Robin,
I posted a reply to you on another board, I hope you saw it. I didn't want you to feel alone or like no one was listening. Take care, keep your head up. Hugs
Jules

A coworker had her band removed  and got it revised at the same time. She can actually eat food now. She could only tolerate liquids before that. Not sure who her original surgeon was but Dr. Suh did the revision.

Thank you for explaining it too me. I already had a question on my list for my surgeon regarding the Vagus Nerve because of what I read on your blog. Now I'll add this one too. You have given me a lot of information and it's been very helpful. I am off in just a few mins to see my surgeon for Pre-op appt. I am much less nervous about the whole process now thanks to everyone on OH who has been very helpful, encouraging and supportive. This is an amazing place!

 Roxy, my blog is really long, but it took a long time and a neutral set of eyes to figure out that my vagus nerve has been severed/damaged during the previous surgeries. This nerve is responsible for digestion and many other things. There were other things too along the way that were really mishandled to say the least. If you are having any kind of weight loss surgery, one of the questions I would ask your surgeon is "what do you know about the vagus nerve, and explain to me how you will isolate it during surgery so that you don't cut it or damage it" Also, ask what process they went through to be trained to do WLS. I read recently that there is no such thing as a certification in Bariatric surgery, it's just a 6 week fellowship on top of the surgeon's base knowledge, and if their base knowledge of the inner workings of the digestive system is minimal, then you can see where this can all go wrong quickly. I have learned from this website that one of the common threads is that these surgeons can physically perform the surgery (sometimes), but they lack the true knowledge to recognize and correct the complications (and I'm talking about beyond death, leaks, blood loss, and infections...their Bariatric coordinators will show you all day their picture perfect stats on those issues, it's the patients with repeat surgeries, PICC lines, feeding tubes, and all the other stuff they don't tell you about. Maybe some do, obviously I had one that failed me in many ways). I'm.very thankful for Dr. Kroh and the staff at Cleveland clinic for doing what they can to help me attain some sense of my life back. Good luck, and just the fact that you are looking beyond the info sessions and the hype tells me that you will be able to make a more informed choice :)

Will do... keep positive.. (HUGS)