It seems like we have not a lot of action in our Aussie forum. My date is 8/3/16 in Brisbane. Would love to meet other Australians having surgery around this time

Yes we certainly will be cheap dates...lol. I think being able to have a glass of wine with dinner occasionally will be the thing I miss the most, but hey, the odd small glass of low alcohol wine can now be dessert Thanks for the message, I have sent a request to join that group. The thing I am excited about the most is being able to take my daughter to the beach or pool next summer and not feel self conscious about my weight.

Good morning all,

I am currently in the process of having revisional surgery through Dr Mark Doaud. I was desperate to find a support group that has been through lap banding to bypass surgery. I have a few friends that have had sleeving done through Dr Doaud and one bypass but no-one who has had band to bypass. Pls pls keep me in the loop once your surgery is complete. I have so many questions that only we can answer.

ChunkyMonkey76, you mention that you have no gap,,, who is your surgeon? Do you actually mean that you have no surgeons fees at all because i am looking at $8,000 plus approx $500.00 for anetheistist...

Anxiously awaiting reply.

Hi There,

I am having lap band to rny surgery revision with Dr Liew on the Gold Coast. If you have top private health insurance he accesses gap cover, so the only out of pockets I have is the anaesthetist (around $500) and his consultations which are $100 each. He is also happy to email and answer any questions you have so you get to have a fair bit of contact. He doesn't have a dietician or psychologist attached to his practice so he will tell you what to do before and after however you'll need to access a dietician yourself. He was very highly recommended and he has great personal skills. I was quoted $4k to $8k with everyone else too. Mines on 4th March, when's your?

My health cover kicks in at the end of May but i only have Top Hospital Cover so im not sure if that is different to top cover in general.. its so confusing!! I will do some research on Dr Liew as we are at Jimboomba Gold Coast is nothing for us to travel to. I have a dietitian now so i could just keep going to her so no biggie. Thanks so much for your information. I am at my wits end with my band can not wait to have the dam thing taken out and it can't come soon enough. Im over the daily regurge!!!

I know! the band was great for me until I had my daughter, then it slipped and I have had sliming and vomiting (and other complications) ever since! Dr Liew works out of John Flynn or Allamanda, I'm having it done at Allamanda. I think you only need top hospital cover, not extras, so I would ask his practice person (Sophie). If you get a referral to him he will even do a phone consult if you can't get there to see him and he can schedule to op for after your health cover kicks in . I actually booked with him in Nov and due to Christmas holidays could only get in 4th march for the op anyway. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks so much for your info. I would love to hear post op how you are progressing..It has been indicated to me that my surgeon may not do both procedures at the same time due to scar tissue.. will be interesting if that becomes an issue for you.

Best of luck and look forward to being kept in the loop.

I have been told the same thing. I am really annoyed as I chose the band as I was told (and everyone was promoting it) its reversible. Obviously it's not, you can remove the band but it can severely damage your stomach. I'm excited now...only 2 weeks and 2 days to go

Excited for you and a bit Jeally.. lol... you may have felt the same way... the closer the time comes to getting the thing out the harder it becomes...

Oh and not that you are counting.. lol

The only difference between "Top Hospital" and Top Cover in general is whether you have top cover for your extras. This won't affect the surgery costs - the extra's only covers things like the Dietician or Psychologist if your surgeon requires you to have consultations with them before proceeding.

If you have Top Hospital with one of the main health insurance providers you are as covered as you can be! but if in doubt ring your surgeons office and get the item codes, you can then contact your health insurance company and they will tell you over the phone what you are covered for.

Thanks Elizabeth. We were talking about the surgeons fees on top of what is covered by private health insurance. Most charge a substantial fee on top of the insurance coverage. In this case she needs to phone the surgeons office to see what he will charge given her health coverage. In my case he was able to access his gap cover insurance meaning his insurance will pay the gap between medicare and my insurance provider and his normal fee. So I have no out of pockets for the surgeon.

Thanks Ladies,

Yes i called them yesterday and we are all good... going to get my referral this arvo.

They did however inform me that there is a 3 month waiting period between having the band taken out and the RNY being performed..without looking back through all the posts, have either of you been through that process yet? How did you go?

Are you worried about this stage? Weight gain and so on?

Are you going with Dr Liew or your original person? I was advised by some others that they like to wait t least 3 months and Dr Liew will make you wait that time if you are doing band to sleeve revision however with RNY it is likely that he can do it at the same time and that is what he is doing for me. My band is empty (has been for a while) and I know if the scarring is too bad then they remove the band and its game over

Yes i am going with Dr Liew, We cannot get into my port as it has flipped and gone up under my rib cage... a problem from very bad vomiting post surgery... When i spoke to Sarah yesterday, she said that everyone has to wait 3 months between.. maybe she was confused... when you say game over.. do you mean that he wont do any further sugergy?,,,ie... no sleeve or RNY.. knowing my luck that will be the case...

I would love to have a chat if possible.. as there is soooo much involved in this stuff... my no is 0439 908 401 if you would like to make contact...

But if you would prefer im happy to keep corresponding here... just so many questions and one leads to another.. lol

Wait till you get your referral and have your appointment with Dr Liew, he will make the decision. She may have been confused as in my case he is doing both at the same time. He will try to talk you out of the surgery (I think he does that with all his patients) but he is very thorough and easy to talk to and will answer all your questions. We emailed back and forth for weeks after my consult just to clarify pieces of information for me and answer any new questions I had. I really liked him and he has good reviews.

Happy to chat further with you off line, will pm you my number too

Hi all

I am also in Brisbane and have a surgery date of 7 April at greenslopes private hospital with Dr Andrew Barbour. I am nervous and excited about my new life but I am starting to get scared about my ability to stick to the liquid and mush part of the diet! I am so glad to have found this site and this discussion point, as I was looking for a local support group!

Chat soon

Daina