A Weighty Decision

[Ravenclaw779]

I could post my whole dramatic story but it's already out there on LapBand.com. Needless to say I battled my weight and eating habits for years. Finally at 275 pounds I decided to go with gastric banding as I wasn't comfortable with re-routing my plumbing and as a 10 year breast cancer survivor, I didn't want to run the risk of having to deal with the potential of a second cancer diagnosis and malabsorbtion issues.
Was banded in March 2010. In a case of creepy foreshadowing, in January 2011 I had a second diagnosis of breast cancer(side bar for any BC survivors freaking out...I'm a genetic carrier so always had a 70-80% chance of a second primary and that's what I had. Not a recurrance and there was no spread - if fact it was likely caught tiny and early on the MRI because I'd lost about 65lbs).
I had a minimal amount in my band while going through the cancer rollercoaster and when it was all said and done, even going through chemo, I only gain nine pounds. I was back on the "band wagon" by September 2011 with good restriction and no need for fills. Added in Weight Watchers and slowly but surely, the weight was coming off with very few issues.
In July 2012, I was 216 when I decided to have carpal tunnel surgery. It's a 15 minute procedure but any time I'm under anesthesia, I've got to be "patched" as I get few nauseous coming out of anesthesia. For this procedure, the anesthesiologist advised me that I didn't need the scopolamine patch as I'd be "in & out". BIG mistake as I spent that afternoon vomiting uncontrollably. This is the only thing I can recall as my relationship with the band started to deteriorate. From July until November 2012, I blamed myself - surely I was doing something wrong!! I finally ended up with the following "rules" for me when it came to eating:
*Couldn't eat while wearing a bra or anything fitted around my waist.
*Couldn't eat sitting down.
*Couldn't eat before 10am.
*Took a minimum of 40 minutes to get down oatmeal and a container of yogurt.
*Three bites of any real food i.e., chicken, fish, meat and it was off to the bathroom
& so on...
It was my oncologist who told me this was crazy and to go see my WLS. Finally, in December 2012, I did. First he took all the fluid out and that helped for a little while, but I still couldn't eat "real food". According to my WLS, with a few limitations, at this point, almost three years out from surgery, I shouldv'e been able to eat just about anything. Next came the upper GI which was largely inconclusive except that for three hours following the barium swallow I was vomiting up the sludge that wouldn't go down. Next came the endoscopy which indicated inflammation from my esophagus down through my stomach. Prilosec and Carafate did nothing, so my surgeon wants to take the band out and feels that a sleeve revision is the best approach.
My husband is adamant about me just getting the band out and leaving well enough alone. I'm on the fence. I don't want to spend the rest of my life at 200+ pounds, but I also don't want to deal with a whole new set of potential complications.
I'm looking for feedback from anyone else who has been down this road! Good- Bad - I want to hear it all!

[Michellemo]

Sorry to hear all that. I was at first going to get a lapband. I researched it for about a year and even had my first appt scheduled but I never felt totally right about a lapband. I finally decided to look into the sleeve and immediately knew it was the right choice. There just seemed so many people on the message boards that had complications with the band. I had my sleeve surgery about 8.5 months ago and I couldn't be happier! Best thing I've ever done for myself. The only draw back is heart burn. Never had it before in my life but its still worth it! Good luck

[Ravenclaw779]

Sometimes the decision is made for you - Sort Of...
My insurance carrier said "No Problem" with having the band out and proceeding with a gastric sleeve at the same time. My surgeon also felt it was quite doable. Imagine my surprise when the WLS's "case manager" called to let me know that the only way I was going to have a gastric sleeve was to go through the whole pre-certification process AGAIN! That means, Medifast, Psych, Sleep Lab, Cardiologist, Pulmonologist, Nutritionist.
Kinda pointless as I've done all of this, have lost weight etc. Called my insurance carrier - they were quite candid - apparently if this particular practice knows your insurance carrier will pay for all the 'bells & whistles' again, you'll be "mandated" to go through the hoops again. So I guess if your carrier won't pay for all the extras, but will approve the band removal/sleeve as one procedure, they'll do that, since they'll get paid more.

[Breen]

That sounds horrible! Hoping your future is much brighter!

[galmila]

I got rid of my band and had the sleeve done all in one surgery. Love not have my band

[Ravenclaw779]

How long did you have your band? What caused you to have it removed?

[galmila]

I got it in 2005. First I gained all my weight back plus some more. I was throwing up every other day. I couldn't eat anything before 1100 then by 7:00 at night I could eat anything. Almost every morning I had the slimes. I would go to dinner and have to get up after taking one bite to go throw up. I sometimes had to stand to drink. The port was bugging me. I was tired of it and it wasn't even working. Went to Mexico, got it out got the sleeve and I feel better. Havn't thrown up once after surgery. I was telling my daughter that, for me as someone who threw up at least once every other day not throwing up is a relief.

[Ravenclaw779]

It is so good to know I'm not the only one who had this experience. Laughably, despite the fact that it's been documented that it needs to come out, I'm still trying to convince myself that it's crazy that I have an 11c band with nothing in it and enough restriction that most solids won't go down. It's the little reminders that mean so much...like this weekend when I spent the day washing my windows - all 32 of 'em. Hose, squeegee - haulin' a-- if you will. Finally got a little hungry when my yogurt and oatmeal wore off. Had a Baby Bel Lite cheese and an 1/4c of dry roasted peanuts. Chew - Chew and back out to work on the windows. Over reached and dropped the squeegee, so back down the ladder. Bent over to pick up the squeegee and immediately got sick. Good Times!
Now my "safe" foods(most of the time) - yogurt, oatmeal, cottage cheese, hummus, Hormel Turkey Chili(no beans) and strangest of all - the only real solid food I can get(Oooh- I am so bad!) - Sea Pak Shrimp Spring Rolls.