Surgery 23rd and feeling unsure...

jcbydesign · May 8, 2006

Hi,

I've been lurking for a few months while I was trying to decide which surgery to have. I am scheduled for Lap Band surgery on May 23rd. I have my pre-op and final visit with the surgeon this Friday.

I've been reading posts from people who are having very little weight loss or very slow, hungry, eating what they used to, disappointed, etc. etc.

This really scares me. Is this the norm? I am worried that I made the wrong decision. I am 58 and don't have time to make a big mistake like this and go in for a revision.:cry

I"ve read all the 'statistics' but I could use the real scoop on what the typical person can expect. Please can someone help?

FREE-TO-BE · May 8, 2006

Hi Jc,just Read Your Post...i Am Sceduled For Surgery The 25th. Just Took My Pre-op Tests This Am,and Thursday I Have Consult With Anesthesiologist. I Am 57, Never Had Surgery In Mt Life. I Have Been Obese Al My Life,and Know The Heartache And Things I Have Missed Out On. Yes,i Am Scared....scared That I Have Come This Far Qite Effortlessly.and Then Scared The Anesthesiologist Will Find Something To Prevent This. For Certain Reasons,i Have Gained To Over 300,just In The Last 6mos..about 50 Lbs...i Now Can Really Really Feel The Weight....out Of Breath ,back Pain When Standing,,depressed...i Think Its My Last Shot To Be Normal.....5-10 Lbs,or Even 4 Lbs Lost A Month Are Better Than Gaining....i Just Hope I Get Passed By The Dr. Thursday....take This Ride With Me...i Would Pm You,but Am Also Pretty Stupid On Computers,and Don't Know How!!!!!!! Take A Deep Breath And Keep Searching For Info.....the Truth Shall Set You Free!!!

fosterc · May 8, 2006

Hi just read you post. i was banded Feb 15, 2006 and am 39 years old. to date I have lost 30lbs and have had one fill. My pcp doctor told me that even if I only lose 30 to 50 lbs from the whole thing that is better than not losesing any at all. Everyone is different, my husband had his Dec 21, 2005. He was 314 and know is at 260. He has had one fill and is still loseing and does not plan to get another fil anytime soon. I reseached Lap band and Gastric bypass for 18 months before we decided. I know it is slow and I get depressed whrn the scales don't move but I will tell you like I tell everyone I meet. Go for it it is the best thing I could have done. remember it didn't take us sover night to put on the weight and it isn't coming off over night. Yoou will have to work at it but we both know it will be worth it. I know how you fill I have read the things people have posted. It is sometimes scary. Just have faith in yourself and your Doctor and you will be fine.

Fosterc

mrycrltn · May 8, 2006

I also had my surgery in De.2005 It is so worth it. Keep reading and stay on here and just keep asking questions.

Kat817 · May 8, 2006

I have not been banded for long, but like you I researched, researched, researched prior to having it done. I was banded in Mexico, 2 weeks ago today. With my pre-op diet (high Protein, low fat), the week before surgery til now, I am down 23 pounds, and have lost 12 inches over all. I am thrilled with the results. I can say I have only been physically hungry one time. I am eating a soft diet, now, and I do not feel deprived because I am not really hungry. The head hunger gets me now and then....seeing a commercial or seeing something that I can just imagine sinking my teeth into and chewing. BUT, it is an amazing thing, being able to control that!! I can schedule a fill for anytime after my 6 weeks, but will just see how this goes.

I had a very easy recovery, I was not nauseated at all, no bad gas pain, minor the day of surgery and the following morning, but none since. I had quite a long trip home, and did fine both traveling by car, and plane. My incisions were stitched, and all but the port stitches are out now, and they come out tomorrow. My incisions were nothing bad, the irritation from the tape was worse than they were!

I would do this again in a heartbeat! If anyone, my Mother or my daughter had an excess of weight to lose, I would recommend it to them!

Good luck to you, and keep in mind, many people who have had this done without any complications, are not on the site. Many times, it takes a problem for us to search things out....

