I was banded in March of 2011 and have lost 75 pounds since then. Last Thursday I attempted to eat some refried beans and almost immediately I began getting sick. I had been getting sick a lot lately and had gone in the day before and had my band deflated to try and get myself together. This would be my last attempt with the band. The pain got worse and the vomiting and dry heaving would not let up. The doctor that deflated my band the day before just happened to call and check on me during this ordeal and he advised me to meet him at the ER and the odds were that I would be admited for surgery. I went to the ER and he had orders waiting so they quickly drew my labs and gave me pain meds as well as phenergan for the dry heaving. He showed up to do the barrium swallow and sure enough my entire stomach had prolapsed through the band (he said the band hadn't slipped so I guess there is a difference between a prolapse and a slip). My blood count was very low because I had been getting sick for a while and turns out the lining of my stomach was bleeding. He admited me and took me in for surgery at 7 the next morning. The band had got under my spleen and there was some trauma there but they were able to control the bleeding and leave the spleen. He fixed a hernia that had been caused since getting the band and resectioned me to a sleeve. I lost enough blood that I had to have 2 transfusions in the 5 nights I was there. I'm a hot mess right now and in pain but I'm better today then I was yesterday. I feel so lost now because I know nothing about the sleeve and of course I'm scared that something could go wrong with it. Even though I had a bad experience I do not regret my decision to have WLS and I'm looking forward to moving on and healing up. I really can't say that I should have done things differently because I didn't have the signs people talk about. I was always able to get liquids down but was never able to get the band adjusted correctly. Anyway I'm gonna miss lappy but hopefully sleeve will give me what I need and with less problems. Now I need to learn everything I would have learned before surgery about the sleeve. Do's and don't's, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Any information would be great!

Welcome. You've had quite an experience. I hope the rest will be downhill for you.

Read as many of the previous and current posts as you can and ask questions freely. Many people will be glad to help you.

notime is right...the people on this board have been extremely helpful and answered the many questions it seems I have daily

Oh my gosh. You and I have the exact situation. I woke up on January 4th with a sleeve revision from my slipped band and hiatal hernia repair. I had no knowledge that I was getting it. I had my band since October 2009. I had lost 70lbs and didn't regain. I had about 40lbs to go but I had issues I would ignore until those horrible symptoms started I couldn't. I have been petrified after reading all the information,especially about leaks so its nice to have someone else in my shoes. We have no choice but to go forward. My lack of knowledge did result in a trip to the ER 7 days after surgery because I just didn't understand just how important fluids and protein were. This board and meeting with a nutritionist has really helped. I just wanted to let you know I understand exact how you feel!

Oh my gosh. You and I have the exact situation. I woke up on January 4th with a sleeve revision from my slipped band and hiatal hernia repair. I had no knowledge that I was getting it. I had my band since October 2009. I had lost 70lbs and didn't regain. I had about 40lbs to go but I had issues I would ignore until those horrible symptoms started I couldn't. I have been petrified after reading all the information,especially about leaks so its nice to have someone else in my shoes. We have no choice but to go forward. My lack of knowledge did result in a trip to the ER 7 days after surgery because I just didn't understand just how important fluids and Protein were. This board and meeting with a nutritionist has really helped. I just wanted to let you know I understand exact how you feel!

What has you scared about what you have read? I think the sleeve will be less maintenance and fewer problems and it sounds like the food selection is better then the band. I'm confused about the suture line bleeding. How long is this a possible complication or how soon does the suture line heal? I also can't find a real idea of how much food I will be able to have. With the band they told us 1/2 cup but it seems that i may only be able to eat a few bites with the sleeve. I was so limited on my food choices with the band that I am looking forward to possibly eating some real food and meat. Even if it will only be a few bites. I haven't been able to eat meat in months with the band. I really have lived on fluids and refried Beans for a long time because the band was so constrictive.

