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update on my follow up appointment. I had a couple of internal stitches coming up, so she was able to remove them. She was also worried that my scar was a little to big, so she put steri-strips on it to take the stress off the actual scar. those will stay on for 2 weeks. After that, she wants me to put silicone sheets on it. She also scheduled for me to get a revision done. I have a "dog ear" on one hip and she wants to tighten up my upper pubic area. She can do this in her office under local. It is scheduled for May 21st. That will give time for the swelling to go down. Overall, she was very pleased. Also, no more binder for me. Yeah. lol

I wouldn't worry too much either. I only lost 4 lbs. while I was on Optifast because I wasn't able to stay on the Optifast for more than 2 days. Of course I already knew that because of past stomach stapling I was being done at the hospital by Dr. Cobourn in case he had to do me open. Thankfully he was able to do me lap and in under 16 mths. I am down from 251 day of surgery to 141 for a loss of 110 lbs. My goal is 125 which I will reach this fall. Best wishes on your surgery! Donna Banded By Dr. Cobourn /06 Revised from VBG/87 251/141/125 goal

Wow it sounds like UHC SUCKS!!! Sorry to hear that. It makes no sense to me at all why they would do this. Inamed, or what ever there called now should really get off there butts and get some proff to insurance companies and employers about the band! What is wrong with them! I went to a support meeting today for WLS and half the room was bands the other half bypass. So many bypassers have had to go back in for revisions! How scary is that! This just make me so MAD!!!

Revision to sleeve may 17 Lap band 2009 Sw 200 LW 161 CW 214 Sleeve schedule 17 May

Me too 10/13 I'm revising from the lApband.

I too had originally planned on getting the band. But, after lots of research, I found it's not so great and definitely not risk free. Plus, if the band was so great, how come so many get revisions from the band to the sleeve?

Hi there. I believe you have to totally do your research and decide what is right for you,. I am someone who has had a band to sleeve revision and will only tell you my expeirience. Take is as intended...more data. Here's somethings that are important to know with the band. 1. You need to be sure your surgeon will provide you with "fills" for your band. I had my surgery done in Mexico in 2007 and when I moved to Philadelphia NO DOCTORS in Philadelphia would do a fill on a band they didn't do the surgery on. So if you move or plan to move...keep that in mind. 2. I had such horrible acid reflux I lost my voice for 6 weeks. I had acid reflux induced laringytis. The damage can become permanent. 3. It was very difficult for me to find a "sweet spot" for my fills. If you band is too loose you will not lose weight and too tight you can't even get down a sip of Water. 4. I had an uncomfortable tightness in my throat the entire time and had severe vomiting after many meals. I can't tell you how many times I had to run to the bathroom in a resturant becuase I was going to throw up suddenly. Again...please do your homework....there are people who have good luck with the band...I was not one of them. Whatever you decide. I wish you good luck and good health.

My surgery date is Monday, July 12. I was Banded in May 2002 and lost most of my weight. At some point my Band slipped and saline was removed and remained that way until I was able to revise to the Sleeve. My current insurance company approved me and surgery was scheduled right away. Unfortunately during the time of the Slip and now, I have regained all my weight, plus a little extra. Good luck to everyone facing surgery. Jill

Hi all I am new on here I just found this site and like it already. Well I started out 1 year and 7 months ago on this weight loss surgery. My insurance company would not approve the sleeve after I was denied 3 times and fought them for over 6 months. I finally rolled over like a dog and gave up and settled on the lapband ( Big Mistake ). I thought well I can work with this and make it do what I want it to do.....NOT. This thing I had inside of me sucked to the max, I had a hole by the port that never healed, I couldn't feel any restriction after about 3 months after 3 fills. Finally to make a long story short the band failed by leaking and the port rejected from my body and came out of the skin a year to the day of my surgery. I in the meantime found out that my insurance company started approving the sleeve 3 months after I got the band (Imagine that) Anyway the insurance company approved me for the removal and revision to sleeve if there wasn't to much scar tissue to do both then they would give me later approval well guess what to much scar tissue. I am now so excited that on July 19th I will finally get what I wanted in the first place My sleeve. So all of this cost the insurance company a total with the 3 surgeries $76,292.00 when if they would have gave me what I wanted in the first place the total cost would have been $26,350.00. No wonder insurance cost so much. So I am hoping to be a regular on here after my surgery. :thumbup:

I was a revision from band to sleeve, so had two drains (more extensive surgery with higher risk of complications like excess bleeding, leaks etc). The drains came out yesterday - yowsa that smarted. Really, it hurt, but it was over fast and now I am so happy to be FREE of those dang drains. I am down 11.8 pounds since surgery, more like 20# siince started preop diet. I feel like things are starting to happen - woo hoo!

