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Welcome! I am having revision surgery from the sleeve to the bypass. I am in my 1st month of nutrition classes.

I went through a similar experience with my band. I was banded in 2011, lost restriction in 2013 and found our the catheter broke, I had pain in my lower abdomen, went to the ER for them to say it was a UTI. I went to my regular doc who said nothing was wrong. Finally, I went to my bariatric doc and found it was disconnected through the CT scan. I went for a revision surgery. In 2015, I lost restriction and they had a hard time filling and unfilling me, so my surgeon suggested the sleeve. So far, this has been the BEST decision! I've lost so much more weight than with the band and I feel "normal" with the sleeve. Good luck with what you choose!

Its not the same type of "pressure" restriction as we got with the lap band. It is a sincere feeling of being full without the pain or possible initiation of gagging. I am a former LB patient and I had some issues with it. I am happy with my sleeve revision this far. I hit some plateaus from time to time. But ive learned to trust my process and do my part to being successful, which is protiens first then maybe a little carb after, 70 oz of water and physical activity.

I didn't have that kind of problem but I went from band to sleeve in one surgery a month ago. Everything went well and I'm happy with the revision. I was throwing up everything even liquids. I don't miss that port at all! Good luck!

Well is your band damaged or slipped or likely to cause issues? Does your doctor say you can leave it in there or if it needs to come out? Why does your doctor want to wait three months instead of doing the removal and revision in the same surgery? I don't have exactly the same restriction feeling but I still can't eat a lot of food. It's not like I can now pig out after having the band out and the sleeve done. But I can eat chicken now and I never could eat chicken in any form with my band. And I haven't thrown up since the sleeve.

Hi Tazwella, I have not done much research on revision patients and I had never heard that band revisions could be larger. In my case (and again, it has only been a month with the sleeve) I really don't think I can eat more then I should. The main reason I think that is because my husband got the sleeve the same day as I did. He had no previous WLS and I know that I eat either same or usually less then him at each meal. Prior to getting my sleeve, I hate to admit it because it isn't very lady like but prior to getting the sleeve I could keep up with his large appetite without any problems. I am not sure if the wait between unbanding and sleeve surgery helped or not but it makes sense to me that it could. I know my doctor still called it a revision because he said he would have to clear out the scar tissue left over from the band before doing the sleeve procedure. In any case, so far I love my sleeve.

In May it was discovered my band prolapsed and I had all the fluid removed. Yesterday I went to get 5cc. What a nightmare. I've since had it removed. My dr discussed removing my band waiting three months and doing a revision to the sleeve. I've lost 90 pounds with the band and kept it off for 5 years. I'm afraid removing the band will cause me to gain all the weight back. I realize it's a tool- one which I am so grateful for. I've been reading this board and need some piece of mind that if I do this - I'll feel the same restriction without all the band complications.

Today I am 6 weeks post op....25 lbs down. The Dr said my ideal body weight is 160 for my height (I'd like lower)....that would put me 15 lbs away from my goal. Revising my band to the sleeve was the BEST thing I could ever do.......Hope all my friends are just as happy with the sleeve.... Lisa

When I was banded I viewed it as less invasive, in some strange way not"really" bariatric surgery. However over the 10years of my band it felt invasive. Fills and unfills, scopes to check out issues, unpedictable vomiting, horrible reflux, having to sleep with head of bed elevated AND was still overweight. I revised to sleeve 3.5 years ago. I viewed it as horribly drastic surgery at the time but felt I had no choice. Living with the sleeve has actually felt much less invasive, less drastic. I am now normal size, healthy weight, no vomiting, no fills, no real issues.

Metawnny, do you think you can eat more than you should be able to? I've read a lot of revision patients that say their sleeve is larger because of having had the band. I wonder if having the surgeries a few months apart helps with that.

