So good to see you, as you pointed out very few folks come here anymore. I've tried a few times to get more folks interested but they just never stay long.

I do have to warn you about the band it is a horrible surgery and only 6% of the surgeries done anymore for weight loss are the band because it just doesn't work, it has a 60% failure rate even when all the rules are followed. Also have the band around your stomach builds up scar tissue underneath and that causes it to tighten over time and that causes pain and erosion, sometimes a slipped band. Once the band slips it tends to keep slipping even if they can get it back in place. I've been on the band forum for over 10 yrs now and I don't knpow of one person who still has their band we have all either revised or just had the band removed and gone bak to fighting the battle without surgery.

Now the VSG or sleeve is a very good surgery and what I would get if I could have surgery again. It sounds more drastic but it works and in a more natural way than with the band squeezing the life out of your stomach. That is another thing the band does is cause a great deal of esophagus problems. I makes your esophagus over wor****il you start losing the ability to swallow and that is no fun and can be very painful! It also is not repairable and can lead to cancer of the esophagus!

Try reading on both the band forum and the sleeve forum you will see that the band forum is mostly dead except for people with problem bands where the sleeve forum is busy with lots of happy customers. Everyone I know who has gotten the sleeve says the same thing that it works like we were told the band would but it didn't. I know for myself the band ended up causing me so much pain I finally ended up self paying to get it out. I had gotten to the point where all I could eat was soft foods like soups because every time I ate it made my stomach hurt and I would choke on foods because I was losing my ability to swallow correctly. It was just miserable and I know a few people who have actually lost their stomachs from the damage the band did to them, that is a vey difficult way to live,

I hope you will really study up on the band and the sleeve and do serious research to make sure you fully understand them both. As a Christian I would feel terrible if I didn't tell you how dangerous the band is. I have just seen it ruin too many lives and leave people damaged and that isn't right!

On the plus side Dr. Curry is a great surgeon from what I've read and he has many very happy patients, just make sure you get the right surgery for you. I just don't want for you to end up like myself or so many others I know. God bless and if you have any other questions I'm happy to answer them for you. Feel free to PM me if you like or post here and I stop in every few days.

Morning:

HISLADY just read about Kate-TruBrit.  My goodness am so very sorry.   I have just recently returned to the forums ( after having a 30 pound regain ) so don't know a lot of her posts but the few that I read were terrific.   

Hopefully more Christians will come to this site.  It is needed.  ( Just found it two minutes ago ) 

Thanks for being so faithful to it. 

I would not have any type of band done. I had my lapband for 5yrs. I kept having pain on my left side and sometimes on my right side. I went to the ER Numerous times telling them I thought something was wrong with my lapband. I even went an hour away to a bigger ER, each time they would do a CT Scan and x-rays and tell me everything looked fine and send me home. I would cry once I was in my car and tell my husband I was never going back because the doctors all thought or at least made me think it was all in my head. I finally heard about this wonderful bariatrics doctor and went to him. He does all fills under x-ray, at that apt he had me drink some barium and told me I had band erosion. He scheduled me for a endoscopy and from there I was in having my band removed. My band had eroded over 50% into my stomach! I had major complications after the band was removed, 3 different infections (2 in two of my incisions and 1 in my stomach cavity). We had to open up the incisions and let them heal from the inside out, cleaning and packing them every 12hrs (talk about pain). What was suppose to take 2 weeks to heal took over 2.5 months. My doctor didn't want to do a revision until he knew I was all in the clear. So fast forward to 1yr later, I have now had Gastric bypass (RNY) and healed wonderfully from the surgery. I am only 4 weeks out but I am so glad I made the decision to go through with another surgery. I wish you the very best of luck on what ever you decide to do!

Some people have had success with the band but FAR more have had health problems or had to have a revision due to poor results. Surgery is on you, you should research the heck out of it and then convince your family. If you can't convince them you can either do it anyway, have a surgery that you won't be happy with, or continue on with being obese and die at a younger age. Ask your family about that.

Excellent advice I too only had the option of band or bypass and unfortunately I chose the band, it was a dismal failure and had it removed last year. Sadly  I still suffer daily from the damage it did. God's got this tho so I will continue to trust in HIM no matter what!