I am reposting this again as a new thread as its not exactly related to the first topic. Thank you so much for your replies. I am a nervous wreck thinking about all this. I have had two lapbands. The first one slipped and I needed emergency surgery (after throwing up several times a week for a year and then finally not being able to swallow my own saliva) and the second one is not providing any restriction at all, completely filled to max. I really want to convert to the sleeve. From what I have heard about it, it sounds like the best of both worlds. I have a consult on Monday. The woman who does the insurance approvals said that she just received coding for this procedure. I think that means they could bill for it now and it just needs to be approved by insurance. One big problem is that my Doctor who is a top bariatric surgeon in my area, has not done sleeves. He has, however, done many duoendum (sp) switches, the first portion of that surgery as I understand is a sleeve. So from that standpoint he actually has performed the surgery, just as part of a two part operation. He is just now beginning to bill for it as a stand alone procedure. What do you think?

You're lucky you have a support group. There are so many people who don't have a support group because they leave the area to have surgery.

My surgeon that did my band does not care where you had surgery. If you have had WLS, you are welcome at support group. I love support group. It's really nice to watch everyone's progress, and lend support to those who are struggling. He insists that he sees better weight loss long term from the people who come to support group.

He always has a great guest speaker. I look forward to it every month. I am on the way there now!

I also like being able to buy some of the stuff he sells. It's yummy. It's not any more expensive, when you consider the price of shipping from stuff you buy online.