Search the Community

Doctors don't publish their complication rates, but a good one will tell you about the complications they have managed. For the bad guys, you can check for malpractice suits and complaints on your physician's state license board website.

Write a list of all the things you want to do after losing weight. Keep it where you can read it when you're having cravings. Keep repeating to yourself why you need to stick to your plan. This is not only sabotaging your weight loss but it's very dangerous this early out. You could cause complications. Stay strong! I recommend therapy too.

I agree with what has been said - it is illegal for them to ask. If pushed (and they always do) tell them you are really not comfortable discussing the matter as it is private - but make sure you are legally covered when you go on leave. Make sure that they know what dates you are planning to be out and find out if you limit your benefits by not contacting HR to let them know you are planning surgery. In my case, I will have to call the benefits line to let headquarters know I will be out of the office in case something goes wrong. I will be out “3” work days since my time off will include my my Friday off, the weekend and the July 4th holiday – but it is a total of 7 actual days, which is their threshold for requiring notification. I had originally planned to take vacation time – but if I did and there were complications, I could end not being covered on short term disability. My boss has already asked me a couple of times what the surgery is for - I am obstinate and will not tell. Even people I trust around the office (and I have been here for 22 years) I am only telling I am having surgery but not what. Like it or not, in the large corporate culture I work in, looks are a factor in promotion and there is a stigma that equates being fat to the same as being lazy. Getting bariatric surgery to help with weight loss is not respected, you are only supposed to get thin thru dieting and excercise. Which, the sleeve is just a tool in helping us do that.

I began full liquids at week 2, mushies at week 4, and now I can start trying other stuff at week 7 (my surgery was on Nov. 22nd). Is there a reason you are still on liquids? Did you have something else done during the surgery as well? complications afterward?

My BMI was down around 37 when I had surgery but my doctor actually suggested the band and still does to this day. Post surgical care such as fills, follow up visits and consults regarding any complications are just as important as having the band placed around your stomach. We see so many patients who fail to lsoe due to their surgeons unwillingness to support band patients for years after surgery. Don't make the mistake of allowing a disinterested surgeon place the band and kick you to the curb. You sound like a good band candidate? Although, we have many many banders here who are quite successful and had BMI's up around 45-55. For me, I didn't want my stomach removed, period. I think the sleeve and bypass and DS are all very good surgical techniques and on average produce faster and better results than the band. But, all I really wanted was a little help with reducing my hunger and allowing me to feel satisfied with less food. That's what the band did for me. And that's all I wanted. If you think you might need more from the surgery, you might not be a good candidate. If you need a tool that will only allow you to eat 4 ozs of food at a time, the sleeve or bypass might be a better choice. Because I still have my lower stomach, I can still eat a lot of food, IF, I want to. But I don't, because the band helps me feel satisfied with less and keeps me satisfied for hours after a meal. Good luck and I look forward to many comments to your topic. tmf

I know it sounds like I am being mean by not wanting her to do this right now, but I know her, probably better than her own parents. I do know that she is not mature enough for this journey. Good Lord, she just stopped sucking her thumb 2 years ago and still watches SpongeBob!!! That's more of an inside joke between the two of us, but she has been pampered and spoiled all of her life. Instead of working for something, she has had it handed to her on a tarnished silver platter. I'm sure you can all say that you are working on the weight loss as the sleeve "is just a tool". She thinks the weight loss will come to her easily, that she won't have to work at this. As previously mentioned, I have told her about the preop diet of Protein shakes where I lost17 pounds in 2 weeks. Then I told her about the high protein, low/no carbs, low/no salt and Water. Her response...."I hate water!" Also, the fast food, stupid idea, I know. That is a no brainer, but it happened and it's done with. I'm still working on the mental aspects of social eating. That being said and in my defense, I always pay for her when we eat and she was talking Outback, Red Lobster or Olive Garden and I didn't have time for a long sit down meal and didn't want to spend that much money. If she does have the surgery or make up her mind to have it, then I will support her 150%!!! I know how hard this has been for me. I don't want to see her miserable or sick and of course, I'm worried of the complications she may face either with the surgery or the complications from noncompliance. I love that kid like she was my own and I have always had a special place in my heart since the first time we were introduced when my husband and I were just dating 13 years ago. I can see so much of me in her even with no blood relation. I was in no way, shape or form responsible/mature enough for this. I wish I would have done it when I was 25, when my back first began to hurt and my weight skyrocketed. Thanks for all the great advice!!

You'll feel better once you can start on soft foods. I was exhausted for the first 3 weeks also. I couldn't deal with puréed foods, so since I had never had any complications, my nutritionist let me go to soft, soft foods at 3 weeks. Then I started walking more and my energy returned.