Hi! I'm not technically a December sleever but sooo close, my surgery is scheduled for November 30. Dr. Jossart is my surgeon. I was originally going to be sleeved on 9/26 but ended up with my band removed (I'm a revision from a lap band to a sleeve), and my gall bladder out. I am so excited and I look forward to hearing about everyones journey and successes.

Hey scaredoftheunknown!! Sorry we've missed u! But boy, you are doing so WELL!!! Im only 24 lbs down total and wishing I was more. Im a lapband revision so I realize its a process and everyone is different so I dont trip :-) but sounds like ur doing well. No problems tolersting any foods either?

Skinnymama & ANuMe2014, I am right in between the two of you - I am having band to sleeve revision surgery 5/23. Looking forward to going through this journey with all of the May Sleevers!!!

Hi All, Thanks for the kind words and thoughts...but really bad news...I slipped my band. I guess one of us September bandsters had to be it, so here I am. I feel horrible, I've been crying since yesterday. Doc unfilled my band and we're waiting 3 weeks to see if my stomach will go back to where it's supposed to be and my band will move back up into place. I have a 50/50 change it will correct itself. But that also means a 50/50 chance of surgery to revise or remove my band. I feel desolate...like no matter what I do, I'm destined to be a fat & unhealthy. I know thats not the right attitude, and I really am trying to be positive. It's just so hard, I never expected for this to happen so soon. I just can't understand how some people PB all the time and I only did it 2 times and mine slipped. I'm in a little pain but I feel much better without restriction. But I'm also back to being ravenously hungry. I'm sticking to the challenge and trying to live each day as if there is nothing wrong. What else can I do for 3 weeks? I'm not gonna worry myself into a tizzy. I'm working on a mantra here... I am OK. I trust in God to bless me and fix my band. I am not giving up. This has made me wiser and stronger. I am NOT defeated. I AM OK! I'll see you guys next Monday with my weigh-in. Please everyone stay positive for me and keep me in your thoughts & prayers.

it is, I wish I knew some one who knew about this and statistics on revision etc. I am frustrated cause I dont know what to expect

So we should let the sick and poor die according to some people, not very "Christian" of you. Jesus said to take care of the less fortunate didn't he?????? I don't want hand outs but a hand "up" for people having problems is a good thing. As far as the redistribution of wreath, that has been going on since income tax, except now the rich pay less than they did under GWB's revised tax code, all Obama wants is to go back to the Clinton tax code for the wealthy. I dont' think that's socialism. It's paying a fair share, how many times have we heard about rich corporations and people paying NO TAXES because of loopholes, and brag about it. That is NOT FAIR to any of us middle income folks who pay the majority of taxes. The right wing has bamboozled us all over the years and we let them get away with it while they laugh at us. From my dealing with wealthy people some good some bad, they seem to have contempt for everyone who is not rich. Sure they may give to charity but mainly because it's a tax write off. Oh there are a few good ones.. like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, but there are way too may bad ones. We don't' hear about them often, they are silent in their contempt. I hope we as a nation can support Obama and give him a fair chance to undo the total mess GWB got us into over the past 8 years. It will take time.

Hi Karebear 86 lbs is nothing to sneeze at! Great! Well my experience has left me more confused than ever cuz it was all so subtle! kinda freaky actually and I could have lived w/o the surgery if I could have been happy w/ the weightloss and not sure where she would have decided to keep me filled but probably less than where i was which to me meant i would probably regain everything over years and while I was a size 12 (was as low as a 10) - doctors wanted me to lose more weight due to other issues (fatty liver; etc). I agree you are able to eat too much and boy has this been a learning experience. I learned that you can eat too much and still be tight - thats esophagal dilation. The food is filled in ur pouch above the band. But let me ask u this are you where you want to be weight wise? If so it is probably ok. The tightness people live with is very personal decision Key note to take away is really pay attention to the heart burn and talk to your doctor about it (rather I should say acid reflux). My doc explained it beats up on the esophagus and makes it not work well. Another thing I learned - after weight loss it is not so uncommon to have a hiatal hernia come back - telling signs are going from yellow zone to red. (again w/ a very strong team helping me and me going in every 6 weeks or so it was not so blatantly obvious nor obvious in films where it was black and white). Slips - I fell off my horse and asked how do we know if it slipped - and usually there are big signs and something like constant throwing up or trauma would cause that. My fall was a fairly severe fall worse than any car accident and I considered myself lucky i didn't have anything seriously wrong - well needing surgery would qualify for seriously wrong if that is in fact what caused it. Do you throw up a lot? I think they described a subtle slip w/ me could have been from the horse fall or it could have been from nighttime reflux which would cause me to throw up. I had two periods where its been bad last year and just recently which resulted in the revision. My signs were that unfilled it looked normal on the film but filled it did not and it seemed like it would flop around when tightened; but in reality once they were in there they could see subtle slip (and i was unfilled going into the surgery completely). I bought what looks like a great book called bandwagon written by someone who is a bandster ( a fiction writer). For me even w/ all this medical support it often isn't so black and white. I had to really trust my surgeon and I don't know if i mentioned this but they did the new procedure on me as well Plication. Goodbye bandster hell and hunger even when unfilled - hope there aren't any long term negatives but w/ all of this i guess there are trade offs. I think it is so new not sure i would recommend it but my surgeons practice are all very experienced and in my situation it seemed to call for it (they are not doing that many of these or haven't yet i should say). Again trust here or foolish but I'll hope for the best. At some point I have to call on faith in things to work out for the best.

