GeezerSue

I'm so not an attorney, but... 1--send the hospital a demand letter for the return of YOUR band stating the price if it is not returned and giving them ten days or whatever CA law says; 2--give them their ten days; 3--go to small claims court in Ventura County and file the case. Plan a trip to Ventura County. When the hospital says, "Oh, we gave that to...." ignore them. It is THEIR job to retrieve it, not yours. Small claims limit in CA just moved up to $7500.

I was banded in October of 2002. Had it removed in November of 2005.

I still "have" my band.

Probably not what you want to hear, but MY resolution was having the band removed. I couldn't live that way...not year after year. My esophagus is still acting that way, but less so than with the band. I'm hoping it will eventually just go away. Sue :::wondering how long it will take her to be attacked for saying, "MY experience with the band was like living a diet with a choke chain":::

One thing I would do first now is to have a motility study...manometry or whatever. I'd want to know the condition of my esophagus/stomach fucntion before deciding.

Too many de-ported people...

Hi, guys! As far as food is concerned, Dr. Keshishian has a three-stage program. His "Bariatric I" diet is Clear liquids (minus red stuff). You graduate to "Bariatric II", full liquids--including applesauce, oatmeal, soft-boiled eggs, mashed potatoes (with some tofu thrown in) or rice with gravy--as soon as the first post-op BM, at which point you are relaeased to go home. About a week later, you move (if you haven't already) to Bariatric III, which is soft foods. That's good for a month and then it's time to start adding regular stuff. I spend most of my time throwing food away. Weird. But my capacity is a small baby food jar and, at that rate, a can of bean with bacon Soup would work for five meals...not too appealing. One of the hardest parts is getting in all the Water...64 oz/day. I'm still not there and I can see that I need more water. And Calcium supplements suck. My dysmotility is still bugging me, but I'm taking Reglan for it. I knew I needed it when I found myself having a lot of reflux/acidy stuff. I would eventually vomit, and it was still more like the infamous bandster barf/PB than vomiting. When food is exiting upwards, in the same condition it went DOWN, six or eight hours later, there is a problem. That's the problem I want to get resolved. (But at least we can't blame it on my not eating band-friendly foods.) Dr. Keshishian has his entire, three-ring binder of stuff online in pdf format at www.dssurgery.com Right now, I'm about 15 pounds over my lowest post-band weight. I'm hoping to be there--and out of MO-status--in another month. Sue

My recuperation from the surgery itself is nearly done. I'm still dealing with (probably band-related) dysmotility issues. I'm taking Reglan for that, and hope I soon don't need it. I've lost 35-37 pounds in 30 days with the DS. It took me about six months or so to do this with the band. Not that there's a race, but... Sue

And, at that time, Lopez and Ortiz were partners, working out of the same office.

Nah Lisa...my bandng surgery went perfectly. And, partially because the band was "installed" so well, it came out in no time. I think I'm just one of those people who, sooner or later, was going to have an esophageal reaction just because the band is there.

I am painfully aware of how the band is implanted. And, I didn't say "intestines," I said "innards." My definition of MY innards includes my esophagus...which has been "rearranged" by the band. I have esophageal dysmotility secondary to the band and I have esophageal dilatation secondary to the band. From my perspective, them thar's some "rearranged innards." You are correct that nothing was rearranged at the time of banding. Erosion--unintentional "slicing and dicing"--doesn't occur at the time of banding either. So while you might be safe in asserting that the implantation of the band does not include any INTENTIONAL "slicing and dicing" or "rearranging" of the patient's internal organs, there are enough cases of erosion and esophageal problems that you might not want to bet the farm on the premise that banding doesn't rearrange anything...unless you say that "banding doesn't INTENTIONALLY rearrange anything."

You know, opinions are like @$$holes, we've all got one...and MINE is that the LapBand has proven to be risky and HAS rearranged my innards, and that the DS patients (not RnY gastric bypass) who regain weight tend to "regain" 30 pounds max. And the counselor at WW is full of it. My sister has just lost about 70 pounds at WW and Curves and has bags of skin hanging all over the place...and another hundred pounds to lose. I have no idea why people tend to believe WW counselors without any research to back up what they say...but they do.

bumping my own message

Can you, as a surgeon with experience in removing the LapBand, give me a ballpark on this? I was dx'ed with esophageal dysmotility secondary to adjustable gastric banding. The band was removed two weeks ago and a BPD/DS was performed. Have you any idea--based on your experience or that of your colleagues--how long it takes for the esophagus to heal itself? I'm having trouble getting in all my water because once the esophagus "clamps down," there is no point in trying to drink anything. Have you any wisdom to share? Sue

Dody, actually this surgery is MORE dangerous than the RnY. But a good deal of that risk is--IMHO--because surgeons have traditionally "saved" the DS for the super MO...and any sugery performed mostly on super MO patients is going to have a higher mortality rate. But it DOES have a 99% cure rate for Type II Diabetes. And I'll be 59 in a few weeks. You can learn about it by visiting: (my surgeon) www.dssurgery.com http://duodenalswitch.com/ http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/ Good luck.

I'd think it would depend on the physician and the patient. There are a lot of banded people who are willing to tolerate some reflux--and treat it--in order to keep the band doing its thing. I'm on the other end of that process...to me, it isn't as wise to treat a problem I'm causing as it is to just stop causing the problem. But that's me.

"Nutcracker Esophagus" http://www.csmc.edu/5938.html

Guess what! I'm disagreeing again! My DS surgeon said that "eating around" the band and "soft food syndrome" are often ways of blaming banded people who have a strong survival instinct for following "the instructions" millions of years of evolution have provided. If a food--a particular food or a category of food--makes you sick (and your brain is pretty sure that PB'ing is being sick), then a working brain will do everything it can to convince you to NOT try again to eat the stuff that made you sick before. In fact, you'd have to be pretty darned...well...pretty darned not-too-smart to KEEP trying to eat stuff that makes you sick. So, if you are properly restricted, know you are full and keep pouring in calories by switching to liquids...then maybe you are lazy or hell-bent on self-destruction or the like. But if you have moved to a soup and ice cream diet because every time you try to eat healthy food you end up being sick, then your band needs to be loosened or you need to make sure your stomach and esophagus are okay. Because some of what gets written off as lousy motivation may actually be a strong instinct for survival.

You'll drink all of your calories, never lose weight and--and on the occasions you DO try solid food--damage your esophagus. And there are other ways a too tight band can damage the esohagus.

Good point. I should have made it for people who were, say...two years post-op or more. Should I delete this and start over?

Actually, I think its h. (short for "helicobacter") pylori...and I think the course of treatment to get rid of established "ulcers" is longer than the course of treatment for surgery. But check me on that.

The stuff causing the "sour burp" is (or can be) causing this to happen: http://www.upmc.edu/swallowingdisorders/Examples/Reflux.htm

No...POST-banding. After banding.

It's NOT the money. At least not primarily. It's about the experience. When I got MY band, my local band guy had done 30 and Dr. Rumbaut had done 1400+. Rumbaut was part of the pre-FDA testing and was training other doctors before ANYONE mentioned here. When I got my band removed, I was STILL glad he had implanted it, as there were no problems arising from the way in which the band was implanted. People who went for the money only...??? Well, good luck.

What is/was your lowest POST-banding BMI? This is totally anonymous, so please feel free to tell the truth!