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It's a great list for surgeries that go well, which is most of them! But, in cases where it goes wrong, not only is there the whole "risk of death" thing, but there are a bunch of other possible complications. Not that it's something to focus on pre-op, but if you really want to know what you could be getting into, best to cruise the complications forum. A leak could mean months in the hospital. A stricture could mean multiple procedures to dilate. Complications could lead to revision to another surgery. Just something to keep in mind when going over "worst case scenarios."

I was in your shoes and was upset because my doctor pretty much flat out refused to do the sleeve because of it. I continued to research and found the bypass addressed the barretts as well with the elimination of reflux and then some. It completely changed my decision. I also found many who had the sleeve got the revision to bypass due to the gerd. I don't know about you but I'd rather get the cadillac and do it once then to continue and bring my ass into the shop over and over. Im not knockin the sleeve though...I was all for it for a reason and it works with many...just not me.

I know I had a hard time finding information on others with my situation so I thought I would put my story out there and share as I move through the stages of weight loss then maintenance… March 4, 2002 I had my original Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (OPEN they didn't have laparoscopic then). I just turned 27 years old. My starting weight was 268 pounds and I lost 136 pounds – a little more than half my starting weight. I hit 132 pounds February 1, 2003 – it took a mere 11 months. I didn’t have any real follow up care after my staples were removed so I just exercised a lot and tried to eat right (and totally got full of myself by the way..). Slowly between moving twice out of state, getting a divorce and coming out as a lesbian to my family and trying to figure it out for myself – some of my bad habits like grazing returned. Since I couldn’t handle much food I also turned to alcohol as my “comfort” so to speak. I really don’t know why it didn’t “click” that a chocolate martini has about 500 calories EACH with no nutritional value and 3-4 of those a night 4+ days a week did me no favors. I had also pretty much quit exercising. January 2013 I decided to get my **** together and I was 208 pounds (gasp!) so I had regained 76 pounds. I started eating better, joined the gym and even spent $5,500 on hiring a personal trainer. I was seriously invested. I lost and gained the last 15 pounds several times over 7 months. It seemed no matter how hard I worked the weight just stayed… so again I gave up and decided to just eat & do whatever I wanted too (great idea right?)… November 2015 I quit drinking – yes totally it’s just not worth it… by now I’m sitting right at 204 pounds. I had been really having issues eating. I could eat “insert any food here” one day and be fine; two days later I’d warm up the leftovers and dump like crazy so my digestion was/is totally unpredictable and I’m hungry practically all the time… so I went to google and typed in WLS revision. That’s when I found Dr. Snow. I called his office and made an appointment to find out if I had totally screwed up my original surgery. December 1, 2015 My first appointment with Dr. Snow. I provided the story as I’ve written it above. So during this exam we did a barium swallow test right there in the office. It was fairly fascinating to watch it on the monitor. What Dr. Snow determined was my pouch still looked great and wasn’t stretched but my stoma reduction didn't hold from the original surgery. He scheduled me for an Endoscopy to go in and confirm the stoma was enlarged. I weighed in at 204.0 in the office. December 18, 2015 Endoscopy day – fun times! I was put under light anesthesia & Dr. Snow went in with a camera and checked out my guts. Once I started to wake up he conformed the enlarged stoma and said he would do a Endoscopic Soft Tissue Re-approximation to reduce the size of my stoma which would keep food in my pouch longer helping me feel full longer and to prevent so much dumping since the food I was consuming was falling right out of my pouch into my intestines… his office staff was to contact me with the details. January 15, 2016 After all the holiday madness I realized the staff hadn’t reached out to me so I called the office. Dr. Snow had moved to his own practice so I was given his new contact information. I called and left a message which was returned the next day. The staff was fantastic. We talked about where I was in the process (insurance coverage) and I was told I’d get a call back once my coverage was determined. February 2, 2016 I received a call that although my insurance does covers bariatric services they would not cover a “repeat procedure”. I was then told that if self-pay was an option it would be $4,900 for everything and my insurance would cover my follow up care… I scheduled surgery February 9, 2016. Dr. Snow called me later that afternoon and went over expectations and risks. He said I should expect to lose about 60% of what I had regained so he estimated 40-45 pounds. That would put me right about 155 and I would be very happy with that. February 3, 2016 I started a clear liquid diet & went in for my pre-op testing (Blood draw & EKG). February 9, 2016 I went into the hospital @ 6:30am for outpatient surgery. Dr. Snow cinched my stoma down to 1mm (yes really 1mm according to the surgery notes in my chart) and added several pleats to the inside of my pouch to make it a bit smaller since he was already in there. I didn’t find out about making the pouch smaller until the next day when I got a follow up call from a nurse who went over the surgery notes with me. I was home by 1:30pm –the hospital was a 30 minute drive one way from my house. Oh and the hospital scale said I was 196.0. After surgery Food: Basically 3 weeks later I’m on soft/moist foods. I can usually eat between 1/3c-1/2c of food and I’m happily full but not bursting at the seams. I do try and eat on the schedule otherwise I forget to eat, like today (2/29) I forgot to eat until it was 11:30 so I’ll be playing catch up all day to get in my Protein. But knowing there’s a 1/2c serving of protein ice cream I can have tonight with 20g protein I’m not freaking out. I use MyFitnessPal to track everything I eat/drink always getting protein in first. I average about 80-85 grams of protein & roughly 700-800 calories per day. Weight: I have dropped a little over 18 pounds. Follow up care: I was Dr. Snow Feb 18th and he was happy with my progress at the time. He would like me to lose 9 pounds before our next appointment March 24th. He also approved of me finding a local bariatric nutritionist I can work with to keep me on track. Insurance coverage: The office staff is going to file a claim with my insurance for the surgery on 2/9. I’m fully expecting a denial letter but that will give me a starting point to appeal and fight them on it. This wasn’t a repeat procedure it was a repair and as such should be covered so time will tell. My total out of pocket thus far including co-pays for office visits and the endoscopy is $5,161.72… …So there it is in a nutshell. I’m attaching a scan of the brochure/pamphlet pictures that explain the revision procedure for the benefit of others wondering what can be done. I’m an open book so please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind

