The New Improved LapBand

Absolutely!! We definitely need to keep in touch......I would really appreciate updates as you go through the surgery and what you encounter/experience. Thank you!! Good luck with everything.

How are you doing?? I hope and pray the surgery was successful and the recovery is going smoothly!! Let me know. Take care. Thanks.

Hello there!

Thank you for the note.  My surgery was a success!  I am currently on a clear liquid diet and will be moving towards the protein shakes on Wednesday.  The recovery has been better than I expected--I am sore but I am already back at work.  My surgery was at 7:30am Thursday morning and I left the hospital by 1:00pm that day.  I have not gotten or felt sick at all (I think because the band is not tightened yet---the first month is just the body adapting to the band)...I have my first post-op appointment this Friday and I have not weighed myself since my pre-op which was Feb. 26 so I am very excited to see how much I have lost.  I feel the weight loss in my clothes---you definitely drop a good amount pre-surgery in the pre-op diet.  I am so excited to continue this journey and let's keep in touch and I will tell you how it goes.  I have a feeling things may get harder once the band is tightened and I try to find a good fit/fill but I am certainly hopeful.

Talk soon and thank you again for thinking of me!

Absolutely!! That is wonderful you are doing well. I cant wait to hear how everything is after your first fill. How much weight are you able to life right now? Do they restrict you for a certain amount of time? I have a 21 month old and just trying to figure that part out. So how many days total were you out of work?

Glad it's going well.

That's lift not life!!

I am not supposed to lift for 2 weeks.  I was only out of work for 2.5 days (when I came back, I did a half day to ease back into it).  So far, my experience has been great.  I spoke to one of the nurses today and she said the band is currently working to restrict the amount of intake of food, however, I probably have not felt it yet because I am still on liquids.  Let me know if you have any other questions--I'm happy to help! 

Correction, it is removable not reversible. The damage it does is most often not reversible either. My stomach and esophagus will most likely never be what it was before being banded. I also know many people who are permanently damaged like having to have huge parts of their stomach removed because of the damage caused by the band.

I apologize for the wording---I should have used the word removable.  Thank you for bringing that to my attention. 

Hi there,

I am getting banded in one week from today (YAY!) and you can feel free to ask me questions throughout the process.  I have read both positive and negative stories but, for me, I firmly believe this surgery is the way to go.  I have felt that people have been pushing for the sleeve surgery but I am not comfortable giving away such a large portion of my stomach.  The positive with the lap-band is that it is reversible if necessary.

Best of luck with your decision.

Sorry but the band is removable, not reversible.  When the band is removed there will be at least some damage.  Just the process folding the stomach over the band to stitch the stomach to itself causes a "hook."  When the band is removed this part of the stomach needs to be removed.  Some surgeons don't fix this when removing the band and it sets you up to have food/bacteria growing in this and can cause problems.  Scare tissue will be produced and needs to be removed or you have problems can occur.  The band is removable but it isn't like you will have the same stomach after removal as before.

Some people are scared to comment to a permanent WLS, I know I was one.  But, I want a permanent tool to help me know and I am totally committee to this WLS.

Girl on Fire if you want to know all the ugly, check out the failed band group.  Lots of info to read on that group. 

Good luck to the both of you.

I just typed a really long post and must have pressed the wrong key as it all went! So instead, I am pasting a briefer one I wrote previously!

Be guided by your doctor! No surgery is perfect. On here we have a lot of very disillusioned (understandably) and physically damaged ex-band people. On another very well known US surgery board, there is a board devoted to VSG complications. (That board is very pro-band, often actually too much so!). The revisions board on here often has lots of people with bypass wanting to revise.

A good friend of mine has the sleeve and immediately developed severe reactive hypoglycaemia. She is now almost a year post-op and is made miserable by constant, painful hunger. And she has to live with this for life. But many sleeved people are very happy and successful. There are also many very successful and happy banded people, I know many in real life, including myself.

Read widely but take the advice of your doctor. If you don't trust them, you shouldn't be letting them operate on you!