so I'm not sure what to do. My husband was surprisingly open to the $3,500 if I felt it would put me back on a weight loss path. I guess I'll wait for the endoscopy and decide at that point.

Anyway, just in case you were interested that's what happened :-).

Britt

[Mimilou2004 13]

Thanks for the update, Britt. Tough decision to have to make. Good luck and keep posting.

Mimi