Hi there everyone! Well I have spent the better half of this month on the BAND board (was going to schedule a surgery date soon) and happened to come across the acronym VSG, VSG, VSG quite a few times on the other band board. I have been looking into banding for months and decided I would self pay and change my life....well as I mentioned I saw VSG and looked into these three magical letters- Low and behold I'M HERE!

I am sooo glad I found this board but at the same time I am upset I found this board- WHY? Because I was DEADSET on the BAND and now I am thinking "WHAT WAS I THINKING??"....I have been reading this board from top to bottom and have pretty much learned about the pros/cons. All the reasons I wanted the band to begin with have now turned into all the reasons I DON'T want it...weird, I know :-)

So I have read a bunch of 'reviews' post surgery, all the hardships, all the NEW lifestyle changes and am feeling VERY positive about it all.....

So to be honest I am now 50/50 between the LAP BAND and VSG....never thought I would ever doubt the band but I am.

So my next issue: I am originally from Canada and am NOT living there now. I am living in istanbul, Turkey (yes, it REALLY is the most beautiful historical place on earth!!) and I have been looking into self pay here. I am unaware of the prices in various countries (except I can see its priced really well in Mexico which is not an option at this point). The pricing here is about $8000-$8500 CAD ($7500-$8000 USD) ALL IN- meaning everything which includes 3 nights hospital stay (is that enough time to recover?)....does that sound like an alright price to you all? the surgeon here is very well known in europe and the facilities are all top notch. I guess I am looking for someone to fully push me over to the VSG side....lol

any advice? is this price too much?

thank you and I cant wait to be apart of all this

Hi, i was really going to get the band too . . but my hubbie was dead against that. . i asked him to come to a seminar which he did with reluctance, but he came. . .after the seminar, i asked him what he thought, he told me that he will never support me with the band but would support me 100% with the sleeve. . i nearly fell over. . well on Dec 29th (about 4 weeks ago) i was sleeved and for $15,500 USD (self pay) had my surgery here in San Antonio, TX which also included a 3 day stay in the hospital and yes that is plenty of time to recover. . you feel good by day 3, sore but good. . . your price as you can see is good compared to the US. . I have never looked back with regret about getting the sleeve, it's a permanent thing and you don't have to worry about getting fills and unfills (that is expensive!) you don't have to worry about erosion like with the band, don't have to worry about slippage as with the band! Girl it shouldn't take someone to push you over to the sleeve side, it only makes sense. . . Good luck in your decision!

Edited January 24, 201016 yr by thinoneday

I agree, that's a great price compared to US prices (mine's $11,200), and you'll probably be in a newer, hotel-like facility rather than a traditional old hospital. AND, you get three nights there to be pampered... usually we only get one here! LOL... I say go for it!!

Thank you Girls!! its funny I PUSHED the band idea on my husband and he has been doing his research and was very iffy about me having "silicone things" in my body....lol

Ever since we started looking at VSG he is very supportive but again we were just wondering about cost and how the healing process goes- I have a 7 month old baby so I'll be home with her until my 1 year mat leave is done (then its back to work)....

I appreciate your advice and look forward to reading/hearing more experiences!

VSG is looking pretty good...:-)

The SLEEVE is AWESOME!!!

I was originally set on getting the band too. The more I learned about the long term complications with the band, the more nervous I got. I was never really comfortable with a piece of plastic/silicon inside of me. Once I learned about VSG, I was sold. Now, nearly 6 months post op, I can easily say the SLEEVE was everything I had hoped for in WLS. My tummy is all healed (no future surgeries for my tummy in my future -well maybe a tummy tuck) and I can eat whatever I want, just not much of it. I hear so many with the band that say problems can start any time...from the start, 6 months post op, 12 months post op, 2 years post op. For me, a constant worrier, I would go crazy with worry that "today would be the day something would go wrong with my band". Good luck with your decision!

OMG!!!! I have been thinking about getting banded for 2 yrs now and I just KNEW the band was for me. I go to my seminar Tusesday 1/26/ I was on the Band site also and saw the letters VSG. Now I am not sure can't wait until Tuesdsay to get more info.

