Hi all! I was banded in mexico in 2002. I started at 285lbs and over the years (I was a slow loser) I had lost just over 130lbs by 2009. I had stay steady at same weight from 2009-2014. Was filled to where I wanted and THOUGHT I was ok. I decided to just get checked out at Kaiser just because it had been so many years since I had ANY type of checkup on it. They did a flouroscopy and found my esophogus had doubled in size. My band had been overfilled all those years..my doctor in Mexico ALWAYS does fills under flouro, but eventually had started getting "blind" fills by a local doctor. This is what caused the overfill. But I lived with it over the years figured just the band quirks..my weight stayed off so it worked. So when they found the expanded esophagus they completely unfilled my band and had me weight about 3 months for improvement. My esophagus returned to normal, so they agreed to refill me slowly. I got a few fills at Kaiser, but then moved to central california from northern..and went back to surgeon I had been getting blnd fills before at his northern cali location. I was now closer to his central ca location. So in Feb 2016, his NP filled me and most likely introduced an infection when she filled me. She may have stabbed me twice. So not knowing I had an infection, I was starting to have pain shortly after. I felt a hard lump in my stomach that felt like my port but the lump was now higher than the port was always stitched. So I thought my port had become unstitched and moved up to my waistline. SO I contacted my surgeon in Mexico and he advised I head down there to get checked out, so I did. He did a flouroscopy and everything looked normal..but he decided to go in and open me up to see what was going on. He found a massive infection brewing in there. He did an endoscopy to make sure my band had not eroded. It was fine.So he cleaned me out, stitched me up and sent me home with a few heavy duty antiobiotics. After almost the full course of antibiotics, my incision wasn't healing and was still oozing. So he figured my body was attacking the port and tubing, so he had me come back to Mexico to remove the port and tubing..let me body heal and said to come back in 4-5 months to put port and tubing back in. This was May of 16. My band was filled again..and I know I need to have the port/tube in but for almost 2 years, did not go back due to time and money. I had NO issues. I had gained 50lbs quickly after that initial unfill, but have not had luck really losing this 50lbs. Admittedly had not been trying extra hard..but figured my body was adjusting to all the fill, unfill, fill activity. I was glad I had not gained ALL my weight.

So fast forward to today. About a week ago in the midst of being sick with bad flu for over 2+ weeks, developing a yeast infection and ear infection, I started having pain in my abdomen at the site of the incision from 2 years ago. I feel a lump now underneath and was feeling like it did when I had the infection before. Not sure why now..so I went to ER and they did a CT Scan. They sent to a local bariatric surgeon to review..he said he didn’t really see anything unusual..he didn’t know I didn’t have a port so I think whatever lump I have he thought was my port. Before I could get my story out, he basically said he advises to remove the band now, wait 4-5 months and revise to sleeve! I was floored. I was not expecting that AT ALL! I never really thought about the sleeve, know anything about it and know if would be successful at this point.

I am more worried about gaining back all my weight and keeping it off long term. Like I said I have 50lbs of it I still want to lose, but given it is a revision and not a brand new out of the box patient..will I still have a hard time losing it with a sleeve revision or will having a new surgery help?

I am still deciding if I want to have the surgeries local or go back to Mexico. I would have to pay out of pocket in Mexico or get it covered 100% here in town. BUT I trust my Mexican surgeon more..more experienced with bands and surgery in general. I need to decide quickly because of the infection going on.

What has been your experience if you revised from band to sleeve after a long time. Were you able to lose weight again or basically did the sleeve just help you keep off what you have lost?

I am nervous about the non reversable cutting of my stomach for the sleeve.

Any advice would help at this point!!

I’m about four weeks out from Tube Leak Repair. Find out if I’m ready for a first fill. Upper GI still feels inflamed. Really have to chew everything throughly. Slow going.

I am quite concerned about all the new people going to such drastic measures to have their insides reconstructed to again lose weight that they claimed they lost originally with the band and they have gained. I will not do more surgery and if it comes to the point of a drastic problem to remove the band, I will have to learn new eating habits and WILL NOT have my insides cut and reorganized thinking that that is the answer. I am going back to my basics when I first got the band and I will get back down to my goal weight. This has been my life of up and down weight and I believe that most of the people having surgery are all cut from the same cloth as me. I am optimistic that we all can change and it just might take a few tries and lots of faith in ourselves.

On 5/3/2018 at 12:58 PM, sparkplug said:

I am quite concerned about all the new people going to such drastic measures to have their insides reconstructed to again lose weight that they claimed they lost originally with the band and they have gained. I will not do more surgery and if it comes to the point of a drastic problem to remove the band, I will have to learn new eating habits and WILL NOT have my insides cut and reorganized thinking that that is the answer. I am going back to my basics when I first got the band and I will get back down to my goal weight. This has been my life of up and down weight and I believe that most of the people having surgery are all cut from the same cloth as me. I am optimistic that we all can change and it just might take a few tries and lots of faith in ourselves.