Had my pre-op Dr visit & blood work on Fri. for surgery on Jan 14th. Feel better about decision after talking to Dr Chae. Because it has to be open incision (could take 2-3 hours because they may have a lot of adhesions to deal with) and I'll be in hospital for 5-8 days. That was kind of a shock! Guess my biggest concerns are post-op complications. My nutritionist says not to do "The last meal of my life" thing but I'm kind of doing that. Going to try and be better on diet & exercise this last week. Wish me luck.

the stomach isn't floating around - it's still there. They just put a line of staples across your stomach to divide it between pouch and the remnant stomach. RNY IS reversible - but it's a complicated surgery and they'll only do it if the patient has some serious medical issues. (btw - VSG is NOT reversible, since they remove 80% of your stomach and throw it away) those intestinal problems you mentioned can happen, but they are pretty rare.

Well said Sasha..... Sara you and I are band twins.. I was banded on 5/18 too 5 days ago. I am struggling tonight. Made dinner for my family taco salads... They smelled so good. I was dying to just put one bite in my mouth, just one, but the shear fear of getting stuck or putting my health in further jeopardy kept me from doing it. I get to start mushies tomorrow. I have talked myself out of pureeing Soup, potatoes or oatmeal all day! I know some get to eat mushies sooner but my Dr says one week so I might even be off by saying tomorrow...It is so tough and the one thing we all have to remember is we wouldn't need a lap band or surgery if we weren't addicted to food and had the ability to control our portions. Food has been my comfort when I was stressed, my friend when I was lonely and certainly my confidence when I felt I had none. How are you messing up? Don't risk complications by eating things you shouldn't be. You have made it this far I know you can do it! I had my hubby go to our favorite Chinese place today and he got me hot and sour soup. We strained it so all I have is the broth left. It is heaven. I would much rather have had their taco salad but I know that will come when I am healed. Are you drinking a lot of Water? I hope we can help you in some way your my band twin and I know we can do this together!!!

I'm 34 weeks. I've had a very complicated pregnancy and will be happy when the baby is here. Even with all the complications though it's worth it, though this will be the only baby I will have. I have hyperemesis gravidarum and had my band completely unfilled in August. I still vomit a lot and still have bad nausea. The heartburn is awful too. I've put on 35lbs at this point and weigh 220lbs. Can't wait to get back to onederland!!

Hi Erika ~ Congrats on the graduation, that sounds exciting! I wanted to respond to your post because I also have UHC, and I was told the exact same thing, that they didn't cover it. But when I made my initial appt. this past January for the lap band, the lady in the insurance dept. told me they usually do cover it. So, that same day, I called UHC again, and spoke with someone different, told them the Dr. & the Practice that would be doing my surgery, they actually looked up my policy, and read me the part in it that said they do cover it. They do require some pre-op stuff first, but that is to be expected. The Dr's office gave me a list of things they wanted me to do pre-op before they would cover it, but it was things like, lots of bloodwork, an Upper GI, a Psych. Evaluation, things like that, nothing major. Just time consuming. I agree with the last comment, you never know who you are going to talk to there. Ask specifically for them to read where it states it in your policy. I had my surgery on May 28th of this year, it's been 6 weeks now. I had my first fill today, and so far I've lost 30 lbs. I was very lucky, UHC covered it 100%, minus the nutritionists appts, which is a total of $500, plus a $100 copay for the hospital. I have to tell you that even though I was worried about complications, just surgery in general, not being able to eat, things like that, this has been the absolute best thing I have ever done in my life. Other than getting married & having my two children, lol. I have a lot more weight to lose, but I feel so good, I'm not out of breath as often or easily, and I don't miss food too bad after all. Listen, don't give up. Call & call until you are satisfied with what they tell you. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to email me or message me. Let us know what happens! Take care & goodluck! :smile: Tonya

When I reach 200 lbs. I am having knee replacement surgery and I asked my surgeon this very question and he said Yes, they unfill you and if you don't have any serious complications they refill the band in about a week, taking me back up to my sweet spot. Hope this helps. Best wishes with your foot surgery.

