Slipped band!

Well I had an upper GI and it's confirmed... a slipped band with a hiatal hernia. Actually I've had the hernia since last summer. Also, my port is turned around. My problem is... My surgeon wants to perform surgery to fix it. She was quick to suggest it too. Now it's scheduled for next week. I'm nervous. Not about the surgery per-say... but that it's not NECESSARY! They tell me some emergancy situation could occur if I continued to live with a slipped band. I do know that I have chest pains all the time. LOTS of acid reflux, night time choking... all that. Apparently most of that will go away if my band is fixed... I'm wondering if anyone else has had a slipped band. Am I crazy to think my surgeon is surgery happy? The cost, I'm not worried about. My insurance will pay for the hernia. I just have to pay the co-pay. Please respond if you've been in a similar situation! thanks!

I might ask for a revision to another surgery, because I read once you have a slipped band, you have a higher risk of it slipping again. I could be wrong, google it and see if you get any information. Good luck on your surgery, I hope everything turns out well!

For small slips some surgeons will unfill completely for around 6 weeks to see if the slip fixes itself.  I have heard of people with slipped bands slipping more than once.  A few are having revisions to other WLS.  I don't have the band but I have been looking into VSG which is where most of the stomach is removed so it is banana shaped.  The forum is on here.  http://obesityhelp.com/forums/VSG/a,messageboard/board_id,54 63/

Hi Robin- I also have a slipped band which was confirmed over a week ago via xray. My surgeon also told me that surgery was probable. I was on clear liquids for several days, and then full liquids, and was told to go to mushy food last Thursday. I have ALL of your symptoms including a flipped port. I have been miserable for weeks. My reflux, vomiting, and pain resumed Thursday night almost immediately when I started mushies and despite being back on liquids it has not gone away. I will be calling my surgeon first thing in the morning to go in for an upper GI, which he was planning to do anyway. I have done a ton of research on the VG and I am thinking about maybe asking for a conversion. I can't seem to find anyone that is unhappy with it.  My preference would be of course that the surgeon fix the slip and that I have no complications after that. But no one can guarantee that. I almost hope that he finds a hernia or something that will cause my insurance to cover this- otherwise it's another 10 or 11K out of my pocket.

My band slipped last week and I had to be in the hospital over the weekend because I was severely dehydrated, I wasn't able to keep ANYTHING down- not even water. My surgeon said he wanted to wait a few days to see if it would go back into place on its own. And I actually have started to feel better, keeping all my liquids down, going this morning to the surgeon for another xray- hopefully it worked its way back,
But I would say that if your doctor wants to take you right to surgery, your slip might be a serious one that wont go back on its own, I would listen to the doctor. Also if it is a severe slip you don't want to risk the complications that go along with waiting- like loss of blood circulation to the stomach.

Hope all goes well! Keep us posted!

-Colleen

I might be in your situation. I go for an X-ray Monday morning. I have had hiatal hernia for several years. I have had spells of food coming up and lots of acid reflux. I also cough during the day, but so far not at night. I am almost 9 months out from surgery, and redoing the band is really no big deal. I hope your surgery is with a really good surgeon. No, he is not knife happy. It is something you need to do to protect yourself against a really bad emergency. Good luck!!

There are tons of slips on the LapBandTalk complication and band removal boards.  Might find more there. Usually, for just a slip, they'll take out all of your fill and see if things go back into place after 3-4 weeks with no fill.  I'm thinking your surgeon wants to do surgery more because of the hiatal hernia rather than the slip.  If you want your Band fixed, then you may want to ask her about putting on one of the new AP bands.  Supposed to be a lot of improvement in how it works, etc. If you're not so sure you want to re-Band, then I'd look at the VSG.  There are a lot of Band to VSGers on the VSG board here.  (Of course, if you haven't been happy with your weight loss with a restrictive only operation, many people are quite happy with a revision to a DS or RNY.) Basically... my advice is slow down on the surgery until you know what you want out of it.