I wanted to share my experience.

I was banded on 9/16/08.

On 1/21/09 I woke up feeling bloated. I though I had gas.

The following Monday, 1/26 I went to see my regular physician, palpation revealed a hard mass at the port and she contacted my bariatric surgeon. The word that came up was hernia. My doctor ordered a CAT SCAN.

I had the CAT SCAN on thursday 1/29.

On saturday morning 1/31 I received a call from my doctor indicating that there was air in my abdomen cavity and to go to the nearest ER as soon as possible.

Called a friend and went to Kaiser in San Rafael.

The CAT SCAN made the rounds and the situation became very severe.

I had surgery that same day 1/31to remove the band who had eroded and created a hole in my stomach. My stomach and liver had begun fusing and it showed a have a lot of scarring.

Two days later on 2/2 I had surgery again to fight wide spread infection.

I then spent 3 weeks in the hospital fighting for my life. I do not remember the first 10 days. 1/31- 2/20.

My lapband is in the pathology dept and I am seeing my doctor tomorrow to remove one last drain.

I am extremely weak and recovery is expecting to take weeks.

I understand this is very rare but I wanted to give everyone a heads up that you must go to the doctor if you are feeling gassy or bloated for more then a day. I was not very uncomfortable and the only reason I called my doc was because of a friend who insisted. Had I not, I would have died as the surgery was just in time.

The band was supposed to be the new and improved one.

I chiming in on this one as I've noticed that many people have to travel far or choose to travel far to have surgeries. I'm speaking of all WLSs not just LB. It might be me but there is comfort with knowing my surgeon and his team are only 45 minutes away from me. With my daughter's RNY and my LB (now gone bye bye) and my revision (hopefully in my future) and the few times we've had emergency situations that could only have been dealt with a team familiar with WLS I could or would not choose a surgeon much further away than that. This of course has limited the type of surgery revision I choose but I suppose I'd rather them be close than have to worry when something goes wrong and who would treat me in that situation. Nancy:smile:

You are looking at bypass and for that reason you will need a great deal of aftercare so you do need someone close by. Bypass carries a great deal of potential risk and I tend to agree with you. But for sleeves, I'd go where the stats are the best and it is affordable.

When it comes to banding... that's hard. Some states have a LOT of doctors that will do the aftercare and some don't. Arizona is great, we have quite a few doctors that will do aftercare for banding.

Again.. sleeves rock. No aftercare. ;o)

Wasa, I know the sleeve would be a bad choice for me so I was looking at DS or RNY. Is it true that the sleeve is the first part of a DS? Does that make sense? It seems to me that I've read that on some other sites. There are so many revision combos out there it can get overwhelming at times. I wouldn't want to be too far from a DS surgeon and that's where I gave up on that proceedure. I think my insurance would have covered it though. Thanks Nancy.

I am educating myself while waiting to see the Surgeon on the 10th and hopefully get my surgery date for the band. Based on what I am reading about complications, I am leaning towards ~ if I have any complications with the band, that I might want to get sleeved, condition permitting.

But I am also trying now to see the band as a medical device/prosthetic that can, and does, go wrong. I still want to take my chances with it, to start out. I have met too many RNY patients who had a heck of a time from the procedure...

Wasa, I know the sleeve would be a bad choice for me so I was looking at DS or RNY. Is it true that the sleeve is the first part of a DS? Does that make sense? It seems to me that I've read that on some other sites. There are so many revision combos out there it can get overwhelming at times. I wouldn't want to be too far from a DS surgeon and that's where I gave up on that proceedure. I think my insurance would have covered it though. Thanks Nancy.

No surgery type is right for everyone. Some are good to go with restriction only, some need malabsorptive too. There is not a thing in the world wrong with either one. It is your job to see what YOU need.

We all have different issues. Me... I just like to eat. I'm a grazer, I like high fat, high carb foods and lots of it. For me restriction alone is most effective. I suck at taking Vitamins and such... I'd probably die of malnutrition with bypass because I know me and I would never take the required vitamins. I found the surgery type right for me. You need to do the same, you need to find what is right for you.

Yes and no... the sleeve is the first part of DS. With DS the sleeve is typically made larger, with a stand alone procedure the sleeve is made smaller. I can eat 2oz of solid Protein, if I had DS my sleeve would hold double what I can eat.

I am educating myself while waiting to see the Surgeon on the 10th and hopefully get my surgery date for the band. Based on what I am reading about complications, I am leaning towards ~ if I have any complications with the band, that I might want to get sleeved, condition permitting.

But I am also trying now to see the band as a medical device/prosthetic that can, and does, go wrong. I still want to take my chances with it, to start out. I have met too many RNY patients who had a heck of a time from the procedure...

It's not really wise to go into surgery thinking if this doesn't work, you'll revise to something else.

Revisions carry a GREAT deal more risk than working on a virgin stomach. Example, leaks carry a 3x greater risk as a revision vs. 1st choice surgery.

The key is to find the right surgery type for you the FIRST time. Not to choose the easy surgery the first time and hope for the best.