Revision: it takes a month to recover from an actual sleeve, and I have way too fast-paced a job to do that. I'd probably have to take unpaid leave or even quit the job. I can't. ESG was only a thing I could do because it had a week recovery time tops. If the sleeve had a week recovery, I'd have done that instead. Regarding vanity: They know. They have all my medical stats. They know my blood pressure is something that people aspire to, that my labs are clean as a whistle, and that I can drag a kayak a mile through choppy waters to shore or walk 10 miles straight for 3 hours. They know I have major psychological issues surrounding my body. I've seen a therapist for over a decade for in part this reason. It hasn't made me like how I look whatsoever, just helped me cope enough to have a reasonable life. I'm on several psych meds. As it stands, I have a view on this that is similar to transition. When you have gender dysphoria, people who are any kind of sane by modern science don't tell you to suck it up and go to therapy to embrace being your birth sex. They tell you to seek hormone treatments and transition, because transition works. I don't think that trying to love being fat works either. You change your body if you want to change your body. I'm going to cut back to 1000 cal/day goal and hate my life, but I guess it's something. And I mean technically I guess I have lost like 30 lbs worst case. I'm just so pissed and dismayed that I haven't gotten below pre-pandemic weight before my wedding. I want to be Internet Hot (tm) at my wedding.

I am 2 1/2 weeks post op and am not current "able" to eat out and nor am I missing it. I'm a band to sleeve revision so I'm pretty comfortable eating out. I've been eating low carb, high protein for awhile so it doesn't elicit attention during business lunches or dinner. Only a my husband, mom, kids and aunt knew about my band and the same remains true for this surgery. Occasionally, it is uncomfortable at on site corporate work celebrations, where you don't know what the menu will be and it's usually quite decadent. This is hard not because of my will but because the pressure! I don't give in but it's just tiring. (We have ALOT of corporate "celebrations) lol

The band has become the first choice here for people able to loose the weight at a slower rate the gastric bypass (w/o serious comorbitities) infact my dr. does only lap bands. He used to do others but since the popularity and sx risk is so low he now does just the band a revisions. I think its the perfect option for people willing to put in a little work to reach there goals.