The pain after surgery is fairly bad for 3 or 4 days. But it's not unbearable. I was never nauseous except immediately after surgery in the hospital and they gave me meds for that. The surgery is easy and quick, I was home the same day. For me, I'm 4 months out, I've lost 48lbs. I've NEVER had any food get stuck. My appetite is gone. (doesn't meanI don't WANT food, but I'm never hungry) I was more scared when I read this board.. But it really is different for everyone. The way people use the tool is different for everyone... I would say if you can commit yourself to changing your eating habits then go for it, if you can stick to a 1200 calorie diet then go for it. If you still want to eat junk food all the time and expect to lose weight, forget it. It's still essentially a diet, you eat the wrong things you won't lose weight, that doesn't mean occasionally you can't have a cookie. But everything in moderation. I'm not worried about complications right now. I will cross that bridge if I get to it. It's a fairly safe operation, SO many of them have been done. The technology has improved over the years.

I'm 6wks 1d post op. I hate going out to eat. The only thing I can eat out well is shrimp. My husband wants to go out for v day but I'm soo not interested. Our fav steak house has a wonderful salad bar, but I'm bummed cause I can't eat raw veggies yet. I'd just rather stay home :-( don't misunderstand, I'm glad I've had surgery, no complications, but maybe I'm just a little blue over food? The very thing that got me in this mess! Yikes

First of all, thank you to anyone who listens to my story I found this wonderful site will researching questions about having the sleeve surgery. I found the most wonderful information and people here. I have read so many stories and have had questions answered about many things. I was reluctent to post anything until I found out my insurance was approved and yesterday I got the approval letter!.. It was very exciting until I called my doctor's office and they said they haven't recieved their copy. I was kind of bummed so I faxed it over still nothing heard from them. I guess I am a little anxious. My goal was going to try to have the surgury while I was on summer break from school. There have been lots of complications it took about a month for them to get back my bloodwork and needless to say I have been bugging the doctor's office, but I finally called the lab and found it it was them who didn't fax over the paperwork! My hopes for having this surgury before school started were diminishing and when they called to schedule the pre op apointment it was scheduled for July 14 th! Three days after I go back to school! I am already registered for classes and I don't want to give up on my dreams of becoming a pastry chef. I have 6 more classes to take and I graduate in March. There have been alot of ups and downs in this process in the beginning of my journey my insurance had a lapse and I had to wait a month until it started again. I am going to try and mabye do the surgery and miss a couple classes. Some things that are unique to my situation is that I take care of seven children. This is because I had a husband pass away and I remmarried. My current husband had three kids and I had three kids so we decided to have one together. I know crazy huh? He is now almost four years old. My current husband is very supportive and he watches the kids so I can go to school. He is an amazing man and i am lucky to have him. Having the one husband die I am naturely terrified of dying in this surgery, but I know probably healthwise I need this surgury. I have gout which is a condition that is very painful if I do not manage my diet very carefully to avoid all red meat. I am hoping the weight loss will help cure the gout, but most of all I just want to be healither. Also does anyone know usually when the surgury gets scheduled after the pre-op apointment? Well this is my story thanks for taking the time to read it I can't wait to join all of you on the loser's bench lol

If your surgery is on Monday, the surgeron may cancel your surgery because you did not follow his instructions for the pre-op weight-loss. I would be more concerned if you had the surgery and did not follow your doctor's instructions because you could, from over eatting, blow out your stiches and bleed out and at worse die from complications from your over-eatting.

Stay calm...breathe....you're doing this for all the right reasons and remember: it WILL be worth it! And, have you seen the list of complications and risks of obesity untreated? Yikes! You've got this girl!

Hi again! I hope that others can gain from what I share with you next. I have had my band 3 years this comming November. I have lost l20lbs, so in January of this year I started with night coughing, and a little reflux. It seemed that in the middle of the night at times I would suddenly spit up and wake up with quite a start. I would go back to mushies for a couple of days and drink water like crazy as being hydrated keeps me from feeling to tight in the A.M. Things returned to normal. In mid January I had heart burn at work, and after lunch it turned to pressure, I began sweating and dizziness. I had a heart attack in 2003 and was well versed in heart health, (the reason behind getting the band in the first place) so I left for the ER. My EKG was great so the took a chest x-ray to find out why I had such pain in my chest. I showed a mass the size of my fist in my right lung. It seems that they believed it was stage 2 lung cancer, because pneumonia that advanced would have had high fever and a lot of phlem etc. The needle biopsy and cat scan were inconclusive. I visited my band Dr. the following week when I was released from the hosp. His swallowing x-ray showed that I was a little tight so he removed 1/2 of my previous fill, that fill was over 4 mo prior and seemed to be fine. I was put on antibiotics in the hosp and remained on them as per the plurologist and within a few weeks (6) the mass in the lung was reduced to nothing! It was determined that I has aspiration pneumonia. The bottom line is that any sypmtom no matter how small, can lead to bigger ones later...We must never forget the rules, hydrate, eat small portions and never go to bed with food in the stoma, and keep your fills as small as possible. I shudder to think if I were to loose my band altogether. I have not lost anymore weight and even gained a few pounds, (That darn cruise with all that great food!!). I am exercising again I know I need to build muscle and boost my metabolism. I am glad you are doing better, I am trying to stop the nexium I have been on and I do think the reflux is partly because of this. I am also convicted that the sweet tooth is fueling the reflux because when I behave, the reflux calms down. I was interested in what you originally posted, I was never dehydrated, but the night reflux is what caused me to aspirate and get an infection in the lung. This could have been much worse for both of us and I believe that our visits to the Dr. short circuted further band complications. I wish you more success. (and while Im at it, I wish me a lot more sucess too!)

