APPROVED!!!!
Hi All
I just found out I was approved today and I'm excited and scared at the same time. I'm so relieved to be getting the band out and the bypass done.It's been almost 3 yrs of problems with the band and I'm really ready to begin my new life. I will find out Tuesday when my surgery date will be. I just wanted y'all to know.I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!
Myrna
Nancy- Why was yours removed, and why the wait for your revision? I'm getting it all done at the same time. I sure hope I do as well as you with the weight loss, you're doing great.. I've read here it's slower after revision. Have you found that to be true? I will ask my surgeon on Tuesday when I go for consultation and surgery scheduling. Keep up the good work!!!!!!
Myrna
Everyone asks me that, lol. I never lost weight with the lap band and after about 10 months out I started getting really bad chest pains from GERD. I ended up going into the hospital overnight just to rule out the heart. That sped up the whole process for me having it removed as it was out two weeks later. That was after I had the band for 14 months.
But as I said I never lost weight and actually gained back what I lost prior to surgery. I joined forums when I was trying to figure out why I wasn't losing but everyone else appeared to be! I also have type 2 diabetes, perimenopausal, hypothyroid and on antidepressants which doesn't help in the diet department. So I basically was still trying to diet while I was banded and that wasn't working. Every time I gained weight they gave me another fill. That just made it worse. I think I ended up eating too much surgar etc...and all that crap goes right through the band.
So prior to going in the hospital for my chest pains I asked my surgeon to take out all the saline to see if I'd eat healthier and he did and I waited about a month and the pains were still bad and they removed it.
I was so emotionally distraught about going through all of this only to gain weight that I didnt' have much confidence in myself or any other surgery.
So that was last October. The May prior to that my daughter decided to have RNY and she's lost over 150 lbs since then. I had my band removed thinking I would eat normally and possibly diet and it never worked. I ended up gaining over the holidays around 30+lbs and got more depressed and that's when I decided I did not want to live this way at this weight anymore and since it worked for my daughter I'd give it a shot! So I met with my surgeon who put me through all the same hoops again that I had gone through for the lap band and it was scheduled and approved. I think I met with him in March and got the date of 6/11. Plus I called my insurance company prior to seeing my surgeon just to make sure they'd cover a second WLS.
So it was a combo of the GERD and the fact that it never worked that it was removed and it took me a good six months or so before I decided that I wanted to have RNY. I'm still pinching myself that I'm losing weight, lol.
I've heard people say weightloss can be slower after revision but in my case it was like being a virgin because I never lost with the band! I'm sure it is a very individual thing also. In some ways it feels like I have the same type of restriction I had with the band but I can't eat through it or at least not yet. I'm only a month out and the amount of protein/food I get in is still very little. The important thing is not drinking after you eat. And getting in all your supplements/vits and extra protein drinks plus whatever meds you're taking.
I'm sure that there are people here who can help you with a revision from band to RNY at the same time. I know my doctor found scar tissue when he went to do my RNY and that was probably from healing after my initial removal.
Anyway good luck, of course it's hard at first but you can get past it. Take care and let us know how things go with your approval, Nancy.
Your story is very similar to mine, only I've had the band since Dec. 2006. (Idon't know how to change the date in my profile, so it's misleading). I DID lose a whopping 33 lbs in the first 3 months with the band, but nothing since. Then started to develop GERD and couldn't tolerate a fill more than 2.5cc in my 4cc band without EVERYTHING getting stuck and making me vomit, etc.. (I;m sure you know what I mean). After 1 1/2 yrs of fills, unfills, fills, I was referred for an EGD which showed esophagitis and a dilated pouch so I was unfilled totally and put on meds until it healed. Then I began small fills again, and still had no restriction, and when I got to 2.5cc again I felt the same problems happening, this time I began having chest pains radiating to my jaw and arm, but I was afraid to go to Emergency and it finally passed. I didn't really relate the pains to the band until later). I've had the pains since then also, but I'm still not sure. I finally decided to investigate having the band removed and revised to RNY. So I began with one DR. in April 2009 (didn't work out-long story) then 2nd DR who never scheduled a consultation, Now with this amazing Dr. Barker who picked up the ball and ran with it, bringing me to where I am now. During all this I gained all of the 33lbs back and never lost another ounce. I had the band totally unfilled since April 2009. Anyway, I will find out my surgery date TOMORROW!!! YAAAAY!!!
I hope that I can finally start to lose all the weight I need to lose. I feel like such a failure!!! And I'm tired of being tired!!
Can you describe the chest pains you were having? I just want to see if they were similar to mine. Also-HOW MUCH have you lost since your revision? I just need some hope that this will really work for me.
TTYL,
Myrna
Myrna,
You held out a lot longer than I did, I was banded 8/22/07 and it was removed 10/08. The chest pains I had were right in the center of my breastbone and they were sharp but would go away and then come back within minutes but didn't last long. I suppose they could have been a number of things, spasms or acid but I had no idea I had GERD until I had the upper GI and also an endoscopy. Wasn't typical heartburn and never got that high. They also saw a small hiatal hernia during the upper GI. I wanted to see my primary for the pain but due to where they were they wouldn't see me and told me to go to the ER to rule out the heart even though I knew it was band related. I suppose these types of things can have a variety of symptoms. Have you had your blood pressure checked and a possible EKG to rule out your heart. Just the fact that you're having pains that radiate from your jaw down your arm would make most doctors want to do further tests on you just to be on the safe side. Of course I'm no doctor nor do I play one on TV!
Oh, and I started out at 259lbs which was larger than I was when I had begun my lap band journey so I've lost about 40 but the "ticker" doesn't reflect that info for some reason.
Anyway good luck tomorrow, for me the difference between the lap band and the RNY were like night and day, well in the weightloss department that is! Take care Nancy and keep us posted on how things progress.
