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Truly, not very long. But, I have a lap-band that was ruptured during a fill. So after a failed four year stent w the band I seen a new Bariatric doc and discussed removing the band. He suggested rny. That was in December. I drug my feet for a while and did some research and soul searching. Then seen the doc again in Late march. Paperwork was submitted in April and approved a week later. I had to attend a revision class. A week later after that I had my may 10 & 14 appts. If all goes well, ill have a surgery date by the end of may or early June. So I started attending the support groups last night. I'm seeing the dietician next week as well. Moving right along!

Glad the revision is working out for you Nancy! I knew you'd had lots of problems and were thinking of getting it but didn't know it had been done. n How long ago did you have it? My doc said that he doesn't do a restrictive diet before revising to the sleeve but there is the normal clear liquid diet afterwards with gradual adding of mushy, etc. He said you still have the shoulder pain afterwards like with the band but he only keeps you in the hospital for a day - a little longer than the band. C'sM: You're one smart lady!

Cleo's: "... when I went on the sleeve site I went right to complications." I haven't had the nerve to go there yet. I have seen my doctor's video of a revision to a sleeve that he has on his website. It's gruesome enough to make me take my time with this decision. I do know that you're right, it is a relatively new surgery and the jury is still out on a lot of the issues. For instance, they do remove the thing that causes hunger, but some people are now saying that eventually another part of the stomach compensates for that and you eventually get hungry again. Cleo's: "...it never took away my hunger or provided me with satiety and when it was overfilled to 3 cc's (by my idiot former doctor) I had reflux, heartburn and pain. And again, no satiety and still hungry. But what the band has done is cause me to get stuck - very painfully..." Me too! I've had lots of fills. My doc was always very conservative with the fills. But there were a couple of times that I actually came away from his office after a fill when I wound up not being hungry for a day or two. Which was, frankly, heaven! I eventually have come to the conclusion that the darned thing seems to generate hunger. Which is of course, quite a different result than most other people have with the band. And that's confusing and discouraging. No, my insurance will not pay for any part of the surgery. Unless of course, I have a hiatal hernia or other complication. And then it would only pay for that portion of the surgery - the repair. Insurance has become a double-edged sword these days. And for the life of me I don't understand how some people in the U.S. just don't get that. We need reform and I am just hoping that the darned Congress doesn't sell us down the river to the greed-driven insurance companies so that they continue to call all the shots with our medical treatments. Merry Christmas!

Glad you are home and doing well. I go in for my revision on Monday and I am starting to get very nervous. Why did you have a tube down you nose? I did not have that for the band and don't think I get that with the sleeve surgery either? How is the pain factor?