Hi smrogg My surgery was long because my surgeon had to do a revision from previous thoracic surgery resulting from a paraesophageal hernia and diaphragm repair. (I am a cancer survivor and had bad vomiting from the chemo which caused the damage). I did not know when I went into surgery on Monday whether it would be 2 hours or 6 hours it depended on the scar tissue. I am fortunate that my surgeon is very experienced and a center of excellence he was able to revise the previous surgery, remove the scar tissue and perform the roux-en-y. I am very fortunate. I don't think my post surgical pain is worse then others and today it has become more manageable. The nausea

I had my band taken out on June 22nd and revised to gastric bypass loving it

Congrats on getting approved! I have horrible GERD too and have to sleep upright and chew Tums like crazy... no fun. I hope I get approved for a revision from Tricare if it comes to that. At one time they said they would only cover one WLS but I guess there have been a lot of issues with the band.

Im one week and one day from surgery. Although i had the revision surgery from band to bypass so mine was more than urs will be. Honestly on a scale of 1 to 10 the worst it got was 4. I was really surprised actually. The most pain i had was when i acidentally caught my drain tubing and it came out a little. Thank God it is gone today. 22 pounds down so far

I was told today that my BMI is too low for a sleeve revision. So I guess we'll just do a lab band repair. It's my second slippage 'repair' in 3 yrs... So disappointed ????

Sleeve4Me was always very positive and willing to listen to differing viewpoints. People are talking on another thread I've been reading, about revisions to RnY. I really don't want a revision, I don't want to become practically disabled in my eating! I'm down to 35g carbs a day now, shooting for even less. More than 40g makes me GAIN. can you believe that $H!T????

Since having the lap band for 4years i had The most wt loss in the first year but I didn't have the correct support or Dr & I was cash paying. Why do I mention that? Because when u go through your insurance they make u go through a lot of hoops that seem ridiculous but now that I'm going through the hoops to get a revision to a sleeve and insurance require more dr appts and nutritional & dietician appt it keeps u accountable. I didn't have that when I paid cash and well I NEEDED THAT. I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO PREPARE FOR MYSELF but for my children and hubby I'm on top of it. I decided its time to put me n my health first so I believe the sleeve is right for me. I financially couldn't keep up with fills and unfills but my suggestion to you BANDSTERS. Strength train 5day AWEEK Measure your food ahead of time Think a week in advance Don't cheat urself MAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF NO MATTER WHAT U HAVE TO DO WAKE UP EARLIER OR WORK OUT IN LIVING ROOM W WTS EVEN GET A PERSONAL TRAINER THEY KNOW HOW TO HELP U AND NOT BOSS U. MOST I ALL DONT GIVE UP✌️????????????

My surgeon said it and I proved it, they all say they won't gain between surgeries, and they all do. I sure did!! But I only have two weeks to go and these are on pre surgery diet so I am back on my way to health. my surgeon is going to do it in one procedure, but when I was there like a week and a half ago to talk to him about revision, he removed all Fluid from my band due to vomiting and I've already gained 4lbs . It's awful! I'm thinking of due Protein drinks for a few days before going back because I'm afraid what my doc will say if he's seen I've gained a lot.

Banded in 2009. Slippage in 2013. Unfilled and weight gain. Revision surgery scheduled for August 31. Thank goodness for insurance. I so loved the band and lost a 100 pounds. Gained about half that back. Surgeon is doing by-pass instead of the sleeve because of what he figures is erosion to the esophagus. I am ready for this.

I had a bypass revision on the 9th and did well. I was back to work on the 17th. But then develop a serious viral infection that sent me back to the hospital for 5 days. In the hospital longer with a silly virus than major obdominal surgery. Now my resting heart rate is in the low 40's but this will pass. I'm down 22 pounds since surgery!!!!!