I've lost 100 pounds, 70+ since the band. I've revised my goal weight to 140. My last fill was in March! I just went in to get another fill, but we decided to not do a fill. I'm at 4cc. I have hunger problems 3-7 PM... My vitamin D was still low, so I need to supplement it. My other blood test results were normal. I joined TOPS in June to add to my support group network. Anita

I absolutely love dr ku! He has been amazing and has already removed my band somewhat emergently when I had great difficulty and pain and could no longer eat or swallow correctly. Have you had dr ku? My name is amy. Where are you from? I am still in the pre-op phase for the sleeve, but Insurance has to approve me first and dr ku didn't feel comfortable doing a 1 step revision so now it's a 2 step revision. All good things take time though, right?! :-)

My daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia the day I had been booked in to see the dietitian. She had been headachey for 4 days and was tired and pale. Took her to the doctors on Sunday lunchtime and Monday at 6am we got a phone-call from the pathologist saying she has leukaemia, you need to get to the Children's Hospital as soon as possible. OMG! What a horrible wake-up that was! So we somehow managed to survive peak hour travel into Melbourne (don't ask me how) and 2 hours later it was confirmed at the Children's that she did indeed have leukaemia. We were then told that they had to do a bone marrow extraction to find out which type of leukaemia she had. By then my husband had arrived at the hospital for support. Thank God for that. For the rest of the first day, she had blood transfusions and platelets transfusions and was taken to theatre the following morning for a lumbar puncture and bone marrow extraction. Results came back that night saying she had the most common type of leukaemia and her chances of beating it were 85%. Yippee. Well anyway, the long and short of it was my original surgery was put off for 2 years while she went through most of her chemo. And then the revision was done 1 month before she finished chemo completely. A very long and stressful road it was too! 2 1/2 years from diagnosis to end of chemo. And now we have a 5 year period where we wait and see if the treatment was successful. Her chances of beating it completely has risen to 90% And of course the finances are completely in the pits. Hence the job search. I just don't feel ready to go back to work but I have no choice.

5 months post-op today and down 72 pounds. It feels a lot better and I'm having more energy. I'm having trouble with my stomach. I can't really explain it, but is lower and possibly a burning feeling. It comes and goes and only lasts about 30 seconds to a minute. My 6 month follow up is in exactly 4 weeks and I will speak to my PA. We discussed it before and she said she would do a scope if it continued. So, I will be asking to do the scope. I take protonix daily, although I have missed it a few times. I sure hope it stops and won't have to do a revision. My Dr wanted me to do the DS, but I said no. However, I guess I might consider if this continues. I still have to lose 84 pounds to get to goal, and definitely will need plastic surgery on my arms, stomach and breasts. Hope everyone is in a good place and may we all continue to do well! Love this group!💕🤸‍♀️

No, i didn't get a fill last time i was there, havent gotten one in over 2 1/2 months. i slipped back in march and had a revision done and have not had heartburn or gotten stuck at all till the last several days and now the last 2-3 days have been bad and i just had yogurt and vomited. I'm gonna try and do liquids for a few days, thats what they usually tell u to do anyway and see how i do. last time i progressed to not being able to swallow liquids or saliva, if that happens, well then i know......hopefully it will settle down. :bolt:

Even though I didn't have a revision or anything I was denied because I hadn't taken prescribed meds for weight loss. I appealed then I was approved within four days. I think it all comes down to the people at the office if they really push for you they will jump through to make it happen

I had my sleeve to bypass revision Dec 2 2020

My 10 day liver shrinking pre op diet starts tomorrow. It’s hard to believe I will having my revision surgery in 9 days. I am so ready to get it done and start living my new life. I have my shakes, crystal light mixes, sugar free jello and broths ready for the work day tomorrow! I usually do well throughout the day until 3pm ish when I start feeling that head hunger. I’m telling myself to keep busy at work because when I am busy I don’t even think about eating! Wish me luck!