Night snacking: I’m having a hard time not snacking at night. I sleep in a recliner many nights, working, researching. And I still have munches, I’m 4.5 weeks out of Sleeve to RNY revision. I’m not going over calories, so a bowl of Cashew Yoghurt with Blue berries, a high protein low carb bar, or some protein chips. But worried and wondering if this is undermining my efforts? And why do I still have munchies anyways? Surgery date 8/22, I’ve lost 28lb total, 14 before and 14 after ::

@shoregirl75 is having a revision from sleeve to bypass September 10th.

I just got the call from the new bariatric surgeon's nurse! My sleeve IS too big and will require a revision if I wish to do so! So I'm meeting with the dietician to stay on point and from there we will have a follow up appt to discuss next steps! Again thank you all for your kind words and support. I'm working on getting the surgical medical records for this DR to see now and I'll keep you all updated.

Hey my port is completely backwards and after two revisions I refuse to get another. The doc just moves my stomach until iys facing up no problems

I had a kink in my tubing, it was not pretty. You can read about what happened on my blog if you like. I was told that the reason it kinked is because when you lose weight all the excess tubing has no where to go and will kink up at that point. I only have about 27 more pounds to go to get to my goal so I am electing not to have the port revision surgery that will move my port and trim the excess tubing. I am hoping that I will be able to make it through finishing this up on my own! My doctor is able to get Fluid in my band but not out of the band. I begged him last week to give me a tennsy fill and he did but he will not do anything else until i schedule surgery and have it done so I am on my own for now. My insurance will not cover it or I would just have the surgery. Good Luck and congrats on your weight loss. I have lost 93 pounds so far. My goal is to lose 120 so I am very very close! You can do it!

I'm almost 20 years older than you and probably had/have more comorbs than you do. Along with hypothyroidism I had type 2 diabetes, was peremenopausal, depression/anxiety and on meds for those, sleep apnea, HBP and high cholesterol. I was going to have the RNY in 2006 and put it off while my dad was ill and after he died went back to the surgeon and at the last minute switched to the lap band instead, partially due to the fear that most people have with it. I don't know all the "whys" because I did go to my group for fills and maintenence but I was never able to lose and only gained back the weight I lost on pre-op. Tended to eat around the band with "sliders" to fill up. Either I'm one of a kind or people aren't that willing to stay here after being that unsuccessful on the band. I also developed pain from GERD and it was removed 14 months after I had originally received it. Eight months after it's removal I revised to RNY and so far so good. I'm losing where before I couldn't and can't explain it except for the fact that the restriction is there right from the beginning, the bypass part helps also with malabsorption and also with my type 2 diabetes in "remission". Knock on wood I'm a happy camper and glad I finally decided to go with RNY. Like one of the posters mentioned above I was more a sweet eater and not a big portion eater so that maybe where the line is drawn for picking from the two procedures. Good luck with whichever one you choose and hopefully you will do well! Nancy.

I agree Kristen.....rest up! Feel better soon! Kathy, you are doing soooo great! I am taking the weekend off. I had another stomach virus yesterday (I think). My stomach has been bothering me a lot lately. I started taking Metformin again and I'm wondering if that is why. I'm not gonna take it for a few days and see if that helps. Whosya.....WE WON!!! YAAYYY! My first Nike+ victory....couldn't have done it without ya Whosya! Renewed....hope the moving is still going well. How is your tummy since the revision??

MacMadame, You are not letting me down AT ALL!! I have felt as though I am letting you down since I have gone into my nothing mode. Keep it up! You are doing great!! Georgia, I have never lost any fluid that I know of. I am doing good today. I am a little sore. After this "minor" revision I have 33 staples. My doctor actually did revision on 2 areas instead of one. I am very pleased. I have done very well with my eating today and actually feel a little more focused. I am going to take the rest of the week to recover from my procedure and then I will start my new routine on Monday. My goal will be consistancy. I am actually looking forward to getting going!