Hey Guys, So I've been having a ton of issues since my surgery 18 days ago on 6/12/2015 m, have been in and out of the ICU/ISCU and am just hoping for some support from other people who have suffered the same complications. Here's a brief overview so far: 6/12 - went in for gastric sleeve. I woke up and they took me out to walk around. Next thing I know someone says I'm bleeding into the floor. I also believe I was taken back into surgery this day. 6/13 - I was told I didn't have a leak in the way I was thinking of it (ie gastric juice in my stomach) but that there was "oozing" from the incision line. They offered surgery again and suggested they could insert drains. Additionally, I was told I had a blood clot (hematoma) at the incision line and that I was losing blood. They had to give me transfusions and it took about 4 pints of blood transfused for my level to stop dropping and then at the 5th it went up slightly. This was an indication to them that the bleeding/clot/hematoma had stopped. I was told it would take several weeks for the clot to be transformed into my body. 6/17 - I was released from the hospital, told to progress normally from week 2 of my diet, etc etc. 6/21 - I had been having some stomach pain all day and thought I just had a lot of backed up stuff that was finally coming out. I was in the bathroom for like an hour and stuff (semi-solid) stool just kept coming. After like an hour of agony, I took a small sip of the liquid hydrocodone and was going to try and take a nap. Within a few seconds of taking a sip my body warmed up and started getting itchy. I looked down and knew something was wrong as I had broken out in hives all over my body in a few minutes. Mind you I had taken this medication for several days prior. I called 911 and ended back up at my surgery hospital. 6/21 - My surgeon took my back in for surgery. I was told my stomach had ruptured again and they tried to seal it but the skin was so thin they couldn't guarantee it would stay together. They also put in 2 drains. 6/22 - They did another sip test and I'm still leaking. I'm on "NPO" which means no liquid at all ever. They put me on TFA or something which is a white liquid hooked up to an IV so I'm not ingesting any food or Water. 6/30 - They did another sip test and confirmed I'm steal leaking. Just to cover a few other things, I didn't cheat and I don't smoke. They want to transfer me out of ICU and to a short term recovery facility. I was pushing to be able to go home and have a nurse come out but I guess there are a few medications I'm on that some of these assistance companies don't want to be responsible for administering. It may be because of the medication itself or having to come to my home very frequently. Not sure. The hospital I'm in said they would probably want to wait 4 more weeks before another swallow test so it sounds like I'm going to be stuck not home somewhere either way. Has anyone gone through these issues with leakage? Could you share your information with how long it took to recover? How will I know when my stomach is no longer at risk of tearing? I'm super worried at this point and don't want to confuse "not currently leaking" with "not currently leading but still not strong enough to resist leaking from 1 extra sip of water." Thanks!

I'm scheduled for Aug. 12th. I have a call out to the person who schedules the surgery to see if there are any open slots for July. I am revising from the band to sleeve and I am so ready.

Hi all! August 3rd here. Having a lot of anxiety and not sleeping throughout the night. Lots of strange "surgery" dreams also. LOL! I'm so weird. I Don't start my pre-op diet for a couple of weeks yet, but I have to admit my eating habits have been terrible, I guess it's my way of saying goodbye to a lot of the foods I know that I won't be able to eat again (or at least not for a long time.) I am revising from the Lap Band so this isn't my first rodeo. I just want this band out and want to get through the recovery period. Already stocked up on my pre-op diet supplies (SF Jello, broth, Protein powder, tea.) If I remember correctly, that is one of the hardest things I ever had to do was the pre-op diet. Look forward to meeting some new friends on here. Feel free to introduce yourself. We are all in this together!

Oh yes if you can be revised to a sleeve. It is so worth it. Had my revision May 28 th. I had my band for 11 years. You have none of the misery that you have with the band. No more sliming, vomiting, stuck food. After my band slipped they took all the saline out. I regained 87 lbs. it took me a year before I could get my revision because we were in the middle of a move and I had to find a new surgeon and then jump through all the insurance hoops. I wish I could have done it sooner is my only regret. I am 4 weeks post op and down 21 lbs.