Hi Melanieleigh, congratulations search, you've come to the right place. This is a long, overdue story and I will also post it in “My Positive Experience w/Dr. Watkins Thread." This forum is awesome and I've been researching WLS HEAVILY since about June. I've read a lot on WLS. I struggled with the idea of partial stomach removal w/VSG, but knew that having a foreign object in my body would make me worried: slipping, rubbing, etc. - so I wasn't excited about lap band, but some have had great success with it. When I read about GPS on this forum, I KNEW it felt right. WHAT MAKES THE RIGHT DOCTOR? Initially, in my mind, I was all set to go to someone locally, so that if I needed support or had issues they would be there for me. I have never had surgery of any kind so this was all new to me. I also thought that I would ONLY choose a doctor who has had some sort of WLS and would be understanding in the weight loss/surgery/food struggle. I attended a seminar from a Dr. who I think had done only 3 VSGs (yes, I know, they have to start somewhere and make a living, but in this case, I didn’t want it to be me) and I found out later that certain things he talked about were incorrect, (like shoulder pain cause being unknown and that could be permanent) is actually referred pain from the diaphragm -per Dr. Watkins. RESEARCHING… THANK GOODNESS I RESEARCHED MORE! According to one of the WLS books I read, complications go WAY DOWN (like 80%) when you use an EXPERIENCED surgeon. Of course, this GPS surgery is NEW, but it would stand to reason that it is still better to choose a doctor who had done a lot of surgeries, especially weight loss surgeries. Naturally, I researched Dr. Corvala in Mexico because I think has had done over 100 GPSs by now plus thousands of other weight loss surgeries. However, the book I read also cautioned that while some hospitals/Dr. were terrific in Mexico (just like US-there are good and bad hospitals/Drs.) it may be more challenging to find aftercare in the US. However, there are many people happy with their choice to leave the country and I probably would have been very happy with that route, but I am a worrier. As I constantly read the forum and asked MANY, MANY questions of the patients and to a few doctors. Dr. Watkins was the most responsive doctor. I would ask him about the surgery details, what other patients experienced, emotional eating, what hunger felt like, hormones, genetic makeup, etc. my symptoms, how big the size of the sleeve, aftercare, etc. For awhile I thought I would try dieting and exercise one more time, and he directed me to the free YOU TUBE about weigh loss which again, shows that although he does run a business, he is really trying to help people. I came obvious conclusion that Dr. Watkins is EXTREMELY KNOWLEGABLE, DEDICATED and in always in COMMUNICATION when you need him, is ALWAYS helping on the forum (even if someone is not his patient) and isn’t pushy. I had a friend that wasn't sure about her GPS surgery, and he left it up to her - didn't pressure her. She had it and is doing fine. I researched him EVERYWHERE and found happy patients and a great track record. Like others have said, it is important that you have the hiatal hernia fixed when they are doing WLS surgery, and that was important to me that Dr. Watkins did that. Yes, I love Cincy Weight Loss-NO I don't get any financial gain or have anything to gain, no discount for my writing all of this. I do not work in any way with Cincy/Dr. Watkins; I am just a happy patient. WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO..TOP NOTCH CARE- DR.WATKINS/CINCY WEIGHT LOSS & HOSPTIAL This Dr. does the right thing.. he even denied me surgery because it was the right thing to do.. Here is my story: After asking A TON of questions and doing lots of research, I was scheduled for Plication surgery in the fall w/Dr. Watkins a couple months ago. Everything went great up to surgery, did well on the pre-op. Visited Cincy Weight Loss, it was a VERY NICE, NEW upscale area, the OFFICE was GREAT. EVERYONE there IS REALLY & TRULY INTERESTED their patients! They had a great book with lots of before & after pictures of real people and it was so exciting to see the success. My husband and I chatted with Diane for almost 3 hours about the great things and weight loss challenges. We met the nurses and his lovely wife Pamela and they were ALL great! We made new friends and had a GREAT TIME. We met Dr. Watkins in person, and sat in his office. He truly is a NICE, SINCERE, DEDICATED & KNOWLEDGABLE PERSON. He is very humble, but it still made me feel good to see all of his certificates/accolades on the wall to know that I was getting a quality and knowledgeable doctor. Since they rarely talk about it, I’ve taken pictures so everyone can see HOW NICE & NEW, MODERN the hospital and his office are. Never once did we feel “rushed” or pressured, or cut off in conversation, they listened answered our questions thoroughly-my husband and I were REALLY impressed. I was VERY scared, because I hadn’t ever had surgery or been put under other than my wisdom teeth. However, being put under and waking up was a breeze. HOSPTIAL was MODERN, NEW and I felt VERY confident with my surroundings. They even offered me a hospital gown with state of the art technology where warm air was blown in. I walked with the Dr. and staff into the OR, and laid down on the table. Everything was state of the art, clean new and I was out like light, felt NO pain (except for the initial IV). It felt odd when I woke up, like it had only been a couple of minutes. Unfortunately for me, the surgery didn’t happen because I had surprise stomach polyps for no good reason. I was VERY disappointed and asked Dr. Watkins about 5 times if we could do surgery later on that week, but it was important to have some other tests & due diligence done. Even though he faced disappointing me, he did the right thing. Some surgeons don’t even do an endoscope, which can reveal polyps, ulcers, hiatal hernias, etc. My family was also grateful for the level of care and professionalism from this Dr. Later on that day and few times over the weekend, he called us to see how I was doing with anesthesia recovery, and I didn’t even have the surgery! But he is that caring. After many tests, (gallbladder, H Pylori, blood test, gastric level tests, gastric emptying test and colonoscopy) it looks like I am fine. I have one more I am going to have done on Friday but I am SO happy that I SHOULD be having GPS surgery with Dr. Watkins in about a week! I am praying that there will be nothing from stopping the surgery and the new life.. Here are a final few words on what I’ve learned..1) It is NOT normal to have stomach pain/throat burning. I lived with this probably my whole adult life. The pain/burning I experienced feels the same as STARVING HUNGER-GOT-TO EAT-NOW was actually acid and was GREATLY reduced on the pre-op diet with the PPI/Prevacaid. Dr. Watkins and his staff have kindly and patiently helped me through this lengthily process of research and tests. Hopefully, no one will have any surprises like I did, but it only made me feel better about my decision. 2) Keep researching until feel comfortable w/your doctor. If you research their website you’ll see they SUPPORTIVE & HAVE GREAT FOLLOWUP: http://www.cincyweightloss.com/ Here are my pictures.. Info from Cincy Weight Loss Site Cincinnati Weight Loss Center is owned by Dr. Watkins, not a large corporation. This allows us to provide you with the kind of customer experience that family owned businesses like ours can provide. Most of our competitors focus on surgery. We focus on weight loss. There is a huge difference between the two philosophies. Other practices try to compete with us by lowering their price. We focus on maximizing your weight loss success. We don't strive to be the "cheapest in town". That is not a good weight loss model. We strive to provide the best weight loss success in every patient. We offer value - the lowest cost per pound lost. We get a lot of transfer patients who had gastric band surgery elsewhere and are disappointed with their post-op program so they transfer to our practice where we help them achieve their weight loss goals. Many practices don't monitor their weight loss success. We do, and have published five scientific articles on gastric band weight loss. We started doing band surgery shortly after it was FDA approved in the United States (June 2001). Since then we've completed nearly 5,000 gastric band procedures and have experience with band adjustments that number in the tens of thousands. That extensive experience has taught us many import things on how to perform gastric band surgery and how to take care of patients afterward to minimize their frustration and maximize their weight loss success. We repair/revise a lot of band operations done improperly by other practices. Patients who choose our practice want it done right the first time and want to maximize their weight loss success. People who only care about getting the cheapest surgery and don't care if they lose weight afterward go to our competitors. Dr. Brad Watkins Dr. Brad Watkins is one of the few surgeons in the United States who: · Has completed well over 1,000 gastric band procedures · Has experience with nearly 5,000 procedures in his gastric band clinics · FDA proctoring surgeon for both band companies (Allergan, Ethicon) · Published five academic papers on gastric banding in the surgical literature · Performs band-over-bypass procedure · Performs the new incisionless ROSE procedure · Teaches other surgeons on primary gastric banding · Teaches other surgeons on band-over-bypass · Teaches gastric band courses · Teaches ROSE courses · Consultant for Allergan Company, LAP-BAND® · Consultant for Ethicon Company, REALIZE ™ · Consultant for USGI Company, ROSE procedure · Completed many advanced bariatric courses and bariatric CME programs · Involved in multiple clinical trials for adult and adolescent obesity · Nationally recognized on the "Today Show" · Member American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery · Member Council for Advances in Bariatrics

