Trying to get over the idea of another surgery...Have a slipped lapband going for RNY
Hello!
I used to post on the band board all of the time during my" happy to have a band"!
" Hey I lost 140lbs with my band" good time days. But now it has been almost two years since Istarted to have all of these issues with the band. Suddenly I couldn't tolerate any fill at all, I would get the tiniest fill and need to go back for an unfill. I have slowly but surely put on 78lbs and am now looking at a revision to the RNY. I am scheduled for March 30th. I had a difficult time with the decision and I am sure that some can sympathize with my conflicting feelings of guilt, remorse, anger, why me etc etc... So here I am ready to take the plunge and suddenly full of questions
What can I expect? How will this be different? What if this surgery fails too? What if I am the failure?... Really I just want to hear about post op recovery/pain etc and how quickly I can expect to get back on my feet and back on track.
I used to post on the band board all of the time during my" happy to have a band"!
" Hey I lost 140lbs with my band" good time days. But now it has been almost two years since Istarted to have all of these issues with the band. Suddenly I couldn't tolerate any fill at all, I would get the tiniest fill and need to go back for an unfill. I have slowly but surely put on 78lbs and am now looking at a revision to the RNY. I am scheduled for March 30th. I had a difficult time with the decision and I am sure that some can sympathize with my conflicting feelings of guilt, remorse, anger, why me etc etc... So here I am ready to take the plunge and suddenly full of questions
What can I expect? How will this be different? What if this surgery fails too? What if I am the failure?... Really I just want to hear about post op recovery/pain etc and how quickly I can expect to get back on my feet and back on track.
I just logged into this site for the first time in a long time. I had gastric bypass in 2003, lost 100 lbs but never as much as I expected. I accepted it and was OK but the past 2 yrs have put on about 25 lbs. I have an appointment Weds to find out if my doctor will do a revision. Maybe my first surgery wasn't what it should have been, but I like you feel like a failure.
I hope you have success and I will follow your posts to see how you do.
I hope you have success and I will follow your posts to see how you do.
Hi there,
I had the lapband in 2001, and never really succeed with it. I lost about 65 pounds, never found that magic fill number and then gained back over 115lbs. Finally I came to the decision to have an RNY, and did so 14 months ago. Life has been pretty great since then. I have lost over 75% of what I want to lose. When I had the RNY, I found out that my band had slipped. Almost everyday that I had my band, I hurt when I ate, and often vomited. I personally would never, ever recommend the band for anyone!!!
One thing that I think that is great that the band did do for me, is that we failed each other (the band and I), so when I had the RNY I took it much more seriously. I am older and wiser than the girl that had her first WLS in 2001. Personally I took 2.5 months off of work, but that is because I could. I was really tired in the beginning, and can still get pretty tired if I don't follow my vitamin regime. There was very little post-op pain, I didn't require any medication. if you have any more questions, feel free to PM me.
Take care,
deanne
I had the lapband in 2001, and never really succeed with it. I lost about 65 pounds, never found that magic fill number and then gained back over 115lbs. Finally I came to the decision to have an RNY, and did so 14 months ago. Life has been pretty great since then. I have lost over 75% of what I want to lose. When I had the RNY, I found out that my band had slipped. Almost everyday that I had my band, I hurt when I ate, and often vomited. I personally would never, ever recommend the band for anyone!!!
One thing that I think that is great that the band did do for me, is that we failed each other (the band and I), so when I had the RNY I took it much more seriously. I am older and wiser than the girl that had her first WLS in 2001. Personally I took 2.5 months off of work, but that is because I could. I was really tired in the beginning, and can still get pretty tired if I don't follow my vitamin regime. There was very little post-op pain, I didn't require any medication. if you have any more questions, feel free to PM me.
Take care,
deanne
8 lbs lost before surgery
Wow! What a journey! I would love to be able to take 2.5 months off from work....so jealous! I love to hear a success story like this. I know for a fact that my band is crooked now following my last upper GI series. I ofetn have pain and vomitting even with 1/2 cup of food and no fill at all. I can only pray that I am as lucky as you in regards to post op pain. Thanks so much for sharing your story and I will definately be contacting you! People like you make this a lot less frightening.
Deanne, You sound JUST like me! Only difference is my band slipped in '02 so bad my stomach prolapsed up through it and like a dummy, I had them put a new one in. I have been in pain for years, throwing up, gaining weight and generally not having a good time with it, just like you. Now it has slipped AND eroded so will be removed - I am converting to the vsg.
I recently had a surgeon remark to me (about the surgeon who did my band), " I wonder when he will realize how ****ty the band is".
