Gastric bands and chemotherapy

Kate, it was not my intention to stir up controversy either, and certainly not to criticize you personally in any way. Rather, I was trying to support people's ability to have wls with the understanding that they can go on to lead healthy lives and get treatment for future medical problems that can happen to anyone, and this includes people with both restrictive and malabsorptive wls.
     The idea that there can be clinical trials that would cover every possible combination of prior conditions - well, it's impossible. But a good oncologist can learn about that prior condition, consult with experts in that field, in his own field, with pharmacists, etc. Drug levels can be checked and doses adjusted.
    Even in people who have never had any prior medical history, you don't know exactly how they will be affected by chemo. Sometimes people have adverse reactions to a drug or drug combo that is well tolerated by everyone else. Sometimes a treatment that works for 95% of patients with a given diagnosis doesn't work well - there is always that exception, and then treatment must be adjusted. Blood counts are checked frequently, and if they are too low, a treatment must be delayed, or the dose lowered, or both. 
     Just as chemo isn't one size fits all, it also isn't "set it and forget it". It must be individualized for every patient, not just those that have had wls.
     We've occasionally had pre-ops on the DS forum wondering if having a malabsorptive procedure will cause them to lose their survival advantage in the event of a nuclear holocaust. Nevermind that but remaining MO, they will increase their chances of disease and death in far more realistic ways. Certainly a future need for chemo is a more realistic concern than that, but again, being realistic, there are many alternatives these days for most cancers, and lots of lab tests to help with drug choices and adjustments, and many good diagnostic procedures to determine whether or not the treatment is working as intended. 
     I hope no one will be discouraged from having wls, or from having the procedure they feel will best help them with their MO, because of some unnecessary fear of this sort. And again, I hope the woman with the newly diagnosed ovarian cancer will do well with her chemo and go on to have many happy, healthy years of life.

Larra