Kat

sheryl · May 8, 2006

The most important thing to know is that this is just a tool. You will have to do the work, by eating the right things and changing your habits. But after being part of support groups that include bypassers, I think it is the same. You have to be committed to do the work to change your eating and exercise habits.

With the RNY and the Band, you can be successful and you can fail. Unlike the RNY, the weight just doesn't fall off. But with the band, you have an adjustable tool that will last you years, whereas with the RNY you may regain after you lose the weight. It can happens. With either surgeries, you have to make the necessary changes to your life to be successful.

I lost 80 pounds at first. I was committed and it came off pretty easily. I learned how to eat with my band. But I went through a tough time in my life and for 2 years I went back to eating for comfort. I didn't gain as much as I would have without my band, because I still couldn't eat that much in one sitting. But I was able to eat the wrong things, drink with meals, and snack constantly. I gained 55 pounds back in the 2 years. Once I got my head together and started to eat correctly, my band was there to help. Dieting is very easy with my band. No, not really dieting. Eating healthy, I should say. So I see people struggle on diets, and with my band, it is so much easier...

I hope this helps. I highly recommend the band, but you have to be comfortable with all aspects of having it. And you have to know that it is a great tool, not a magical wand that will take the weight off. You have to do some of the work.

Maggiemay · May 9, 2006

I'm 51, and was banded July 16, 2005. . . I weighed 357 to start. . .(OMG!) 10 months and am now 85 pounds down. . . I wouldn't change my journey for anyone or anything. . .

I had an easy time postop, and if I had been a better girl. . . well, would be down even more. . . chocolate and chips became too friendly over the holiday season, and the scale didn't do as much moving as I might have liked, but I was responsible for the slow scale, not my band. . . I made the choices...

If I never lost another pound, this journey has been worth the trip... (I went to Mexico as a self pay)... I can see more future now than I ever could before...

if you let others scare you.... then you may not allow yourself to become who you want (and deserve) to be

Good luck... feel free to email me off list if you like

Maggie

Hikingcole · May 9, 2006

Hi,
I've been reading posts from people who are having very little weight loss or very slow, hungry, eating what they used to, disappointed, etc. etc.

This really scares me. Is this the norm? I am worried that I made the wrong decision. I am 58 and don't have time to make a big mistake like this and go in for a revision.:cry

JC, I was going to do the lapband as well. Like you, I did much reading on here and other places, researched lap band vs roux en y gastric bypass and have decided to go with roux en y gastric bypass.

The reasons for my decision are that I read MANY cases where people had to have more surgery to repair lapband, remove lapband or because the band had slipped. I am a self-pay and could not afford $19,000.00 for a surgery that I might have to have undone shortly thereafter or have removed altogether and then be out much MUCH more on medical expenses.

Also, from everything I've read, lapbanding is not a permanent solution. There is also a danger of the band eroding somehow into the stomach area where it is banding. This from a doctor I spoke with today. Roux en Y Gastric Bypass is a permanent surgery. There are no fills. There is no "removal" of the device once surgery is complete because there is no foreign object left in the body.

Also, check out the statistics on how many lose what percentage of excess weight with lapbanding and roux en y gastric bypass. I think you will be quite surprised by the differences and I was very impressed with the numbers. Gastric bypass is much safer than it was many years ago. It's not the banding and stapling of the stomach like it used to be.

One major thing that makes the gastric bypass more successfull in the amount of weight lost and how quickly it comes off is that when the large portion of stomach is cut away from the "pouch" that is made, the tube (I don't remember but think it is small intestine) from lower of that section is reatached to the tube (lower intestine?) and that is the place where the calorie absorbtion begins causing much less calories to be absorbed from what we eat.

Just thought I'd let ya know what I've found out. I hope it's okay. I'm scheduling my gastric bypass this week and will hopefully be going in for surgery in mid July. I would go sooner but my seasonal work begins first part of June and I simply can't be away from that work for the period of time required. That's what's paying for my surgery.

G

argon · May 9, 2006

Sorry jcbydesign, for hijacking your thread. I'll start my saying that I'm very happy with my choice. I'm not losing SUPER fast, nor do I expect to. It's your choice, so do what you feel is best. Maybe having a look at the before/after pictures would inspire you... that always cheers me up.

