Alexandra

Dolores, it sounds to me like your doctor is not a big fan of WLS. The comments he's making are a little over the top. He can't know what your insurance coverage will and will not cover in the future, for one thing. (In general, if you have a medical emergency of any sort your insurance will cover it. If they excluded the surgery in the first place, they likely won't pay for any elective adjustments or non-emergent care that is band-related.) As for long-term complications, there really isn't much data on those since the band itself has only been in use for a little over a decade world-wide. During that time, its design and the surgical techniques have been improved, so the chances of complications have dropped considerably. Erosion and blockages sure sound scary, but they're not as bad as they sound. Erosion is a risk with any type of implanted medical device; it means the wearing-away of the body tissue in contact with the device. In bandsters, that means the band will slowly wear into the stomach tissue, sometimes all the way through. But it's a slow process and not dangerous. We have several post-band people on this board who suffered erosion and had to have their bands removed. Upsetting as that is, as far as I know none of them are dealing with any continuing health issues due to their banding experience. "Blockages" are something else, and are much more serious when they happen to RNY patients. It's not even a term normally associated with banding at all. While we can be too tight and things can get stuck in the stoma, it's a situation almost always readily addressed by a band adjustment (letting the Fluid out and making the stoma larger). As long as the patient gets care in a timely manner, this is highly unlikely to create a serious problem. Hang around here and you'll see all sorts of problems come up, and just as quickly go away. GOod luck and keep researching! Don't let one person's opinion sway your decision.

Robyn, wow, what a transformation! You look awesome. :biggrin1: Congratulations!!!

Taterbugs, NewSho has given you great advice. Going on liquids will help things settle down, but you definitely need more care and testing to figure out what the problem is. Take it EASY and get thee to a band doctor for more than just an unfill--you really need some diagnostic testing to see what's going on. Good luck and be good to yourself!!

RHCP, no carrier would be able to drop you for having a surgery they didn't "approve" of. In some states, carriers are permitted to deny initial coverage for WLS patients, but if you are already covered you can't summarily be kicked off the plan. Carriers can exclude routine followups for a surgery they exclude, so fills wouldn't be covered if your initial banding wasn't. However, emergency care would have to be covered no matter what the genesis of the emergency. In general, If any treatment is provided for a true medical emergency, I can't see any insurance carrier denying payment for that treatment.

For further clarification, PBing and "dumping syndrome" are two completely different things. Bypassers do PB, which is just the effect of eating too much or too quickly for our tiny pouches to handle. They might suffer them a bit less harshly than we do, but that's because there is nothing "hard" in their systems. They can indeed overtax their pouch capacity, but doesn't seem to be as severe as it can be with us. Perhaps this is because all of their component parts are soft, organic tissue and whatever is stuck may work itself through more gently. "Dumping" is entirely different, and is ONLY experienced by bypass patients. That is a physiological reaction to eating too much of certain things like sugar and fat. I'm not clear on the biological processes involved, but basically when these hit the intestines it can cause shakes, sweating, all sorts of other negative reactions. This is an effect caused by the same aspects of the surgery that cause malabsorption--NOT something bandsters have to worry about. PBing is a simple process of expelling something that didn't fit through the stoma. "Dumping" is something else entirely. And though many people see to be attracted to RNY precisely because they believe this will happen (like, "I need to know I'll get sick if I eat candy!"), the fact is that it only happens to 20-30% of bypass patients. I've heard from several bypass people who were disappointed to discover that they could eat sugar post-op with no ill effects.

Thanks for the giggle, VQ!

Congratulations, PinkMary!! Can't wait to meet the Pinkbaby. Take care!!

Check out this thread.

Wow, Barbara, that sucks. But it's his problem, not yours. Your employee's the one who's going to feel horrible, and he will indeed. I feel sorry for him, in fact; think about how he's going to face you! He's probably worried about his job right about now. Yuck. You'd think this sort of thing went out with tube tops. That wife needs to wake up and smell the 21st century. Good luck!

Congratulations to all the moms to be!! What a wonderful gift a little band of silicone can give. take care and don't worry about your weight!!

VQ, best wishes for a quick resolution, again. :hug: Just another ride on the merry-go-round!

Holy cow, lady! What the hell happened? How ARE you?

Melissa, this is not all that uncommon, but needs to be followed carefully and cleared up. Wound healing seems to be a function of personal physiology as much as anything else; some heal faster and some heal slower than others. But it may also be a sign of infection and that can cause big problems so you want to be as careful as possible. Good luck and please be careful with it!

I'm so sorry you're feeling lousy; good move on calling your doctor! Best wishes that your tests come back normal and it's just...well, something else. Good luck!!