Hi, I just sent you a pm to be added, I just got approved today! It took less than 24 hours for a revision approval. Approval is scheduled for 4/16

Boo Boo: Congrats. Hopefully it's just the flu. Feel better soon and share pics when you feel better to show us your revisions. Sue

BBK, are you going to put up new pics on makemeheal that youve had your revision? I only see your pics before your revision surgery where you were having problems. Id like to see how it turned out when he fixed them. Are you happy with everything now?

im looking for anyone who has had a band to sleeve revision with Dr. Ramos Kelly in Tijuana, Mexico. please share your experience with me! i originally had my band done in Tijuana 4 years ago but it was not with Dr. Kelly. Im not scared of going to Mexico, or even scared of traveling alone but i have a fear of dying from complications. i know, i know probably just me being paranoid, but its a real concern. i have a 5 year old daughter that i want to watch grow up please....any info is appreciated. thank you, shaundra

Hi Becky, I just read your story and you have sure been through a lot! I hope your revision goes through and resolves your issues. Thanks for keeping us posted and for sharing your story! Good luck

I posted in a new thread but figured I'd put an update in this thread too in case any of my loyal followers here are still around It is now May of 2014 and I don't eat real food, I'm on 40mg of Nexium twice daily which is double what's usually used, I'm still on the Calcium channel blocker and the Amitryptiline but I have bad spasms whenever I eat or drink anything. I barely manage pudding and ice cream so get no Protein or much Water. I'm tired all the time and I haven't lost any weight. I can't eat anything other than carbs without pain so bad it lands me in the emergency room so I just eat what I can here and there, it's pretty miserable. I gave up on my surgeon until recently when I went back for one last ditch effort at fixing this and he was totally shocked that I'm still having these spasms...it's insanely rare. He wants to put a stent in but said 70-80% of people can't tolerate the pain and have to remove it right away and even if it does work it's only temporary. The second option is a revision to a bypass to eliminate the acid which is what the main cause of the spasms is. I was adverse to the idea of another surgery but after doing lots of research I decided I'm going to schedule the revision. I have to have a permanent solution, I'm 20 and am on so so much medicine so I feel like I have to give that option a try. It will be scheduled on Monday for sometime either next week or the week after. I'll try to keep everyone updated with a date. This has been a pretty awful experience for me so hopefully the bypass will fix things for me and maybe I'll even be able to lose some weight. If only I could tolerate protein or anything besides super super soft moist foods

Alright, I talked to the surgeon yesterday and here is what he said.. The manometry measures 13 swallows, my lower esophageal pressure was abnormal in all 13 of the swallows and my lower esophageal sphincter malfunctioned 9 out 13 swallows indicating that I'm bordering on the edge of achalasia which is what leads to esophageal cancer...bad! He thinks if we change the anatomy of the stomach (revise to bypass) the pressures will equalize and hopefully that sphincter will go back to normal stopping the achalasia and stopping all the horrible pain I'm having. So, I have to jump through all the same hoops as I did the first time to get the revision which I think is stupid because I don't even want this surgery, I just want the pain to stop. Regardless, it's their policy so I have an appointment for medical clearance on Thursday morning then an appointment for a psych evaluation and a nutrition consult on Friday morning. Then, the insurance has to approve the revision which could take up to 30 days so I suppose now it's a waiting game. I'll update you guys when I have a date, in the meantime I'm ordering Vitamins and more Protein powder since my stuff is expired.

You are doing awesome MacMadame. As of today, we have a well. Septic and electric will be put in on Monday. Hopefully the trailer will arrive next weeka dn we can move 1 week from tomorrow. I get my staples out on Tuesday. I am pretty much good to go. LOTS of packing still to do! slinky, DH said that I picked a bad tiem to have my revision, but is there a good time??? I really feel good. I may not be exercising real consistantly till after the move. There is just so much to get done. Feeling a little overwhelmed, but ready to get out to our place!!

I'm in the same boat--my revision is December 8! Let's stay in touch--we are both going to be fine!

I'm 5'1. My original goal weight was 110 lbs (BMI of 20), but I revised it upward to 130 because I was losing so slowly and thought I'd never make it to goal. 17 months post-op I reached 118 pounds (BMI of 22). My body's decided to settle here for now. I like how I look at 118 lbs and have been in maintenance a little more than a year.

Brandy, you look amazing! Congrats on the gym. I had just gotten back into a good routine when I had my revision and was told no gym for 4 weeks, I am ready to go back so I understand.