So here I am, today makes 3 months exactly post op and I am down 42 lbs. I am finally in Onederland. I am so amazed at how easy this journey has been in comparison to the Lap Band that I had placed in 2006. I am so happy that I went through the revision surgery 3 months ago. The sleeve is everything that the band was promised to be and more. Thank God I have not had one complication and I feel fantastic. As of now I have no regrets and I feel healthier than I have felt in years. I want to send out a special thanks to my surgeon Dr. Aceves for changing my life.

I'm sorry. I am frustrated as well, but I don't have the same complications you have, which have to be uber-frustrating, to say the least. Have you tried eating a 'primer' about 20 min before your meal? Like a bite of cheese or something so that when it is meal time, you've already gotten the first bite out of the way, so to speak. I hope this helps - and hoping you start losing soon! Amy

SS If you are just starting your high Protein low carb diet and are feeling nauseous (sp) that means you are doing good! LOL You are going through carb withdrawal. I had headaches and fatigue and a general feeling like crap sensation for about a week before my body suddenly realized that it didn't need carbs anymore. My suggestion is pound the protein. If your diet was like mine, I could have all the meat and veggies (non starchy) that I wanted. There is no reason to be hungry. I would also HIGHLY suggest tracking your food intake on a site like FitDay.com or other food tracking site. It really helps to keep track of calories and carbs. I was restricted to 30 gms of carbs a day excluding green leafy veggies (didn't have to count those but I usually did anyway). You will be amazed at what happens when you get through the carb withdrawal. You will all of a sudden not be hungry anymore. It was the most amazing thing to me. I sometimes had to remind myself to eat. Now don't get me wrong, there are times when I think of having a warm dinner roll and my mouth starts to water! LOL But, I just make sure I go eat some protein and that craving goes away quickly. It is very important that you stick to your diet. You need to shrink your liver before surgery to help prevent complications and you definitely don't want to be going through carb withdrawal while recovering from surgery! Good luck!

Actually, the only difference is there's one anastomosis instead of two. The weightloss, Vitamin deficiency etc are the same as RNY. However, the surgery time is reduced and they are less complications, again because of the one join instead of two. Pre-surgury. HW: 126.3 kg (278 lbs) / CW: 123.8 kg (272 lbs)

Hello, just found this site tonight. My 70 yr. old mother is preparing to have the surgery very soon- don't yet know the date. I'm just trying to educate myself a bit to be able to help her along with any complications or questions that might come up.

So I went in for my consult on Friday and I didn't get good news. The plastic surgeon that we saw doesn't want to do the surgery because it is going to be VERY EXTENSIVE and he feels that it is too far away from home. He said to do it I would need, MR, the regular horizontal TT incision and then a vertical "T-incision" as well. He said I have NO elasticity left in my skin! He was a very good surgeon and feels that he could do the surgery, but the likelyhood of complications (separated incision, infection, seromas) would just make it too risky to do when we live 3 hours away. Plus he said that with them removing 10-15 pounds of fat the shock to the system could be too great for me to be that far away. So he refered me to some surgeons over here (we don't live in a big city AT ALL!) When I called the 4 that are here on Friday these were the results: 1 said they wouldn't do the surgery because it was too extensive, 1 didn't have a financing program, 1 said they didn't have financing BUT they would try to get it approved through insurance because of my back pain, and the other one didn't answer. The one that didn't answer does use CareCredit and I did get approved for that last night so that is an option. Also, my SIL lives an hour from the original surgeon that I saw so I have a call into him to see if he would do the surgery if we stayed with her for a month. She graciously said that would be just fine. SOOOOOO I still have options. Also with the ability to get financed through CareCredit, I can expand where I look for surgeons and have it done in WA and stay with my brother as well. My problem is that I am running out of time. I have to have the surgery done from the end of June through the first 2 weeks in July. Anytime after that I don't know that I would be ready to go back to work at the end of August.