Sapala-Wood Micro pouch

I had the micro pouch in 1999,lost 255 lbs in 18 months and life was good..until i got sick and was vomiting so very violently for almost a month. After that i started eating more and more . I have gained back close to 100 lbs. I am so miserable. I have had 6 letters from people afraid to post that have had the same thing as i did and have all gained all or most of thier weight back.My niece being one of them .She just had a revision in Feb. Question...when they do the revision do they just fix the pouch or do a completly different surgery? I go Aug 26th to the WISH center to see about a revision and would like some imput to take with me. ANy help would be greatly appreciated Val

Hello, I had a revision done on 3/2/06, I had Lap RNY. I had my stomached stapled back in the late 80's. Not sure if this answers your question or not. Good luck, hope you find someone to do the revision. MJ

Hi Val- I had the vertical banded gastroplasty in 1984 and went from about 235 to 150. I maintained my weight for about 4 years then it started creeping back up 277 by January 2005. In February 2005 I had a revision to RNY. I have maintained my weight around 180 for 10 months now. I'm not sure what the micro pouch procedure is but it seems that if it failed you and so many others, like the VGB failed me over time, your surgeon hopefully will be able to revise you to a RNY. Revisions are more risky than first time surgeries so make sure you find a surgeon that you have complete confidence in. I interviewed 3 surgeons and had no question in my mind that I was choosing the best one for me. Good luck in your quest. I would do it again in a heartbeat! Janice

Maybe you can look into the duodenal switch procedure, DS for short. Go to their forum here on obesityhelp or duodenalswitch.com....A lot of people have been helped with a revision to DS. Good luck....Annie

Not familiar with the surgery, but there are probably quite a few revision options.  Key would be to find a surgeon that performs all or most of them... and has revision experience. 1) Perhaps they can put a Lap-Band around your pouch? I know they do this with some RNYers whose pouches have stretched. 2) What about a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy?? It's a newer procedure as a stand-alone... basically the first part of the DS.  It was begun as a 1st part of a DS for people who were too MO to undergo the full DS.  They found out that 85% or so of those people never needed the DS. 3) RNY (Lap or Open) 4) DS

Funny I should read your post...I was JUST investigating revisions myself today. I had the Micropouch with Dr. Wood, your doctor's partner (or they were). Anyway, I went from 390 to 205, but held steady for a long time at 230 (size 14/16). Then I was able to eat more and more like my pouch was growing. I am currently 260. I am totally miserable. I had a baby 4.5 months ago, but I lost all the baby weight immediately. I have tried exercise, TRYING to watch my diet, going back to basics, etc., but I know my pouch has either stretched or the stoma has stretched. Anyway, I am looking into different revisions and someone on another board told me to investigate the DS. I have no clue what that even is, but I want to weigh under 200 pounds for once in my life. Please keep in touch and let me know what they're going to do for you if you do anything since we have the same pouch. Good luck!!

Val, I had the micro-pouch done by Dr. Sweet (retired) back in June of 2000.  I do know of some in my support group that had a re-gain.  Many however actually lost too much weight.  Dr. Sweet did a distal bypass along with the micro-pouch.  I had a scope two years ago and I'm still only 30 cc pouch. I'm holding steady at 150 pounds lost (originally 160, but I've been steady at this weight for over a year). Do you know how much you were bypassed?  Maybe a revision is necessary to transect the pouch, make the pouch smaller and to bypass more intestine.  Kindof a three for one.   I hope you have the greatest success. Huggs, Heidi