melissa71

I just had my band removed yesterday. OMG I feel so much better. Like I know it's not there anymore. I elected to have the band removed because of the awful reflux, night time coughing and throwing up. I was also diagnosed with gastricparises (spelling??). I decided that I did not want any problems down the road with a revision. My insurance covered 100%. My doctors office said it is easier to get the removal covered than a revision. I was trying to revise to the Gastric Sleeve, but my insurance said no. I am up and walking around, no pain. good luck in everyones journey. When the band is working correctly it works. Happy Turkey day to all.

Since I am new,should I post this somewhere else?

Hello all. I am throwing this question out to the past Lap Band patients who switched to the sleeve. Although I am always up for anyones two cents. I would love to know if your doctor did it in one procedure or two? Also would like to know if you had a leak, probably arising from scar tissue from the band? Thanks for sharing. Melissa (oh and what is up with these adds over there? )

thanks for sharing your story. Wow, training for a 5K, can you believe it?

Thanks Heather. I can cross that answer off my long list of questions. Good luck tomorrow. Congrats.

Newbie here. Are bougies like needle sizes? The larger the number the "smaller" the pouch? So 40 is smaller than a 32?

I have the LapBand and it has slipped. So I am now exploring other options. I had heard of the sleeve before my band surgery but did not look further into it. My mistake. While I have lost weight with the band, it is a lot of work. The fills, finding your "sweet spot" oh and if you are just ever so slightly over filled, the pain. I am really liking what I read about the sleeve. The only thing I think that is holding me back in making my decision is if I have complications. Maybe I will maybe I wont but I would like to have a plan in place if I do. I live in NOVA and a single mom with a 8 year old. My closest relative is 5 hours away. Oh and in this economy I am very limited with time off. Good luck with your searching. I am so glad I was redirected from the lap band talk forums to here. So many great people sharing.

wow, I totally forgot about the port!!! thanks for the reminder..

Hello everyone. I have been lucrking around since I found out my band has slipped. I was banded in 2009 and had steady weight loss. About 7 months ago I started having issues. I wont go into them becasue as far as I can tell well over half of you know what I am talking about. So my wonderful PA, Paul Marino, as a last ditch effort took some pictures (we thought it was a long list of other problems and not the band, I didnt have the classic slipped complications) And he almost fell over backwards when he saw the xray image. He was totally surprised. So we briefly discussed my options, remove, replace or revise to another procedure. Well I quickly said no to that! What??? You want to cut my stomach, thats not reversible?!?! How naive I was.!!! In the end you dont come out of the band without issues, scar tissue, damage to my vagus nerve......But then I did some true soul searching and I know that I have to have something. So I decided to check into the sleeve. I have a while to decide what to do. I am VERY impressed with the sleeve. I have been on this site, several times a day. I really want to be informed. I am learning a lot. I want to know the good, bad and ugly truth. So you may see me asking questions that you have answered a thousand times over, and I apologize ahead of time for that. thanks for anything you are willing to share with me. I have a long list of questions, but I will attack one at a time. I think I will start with recovery time. Such as how long did people take off? I am a CT Technologist and work in a outpatient office, so there really isnt lifting just a lot of getting up and down. I was back to work a week after my LapBand. Thanks again, Melissa