My mom was one of the first few in US to be banded. It was 2001 and she did not know a lot about it and there wasn't any sites like this for her. She had the band in for about a year or so. She lost 60 lbs in the first 4 or 5 months. She couldn't keep anything down at all. One of her fills was on a friday evening and the surgeon didn't check to see if she could hold down liquids before he sent her home. On the way home she started having to spit out the window because she couldn't even swallow her own saliva. She immediatly called the office and the dr said not to eat or drink anything over the weekend and he would take some out on monday. She explained that she couldn't even swallow and he said it would do her good not to eat for a few days. She vomited constantly. She finally figured out that chips, cakes and ice cream went down easily and basically survived on those. After a year or so she had almost gained everything back and had the band taken out. She gave up when she couldn't find the answers and support that she needed. I am now about to have the surgery and am informing her of everything that she needed to suceed. She would like to have it again and is going through her 6 month pcp visits, but doesn't think ins will pay. She has Passport advantage primary and her secondary is medicaid. Has anyone ever had ins pay for a second banding or even had it done twice? She had medicare the first time around.

Thanks

My best friend had a terrible botched Lab Band job done in Houston by Dr. Spiegel. She suffered horribly for a year, and the office staff just basically blew her off. She FINALLY found a doctor in Victoria who was willing to take her case. He had to do extensive corrective surgery, but was able to save her band. She's doing well now, but the old band is beginning to act up. Her new doctor feels one of the newer bands will really help, so he approached the original band manufacturere and explained the problem. They even came to meet him. They were not opposed to helping fund a replacement with a newer model. My friend is delighted. So she is looking into this. It IS possible.