The last year and a half have been filled with one medical issue after another. I'm a year out from having the sleeve.

I started with having the band removed...ended up having a freak reaction to the anesthesia and one week spent in the cardiac unit.

After a few months of having my heart monitored, I had the sleeve done. No complications. Except that in my own rush to get on the road to better health, I didn't ask any questions about whether the sleeve is right for me or if I should go with the bypass.

My insurance changed at the beginning of the year, so I had to switch doctors. My new doc wanted me to go through a bunch of tests. He wanted to know exactly where I stood since he didn't do the surgery and, after nine months of only losing 23 pounds (the first two months), my old doc just said I needed to go back on two Protein drinks a day and up my Water to 94 oz.

1. Endoscopy showed that I have a small pouch at the top of my sleeve (consistent with having a lab band previously). Not unusual. It also showed that I have Barrett's Esophagus. Unfortunately, this is severely aggravated by GERD and mine is aggravated by the little pouch.

2. My blood work showed I was severely low on Iron...my old doc missed this in my blood work.

3. I also have a sugar issue...not diabetic yet...but definitely an intolerance issue.

Forward to this week, after a huge host of tests, and it boils down to I should have had a bypass rather than a sleeve.

The point of me typing all this... don't take any shortcuts. Get an Endoscopy and updated blood work right before you make a choice about which surgery is going to work best for you. Each one has it benefits and drawbacks, just make sure which is right for you.

Well, I'm not so sure it's that cut and dry. But if you feel that you should have had the bypass you can always revise to one. I personally recommend a bypass for people who fail with the sleeve. However, they are both pretty much the same in the long-haul. The average weight loss for the sleeve is 60% and for the bypass is 70%, not much difference at the end.