Toomany#s

Maybe you will feel better about your decision after your have some time to adjust. My husband and I used to love going out to eat big meals and buffets. He got esophageal cancer so he can only eat really small amounts. We very rarely go out to eat now. Maybe you and your friends can find other non meal activities to enjoy. Your stomach will hold more as time goes on, but I don’t think it will stretch very much.

1 hour ago, liveaboard15 said:

I never understood why they cant release that gas they pump into you before closing you up.

I worked in surgery, they do release a lot of it but some just has to absorb and get passed. Your belly is inflated like a giant balloon, it flows all around your intestines and everything else so some of it stays trapped until it’s absorbed.

I’m having surgery by his partner, Dr. Cronk, on 3/8. He’s very nice. I can update you after. Dr. Cronk was quicker for scheduling. They give you a checklist of stuff to do based on your surgery.

54 minutes ago, WhispersOfAngel said:

Both lap band and gastric sleeve operate under a "high pressure" system which can cause the sphincter to malfunction. From what I've been reading here and from personal experience with my lap band and developing gerd due to it, it's a process that takes several years to come to a head. I was on Protonix 2x daily for the last 2.5 years of having my lapband. It didn't control the reflux at all, it only caused me to develop a kidney stone from overuse of PPI's, so after 7 years of having the band placed, I had it removed.

I've seen people comment, "I control my acid by taking Prilosec, etc everyday... so it's okay to get VSG" or "I take Prilosec everyday after having my VSG and everything is fine." To me that's dangerous thinking, because I know first hand that these drugs have long term side effects. Kidney stones aren't fun.

My primary care doctor took me off the pantoprozole due to possible side effects. I’ve already had numerous kidney stones in my life so that definitely isn’t one that I want to risk.

I gained between 20-25 pounds after the sleeve because I simply didn’t let it work. I had way too much stress in my life and should have waited. I am back to my pre sleeve weight, but I have too much pressure and pain from the GERD. I’m confident that I would be able to continue losing without the bypass conversion at this time, but that won’t fix the hernias or the GERD.

Mine is March 8th.

I forgot to mention to do be very careful with the Barrett’s esophagus. My husband had esophageal cancer. He is now a seven year survivor, thank God. It was a horrible ordeal, though. He can still eat very little and gets sick a lot. It sure seems like at least the hernia repair at minimum would be covered. I used to work with some surgeons who would accept insurance for the covered part and then you had to self pay for additional parts of the procedure, maybe the surgeon can work something out for you.

Sometimes if you keep badgering your insurance company, you can get coverage on things. Any possibility of other insurance? As far as three surgeries goes, I started with the lap band self pay in Mexico. I lost about 90 pounds, then started having chest pressure and pain. That was sourced to the band so I had it removed and the VSG done. I never really lost any weight with it due to way too much going on in my life. I wanted to go to bypass at that time, but the surgeon said that the sleeve was the better option. Approximately 11 years later, I find myself with the same chest pressure and pain, not cardiac related. I don’t really have anything come up with reflux, just the pain. I’m now scheduled for the conversion to bypass next month. I’m lucky that my insurance covers it. I worry that it might be three strikes, you’re out. My current surgeon said that he didn’t feel like I failed with the band since I kept off a good bit of the weight. I hope that things go well for you on the 11th and that somehow insurance coverage will happen.

It worked! She scheduled me for March 8th.

I have a date! March 8, 2022. I’m having conversion to bypass from sleeve with hernia repair. I have an umbilical hernia, a hiatal hernia, and possibly a small incisional hernia. Anyone with the same date?

Thanks for your responses. I sent her all the information again yesterday. I will call and ask for the office manager if I don’t get a satisfactory response from the coordinator today.

Has anyone else had trouble getting past the patient coordinator at the doctor’s office? No matter what records I have sent, she never seems to receive them even though the doctors are all on the same charting system so it’s always available. It’s been five months since my original appointment with the surgeon. The coordinator is never available by phone. I really don’t want to start over with a new office since everything they asked me to do is done, but she just doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge it. It’s frustrating.

I had the lap band in 2002, switched to sleeve because it was causing problems in 2009, now I’m working on the process for conversion to bypass. I lost a lot with the band, I didn’t really lose much after the sleeve due to stress, illness, etc. I’m committed to the changes and have lost 18 pounds since initial consult with the surgeon in September. The GERD issue is prompting the conversion surgery. I have one more pre surgery appointment left. I’m scared of both the pain and perhaps failing. Good luck to you.