I was mainly scared of a leak because of the stories on here. There seems to be a variety of answers on how long for the stomach to heal. My surgeon has had only had 2 leaks but 1 was at 6 months so I feel like I will worry longer than most. I've read a lot of people say within 6 weeks you are pretty healed. I know with the band the good stuff I liked like salad and red meat were hard to eat as well as a lot of veggies and fruit so I'm hoping the sleeve will let me eat the good stuff. Don't care so much about the red meat. Right now I can eat 2oz of tuna salad puréed and 6oz of Greek yogurt if I eat slow. I should be up to 3 or 4oz eventually in this stage for most things. My paperwork says that after a year it might hold as much as a cup if stretched but going to keep my food to my 2 and 4oz containers as much as possible. I know I'm different from most on here because I'm only 30lbs to goal weight so I'm not trying to lose a lot of weight but trying to maintain. I picked the band because it was the safest at the time and didn't want to alter my insides so I guess that's why it's hard to end up with the sleeve. I wouldn't of picked it at this point but it wasnt offered when I got my band and might have considered it when it was 100lbs.

Ok, some of the sleeve basics.

Healing:

You're suture line is typically considered healed at 6 weeks post-op.

would will feel a lot of restriction while eating solid foods due to swelling of the stomach tissue.

Typically your stomach capacity at 4-6 weeks for solids (assuming your doc allows them) will be about 2oz and will slowly grow to 8-10oz. Maximum capacity is typically reached in 8-12mo, however @ 6 months you'll likely be very close to maximum.

Keep in mind these are common case scenarios. Your mileage may vary.

Provided you make it to the 6week mark without any complications & almost all do, your chances for complications after that are almost non existent.

I think you'll be very happy with your new sleeve. I understand that this is all a bit of a shock for you, but keep looking around the forum, you find tons of ex-bandsters that say the sleeve is exactly what the band was promised to be but never delivered.

I am honestly just lookin forward to eating food with any substance. I have lived on popsicles for so long that even an egg makes my mouth water. Right now I am on full liquids but after a few sips I feel weird. I can't explain it. It isn't heartburn or reflux but something just feels weird so I back off. I have got to get some protein in me before I go bald . I thought about getting a pinto and cheese and blending it to liquid but IDK if that is too much this soon. I do not want to be back in surgery for anything so I am kind of scared to eat anything. I'm really hoping that this sleeve works better for me and that I do not have reflux.

Sleeves rule!

There are a lot of people here who have had band to sleeve revisions, myself included. One thing I have noticed universally is that surgeons will not do an immediate revision to a sleeve if there are any problems with the stomach and the band. Anyone who has an erosion or slip has to wait at least a few weeks, up to 6 months or even more before the stomach has healed enough to do the sleeve. When there has been a gastric complication with a band, there is just too much swelling and inflammation to do a sleeve immediately. This causes me to doubt this story. And it's really not possible for the band to "get under the spleen". If this really happened, I'm sorry you have had to go through this. But my experience and that of all the other band to sleeve revisions (plus my own experience working in the OR doing these procedures) leads me to believe you either have a woefully over-optimistic surgeon or something is not right here.

There are a lot of people here who have had band to sleeve revisions, myself included. One thing I have noticed universally is that surgeons will not do an immediate revision to a sleeve if there are any problems with the stomach and the band. Anyone who has an erosion or slip has to wait at least a few weeks, up to 6 months or even more before the stomach has healed enough to do the sleeve. When there has been a gastric complication with a band, there is just too much swelling and inflammation to do a sleeve immediately. This causes me to doubt this story. And it's really not possible for the band to "get under the spleen". If this really happened, I'm sorry you have had to go through this. But my experience and that of all the other band to sleeve revisions (plus my own experience working in the OR doing these procedures) leads me to believe you either have a woefully over-optimistic surgeon or something is not right here.