OMG!!!! I have been thinking about getting banded for 2 yrs now and I just KNEW the band was for me. I go to my seminar Tusesday 1/26/ I was on the Band site also and saw the letters VSG. Now I am not sure can't wait until Tuesdsay to get more info.

Listen really closely when you go to the seminar. . . the band is expensive! If you think about it, the fills, unfills, the possible infections at the port, the readmissions to the hospitals because of possible slippages. . . no thank you! with the sleeve you are in the hospital 3 days tops, go home sipping on fluids and eating popsicles for a bit, then train yourself to eat slowly and chew foods, get full on 4 oz. . . then after a while (mine is the 6th month) you can go on a regular diet. . . then you eat whatever (within reason of course) and know your eating like a thin person. . losing weight and being happy about it. . . the sleeve is the way to go! Good luck on your decision as well. . . :thumbup1:

I am being sleeved on Wednesday (1/27) and paying $10,600 in the US. So, your price sounds very reasonable.

Besides the stories here on the boards, I know 3 people with the band. All 3 have had issues with swelling, vomitting, not being able to hold food down, etc. (One has had to have all the Fluid taken out for the past 5 months - so she paid for a surgery that is doing her no good.) While I only have 1 friend with a sleeve & 2 with a gastric by-pass, they've had no issues and very happy with their choice. So, out of the6 people I know with WLS, the only 3 with complications have been banders. So, it was a definite NO for me!

Best of luck on your decision.

I too was sure I wanted the Band because the RNY was too invasive for me. I read about VSG on the band site and was immediately sold. My doc didn't want me to have the RNY or the Band so it worked out perfectly!

Good luck in your research. This is a great site to gather information.

I am a band to sleeve revision, and the sleeve rocks.

Here's my standard reply when people ask me about my band to sleeve revision experience.

I had the band placed 10/01/08, developed a severe flipped port, with hellacious pain. Couldn't access the port, and I had lost all initial restriction. My band surgeon would not do anything about it, so I left his practice and found a surgeon who would agree to remove the band and revise to the sleeve.

It was the best thing in the entire world. The sleeve is instant restriction. I followed the post-op diet very strictly for the first 4 months, meaning I didn't cheat on the program. I stayed below 30 grams of carbs, ate Protein first, and drank my fluids. I'm trying to maintain at this point, and it's been a balancing act. But, the band failed me and so did my band surgeon. I was constant pain on a daily basis. The tubing of the band was actually tugging on my stomach, and damaged my stomach severely.

Revising to the sleeve was the best decision I ever made. I now live a very normal life. I eat anything and everything just in smaller portions. I eat 3-4 times a day and rarely snack. I'm almost 8 months out and never feel real hunger. I crave some foods so I eat them. Like mexican and thai foods are my faves. I have to remind myself to eat because my brain never realizes I'm hungry. I do indulge occasionally in a couple of Snicker's miniatures, but am satisfied with 2 of them, and go about my day. I really do eat like a "naturally" thin person.

The cost is a good rate and is a very competitive with extremely experienced, licensed Mexico surgeons that provide a full hospital environment with an ICU and a full 2 nights in a hospital.

When checking out surgeons, ensure they have performed no less than 300 sleeves. The sleeve is about technique, and once a surgeon has performed this many sleeves, his technique is down, and the risk of complications decrease substantially. Don't be any surgeon's guinea pig regardless of cost.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions feel free to shoot me a message.

I can only tell of my personal experience with the band, and it was HORRIBLE!! If you keep researching you will find more and more negative things about the band. I wish that I would have been sleeved first and never had the band. I won't go into great detail, but look at it this way do you want to have one surgery and be done or have one and then do it again in a few years.

Don't know anything about the prices, I had my band and sleeve done in Mexico. Very happy with my sleeve results. If you have any questions PM me, I'm an open book!

I had the band September 2004. Since November 2005, I've had nothing but problems. I've been in severe daily pain every waking moment because of the band and my body rejecting a foreign object being in it.

Since I was revised to the sleeve in October 2009, I've lost 77lbs and I'm so happy. I still suffer with daily pain because they could not get the port out. Don't do it. Of the 9 of us that got the band together, 8 have been revised, replaced, or had it removed. I think long term it's a terrible WLS.

OMG I am SOOOOOO GLAD I joined this site!! I am soooooo appreciative for all of your advice and honesty. Well I have been on various sites for hours and following this board and I am 100% I AM NOT getting the BAND!!!! After all the horror stories I just can't do it! There is NO way I am going to put myself through a 50/50 chance of a going through all the issues listed by many of you. I am extremely glad I came on here and I feel pretty confident that NOT getting the band is the best choice- THANK YOU ALL. I am actually pretty upset at this point.....why you ask? I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW THE BAND IS STILL LEGAL with all of these ISSUES/PROBLEMS? I don't understand how they could allow such a procedure to continue to be performed and be this popular? WELL I called my brother in Canada and was discussing these procedures (I never told him I am STRONGLY considering it) and we talked about various surgeries. I told him what I have been reading and he basically said it falls into what profits the government and the insurance companies- ITS all MATHEMATICS (classic line from my brother). He said it makes complete sense how the BAND is so readily approved by insurance companies- there are problems post surgery (check), fills (check), unfills (check), more dr visits (check) ALL OF THIS MEANS BIG BUCKS for insurance companies and whoever gets kick backs.....I guess you all get the idea....Its really a shame that this BAND is allowed and encouraged- its as if people are guinea pigs- sad really :-(

Whatever I end up doing (my ONLY choice at this point is the VSG) I am very glad I came on here and was able to hear some amazing stories and read amazing advice! Thank you all-------I will be frequenting this board quite often from this point on as my Quest continues- now I just have to make sure the surgeon has done more than 300 sergeries (thanks Tiffykins)

Anything I should be looking for? I think I might continue to look around Turkey to see if there are a few more surgeons (there are more but they charge a few thousand more- but I guess its worth it if it means they are more experienced)

xoxo

and the quest continues...:-)

I forgot to mention we do have another member here that had surgery in Turkey I believe. I will go through some of the older posts, and maybe you could send them a private message asking for details. I know they specifically traveled to that region because they had family, and were originially from that part of the world.

I'll try to find some links for you, and if you need help researching surgeons, or facilities, post away, we will try to help you as much as possible.

I'll come back to this thread when I have more information.

I apologize ahead of time for my mistake. This particular member had surgery in Syria. I had the correct region, but totally off on the specific country. I would be willing to bet he could help you research specific surgeons/facilities in that region.

Here are the threads from this member that may help you especially with traveling after surgery:

http://verticalsleevetalk.com/tell-your-story/2092-surgery-syria.html

http://verticalsleevetalk.com/tell-your-story/2153-booked-my-surgery-syria.html

http://verticalsleevetalk.com/tell-your-story/2719-surgery-done-syria.html

http://verticalsleevetalk.com/post-operation-vertical-sleeve-gastric-surgery-vsg-questions-answers/2413-travel-after-sleeve-surgery.html

Tiffykins you READ MY MIND!! I had JUST finished those threads up and had already sent them a PM- hopefully they answer. THANK YOU for taking the time to find all those threads, there was some good info in there so still helpful

There was someone who got their band in Turkey and I had contacted them a week ago regarding their surgery here- I guess I won't be going that route anymore (Thank Goodness you all convinced me!!)

I guess I'll continue to follow this board on a daily basis (my husband thinks I am OBSESSED NOW!! Just when he thought I was done with the BAND I now found this site- lucky for him!!)

Thanks again everyone, I can't wait to follow everybodies progress on here and *hopefully* be a part of it all :-)

I look forward to seeing more motivational stories- they really put a smile on my face and make me feel like there is hope and this does really work (IF WE MAKE IT WORK OF COURSE)

xo