Big hugs from me, Paula, and everyone who is dealing with this in family members. I was married to a person like this, too, but our marriage didn't survive. I'm not sorry it didn't, but I hope he's found the help he needs. Good luck, and don't forget to take care of yourself. :hug:

Congratulations, Maggie! I'm wondering the same thing as Kim--what was the initial reason for your denial? Was it because there was an exclusion in your policy or was there some other reason? Thanks for any information. Every time someone one wins one it gets a teensy bit easier for everyone else!!

Not moving your arms in a circular motion? Your band is attached to your diaphragm? These are new ones on me. When I started working with a personal trainer, he put my body through paces I really didn't think would be safe with the band. I asked my doctor repeatedly about whether I could damage it or myself, and was assured each time that I really couldn't do anything via exercising. Period. It's located deep within your body and no matter how you twist, turn, or use your muscles exercising it is not going to move your band. I know, it was hard for me to believe in the first place too. But my surgeon is really a recognized authority on this stuff, and I figure he knows what he's talking about.

When I started working with a personal trainer, he put my body through paces I really didn't think would be safe with the band. I asked my doctor repeatedly about whether I could damage it or myself, and was assured each time that I really couldn't do anything via exercising. Period. It's located deep within your body and no matter how you twist, turn, or use your muscles exercising it is not going to move your band. I know, it was hard for me to believe in the first place too. But my surgeon is really a recognized authority on this stuff, and I figure he knows what he's talking about.

Back in my first year of banding I didn't exercise much at all. It wasn't until I had lost about 50 lbs that my self-talk won over my self-defeatism and I got myself over to the gym. This was at about 8 months post-surgery, I think. Lo and behold, it's a LOT MORE FUN if you don't have so much extra weight! I'm not saying it's a barrel of monkeys all the time or whatever, but don't discount it until you try it. I discovered that in the right circumstances I can really have a good time working out, and the way it makes me feel is just sort of a bonus. I don't think, though, that the amount I exercise really ever helped me lose weight, or is helping to keep it off. Fat weighs less than muscle, so the scale alone is not a good reflection of the effects of exercise. What matters more is the way my clothes fit, my muscles feel, my spirit and overall bodily sense is vastly improved by regular exercise. Now that I'm 120 lbs lighter, physical movement is pleasurable in a whole new way. Now I take walks because I want to, ride my bike with my kids because it's fun, and ice skate because it feels good. I get to the gym during the week because at the end of a day spent sitting at my desk I need it to get my blood moving. There's no question exercise is crucial to overall health, but I have never exercised with the specific intent of losing weight. It's been more a result of weight loss than a cause.

My surgery was scheduled for something like 7:00 a.m. and I was out around 1:00 and went home. I'm sure it's just a matter of scheduling and common practice, and possibly a function of hospital openings as well. Where I am, I imagine there's a big push toward outpatient surgery since the area is so densely populated and hospital beds are so expensive. These things vary widely around the country, so these practices do too.

Greg, thank you so much for sharing this news. If widespread healing thoughts count for anything, Ryan will be well-supported through this! Please tell Patty we are all thinking of both of them through this trying time. Big strong vibes for strength and healing and peace for them both. :hug: What is going on? This is the third friend/acquaintance I've known to be diagnosed with a brain tumor in the last month! :omg:

I had one last March after 2.5 years of being banded. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but they knocked me out and I didn't feel a doggone thing! Some people report a sore throat later, but I didn't have any after-effects. As always with me, the worst part was the anaesthesia. If you're good with anaesthesia, you have nothing to fear at all. It's not a routine part of pre-op or post-op care as far as I know. If you have any gastro-intestinal issues going in, like reflux or a hernia, I imagine an endoscopy would be in order prior to surgery to see what's going on. Post-operatively, it's only used if someone is having symptoms that don't seem to be easily explained: an endoscopy is needed to diagnose erosion, for example. But it's by no means a test done on everyone.

Yeee-ha! Congratulations, Emilee!! You must be on cloud nine!!

My PCP's role was to give me a physical and write a letter supporting my medical qualification for bariatric surgery. She'd been treating me for several years and so was able to substantiate my various efforts to lose weight. My OB/GYN helped too, in that she gave me copies of several pages of her notes taken during my two pregnancies. Basically it was to support the claim I was making to have been obese for many years. She didn't have to write anything, just copy a few pages from my records and give them to me. I sent them to the insurance carrier.

Hair loss is temporary, though a bit bothersome. I don't think there's anything you can do about it except wait it out. My hair came back better than ever after all the hair-loss episodes. (It happened not only after banding surgery, but after both of my children were born and also after my endoscopy, for some reason.)