Hello! My story is the same as everyone else here. Next month will be 4 years banded. I lost 45 lbs in the first 6 months and nothing else since. I've just been too afraid of converting to another surgery in which my Dr. insists that I need due to many complications and still needing to lose weight due to my health issues. One week ago, I was in so much pain and went to E.R. I had upper stomach and port pain. All tests came back showing nothing so I was given pain meds and sent home. I called my Dr. and told him that I am now ready to have it out. My surgery is in three weeks and Im still afraid but I have to wait before being sleeved due to what he believe may be a lot of scar tissue. Has anyone else have their band removed and is waiting or had to wait before being sleeved?

My band was removed on 5/22 and I'm waiting to be sleeved. Currently I'm doing all the consults over again as my insurance treats me like I never had WLS.

@ Rose, I have to do the same. How long will you have to wait?

@ Rose' date=' I have to do the same. How long will you have to wait?[/quote']

I have my last set of consults on July 24th. That would be with the nutritionist and the shrink. According to the PA in my doctor's office I should be able to have surgery by September based on the way my consults are scheduled. September surgery would be kind of ironic since I had my band on nine years ago Labor Day Week.

@ Rose' date=' I have to do the same. How long will you have to wait?[/quote']

I have my last set of consults on July 24th. That would be with the nutritionist and the shrink. According to the PA in my doctor's office I should be able to have surgery by September based on the way my consults are scheduled. September surgery would be kind of ironic since I had my band on nine years ago Labor Day Week.

I have my last set of consults on July 24th. That would be with the nutritionist and the shrink. According to the PA in my doctor's office I should be able to have surgery by September based on the way my consults are scheduled. September surgery would be kind of ironic since I had my band on nine years ago Labor Day Week.

surgery to be taken out on Aug 6th 2013, and was originally banded on Aug 4th of 09.

I had my bad removed emergent due to erosion 2 years ago....I'm now waiting for my sleeve which will hopefully be at the end of August.....fortunately my insurance company only needed a letter from my surgeon telling them about the eroded band....my surgeons office is submitting everything tomorrow and hopefully I will hear something by the end of the week

Good news, I got a date!! Woohoo!!! Insurance approved and scheduled for August 21st!

I went in for a revision 6/10 but woke up without a sleeve. There was too much scar tissue for the doc to want to do both in one step. I was so so disappointed. But... On rescheduled for 8/29! I'm ready to get it going!

Just had my band removed 7/25 got to wait nine weeks before surgeon will do sleeve. I am ready. Feeling excited.....

I had to wait a whole year before I could even think about having any kind of new surgery. I had my band removed due to erosion. I had so much scar tissue. I gained double the weight I had lost with the band during this time. Dr. Aceves did my sleeve and he said I would always have to be careful going forward with eating due to the scar tissue. It expands easier and quicker than a stomach that has not had any surgery. I am now close to two years post op and now from a size 24 to a size 10 and holding. Its a daily struggle to eat the right foods and keep the calorie intake down.

I was lucky. Didnt have much scar tissue. Had my band for five years.

Its so weird how some drs prefer waiting for a 2nd proceudre and some like to do it at once. My band was herniated 4 mths ago and unfilled. After reading everyones stories on here of having to wait, my pre op appt the day before I asked my dr what the chances would be that I would wake up unsleeved. He said "nil", still not knowing how much damage was done. He's a Center of Excellence with over 2,500 sleeves placed, so I trusted him. It took him an extra 30 mins to dig out my embedded band from my stomach. Recovery has been harder than I thought, but I woke up sleeved.

Not sure how many band to sleeves he's had to wait on but he acted like it was very rare to need to wait. Even with scar tissue. So glad that I did it at once. Im 3 wks out and couldn't be more pleased. Only 29 lbs to my 130 goal (lost 15 so far).

Hope ur wait is short. Good luck on ur surgery. There was many days that I thought "what have I done?" But so glad its over

My band was taken out in March 2013 and I had lots of scar tissue it took hours to remove the band. My dr. had to do a peer to peer review with my insurance just to get a list of what they wanted. Before the call it was denied. Now I must do 3 nutrient visits over 60 days, letter from my PCP recommending WLS, and another pysch eval. Crazy since I had a successful banding. Lost almost 100 lbs. before getting so sick that it had to be removed. I had a dental issue that required almost 6 months on antibiotics and I believe that is what caused my body to reject the band after 2 years. No one will admit it but I will tell you I went into that surgery crying and came out crying. As sick as I was I didn't want the dr to take my band. I just don't get the pysch eval again I was sane enough 2 and half years ago and lost all that weight but I still need nutrition sessions...BS! But I will jump the hoops it wont hurt. I just want to get back to losing since I have gained over 40lbs sinch March. I would really love to hear what differences others are seeing with the sleeve vs. the band.

My band was taken out in March 2013 and I had lots of scar tissue it took hours to remove the band. My dr. had to do a peer to peer review with my insurance just to get a list of what they wanted. Before the call it was denied. Now I must do 3 nutrient visits over 60 days' date=' letter from my PCP recommending WLS, and another pysch eval. Crazy since I had a successful banding. Lost almost 100 lbs. before getting so sick that it had to be removed. I had a dental issue that required almost 6 months on antibiotics and I believe that is what caused my body to reject the band after 2 years. No one will admit it but I will tell you I went into that surgery crying and came out crying. As sick as I was I didn't want the dr to take my band. I just don't get the pysch eval again I was sane enough 2 and half years ago and lost all that weight but I still need nutrition sessions...BS! But I will jump the hoops it wont hurt. I just want to get back to losing since I have gained over 40lbs sinch March. I would really love to hear what differences others are seeing with the sleeve vs. the band.[/quote']

Wow what insurance company? That's ridiculous....but great attitude and good luck

Hello! My story is the same as everyone else here. Next month will be 4 years banded. I lost 45 lbs in the first 6 months and nothing else since. I've just been too afraid of converting to another surgery in which my Dr. insists that I need due to many complications and still needing to lose weight due to my health issues. One week ago, I was in so much pain and went to E.R. I had upper stomach and port pain. All tests came back showing nothing so I was given pain meds and sent home. I called my Dr. and told him that I am now ready to have it out. My surgery is in three weeks and Im still afraid but I have to wait before being sleeved due to what he believe may be a lot of scar tissue. Has anyone else have their band removed and is waiting or had to wait before being sleeved?

While my situation is similar to yours it is not quite the same. I still have my band in but learned on Monday that it had prolapsed. My doctor did an endoscopy which confirmed this. He also performed a fleuroscopy and removed all the Fluid from my band making it nonfunctional. When I met with him for my initial consult, I told him that one of my biggest fears was that there would be too much damage from my band and scar tissue for him to be able to do the surgery. He told me then that he is able to do the band removal and sleeve at the same time in 90% of his patients. After the tests on Monday, I found out that the sleeve was still a viable option for me.

I am having another test performed next week and then meet with him the following week to discuss the results. At that point it will be decided if my claim will be submitted to the insurance company early. My insurance company has a six month medically supervised diet criteria. So now the only question remaining is "when" the surgery will occur not "if" since I have met their other criteria.

I hope this response helps. I know it is very nerve wracking with so many unknowns You worry about so many things. I hope that your fears turned out to be unfounded.