So you see Cathleen, you are not alone in the band not working for you, and there is nothing wrong with YOU. Just the stupid band. Us "revisionists" are keeping the surgeons busy and putting their grandkids through college...
I recently had a surgeon remark to me (about the surgeon who did my band), " I wonder when he will realize how ****ty the band is".
So you see Cathleen, you are not alone in the band not working for you, and there is nothing wrong with YOU. Just the stupid band. Us "revisionists" are keeping the surgeons busy and putting their grandkids through college...
LOL hear that about putiing their grandkids through college! My surgeon came highly reccomended from friends who had used him also. I myself have sent many his way including my own mom. We always joke about his new boat or vacation house we funded! He is wonderful though and in his defense both he and his lovely assistant did try to talk me into the RNY back in 2006 but I insisted on the band....Argh.... no one to blame but myself!... Thank you for sharing your story with me... Hope all goes well for you!
I have to agree with you Deanne. The lapband has been a nightmare for me!! I only lost 13lbs Ouch!!! The band did not agree with me and i'm waiting on approval for my revision as we speak. I am super excited!!! I would never recommend the band. I got it out of fear of the RNY. Then finally i had enough and decided my weight is a bigger gamble. Hope this helps
Well, I got a gastric bypass / RNY in 1980, I lost the excess weight, but after about a year or 18 months started having trouble keeping the weight off. My pouch had stretched enough that I could eat enough to gain, so I had to get serious about everything I ate and I had to exercise pretty much every day. I had all the pouch problems you read about; I would dump on anything with much sugar in it or even a glass of milk and I would often get reactive hypoglycemia after an episode of dumping. And, dense protein foods like steak or roast would stick in my stoma as would most raw veggies, salad and rice. Because of all these pouch issues, about the only foods I could eat well were soft carby foods like pizza and pasta; not the best foods for long term weight control.
Even with all these problems, I managed to keep the weight off for about 15 years, but in 1996 I got sick and couldn't exercise for a year and that was the end of my weight control, I started to regain and never could get control back. I ended up gaining all the weight back in the typical yo yo of diet and regain.
The more I tried to get control the more I grew to hate what had been done to me, I couldn't eat the foods that would help me lose; high protein, low carb, low fat because they would stick and I would end up puking them up. I couldn't have a bowl of cold cereal or oatmeal for breakfast because the milk would make me dump. I cold never have a piece of cake or some ice cream to celebrate a birthday because of the dumping etc. I felt deprived and like I had been butchered, I hated it and these feelings just got worse and worse.
In 2007 I finally decided I had to do something serious about the weight, I had high blood pressure, sleep apnea and gout; I was a mess, I hated my life and was miserable, so something had to give. I started looking into getting some kind of a revision, but had no clue what could be done. I knew I didn't want any more RNY or pouch crap, but what could I do? Everything I looked into was a dead end; Lap Band was way too much like RNY but with all sorts of additional possible problems, Mini Bypass, no good etc. Then I stumbled onto the DS and it seemed like it was too good to be true. Could I really get my pyloric valve back? Could I have a normally functional yet smaller stomach? Could I really drink milk again and eat steak and roast and ribs? Could I really do this and lose weight? It was just way too good to be true.
But the more I read and researched the more I saw that it was true and that was what people were really doing with the DS. So I decided that the DS was for me and started looking for a surgeon who could revise me. Since I would be self pay, I started looking at DS surgeons in Mexico and India and while they did do some revisions, none would commit to revising me because of the original surgery I had so long ago, they said it would be too dangerous and that I should get a revision to a modern RNY. There was no way I was going to do that, I had had all the pouch I could stand, no way in hell would I get a modern RNY. So I kept looking, I spoke to 4 more DS surgeons in the US and the first two told me the same thing; I was really getting discouraged. Then I spoke to Dr. Anthone and he gave me some hope saying that he could probably revise me to DS, but that he wouldn't know for sure until he got inside and saw what kind of scar tissue, adhesion's and damage I had. Then I spoke to Dr. Rabkin in San Francisco and within 10 minutes, I knew I had found my surgeon. He said he could do it and that it was just a matter of taking his time and getting everything right. I booked the surgery, paid the fees and started getting all the tests done.
I had the surgery on Sept. 17, 2008 and it took 8 1/2 hours, I was a mess inside, I had scar tissue and adhesion's all over and I had a lot of damage in my stomach from the old staples; some of which had torn my stomach. There was so much damage and scar tissue in my stomach that Dr. Rabkin missed a scar tissue flap and that flap would seal off my new sleeve so that nothing could get through, so a couple of days later, I had another surgery to repair and remove the flap; this surgery took 4 1/2 hours, but it did the trick and I started to help up. The recovery was longer and more difficult than I anticipated it would be, but after 6 weeks to 2 months, I started feeling pretty good and things just got better and better.