I didn't realize you were the beholder of all medical knowledge about bands and sleeves. Obviously my surgeon did not realize this either and failed to consult with you. Thankfully I have my operative pictures and you can clearly see my inflamed spleen laying on my band. Seems like you might need to learn your anatomy a little better because as a nurse I can tell you it is absolutely possible for a spleen to get in the way especially when it swells. I'm so glad you gave me all your divine wisdom here so i guess that just erases everything I went through the past week because YOU have deemed it can't be possible. Are you kidding me??? I didn't post on here to get your approval or permission but obviously you feel the need to give your uneducated rediculous opinions. The fact the the sleeve was unexpected was because the surgeon told me he would not know what he could do until he got in there and if the stomach was to swollen he would only be able to remove the band. Again I must tell him to consult with you from now on because you have all the answers. Would you like to see my operative pictures, reports, hospital records? I wouldn't want you to be misguided. This surgeon did me an enormous favor by handling this but that is what happens in the medical profession when you are a NICE and UPSTANDING person in the field. I'm grateful for this surgeon and he has wonderful bedside manner as well as great operative numbers. He has even called me at home each day to make sure that I feel okay. I didn't say I had an erosion or a slip. I said I had a prolapse so you might want to do your research before you run your negative mouth and make an attempt to call me a liar. The only thing not right here is YOU. Worry about your own journey and I will take care of mine. What would I have to gain to make up a story and post it on here especially when I have already lost my weight ( not 20 pounds). You might want to respond to the other members that have responded to me and have gone through the same thing and let them know that they are lieing as well and that this experience didn't really happen to them. Feel free to not comment to me because i don't waste my precious life on negative and ugly people.

There are a lot of people here who have had band to sleeve revisions' date=' myself included. One thing I have noticed universally is that surgeons will not do an immediate revision to a sleeve if there are any problems with the stomach and the band. Anyone who has an erosion or slip has to wait at least a few weeks, up to 6 months or even more before the stomach has healed enough to do the sleeve. When there has been a gastric complication with a band, there is just too much swelling and inflammation to do a sleeve immediately. This causes me to doubt this story. And it's really not possible for the band to "get under the spleen". If this really happened, I'm sorry you have had to go through this. But my experience and that of all the other band to sleeve revisions (plus my own experience working in the OR doing these procedures) leads me to believe you either have a woefully over-optimistic surgeon or something is not right here.[/quote']

Here we go again...

Amanda Rae

What do we have here? Looks like my spleen

Here we go again...

Amanda Rae

Is this common behavior for this person or something?

I didn't realize you were the beholder of all medical knowledge about bands and sleeves. Obviously my surgeon did not realize this either and failed to consult with you. Thankfully I have my operative pictures and you can clearly see my inflamed spleen laying on my band. Seems like you might need to learn your anatomy a little better because as a nurse I can tell you it is absolutely possible for a spleen to get in the way especially when it swells. I'm so glad you gave me all your divine wisdom here so i guess that just erases everything I went through the past week because YOU have deemed it can't be possible. Are you kidding me??? I didn't post on here to get your approval or permission but obviously you feel the need to give your uneducated rediculous opinions. The fact the the sleeve was unexpected was because the surgeon told me he would not know what he could do until he got in there and if the stomach was to swollen he would only be able to remove the band. Again I must tell him to consult with you from now on because you have all the answers. Would you like to see my operative pictures' date=' reports, hospital records? I wouldn't want you to be misguided. This surgeon did me an enormous favor by handling this but that is what happens in the medical profession when you are a NICE and UPSTANDING person in the field. I'm grateful for this surgeon and he has wonderful bedside manner as well as great operative numbers. He has even called me at home each day to make sure that I feel okay. I didn't say I had an erosion or a slip. I said I had a prolapse so you might want to do your research before you run your negative mouth and make an attempt to call me a liar. The only thing not right here is YOU. Worry about your own journey and I will take care of mine. What would I have to gain to make up a story and post it on here especially when I have already lost my weight ( not 20 pounds). You might want to respond to the other members that have responded to me and have gone through the same thing and let them know that they are lieing as well and that this experience didn't really happen to them. Feel free to not comment to me because i don't waste my precious life on negative and ugly people.[/quote']

It sounds like a whirlwind for you. I read so many who converted from band to sleeve quite happily. I wish you a speedy recovery.

Amanda Rae

I'm crawling under my bed until its safe.