You make this sound so simplistic and totally negates why most of us got the surgery in the first place. If you were able to learn new eating habits, why did you get the band in the first place??? You obviously failed at that..like the rest of us..over and over and over. You do know that only 5% of people who lose weight are able to keep it off for more than 5 years..so THAT is exactly why I got banded 16 years ago. I was tired of pushing the rock up the hill, only to have it come back down on me again..and again. If it was that easy to learn new habits NONE OF US would have had surgery in the first place. The band was not only a tool to help me lose weight, but more importantly to keep it off. My band was doing that until i had issues with it 4 years ago.

When my band was unfilled in 2014 due to the esophogeal dilation found, I gained 30lbs in less than a month. I was practically eating a napkin and glass of water and gained weight. There was no learning new habits..I was gaining weight on eating nothing...so your "new habits" would not have helped with the gain..well.perhaps I would have gained more if I didn't starve myself to prevent the gain.

Chances are if your band was removed with no new surgery, you would gain back most of the weight too..it is a quick scary free fall that I hope you never have to experience and make that decision to have a new surgery. My body was stuck with the extra 50lbs I gained after the unfill. No matter what I did..the weight would not come off. Now 45 days post sleeve surgery, I have lost 15lbs. I have 35-40 more lbs to lose to get back to where I was before all the problems started.

So do your best to keep that band inside you so you don't have to make the decision that many of us have had to do. Not an easy decision..but we are all here because the traditional way to lose weight failed. Surprised you are so judgemental, but I guess you can be if your band is fine.

I wanted to come back with an update. I am 45 days post surgery and now down 15lbs from pre-surgery weight. As much as I was upset to lose my band, I am now glad it is gone. I didn't realize how much **** I was putting up with being banded..

1. I can now drink before bed if I need to without worrying that it is going to come back up and I aspirate into my lungs or down my nose. This is important when I want to take pills before bed and need to drink something with it.

2. I have not had to run to a bathroom and throw up food AT ALL. The band was a constant fight of what might get stuck or not.

Those are the big issues. Now that I am on solid food, I can see how small my new stomach is. I don't have much of an appetite now. I am told that most of the hormone grehlin is removed with the majority of your stomach gone. WHo knows, this may change. Some sleevers say they are always hungry..for me..I can really go all day without eating. I DO eat..making sure I get plenty of protein..but it is a struggle to really be hungry enough to eat.

I have no idea what the future will hold with the sleeve. I am sure I will not easily lose this last 35-40lbs..but doing my best to get as much off as quickly as possible. Ironically I just started dating someone who does not want me to lose any more weight! He said he didn't sign up for skinny! So after all this time not being happy with my body, I find someone who is fine with my body as it is now and has made me more confident where I am now..BUT for me..I need to be where I want to be..we shall see what happens there.

Attaching a recent picture of me.

Good to hear things went well in Surgery. The good thing while there is still going to be an adjustment period, there is no more filling or un-filling required. I'm in the middle of stuff right now, so I can't talk too much about my first fill appointment other than it did not as expected.

I had my band removed in January after

I wanted to come back with an update. I am 45 days post surgery and now down 15lbs from pre-surgery weight. As much as I was upset to lose my band, I am now glad it is gone. I didn't realize how much **** I was putting up with being banded..
1. I can now drink before bed if I need to without worrying that it is going to come back up and I aspirate into my lungs or down my nose. This is important when I want to take pills before bed and need to drink something with it.
2. I have not had to run to a bathroom and throw up food AT ALL. The band was a constant fight of what might get stuck or not.
Those are the big issues. Now that I am on solid food, I can see how small my new stomach is. I don't have much of an appetite now. I am told that most of the hormone grehlin is removed with the majority of your stomach gone. WHo knows, this may change. Some sleevers say they are always hungry..for me..I can really go all day without eating. I DO eat..making sure I get plenty of protein..but it is a struggle to really be hungry enough to eat.
I have no idea what the future will hold with the sleeve. I am sure I will not easily lose this last 35-40lbs..but doing my best to get as much off as quickly as possible. Ironically I just started dating someone who does not want me to lose any more weight! He said he didn't sign up for skinny! So after all this time not being happy with my body, I find someone who is fine with my body as it is now and has made me more confident where I am now..BUT for me..I need to be where I want to be..we shall see what happens there.

Attaching a recent picture of me.

Rooting for you May! The never ending weight loss dance.... you’ll be in your leathers and riding soon!