These days, I'm loving life like never before; I'm almost 58 now, but I feel like I'm 30. My only regret is that I waited so long to get the revision to DS, I should have done it 10 years earlier. Here's a link to my 1 year out post:
www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/4024505/One-year-ago-today-who -could-have-known/action,replies/topic_id,4024505/page,1/
I know some people are successful with RNY, but I was not one of them, I hated it IMO it's borderline butchery. With RNY, you will have to diet for the rest of your life and that is something I really hated as well.
If I were you, I would take a very long look at how you want to live the rest of your life, will you be happy being on a diet forever? If you like to diet, the RNY will help you with the diet, if you don't like to diet, forget about RNY.
I wish you well what ever you decide to do, the worst thing is being in fat prison.
Kerry
Even with all these problems, I managed to keep the weight off for about 15 years, but in 1996 I got sick and couldn't exercise for a year and that was the end of my weight control, I started to regain and never could get control back. I ended up gaining all the weight back in the typical yo yo of diet and regain.
The more I tried to get control the more I grew to hate what had been done to me, I couldn't eat the foods that would help me lose; high protein, low carb, low fat because they would stick and I would end up puking them up. I couldn't have a bowl of cold cereal or oatmeal for breakfast because the milk would make me dump. I cold never have a piece of cake or some ice cream to celebrate a birthday because of the dumping etc. I felt deprived and like I had been butchered, I hated it and these feelings just got worse and worse.
In 2007 I finally decided I had to do something serious about the weight, I had high blood pressure, sleep apnea and gout; I was a mess, I hated my life and was miserable, so something had to give. I started looking into getting some kind of a revision, but had no clue what could be done. I knew I didn't want any more RNY or pouch crap, but what could I do? Everything I looked into was a dead end; Lap Band was way too much like RNY but with all sorts of additional possible problems, Mini Bypass, no good etc. Then I stumbled onto the DS and it seemed like it was too good to be true. Could I really get my pyloric valve back? Could I have a normally functional yet smaller stomach? Could I really drink milk again and eat steak and roast and ribs? Could I really do this and lose weight? It was just way too good to be true.
But the more I read and researched the more I saw that it was true and that was what people were really doing with the DS. So I decided that the DS was for me and started looking for a surgeon who could revise me. Since I would be self pay, I started looking at DS surgeons in Mexico and India and while they did do some revisions, none would commit to revising me because of the original surgery I had so long ago, they said it would be too dangerous and that I should get a revision to a modern RNY. There was no way I was going to do that, I had had all the pouch I could stand, no way in hell would I get a modern RNY. So I kept looking, I spoke to 4 more DS surgeons in the US and the first two told me the same thing; I was really getting discouraged. Then I spoke to Dr. Anthone and he gave me some hope saying that he could probably revise me to DS, but that he wouldn't know for sure until he got inside and saw what kind of scar tissue, adhesion's and damage I had. Then I spoke to Dr. Rabkin in San Francisco and within 10 minutes, I knew I had found my surgeon. He said he could do it and that it was just a matter of taking his time and getting everything right. I booked the surgery, paid the fees and started getting all the tests done.
I had the surgery on Sept. 17, 2008 and it took 8 1/2 hours, I was a mess inside, I had scar tissue and adhesion's all over and I had a lot of damage in my stomach from the old staples; some of which had torn my stomach. There was so much damage and scar tissue in my stomach that Dr. Rabkin missed a scar tissue flap and that flap would seal off my new sleeve so that nothing could get through, so a couple of days later, I had another surgery to repair and remove the flap; this surgery took 4 1/2 hours, but it did the trick and I started to help up. The recovery was longer and more difficult than I anticipated it would be, but after 6 weeks to 2 months, I started feeling pretty good and things just got better and better.
These days, I'm loving life like never before; I'm almost 58 now, but I feel like I'm 30. My only regret is that I waited so long to get the revision to DS, I should have done it 10 years earlier. Here's a link to my 1 year out post:
www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/4024505/One-year-ago-today-who -could-have-known/action,replies/topic_id,4024505/page,1/
I know some people are successful with RNY, but I was not one of them, I hated it IMO it's borderline butchery. With RNY, you will have to diet for the rest of your life and that is something I really hated as well.
If I were you, I would take a very long look at how you want to live the rest of your life, will you be happy being on a diet forever? If you like to diet, the RNY will help you with the diet, if you don't like to diet, forget about RNY.
I wish you well what ever you decide to do, the worst thing is being in fat prison.
Kerry
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