Band to Bypass- What to expect?

 It sounds like you have done your research.   My only warning to you is that doctors have a way of "steering" a patient into a particular surgery, while all the while, the patient thinks this decision is his or her decision alone.    

I do wonder now, if your surgeon of choice does indeed perform the sleeve surgery, and if he does not, that may be the reason he has gently steered you into feeling that the RNY is the best way for you to go.  The only reason I say that is because I have seen it happen over and over again, because people place a lot of trust in everything their doctor tells them.   Sometimes their doctors have other agendas and feel that what they are doing it in the best interests of the patient.    They will emphasize one aspect of  a particular procedure and downplay another and do this with different procedures to get the patient to come to the conclusion that the doctor wants to see.

I am concerned now, that you have put your trust in a surgeon who only performs a limited repertoire of surgeries and I hope you are making your choice based on your own research, not things that one surgeon has told you. 

Since you are looking at a lap procedure, barring any complications, you will probably be OK in three weeks.   I don't know about 100%.   I have not heard of anyone being 100% in such a short time.  It is a lot to heal from.    If you have a desk job, you may do OK, but if you need to perform manual labor or lifting, it's doubtful.

Good luck!

You are right, my surgeon does not perform the sleeve. I did look into the sleeve and did some research on it. In retrospect, i wish that i would have originally gone with the sleeve instead of the lapband. But in my present cir****tances i think that the RNY is the way to go. I chose my surgeon because he is great. There are other surgeons in my area that do the sleeve.

I know being 100% after 3 weeks is a lot to hope for. Physically, i'm not worried about it as long as i can move around and i am able to get a decent night's sleep. Mentally, is what i'm concerned about. I'm in law school and i can't afford to not be able to focus/concentrate.

Thank you for your advice and all the time that you took to write to me.

 I had the band in June 2006 and now that I think about it, I was overfilled on my 2nd fill. I never lost much weight, 30 #s and always had some reflex, which I thought was a normal side effect until the throwing up and reflex woke me up at night. Because my doctor moved out of state and I was ignoring my problems, I didn't go find and new doctor for 2 years. Now I am 2 months out of an RNY and feel so much better. I didn't realize it but my band was pinching me the whole time, It always hurt and I just got used to it. When the doctor took the fluid out of my band, it was instant relief. My doctor wanted to do a DS on me but my insurance denied it. My recovery was a lot less painful for the RNY than the Lap band but I think that was because the skill of my 2nd doctor. Even thought he said that I had the most scare tissue he had ever seen on a lap band revision, I was feeling no pain in less than a week. I did feel a lot weaker after the RNY but not pain. For the first month I also had no hunger so it was harder to eat and get all of my protein. With the lap band, I felt hunger all the time. I took 4 weeks off work and did feel 100% when I went back to work. I hope this helps. 

Thank you! That is what i wanted to hear. I was also overfilled on my 2nd fill. Then the doc let me go 5 days without being able to get anything down, not even water. The first 2 days i couldnt keep my own spit down. After 5 days i felt like a zombie. My band was never right again. Thankfully i never had reflux. I've ignored the problems for awhile too because it was hard to find a doctor since i was banded in Mexico. But i finally decided i just can't live with them any more. And i also gained back almost all of the 90 pounds that i had lost. I'm glad to hear you felt 100% when you went back after 4 weeks.

DS "maybe"  the best solution in the end but my surgeon doesn't do it and wouldn't even recommend it for someone less than 500 lbs.  Are there more surgeons doing DS in bigger metropolitan areas or different parts of the country?  I really am not willing to travel more than I am now to see a surgeon and just wondered if DS is like the lapband going to catch on or what???

The requirements for the DS are exactly the same as RNY, a BMI over 40 unless you have co-morbidity's, then it's BMI over 35. There are DS surgeons all over the country, unless your stomach has already been cut for a RNY, which would require a revision surgeon, and good revision surgeons are fewer and farther between.

Your surgeon doesn't do them, and will not suggest one. It's like going to the Ford dealer and thinking they will recommend a Honda.

The band was done in Europe years before it caught on here, and has fallen out of favor there. It is just a matter of time until that happens here as well. The DS is gaining popularity, and more surgeons are performing it, but it takes much longer training than RNY or band, which is learned in a weekend seminar, so it will never be as widely available. The band is also a manufactured product, with maintenance costs associated with it - big business. There are millions of advertising dollars poured into it. Not because it's such a great product, but because it generates revenue..

There are lists of actual vetted DS surgeons at DSfacts.com and duodenalswitch.com.

To me it's all timing.  If I had the RNY when I orignianlly wanted it in 2005 I wouldn't be dealing with revision from Lap band to another procedure.  The same thing is happening with DS and I'm not going to travel that far and from the list I looked at even some large metropolitan areas don't have that many that do it so I'm just going to stick with RNY.  It's not that big of a deal to me but I need the malabsorption that RNY or DS offers.  I'm not wiling to travel that far for something which is my own issue and not one that everybody cares about but thanks for the info I appreciate it.