I am a veteran bandster and newbie revision, band to sleeve.

I just ate 15 chickens, 2 hams, 4 potatoes, a steak and some taffy.

Did I mess up my staple line? ;o)

(okay, I had to do this. It was a dare.)

I am very interested in the sleeve - it is the newest alternative to the band - I just got my band but am hoping I didn't make a mistake - I need to lose 45 lbs and the doctor said I didn't have enough to lose to justify the sleeve but it seems so much better long-term and I wouldn't have this ugly goose egg port thing sticking up on my stomach that I hate. My husband is considering surgery and I think he may be happier with the sleeve since no foreign object in your body but I am worried about it because it is not something you can reverse.

Why would you want to reverse it? For what reason would you want to regain weight? The ONLY reason to remove a band is if the band is causing problems.

The ability to reverse surgery is appealing to newbies but when you get to goal your perspective tends to change and you want permanent in a bad way. Our food issues are not going to go away, why would we want our surgery type to go away? See what I mean?

Plain:

But, the sleeve is technically a foreign object in your body, right?

Ok, I went back and looked, and it appears I'm totally wrong. I am confused...

It's just a smaller stomach, that's all. There are foreign objects in there if you consider the staples.

SickNTired:

Is a sleeve as common as GB or LB?

Not in the US, it is in other countries. It's been around for about 50 years for weight loss but gastrectomies have been around since the 1800s. Today they are using a technique that is great, no stomach stretching, faster weight loss than banding, more weight loss than banding, and fewer complications than bands or bypass.

The problem is that there really are very few skilled surgeons doing the procedures. Lots of newbie surgeons but not many experienced surgeons. For this procedure it really has to be done by an experienced surgeon. Pleatman started doing them and it isn't working out well. He is the one that charges Mexican prices but he's in the US. He laughs about his death stats saying that they would have died from obesity issues anyway, explains that he's increasing his prices by $1500 for out of state patients because $2K isn't enough and he has to earn a living too... etc. The problem is that surgeons like him are starting to do sleeves and their stats are poor, stats such as leaks. Pleatman already has leaks and he's only done 70 sleeves. That's not good at all.

So going to someone who has done at least 250 is important so you have a base of stats to draw from.

The more people that want sleeves (and that is growing by HUGE numbers since the five year stats came out) the more surgeons will be doing them and they will all be starting their learning curve so global stats will be increasing and not for the better. Then the sleeve will get a crappy rep and that's too bad, it won't be the procedure, it will be the newbie surgeons learning the technique.

You had wls for 45 lbs?

Yes I know it sounds bad but after losing so much weight over the years on Atkins and NutriSystem, etc. and gaining it back and all of my weight is in my stomach - I look like I am 8 months pregnant - I have never seen anyone hold weight in one place like this - I even went and had a CT Scan to make sure I didn't have a tumor because it looks so unnatural but it is just subdermal fat that cannot be lipo'd and is hard to lose especially with my hormone replacement medications. My husband is getting the band too soon - he has about 80 to lose so we are doing it together. Thanks!

Don't fret was just asking why. Sounds like you have some of the same prob as me but I am 406 lbs. I have a belly thats hard and looks like a baby is in it. But I am also flabby.

Yes I know it sounds bad but after losing so much weight over the years on Atkins and NutriSystem, etc. and gaining it back and all of my weight is in my stomach - I look like I am 8 months pregnant - I have never seen anyone hold weight in one place like this - I even went and had a CT Scan to make sure I didn't have a tumor because it looks so unnatural but it is just subdermal fat that cannot be lipo'd and is hard to lose especially with my hormone replacement medications. My husband is getting the band too soon - he has about 80 to lose so we are doing it together. Thanks!

I don't think it sounds bad at all. I wish I would have done something at 45# vs. waiting until it was so far out of hand.

OMG this food is so good!

As many know I was on liquids for 4 months so I've been trying to make up for lost time with food since my post op diet allowed solids.

KittenQutie is out of town and Grandma needed some things from the store so I took her. When we got back to her house she had made chicken, homemade Mac & Cheese, corn bread, potatoes, and greens. I never ate greens before, didn't think I was gonna like the stuff. But you know what? THIS IS SO GOOD! OMG! It's taking me forever to eat, two bites and I'm full. I gotta learn to eat around a sleeve! Grandma's know how to cook so well.

She's going to teach me to make greens and someday I'm going to do it.

I'm in heaven. Grandma food is sooo freak'en good!

And btw, I'm not sharing, I'm not giving any away, I'm not even letting the dog try it. It's MINE! If it takes me all night to eat this plate of food, so be it. My evening is planned!

Yay WasA! go for it! You so deserve whatever you wan to eat after everything you have been through!

Yay WasA! go for it! You so deserve whatever you wan to eat after everything you have been through!

This stuff is soooo good! I eat, burp, eat some more, and veg for awhile. I keep Text Messaging KittenQutie (she's out of town on business) telling her that Gma can COOK!

This damn sleeve works too well!

You're a good saleslady there bb!

Man, the sleeve sounds so good right now...

This stuff is soooo good! I eat, burp, eat some more, and veg for awhile. I keep Text Messaging KittenQutie (she's out of town on business) telling her that Gma can COOK!

This damn sleeve works too well!

I have the band - 14 days post-op - my husband is considering the sleeve - can you tell me what the main difference is as far as restriction, healing, appetite, full feeling, etc. I would really appreciate it. I am wondering if I shouldn't have gotten the sleeve - the reason I didn't was because of the irreversibility of it but maybe that would be a good thing. Thanks!!

You're a good saleslady there bb!

Man, the sleeve sounds so good right now...

I admit, I love the sleeve. I never did eat all that food last night, there was no way. And let me tell you, I tried! I put forth serious effort but I couldn't do it. Four bites was my limit.

PJD:

I have the band - 14 days post-op - my husband is considering the sleeve - can you tell me what the main difference is as far as restriction, healing, appetite, full feeling, etc. I would really appreciate it. I am wondering if I shouldn't have gotten the sleeve - the reason I didn't was because of the irreversibility of it but maybe that would be a good thing. Thanks!!

Why would you want reversible? Is there some reason you'd want to regain all your excess weight? ;o)

I thought the same thing at first, that's why I got a band. What I didn't realize is that the only reason to remove your band is if the band itself is causing problems. Now that I'm a size 4 I'd do just about anything to PREVENT reversible, I don't want to regain 130#.

If you want some info email me through the LBT system and I'll send you a bunch of studies and such. I'll send you a bunch of links, sleeve info, everything.

Without trying to hijack this very important thread on food (heh) here are a few stats:

Band: lose 1-2# weekly

Sleeve: lose 2-3# weekly

Band: lose 50-70% of excess weight

Sleeve: lose 70-80% of excess weight

The sleeve has the fewest long term complications compared to bands and bypass.