janet1173

This is my experience I had the band with plication done at Duke (Durham, NC) on Tues 28 June. Short story, I've had two cervical spine surgeries, got up to 282 lbs at my worst, and got down to 250 during the pre-process. I was told with the lap band alone realistically to expect 40-50% loss of excess weight, so to get under 200 lbs means success! The psychologist said that women particularly tend to get a 'magic number' stuck in their mind and though they reach the bariatric center's definition of success, women get frustrated at not reaching their own magic number so see it as a failure and it will take more effort to maintain weight loss than we think. I just need to lose weight to be healthier and have increased mobility, and for me, the less drastic surgery was the better option. I will be thrilled to get to one-derland (weight in the 100's), but am remaining open to seeing how far I can go, especially with being more able to exercise. Then they mentioned banding with plication which seems to be the tool that can work in combination to get an additional 25-30% of excess weight off. Other people’s result of ten pounds the first week to 45 lbs the first 2-3 months are inspiring! The surgery fellow said 10% of bandsters can reach the same weight loss percentage as bypass patients – with lots of hard work and exercising. I think I emptied my liver of a lot of stored energy - I lost 5 lbs the weekend before the surgery, was getting my heavy activity done, drinking more Water than I ever have in my life, and cutting back on food (the fridge was pretty cleaned out). I went in Tues and came home that evening around 6 pm. I've been sleeping a lot, probably due to pain meds. I think I have a high pain threshold after living with chronic pain x 7 yrs, but this hurts more than the cervical surgeries, which also makes sense - this time it's soft, moveable tissue, involving core muscles (the abdomen balances with the back muscles to keep us upright and move between horizontal and vertical). It is one of the most painful things I've had done, but that's a temporary, short-term trade-off. This leads in to the pain management warning –initially, take your pain meds on a regular basis. It takes time for the pills to dissolve, get into the blood stream, and reach a therapeutic threshold. For the initial period after surgery, take your meds on time to keep that therapeutic threshold met. This is not the time to be a martyr - your body needs all its energy to heal rather than fight pain. It is not a sign of weakness to listen to your body’s needs and not suffer in silence! Your body will also tell you when you need less pain meds in that first 48-72 hour period. YMMV (your mileage may vary, of course!) Because of my neck/back experience, I was prepared for the getting up/down. In order to get up, lay on one shoulder and hip, drop your feet over the edge of the bed, let your upper body roll to the edge of the bed, and push to get up. Using gravity relieves the abdominal muscles of the work and is less painful. I‘ve only had a couple of bouts of nausea – the first when being moved from recovery to the ambulatory care suite, drinking my first liquids, and the first time I felt full. I haven’t had a lot of shoulder/gas pain, but then I can only lay on my sides and not my back/stomach. This leads to burping – burping feels GOOD! It’s an instant release of pressure – whew! I’ve never been a water drinker, but after surgery, my mouth was so dry anything was good. The nurse offered to switch to Crystal Light lemonade which tasted better than champagne at the time! Warning: it seems to leave your mouth drier than water, but is good for keeping you drinking. Have water to sip on the ride home (I forgot to pack any). The first night home, I stuck with hydrating fluids. Day 1 I started Protein on the hour, hydrating liquids the other three 15 minute intervals. I am using Mio flavored water, diet cranberry juice (if diet, does it still need to be diluted? I have been diluting it), and water in addition to my Protein drinks, variety is the spice of life! I can sit up, walk, and sleep – I still hurt with the pain meds. After 7-8 hours, I started feeling full and nauseated and when I continued drinking past the point of comfortable, and had dry heaves. So I backed off and took a break until I could drink without nausea, discomfort, etc. Lesson here Janet, listen to your body. I learned that if I missed a dose of hydrating fluids, having an extra in the next 30 minutes was not good this early in the process. Stepped on the scale at home – up four pounds, to be expected with inflammation/swelling. Day 2 No hunger at all. Less pain. But I start protein as soon as I wake up. The nutritionist wants calories consumed within an hour of waking as a long term goal. Since the liver is storing less energy, it makes sense to add some early – to avoid low blood sugar, fainting, and to kick start pulling energy from the fat stores (which requires water also). Down one pound from yesterday – going to the bathroom more. Increased activity – which is good for lower risk of blood clots. Much less pain, I’ve gone from staying medicated to off schedule on Day 2! I’m going to take a nap and see how I feel, but I’m ready to not be fuzzy headed anymore. The only drawback to being up and active is being dry mouthed and carrying the cups and check off sheets around! The swelling is going down significantly also. At Duke, I signed two research consents – both are data collection only studies. One is a long term data collection for type of procedure and amount of weight loss over time. The other with a lapband, was for a sample of fat tissue taken from the port site (something about DNA, genotyping and pancreatic enzymes). I joked with Dr. Torquati about reading about my fat sample in a literature article one day! Duke recommends liquids only for the first 3 weeks. After the 3 week post-op, we move to a mushed diet until the 3 month mark (more on that at the time of the 3 week appt). From an eating person’s viewpoint, it sounds hard, but from this viewpoint, it seems doable. I never thought I’d say this, but the flexibility of a Protein shake when I haven’t prepared a meal or things change last minute, is awesome! The surgeon only filled the band with enough saline to keep the band in place. With the plication, there is less need for fills until later in the process. Sorry about the extra long post – from here, I promise shorter updates! More later, Janet

