4 Weeks till Revision

Brand new to this site.......a little background first:  had LapBand (4cc) surgery, in Mexico by Dr. Ortiz (love him) in 10/2004.  Have an after-care Dr here in the States.  Did very well for about 4 years, lots of fills and unfills, lost about 85lbs, then started having severe acid reflux and had to totally unfill and from that point on, nothing but problems.  My Dr  said that we needed to remove the Band, and replace it with a Realize Band (larger), that was in 2/2009, now two years later, I still can't tolerate much of a fill and I am hungry all the time!   Have gained back 30lbs and very distraught over this whole thing!  Now am considering a revision from Band to RNY, have a date for surgery on April 26th, but am so afraid....was so against this in the past...now trying to convince myself to go forward.  Would love to have the Sleeve, but Medicare will not pay for it....not sure if they will even pay for this revision, but Dr said we would appeal if needed.
I guess I am just looking for some support that I am making the right decision.....I just don't want to gain all the weight back, when I worked so hard to take it off.....I am probably one of the oldest on here, didn't have surgery till I was 62, now almost 69...
Would love to hear the good, the bad and ugly!
Ciao,
SharByTheSea  

I am not far behind you in age... I am 56 years old.  I had RNY in 2003 and I am 4 weeks away from revision myself.  I too am taking the revision my insurance pays for which is for them to put the RNY back to the way it was in the beginning.  I have a stretched pouch and stoma (connection between pouch and intestines).  I also have MAD heart burn and a hernia!  I am wondering if I am going to feel like I did the first time around?  I lost weight very SLOW and only once a month (when my monthly friend came).  Now I won't have the malabsorption... I don't have my monthly friend anymore and I am STARVED also... all the time.  I would be happy if the surgery stopped me from being HUNGRY all the time.  I feel like if I could move past that "hungry all the time" MONSTER I might make it.

What is a "TRIED AND TRUE" way to fight HUNGER?  Is our "hunger" all in our minds or are we really "hungry"?

When I was pre-op, I was, literally, hungry ALL THE TIME. Even when I was physically stuffed, I wanted one more bite.

Since my DS over seven years ago, I have what I think of as 'normal' hunger---I get hungry every 4 hours or so, I eat a small-to-normal portion, and I'm satisfied. I believe this is due to the way my stomach was reduced in my DS---they completely removed from my body most of the tissue that produces the 'hunger hormone', ghrelin. In the RNY, this tissue is NOT removed, merely bypassed.

Before you go under the knife again, please research the possibility of being revised to the DS. It might make all the difference in the world.

Unfortunately my insurance only pays for RNY and that band business.  It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get a new surgeon if you have already been seen by someone else.  It is like they don't want to touch another person's surgery.  I don't know... I get fed up with the red tape and the runaround.  Just give me my surgery... my insurance always pays and I can't take another day of this heartburn that I have.  I am lucky heartburn is ALL I have.  Last time I had a hernia I had emergency surgery because I was throwing up. 

My date for band to rny is 4/19. I'm afraid too. The hardest thing right now is the liquid diet.