I too have BCBSIL. I got my lap band in 2010 but am looking into revision surgery. I go back on 6/13/14 to see if my stretched pouch has shrunk. I went through graduate school and basically let myself go. For any banders looking into gastric sleeve, what lead you to your decision?

Had revision from band to sleeve yesterday. Going home today. I feel amazing. Very little pain. Walked a mile and a half on the unit before I left!

When I had my sleeve, I took 2 weeks off (desk job). When I had my revision to bypass a year later, I felt fantastic and only took a week off. I had a harder time with the sleeve than I did they bypass, but everyone is different. A week is absolutely essential, 2 weeks seems to be the average, some even take 3 weeks off. Personally, I had my doctor write a note saying I needed 2 weeks off, that way I knew I had it. I needed all of it with the sleeve, but I was able to go back after a week with the bypass so I just had my doctor write a new note saying I was cleared to go back after a week.

I had a revision from band to sleeve done a month ago and I wish that I had the sleeve to begin with. I had so many issues with the band and I am just glad to finally have it out. I had the band removed and the sleeve done all in 1 surgery, no regrets....I love my sleeve!

So let me get this straight.If you have band slippage or erosion then it's covered.?What about the fact that you are having regain,Gerd,other co morbidies and say you hover around 35 to 40 be I are you able to great revision covered.?What is your insurance?

I am looking into Mexico as an option for a revision from band to sleeve. Who did you use? Why did you choose them? Who would you not use, why? How was your experience? How much did you pay? Did they fix any hernia? Lots of questions yes. I have been scouring the boards for all any information. Thank you for any responses and any information on your experience.

When I had Lap Band and Sleeve I had Cigna, they denied my Sleeve but I appealed with my doctor and got approved. Now I have FL Bcbs but no bariactric benefits so in order to get revision approved their rep said I can mention morbid obesity or any co morbidities, only medical complications to see if I could get it preauth.