Surgery time is in the morning - a few short hours to go. Just finished watching Extreme Makeover with Chris Powell. I am motivated, I can do this! Many calls today - time of surgery, yes the plication was authorized with the lap band by insurance and my estimated copay and estimated cost of the procedure (holy moly!) See ya on the other side!

I just left a message for the person who gets insurance authorization. I was told it added ten minutes to the surgery time, so maybe it's not billed as a totally separate procedure, or that it's covered under a research code since they want to collect data, or if they were teaching other surgeons, it wouldn't be billed to the insurance. I will let you know what I find out.

Yayyyy Curt, thanks for sharing your success! :party: :success1:

I am having both done next week on 28June. One of other threads, "lapband or plication surgery?" has responses from two people that have had it done. One had lost 10 lbs the first week, and the other had it done 26Apr and was very happy with the results (48 lbs in 6 weeks with no fill at that point). janet

My name is Janet (duh) so maybe we'll bump into each other at the hospital (please feel free to look for me). My surgeon is Dr. Torquati. One of the fellows said the plication with lap band has been in clinical trials in the US for about 3 yrs, and at Duke for about 6 months. I hadn't heard of plication either until my preop appt, but if you describe it as a modified stomach stapling, they get the idea. I don't mind getting a low risk bonus tool for weight loss! Good luck!

Theresa, Thanks for sharing your experience and congrats on having great results!! From what I've read, the plication works first without fills needed for a while, and then when weight loss slows down, adding fills helps us from plateauing much.

Congrats!! I'm scheduled on June 28!

Hi Minina, I am new to all of this also. I have been looking at the lapband for over 6 yrs (knowing it was approved in Europe for over 15 yrs before it got approval in the US). I recently had my preop appointment and one of the physicians mentioned the lap band with plication procedure. I'm scheduled in two weeks. I chose the lapband for a less invasive surgery rather than having a more extensive rearranging of organs such as the gastric bypass and vertical sleeve. The surgeons warned me realistically that the lapband average weight loss is about 47.6% of excess weight at a rate of 1-2 lbs per week. That's more than I've been able to do on my own with some mobility issues. Last week, the surgeons mentioned the plication procedure in addition to the lapband. It offers a more rapid weight loss, a higher percentage (76%?) and total poundage weight loss and is comparable to weight loss of the Vertical Sleeve with less change to the GI tract. I was told the greatest risk was bleeding, from cutting blood supply to the stomach wall, that if the stitches didn't hold, the stomach resumed it's normal shape/size, and that there was a low risk of food getting stuck in the folded muscle and causing infection. I'm in Durham, seeing doctors at the Duke Bariatric Center. I've only lived in NC for a short time, so I don't know any physicians' reputations, I'm sorry.