hey robin!!!! how are you doing...slowly but surely!!! I think i am seeing a little bit of results. mabye we'll get together in the spring...and chit chat!! Yours in the struggle----La-kee-a

Hi Robin!!! My weight is coming off real slow also. But I'm hanging in there. I'm 3 weeks out and have only lost 10 pounds. But hey that's 10 pounds I hope I never see again....

I had the exact question today!! The Dr. who I contacted said that my insurance does not do Lap Band but does the bypass. Go figure, as I would rather have what Paige has and now I'm trying to read more about the bypass as I wasn't interested in it. I hate the idea of more complications. But I know I do need it and qualify for it. I'm very intimidated by this type of surgery and quick weight loss. My main concern if I get down to it though is this: With such quick weight loss, it seems that everyone needs to have plastic surgery for skin. That is a very expensive and painful process. I don't know if I could aford to do that. When is that necessary? I have about a 100 pounds to lose, and I worry about that one aspect. Stupid I know. But it plays in my mind.

Leslie, I also had this question. I decided on the lap band, and did so mainly because of it's reversibility. The finality of the VGB or RNY steered me away from it, but if my insurance would have only covered one of them, I may have had to reconsider. I was afraid I would stretch my pouch, and then nothing could be done to un-do that. However, the lap band program encourages you to really take control of your eating patterns and they stress that only you can get the weight off, and the band is just a tool. I have lost 27 pounds since I first went into the surgeon's office on 1-4-05, but most of that was on the pre-op diet (only 5.5 pounds since). I go for my first band fill today, and I will see if that gets me loosing better. The lap band is kind of slow to get started for some, but my surgeon's patients loose an average of 75lbs in the first year. The 3 year studies on comparrison between the 3 surgeries show the lap band to have the same long term outcome, mainly because the RNY and VGB patienets loose fast, but they have a correction in their weight a couple of years out on average, and we all end up the same. The studies in the US contain data from people with early surgeries who were not screened well, and a lot of them did not do the correct follow up proceedures- excercise, support, and regular fills and follow up appointments-like they should have. I hope this helps you with your decision.

P.S. I DON'T KNOW WHAT A SLEEVE IS. I HEARD IT'S KIND OF NEW I'M NOT SURE IF IT IS BUT THATS WHAT I HEARD. WITH THE VBG MY DR. JUST PUT A BAND AROUND MY TUMMY AND STAPLE THE BOTTOM OF MY TUMMY. ROBIN