Now for you, Hikingcole...

Have you really researched the RNY that well? You said "There is no "removal" of the device once surgery is complete because there is no foreign object left in the body. " Some people find that a comfort... that the lapband CAN be undone, if a problem ever occurs. You can't get back the meters of intestine that are removed with the RNY.

Statistically, after 5 years, the weight lost with and RNY and the 'band' is virtually the same. You may lose 150 lbs in 8 months, but how are you going to look? Are you ok with saggy, wrinkly skin? Cause it's going to be much more of a likelyhood when you lose that fast. You didn't gain all your weight overnight... do you REALLY need to lose it that fast?

I was originally going to get the RNY as well. My reasoning was that I wanted to lose FAST and I thought I needed the malabsorbtion, and hoped I'd be a "dumper'. But.. I realize that I have plenty of time to lose weight, and I'm happy with the scale just going down, consistently.. I don't have to lose 10lbs a week. I'd like to eat some cake or chocolate again, without fear of dumping.

I think you need to look into the downsides of the RNY as much as you have into those of the lapband.

jcbydesign · May 9, 2006

Thank you for responding...it's very kind of you to share your thoughts. I've been in the same 'thinking pattern'...so will talk to the surgeon and see what he says on Friday.

Janey

VOtt · May 9, 2006

I think most everyone on this site cane say they researched and researched. I second guessed myself 100x when I decided to get the lap band, I know what your thinking(I think most of us had the same thought---am I doing the right procedeure, I would definatley lose the weight with RNY, but I could have more problems with malabsortion and more.

My insurance would not cover this so that was even more added stress on me, if I spend all this money, for the lap will it truely work, will I regret it not getting the RNY

Well I was banded Nov.21, 2005 I have lost 52lbs, I have avg. 2.5 lbs per week, some weeks I will not lose any and the next week I will lose 2 to 4lbs, I went for 2 weeks not losing any weight AT ALL, but I lost inches. My advice to you is to weight and measure.

You are the only one that can make the decsion which surgery to have, But I can tell you I have not regeted getting the lap band at all I have went down from 24w to 18 and even some 14/16 yipeeeeeeee!!!!!

I am not one to exercise, but now that I have been losing the weight I want to exercise now I want to go for a walk, I even want to go swimming, which my 13 year daughter old has begged my to do for 5 years.

TO ALL GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SURGERY WHICH EVER ONE YOU CHOOSE

VOtt

sheryl · May 9, 2006

There are great things about the RNY and great things about the lapband. And there are bad things about them both, as well.

The amount of problems that bandsters have are minor, and they only happen to a very small amount of people. Complications from the RNY can be very major.

The adjustablility of the band is what is great. Yes, it takes some tweaking at times. But this is a tool that you can adjust and use for years to come. It does that a bit longer to lose the weight, and while you are losing you are learning how to change your habits.

With the RNY, if you haven't changed your habits after your "window of opportunity" of losing happens (I believe it is 18-24 months when your pouch can enlarge if you eat too much and your body relearns to absorb the calories), then you can gain the weight back. There are some RNYers who find after a couple of years that their pouches have stretched and they go in for a lapband to control the amount of food they can eat.

Yes, there are some bandsters who have problems. Some have to have their bands taken off. They are the minority, by far.

So, the point of this post is to research all types of surgeries, if you are interested. Don't just listen to one surgeon, because many surgeons push the RNY because it may requires less maintenance on their part (not doing fills) and they see faster results. But it isn't always in the best interest of the patient, IMO... Look at the pros and cons (they all have pros and cons), then you will know what is best for you.

It can be a scary decision no matter what you choose. But it is so worth it all in the end!

jcbydesign · May 9, 2006

I think most everyone on this site cane say they researched and researched. I second guessed myself 100x when I decided to get the lap band,
Thank you so much...it really helps to hear that I am not the only one with the second guess syndrome...:decision:

I can live with an average of 2 pounds a week...no problem. I hate to exercise, too so it's really encouragiing to know that you want to now that you have a lost (wow!!!) some weight.