please read and give me your comments

I have an upcomming port replacement surgey... i havent lost any weight in the past 6 months... they done a fluro about 5 months ago and showed no leak...but then i come back 2 1/2 months later and i had lost half of my fluid! (i had 3 cc's and lost 1.5) so she filled me back up to 3..this was in early december well between now and then i still dont have a date scheduled! It is so hard to get in touch with my doctor and get everything scheduled...first they said it was an insurance issue and they were trying to find a way to re-word it so my ins. would cover it well that went on for about 3 weeks and i was getting so fed up i starting asking about going ahead and gettng gastic bypass then my dr. tells me that wouldnt be a good idea bc where they would cut is where the band sits and my skin there is very thin now..so i say ok and tell them i will just pay for my surgery out of pocket bc i am so fed up with the go around, well then between the two hospitals neither one would set up a payment plan, so i schedule a visit with the doctor to actually sit and talk (phone tag gets very old) and that was last week (long time huh?) and they decide to do it at the surgeons cosmetic surgery center and all i would have to pay for is materials...and so save for the anestheoligist (sp) they would just give me some very good drugs and numb me up real good...which i agreed and she told me to call back friday and she would tell me the exact price of the port and set up a date, well i called... and the surgeon is out of town so she couldnt give me a date and will call me over the weekend...well here it is almost weds and still no phone call... i am just ready to throw my hands up and tell them to bring on the bypass i cant deal with all this much longer! I love my dr. to death she is a very sweet lady but all this back and forth and not loosing is mind bothering to me...i just dont know what to do!!!! in the past year and a half I have only lost 50 lbs

Hi Nikki, you lost more than I did with the lapband... I am having a revision to RnY in about two weeks, I don't have the exact date until tomorrow. With all of the research I have done on going from the lapband to RnY I have found that you can have the revision done, the main problem being scar tissue from your lapband. It seems that a lot of the time if you have had a lapband previously that they will have to make your pouch a little bigger. I am still trying to decide myself if I want the traditional proximal or to go with the distal RnY. If your lapband is anything like mine then you are already on a losing battle. Good luck with getting something done!

Nikki, I can really relate with what you are going through.  I'm going through my on ordeal right now and it can truly burn you out.  Personally, I think you should go through the bypass.  You'll get better results and it is less maintenance than all those fills and unfills.  Stay prepared to fight the insurance company and let them pay.  They want you to give up.  Don't give them the satisfaction.

Thank God my lapband aftercare is excellent.  I was self pay $16,000 as a revision to Lapband from old VBG.  The money I paid covers all fills for 5 years and all problems with the Lapband and port for a lifetime.  That includes replacing  the band, port, etc.  Whatever you decide best wishes,

my band is empty...either my port has a leak, the tubing disconnected or has a puncture or the band has   a leak.  My doc said we could try to fix it at the port site in a surgery suite (intead of full blown knock out surgery )however if the leak weren't there..he couldn't skoot up to the band to fix it. I would need to be asleep. Then, I would have had one surgery, need to wait and then have another to fix. This is when I said..do it once and give my a RNY.  I did like my band, but as I got further out I had a hard time getting the right restriciton vs. acid reflux. You all know this drill. Tomorrow I go to the doc to discuss the RNY.  I don't beleive they are doing the sleeve but I will ask.   I have insurance troubles, too...so I am getting the procedure priced out. Even if I switch insurance I will be on the hook for $3500.  Anyways, make sure that your leak is at your portsite before you go under the knife! good luck. Joan

I was told the same thing about the band and scar tissue when they removed it,,here is what my dr said he said that when they remove the band they will see what cutting away the adheisions has done,,if he decide's that it would be unsafe to do the bypass cause of the weak stomach area's in the puch area,,that he will go ahead and do the vertical sleeve so there is where I am at,,I had the band put in Oct of 2004