I had my surgery done by Dr. Pohl (Johnston, RI) back in 12/04 (I was 34)and had a couple of fills in the spring of 2005. The last office visit was.. lack of a better word, Painful!!! They spent 40 minutes stabbing my belly with a long needle trying to find the "fill reservoir", they couldn't find it since I had a lot of scar tissue. So I ended up having to reschedule and go to Roger Williams Hospital (Rhode Island) and use an X-Ray machine so they could find my reservoir and filled it. That was the last time I saw Dr. Pohl or his office, life got out of balance after that when I went through a divorce, job lose and almost a foreclosure in the next 2 years after that. It was a tough couple of years, I didn't bother with the fills, weight or even a diet, I was just doing whatever to get through life..

Now my life has been rebalanced, I have a wonderful fiancee, great job and I'm finally happy with my life! Now I want to get my weight under control and live a healthy life. I was at 301 (5' 8") when I had my surgery in 04 and got down to 230 in 05. Now, over time, I'm back up to 255, I was eating whatever and whenever I felt like, the stress was killing me and I wasn't exercising either.

In time, I noticed that the lap-band doesn't really restrict anything anymore except for when I eat food quickly, it ends up getting stuck and I have to .. Well you know...

I can now eat as much food I want without feeling full. For all I know, the lap-band could have stretched or worst, slipped.

Do you think the doctor will help me start all over again? I'm not too crazy about Dr. Pohl or the Dr guy who did me fills with Dr. Pohl, but I need to finish what I started!

Can I start over with another Dr (any suggestions)? Will I have any problems with fills with my new insurance (was BCBS now it's UHC)? I'm going to call Dr. Pohl's office this week and see what my options are. Anyone ever do this, go a few years without Dr. care and then go back? Any comment or ideas?

PS this Forum is great, back when I had my lap-band in 04, there was very little info on it. It's nice to see other people feeling the way I did/do.

Christian

First of all I think you should be very proud that you didn't put all of the weight back on. In the circumstances you describe that's pretty amazing. I doubt I would have done that well.

If it were me, I think I'd check with the doctor as you have, and at the same time, I'd work the insurance end. First, to find out where you stand, and second, to see if your new company has other bariatric surgeons who could see you.

My advise, gather information and keep your options open.

Best of luck-Gwenn