kekerene

Well for one tomorrow the 20th is my birthday so it is going to be a great day, lol. For 2, I had a band to sleeve revision almost 13 months ago and I can tell you that you will not regret this. This has been the best decision I have ever made and life with the sleeve is 100000 times better than life with the band. Best of luck to you!!!!!

Unfortunately stalls happen and cannot be avoided. I hit stalls many many times along the way. I even had times where a gained a couple pounds. The important thing to remember is to be patient because it will come off and you will get over the stall. Just keep doing what you are doing. Best of luck to you.

I also was self pay. I had my Lap Band here in the states in 2006 and paid $17,000. I had the revision to the VSG in June 2011 in Mexico with Dr. Aceves for $11,200.

I had a band to sleeve revision and I am sooo happy with the results. You all will love your sleeves i comparison to the band. Good luck!

You just had surgery in April and you have lost 40 lbs. That is great. I only lost 22 lbs in my first month. Be patient, it will come off. Best of luck to you!

Congrats. I am a band to sleever and life with the sleeve is a breeze in comparison to the band. You will love your sleeve!!!

It isn't allowed but some people still drink it. I am a year out and have not had any carbinated beverages since surgery.

Sherri, Was it the VSG surgery that you had or the Lap Band?

I had a band to sleeve revision with Dr. Aceves in June 2011. I do not regret my decision one bit. Weeks before surgery I had an upper GI done here in the states in which I emailed all this to Dr. Aceves prior to surgery. The day before surgery Dr. Aceves did another one to check out my band and they made sure my bad was completely deflated. I was warned in advance that in most cases they can do the revision in 1 surgery but if Dr. Aceves feels that the band has done to much damage he will not move forward and do the sleeve. I know someone personally that this happened to. Leaks can happen with any doctor. Leaks are more common in revision patients too since the scar tissue is not strong in the area where the band was removed. The band leaves a mess behind since this device has pretty much become a part of your stomach. These are the risks that you take going into surgery, and there are risks involoved with any surgery. I could have gone to a doc here in the states. I chose Dr. A because of his experience and very low complication rate. I knew that with the band I was more at risk for leaks so I wanted to make sure that I chose the most skilled surgeon there was. In the event that you would get a leaks weeks after surgery, why don't you ask Nina at Dr. Aceves office if there are any doctors in your area that Dr. Aceves would recommend that would agree to care for you post op. Otherwise if you don't feel comfortable with that, then I would suggest just going with the doc in your hometown. Either way, you really have to go with your gut feeling and do what you believe is the best option for you. Best of luck to you either way!

I would definitely say exercising and the old eating habits. After surgery I did great and followed everything to the T. Once you are about 6 months post op it is easy to fall back into old habits. Staying on track is very important to get the results we all want.

You look awesome and you can really see a big difference, especially in your face. Keep it up!

How did you get your arms so muscular. I am doing weights but I still have some hanging skin there and I HATE it, lol

Please don't get discouraged with the stalls. I have gone over a month without losing a pound. It is frustrating but it will come off. Give it some time

Good luck to you. You are going to LOVE your sleeve in comparison to the band. I experienced complications with the band and I have had none of that with the sleeve. I feel amazing

Everyone is different with their weight loss. Typically people that have more weight to lose will lose a considerable amount more in the first 6-12 months post op. I find that I am a slow loser and I do exercise 4-5 times a week. I lost about 25 lbs in the first month post op and then the weight loss slowed down and I started losing 3-5 lbs a month. I sometimes got upset seeing everyone else that was losing 60 lbs in 3 months and wasn't exercising and it took me about 7 months to lose 60 lbs and I was working my tail off in the gym. I have learned that I cannot compare myself to anyone else. What is most important is that I feel amazing and healthier than I ever have. I used to weigh in every single day where as now I may weight in once a week. It doesn't matter what the scale says as long as I feel good. If I keep up with my workout routine as I have been, I know I will hit goal. Even if it takes me 2 years to get there :-)

I had my band removed and had the revision to the sleeve in June 2011. I can tell you that sleeve life is Waaaaay better than band life. I could never eat healthy foods with my band. Everything I ate came back up since my band was too tight. I lived off of milkshakes and soup for 4 years since that was the only thing that stayed down. The sleeve for me has been a piece of cake. Food does not get stuck, I can eat anything and after a few bites I am extremely satisfied. I am so glad that band is out of me and do not have 1 negative thing to say about my sleeve. Do your homework and do what you think is best for you. Best of luck to you!

Unfortunaly there are tons of us out there that had the band and had to have a revision surgery down the road due to complications from the band. I am so sorry to hear about this woman, this breaks my heart. I am so grateful that I had that horrible thing removed from my body.

I am definitely a real patient of Dr. Aceves. I think all of us have had the same exact emotions you are having in regards to going out of the country to have a surgery. I can tell you that I had an amazing experience. The doctors and staff and the care I received was far better than anything that I ever received in the U.S. The facility there was top notch and the cleanest hospital I have ever been in. There are some surgeons in Mexico that are much more reputable than others and some facilities that are far better than others, so please do your research. If you have concerns about the people being real or not then ask for phone numbers to call and talk to these people, ask them to forward before and after pics. Anything that will ease your mind about making the decision. I would be more than happy to provide these things to anyone in doubt. It is a life changing decision so you want to make sure that you are comfortable with the decision you make. Best of luck to you!

I am 5'4 and I started at 232 lbs with the Lap Band and the lowest I got was 170 lbs (62 lb loss). I was hoping to get to my goal of around 135-140 lbs but never got there with the band. I gained about 10 lbs with the band after about 3 years and I was at about 180, then I got pregnant. My doc deflated my band so I could keep food down while pregnant and I gained a whopping 80 lbs for my pregnancy. Got up to 260 lbs. After having the baby I lost 20 lbs which put me at 240. We tried to inflate my band again to help me lose but I could not lose a pound to save my life. I was stuck at 240. After several months of fills to my band with no success and no weight loss, my doc took an upper GI x-ray and found that my band had slipped. This was in May 2011. I knew at that moment that I wanted the band out. I was tired of throwing up food, gaining weight, and all the other problems the band gave me. In June 2011 I flew to Mexico and had the band removed and had the revision to the sleeve. I went to Mexico because my doc here in the states had no experience in band to sleeve revisions and I was cash pay. It has been 6 months since my VSG surgery and I am down 60 lbs. I am finally back down to 180 and still losing. I don't throw up food anymore and I feel alive and healthier than I ever felt with the band. I have really believe that with the sleeve I will be able to reach the goal that I was never able to reach with the band.

The below link might be helpful to you in understanding how long Gastrectomy surgeries have been performed. They were just performed for different purposes, not WLS as UXgrrl stated. I had the band too, and all the complications it caused, and then it slipped on me as well. I could not get that thing out of my body fast enough, lol. I now have the sleeve and I am soooooo much happier. Best decision I ever made. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrectomy