Hi guys,

This is my first post on here but not my first attempt at WLS so it would probably help if I share my story.

I decided to have a L-B in 2006, I weighted 123kg(let it be know, thats the first time I have EVER told ANYONE my pre-op weight!). I was fine for 4 day and then I started to feel very, very ill. After a wasted trip to a private hospitals ER where the moron doctor gave me Enoz and said go home I ended up a few days later in my hospital on IV antibiotics for 7 days. I had developed an amazing allergy to the metal port, it was horrid and battled this infection for 13 months before my surgeon and I gave up and she removed my port. 3 months later she replaced it with a fancy plastic one that was held in place by two tiny metal spokes. By this stage I had lost about 30kgs and was very happy.

But one night my port flipped, my body came into contact with the metal and 6 weeks later on the 2nd of January my poor surgeon came in off her summer holidays and took my port out again. My weight was pretty stable and was slowly going down so we didnt bother putting another one in. All went well until I had a mystery illness and landed in hospital for another few days on IV antibiotics, we still have no idea what it was. But during this time I had an endoscopy which found I had a rip-snorter massive ulcer caused by taking huge amounts of Ibuprofen for period pain which had caused my stomach wall to erode and my band to slip inside my tummy.

I forgot all about this for about a year when I went to see my surgeon about something else and she reminded me that my band needs to come out. 2 weeks later it was out.

This was just over a year ago, my weight was around 87 when my band came out and I am not sitting about 97. I have tried to exercise and eat the right things and I have been doing all of that but I have come to the realisation that I have a body type and metabolism that just needs to look at food and it puts on weight.

My issue is now to have lap-banding again and risk the infection, ulcers and everything else or have the sleeve. I have been doing a huge amount of research on the sleeve and I have heard good and bad things about it.

The two huge benefits I can see for me are:

- No foreign objects= no infections

- It is permanent so hopefully won't need future surgery

Sorry it is such a long post but it has been a long rough road for me.

Any help or advice I would really appreciate it also if anyone here is a patient of Dr Kow in Adelaide and she has done your sleeve surgery I would love to hear from you.

Thanks!

Lilla

Hi Lilla, I know there are a lot of people here who have had revisions from band to sleeve, and most of them seem to have no regrets and are very happy with their sleeves. I f you check band to sleeve revisions you will find various threads and success stories, most of them anyway. One of them is Tiffykins, look her up and you'll find all her posts she's a real inspiration. I personally haven't been banded before, but had a gastric balloon in a few years ago lost a bit of weight but it all came back on and then some more! I have been sleeved for 2 months now and couldn't be happier, one of the best desicions I've made in my life! When I first saw the surgeon I weighed 102 kg, went down to 96 with the preop diet and now I'm down to 82 kilos. In the 2 months after surgery I lost 17 kilos (because I count the 2 kilos I put on after surgery) and I am one of the slower losers. I would highley recomend you to research this surgery for me and most of us on this forum it's like a dream come true, good luck, and any questios just fire away, people here are very kind, caring and supportive.

Well you two it took me a bit to google and translate kilos into pounds lol, but I think I got the gist of the weight gains and losses.

Like Chilo said there are many band to sleeve revisions on this site and they will be able to give you the low down on that idea. I was just curious though, I heard the port and metal on the bands were titanium like the staples used for the sleeve. If this is so you may need to go with a physician that uses threaded sutures and glue vs the staples if this is possible or maybe go with the gastric plication which is not excising the stomach only folding it within itself and suturing it up, to avoid the titanium.

Hmmm

Mp8 to convert lbs to Kgs it takes 2.2 lbs for every 1 kilo. I usually do a rough estimate by multiplying the kilo by 2 and adding on a bit. Gets a close idea.

Lily

YAY ok that is an easy way to convert!

I haven't had a band, but am now 9 weeks post sleeve and have lost a total of 23.5kg including preop diet. It has been a big decision, but one I am glad I made. It really changes everything about how I eat, and deal with food, which I underestimated preop. But that's what I needed. It has been a godsend. Finally, I know that I will make it to a normal weight and normal BMI.