Hi Everyone! How are you? Surgery went well, my doctor said there was a lil more scar tissue than anticipated. The first night was rough with the waves of nausea, but a little Zofran cleared that up. Got up on Saturday, washed up, went for a walk and I was pooped. Back to bed I went for a few hours until my family came to visit. Took another spin around the hospital floor and I was done for the day...sleep was calling my name. I was released on Sunday and all is going well. I have no appetite but I am making sure I get my fluids and Vitamins in. I'm walking twice a day, no driving yet. I've noticed that if I sit for more than an hour in one spot, I'm a lil stiff and sore when I get up. Yesterday, I braved costco with my dad. Again, I can home and took an hour nap. Each day it's getting better and better. The best decistion I've made was to have the revision surgery! First post-op is in August 1st. I'll keep you posted. Talk to you soon! MsE

Hi to all Revision people! Just wondering how many of you had to do a barium swallow and endoscopy before/during their VSG revision? Thanks, Dottie

Here's my list for choosing VSG over RNY for my revision: I could have had RNY very easily, but I fought for VSG. 1) Malabsorption of fat/calories only last 18-24 months (after that the villi in the intestine regrow), but the malabsorption of nutrients/vitamins are for the rest of your life. Not a fair trade off if you ask me. 2) Blind stomach left behind that is difficult to scope, but can still get ulcers and cancer. 3) The whole pouch/stoma thing is not natural. I had a pouch/stoma thing with the band, and it sucked. I loved the fact that I would have a normal stomach with my pyloric valve intact. 4) Regain stats with RNY are downright scary 5) Long term complications related to pouch dilation, vitamin/nutrient deficiencies and the number of patients seeking RNY revision to either DS or ERNY were just too high for me 6) Dumping syndrome only happens to about 30% of RNY patients. For me, if I can't keep my hand out of the cookie jar without some form of sick self-punishment of puking, nausea, and fatigue then do I really need to have WLS? I knew I had to change my relationship with food regardless of which WLS I chose. 7) I like my NSAIDS. With RNY, they are a complete NO NO. Also, in the future, if I were to need to take steroids, I didn't want to worry about them eating my pouch. 8) I have a lot (like 10) friends in real life that all struggle tremendously with RNY especially those that are 5-8 years out. I have one that just had her 4th surgery related to her 7yr old RNY. My other dear friend is now on Iron infusions every 4 weeks because she can't eat iron rich foods, and iron pills irritate her pouch so badly. 7 out of 10 have regained at least 40 pounds, and only 4 of them experience dumping, but it's not as severe as it was for them when early out. 9) That no hunger thing is awesome with the sleeve. The fundus being cut away and removed from the body, removes the main source of Ghrelin production in our bodies. At 15 months out, I'm still never physically hungry. I love food, I eat, but I'm not hungry. I was always hungry with my band. I would eat, be satisfied with the small portion in my pouch. Then food would pass through, and I'd be starving again. It was a miserable cycle. The stats with VSG and RNY on weight loss are neck and neck. The studies out there for gastrectomies (partial or full removal of the stomach) for cancer and ulcer patients gave me peace of mind that for my long term health, VSG was the answer to my weight loss surgery needs. Best wishes on your research. I have tons of links and information in my blog on here if you'd like to read some of the stats. I'll add you to my contact list so you can access my blog if you'd like. Look for the blog post called "Just to bookmark this" it's lapband information, but at the bottom of that post, there are lots of links for VSG.

Hi everyone, I've been a frequent lurker, but I have not interacted on the boards. I now find myself in a position that I'm unsure about and could use some feedback. I was banded in 2008. I haven't had any problems until semi recently. Two weeks ago all of the fluid was taken out of my band because I started having bad heartburn while I was sick with a summer cold. Oddly enough, this was just a little over a week after seeing my Lap Band doc and being advised to consider revision to either sleeve or gastric bypass due to not really seeing much in results. My surgery weight was 258. My lowest weight was 221. Current weight is 247. Anyway, since having all of the fluid removed, my body is all kinds of messed up. I can actually eat LESS than I could with the band. I eat, I get heartburn. I get too hungry, I get heartburn. I eat solid foods too close to bedtime, I get heartburn. I'm also experiencing lots of gas and some bloating almost every time I eat something, Yesterday, it happened with water. Now, I'm on Prilosec per my doctor. I have an EGD scheduled for Thursday of next week as well as a barium swallow the day after. They've already done an x-ray and they say that my band is in the correct position. So, I'll have some answers soon, but I want to know if anyone has any kind of experiences that might give some clue as to what's happening. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

So I'm having my 7 year old lapband revised to rny in 4 days ( excited, scared to death, determined ) and I was in my nutrition meeting and she said never ever drink caffeine again, the next day was my final appt with my surgeon and he said that I can have my coffee right after surgery and use protein powder in to replace my creamer. They also disagree on the number of meals, one says 3 healthy meals of protein and the other says add 2 tiny protein snacks in between meals . Please help clear the confusion . I want to heal perfectly and do my part to make that happen

I feel ur pain. I'm almost 7 weeks out and lost 17 lbs. been losing and gaining the same 1-2 lbs for the past 2 weeks. it's getting old really fast. I started at 174 (band revision) so I knew I would lose it slower, but this is ridiculous. I'm almost 2 mths out with only 17 lbs lost. Wish I was 30. Count your blessings. I could cut my calories even more than they are but then I'd be miserable and on a diet. Thats why I got the sleeve in the first place, so I would never diet again. I've already lost a size in clothing and that feels good. Good luck!

I think the two best surgeons in Mexico are Dr. Aceves and Dr. Rumblaut. Dr. Aceves has done more sleeves, I believe. Dr. Rumblaut has a band himself. They are both very experienced in bariatric surgery, have excellent reputations, and are capable of doing complicated revisions.

I've done all my requirements for the bypass revision, due to hiatal hernia and problems with reflux my dr. says I need to get revised from the sleeve to bypass. Anyone else having trouble with insurance company getting this approved.? I'm really suffering over here and they just tell me my appeal is pending. Anyone know how I can push this forward? Help! Sent from my SM-J337P using BariatricPal mobile app

Just order the appetizers. They come in smaller portions & better then ordering a BIG meal. People snack on appetizers so this will allow you to pick & in between conversation you can enjoy yourself as well. This is what I do. I've been banded since 12/22/10 with revision of a new band on 2/11/14. 109.2 lbs gone. Loving Me some Me

There are no skilled surgeons in the KC or surrounding area at revisions, particularly with experience of revising from a VBG unfortunately. I hate to say it, but most of them only want to do virgin surgeries here or at the most converting a lap band to the sleeve. I've been to 3 seminars locally and they are all pretty much scared of the VBG due to high risk for leaks. It's frustrating, but at the same time- at least they recognize their limitations. I even went to Topeka where they do DS procedures thinking they would have more skilled surgeons there and they just wanted to convert me to the GB- said I was too high risk for them. So, off to TX I go.

I was sleeved on 11/9 after nearly 3 years of being banded (my band came out in August). I woke up from surgery and have been starving since. I know it's not head hunger - after nearly 3 years with the band, I know what head hunger is, and I know what it's like to not be hungry. It's not acid. It's not thirst - I'm drinking 100 ounces of Water daily. I'm on mushies/purees and it's still not helping. Today, I had my follow-up with my surgeon. He is not overly shocked I am hungry, but he was a bit surprised. He sent me for a upper GI to check my esophagus. He suspects dilation due to the damage from the band. If it is, it should just take a few more weeks to go back to normal. He said he can't promise, but he's 99.9% sure that within the next three weeks, I will feel satiation as my body adjusts to the band being gone, my hernia being fixed, and the rest of the scar tissue from the band finally removed. The doc that did the test, though, said there was no dilation, however, they also said my band wasn't slipped when it was, so they are not bariatric specialists (I'm not complaining or upset, just stating.) He did say my surgery was picture perfect (sans scar tissue and hernia), that I had a normal size stomach, that he went a bit tighter than normal, and he sees no reason it won't work long term. I also talked to a friend of mine who is a revision, and she said she literally cried the first three weeks she had her sleeve because she was so hungry. Then it got better, and now she loves it! She had it about 6 months ago, so I am hopeful I will be the same. Oh, and he cleared me to eat turkey tomorrow! He also suggested I drink some warm tea after I have a few bites of Protein to help add volume to my food to give me that sensation of fullness. So, I am not 100% convinced, but I feel 90% better about this whole thing. My other non-medical theory is my poor bowels are empty, as I still have diarrhea, and how could I feel full when they are empty?! LOL, I know it's a stupid theory, but I am adding it to my pile. And if I start losing weight again, I'd be even happier! Again, he reassured me this is normal, and according to his scale, I'm down an even 30 lbs. So, after all that, anyone hungry at first? Or still? Has it gone away? Gotten better? Thanks!

Hi Ashley I had a band revision to bypass. I had open surgery, not larproscopic, with incision from breastbone to navel and my rib cage cracked apart to deal with band damage, scarring. I knew this, when I went in. And I have NO regrets. No gerd, quick easy recovery, Eating is fine but just small quantities, no real food/Eating drive. I love it so far - I am 6 weeks in... Best wishes to you - I was so nervous just before I nearly backed out, but it has been excellent.......

Me also. I'm looking for a revision from sleeve to bypass. Any suggestions in Alabama? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App