spicegirl

just throwing in my two-cent experience. i was banded in march 2008 and had a really good experience with the band for the first year. i lost about 55-60 lbs and felt pretty good. at that point, i could have stood to lose another 60 lbs. out of the blue one day, i had a particularly bad pb and everything got really, really tight. i ended up going to the ER because i was coughing up blood--not very pretty. the next two years were filled with constant fills/unfills - anytime i got tightened, i got WAAAY too tight. it was horrible. i gained back about 40 of my 60 lbs lost because i was sick of the fills/unfills (and paying for them each time i went in). nevertheless, i'm not sorry that i got banded in 2008. i lived a very different life than i would have if i hadn't gotten banded. i was out-of-pocket pay at the time and the sleeve wasn't really being offered around chicago at that time. i couldn't afford rny so i went with the band. i was fortunate enough to have insurance pay for my revision to sleeve (surgery was last tuesday!!) in an actual hospital that kept me overnight for two days and took really, really, good care of me (vs the lap band clinic that sent me home mere hours after surgery). i feel like i'm doing things the long, hard proper way this time. i also feel very fortunate that i was able to do the revision (financially and physically). i'm looking forward to this new life