Lap-band to Roux Y????

Help!! I had lap-band surgery done 3 years ago and initally lost weight but now have gained it all back, probably due to stretching out the pocket. I have Kaiser insurance and I'm thinking of changing to Roux-Y surgery. Has anybody done this??? I'd appreciate any comments

Stephanie

There are quite a few people who've gone to bypass after the band. I'm sure some of them who are active here will chime in.

You can also check out the Revisions forum, which is specifically for people who've had one surgery and then later revised to another.

Good luck!

Thanks Pam, I'll check it out

I had band to RNY revision last August. Feel free to read my blog. I am very happy with my results.

Best decision I've made in years! Feel free to read my profile and ask questions- I'm happy to share my experience. It's night and day different from my experience with the band and I haven't had a moments regret or any complications so far.  Good luck with your journey :)

I am going band to bypass on June 11th. Getting nervous. Most insurances want proof that the band somehow malfunctioned - in my case my doctor had to track me for a year and prove I developed or had worsened achalasia (I have severe esophageal spasms causing horrid acid reflux). I was approved after we proved the band was not viable and was doing more harm than good. Anyway, good luck! I have Anthem Insurance.

I had band to RNY revision on 3/11/14.  I lost 30 lbs prior to surgery and 30 lbs since surgery and I am very happy.  I have lost more now than I did with the band originally.  My insurance considered it "failed" if I didn't lose 50% of my excess weight and that I followed diet and exercise guidelines.

I just had my band removed and I was revised to RNY on May 2nd.  On May 4th I realized that my stomach felt better than it had in years, and it's only gotten better since then.  A week out and I can drink without choking.  I can sleep through the night now since I'm not waking up with reflux every few hours.  It's amazing.

My insurance wasn't through Kaiser but my insurance company did need to see my original surgery reports and all fill records.  That was easy, a few phone calls and faxing in releases and I had that paper work the same day in most cases.  Additionally I sent in the records from my Medical Dr that showed where I was either complaining about reflux, or my weight gain and was prescribed diet pills. This was trickier but I went into the office and sat with the Dr who patiently went through my chart with me and pulled each visit-thank god for electronic charting as he was able to search by keyword. I'd had an EGD a few years back and got that report too.  I also had read that my insurance requires anywhere from 3-6 months supervised weight loss-I couldn't determine if that was for initial surgery or revision so I joined Weigh****chers, then waited 2 months before seeing my new surgeon that way I'd have a head start if that was the case.  I submitted my weight tracker as well as the coordinator thought the more information I had the better.  We submitted everything on a Thursday afternoon (my appointment was over at 3pm so it would have been late in the day) and I had the call the next Wednesday morning that I was approved. We scheduled my surgery on the same phone call.  

As far as visits with a nutritionist, my insurance required a diet evaluation with all the other documentation so I completed that with my surgeon's Nut before we submitted everything.  My Dr requires a series of pre and post op classes so I went to the pre-op class.  But other than that there weren't any other requirements by my insurance since it was a medical need.

There were a lot of reasons why I had to wait so long to get to this point, mostly insurance based so I won't go into that as I ended up switching companies to get this done. But I'm so very glad I did this. I'm looking at it as a gift.  I know I didn't screw up my band, and I didn't fail. It failed me. But I did make some choices that resulted in a significant weight gain.  I've got a lot of work to do now, and I'm not sad about that.  I'm looking forward to changing my life.  I've got a second chance at life and I'm oh so excited.