Hello everyone

I have been told by my Doctor that he would only do my surgery in two surgeries. 3 months apart. Reason, waiting for good tissue to grow. He said that after that Band has been in there tissue has been scared and when you take it out you do not want to staple bad tissue and have problems later. So i'm reading where some have had it this way and some have not and did fine. What I would like to know. DID ANYONE HAVE A PROBLEM AFTER HAVING BOTH SURGERIES TOGETHER? If so what kind of problem? Wishing you all well

JewelJ

I'd go with what your Doctor says, trust me you don't want a leak, waiting three months is way way way way worth not getting a leak. They ruin lives.

And my surgeon only does it in two steps.

Had mine in one step my surgeon prefers it that way. My surgery was 4 1/2 hours, my stomach had prolapsed thru the band and was adhered to my liver. No complications, I can eat anything, only just under a half a cup of anything. I take that back, my only complication us that I am a slow loser. surgery apr 29th down 25 lbs, 1 1/2 lbs away from 100 lbs total in the last 6 years!

I had mine done in one. I was at goal, I had a lot of swelling. On day 2 the ONE oz f/u gastrogaffin dye took an hour to pass thru my new sleeve. That took 2 weeks to settle down. I stayed in the hospital for 3 nights to be sure I was not a problem. It was an expected possible bump in the road. I did fine. There isn't a one fits all. Follow what your surgeon recommends for you. Good Luck.

Great question as I am researching too. I want to add to your question ... Did your doctors drain the fluid prior to revision and does that make a difference? My band has NOT been filled on two years (I had a baby). I was wondering if that is a plus or if it really doesn't matter because you still have a band around your stomach.

I had mine done in one. I was at goal, I had a lot of swelling. On day 2 the ONE oz f/u gastrogaffin dye took an hour to pass thru my new sleeve. That took 2 weeks to settle down. I stayed in the hospital for 3 nights to be sure I was not a problem. It was an expected possible bump in the road. I did fine. There isn't a one fits all. Follow what your surgeon recommends for you. Good Luck.

Dear Sleeveconverft, I think you are right, we should just trust the Doctor and go with it. I do want to ask, Do most people have to DRINK some "gastrogaffin dye" before leaving the hospital to make sure everything will pass through?? Just checking.. Wish you well my friend

JewelJ

Of the 3 surgeries my surgeon did the day I had mine-- all 3 of us had to drink it. It is absolutely the worst part. You can gag that down-- your home free !

Great question as I am researching too. I want to add to your question ... Did your doctors drain the fluid prior to revision and does that make a difference? My band has NOT been filled on two years (I had a baby). I was wondering if that is a plus or if it really doesn't matter because you still have a band around your stomach.

Dear Poorehouse

you have had no RESTRICTION FOR TWO YEARS.. So it sounds like you have the feeling for the past two years of not having a band at all. So the doctor does not have to do anything before surgery, they just have to remove your Band.... Right now I still have my Band in. It has 8cc of fluid in it. That is full restriction..very tight... I will have this Band removed on Oct 9th, than have to go through the holiday season before getting the Sleeve.. wish me luck..JewelJ

Yes... I have gone through two bands - the second one was an attempt to fix the original band that was ruined by over fills which caused so much dilation it stretched out the stomach and I spit up all the time every day. When I got pregnant I have the fluid removed and how nice was it to eat and not have food STUCK for several outs. Never felt full. So I decided to research the sleeve after two friends were extremely successful on it. Another factor ... Paying $700 a months in daycare there is no way I can afford to keep paying for fills over and over plus the office visit.... It is so expensive! So while I know this is going to be hard it seems that everyone in this for forum seems to be happy with the sleeve choice...

My surgeon did it all in one surgery (and fixed a hernia while in there). I am thankful it happened in one shot. And in my case it ended up being a blessing. They found a small tear in my spleen later that night and had to repair. So I thank God everything happened the way it did. And what was an even greater blessing is my insurance treated it as an in-patient surgery and it was only $400 OOP. My band cost me $2500 copay.

I did not have Fluid removed before the band was removed. I believe I was at 5 CC's. I did have some scarring around my esophagus due to the band (a lot of vomiting the last 6 months I had the band). I don't remember much of my hospital stay (due to blood loss and other issues not related to the revision). I know I didn't have to drink a dye.(wonder why that is!?).

I did have a swallow test last week when I went in due to having issues with swallowing (appears to be an acid reflux issue). It was so interesting seeing the barium go all the way into my intestine. My baby stomach was so small! I'm glad I saw the size, it helps me keep my eating in perspective.

But as everyone has said, it's best to let the surgeon decide. You don't want to rush anything and regret it later.

I'm having band to sleeve revision oct 1. My doc says he's waiting to get in there to make a decision on whether it can be done in one surgery. He says we have a 50% chance of being able to do it in one surgery. I like his thinking. If there is a lot of scarring, or the band has eroded into the stomach, there is a greater chance of having problems with leaks, etc. He says he's not going to risk my health just because we want to have it done in 1 surgery. He has done a lot of revisions, so he knows what he's talking about.

With that said, because I have not had restriction with my band in several years because I had all the Fluid taken out, and I have not had vomiting or any other problems, there is a very good chance he will be able to do it in one shot.

The last thing you want is to have a problem later..

I asked my dr the day before my revision what the chances were that I'd wake up in recovery without my sleeve. he said "Next to nil". He's done thousands of sleeves and has only a handful that were so damaged he had to do it in 2 steps. My bad had to be dug out of my stomach after being embedded into it and he still went ahead with the revision. I go to a Center of Excellence so had every confidence in my dr that he would never do anything to harm me. My dr staples my stomach but also plicates it (folds it over) to avoid leaks. Seems as tho very few surgeons do this extra step.

And yes, they do the barium in everyone the day after surgery to verify you don't have a staple line leak.

And no, I had no Fluid in my band at surgery. not because of the upcoming surgery but because my band had herniated about 2 mths prior and had to be totally unfilled.

Hope that answers your questions! Good luck to you. So glad I had it done at once. only 1 recovery involved. And mine was tougher than my lapband, most likely due to the fact it took him an extra 30 mins in tugging and digging to get my band out.

Hi. I had the band for five years ( mistake) my doctor told me if he goes in and there is scare that he would need to do 2 surgeries. But lucky for me no scares. Sleeve process done now on the road to recovery 14 days post op.

Hi, I had my band for three and a half years. I had the band to sleeve revision in one surgery, which went well.

Ask your doctor how many leak tests s/he does. The disgusting swallow on Day 2 was one of mine (and it also took a while for that to go through my sleeve because of swelling). My surgeon did a leak test with blue dye during the surgery as well. Different doctors seem to have different theories and practices about leak tests.

Good luck and best wishes for your surgery and a quick, uneventful recovery!