Feedback about banding from my doc.

kate P
on 7/30/12 8:21 am - UK

My routine 6 monthly check up yesterday. All still well after over six years.

But I thought I would feed back some of the discussion I had with my medical team. These are not national stats! Just the comments of my specialist surgeon and specialist nurse about their own NHS hospital area. Note that they are salaried, not paid commission, not paid by the number of ops number of patients, type of surgery! They have no axe to grind!

We read a lot on here of people saying their hospitals are no longer doing bands. Not so with mine! They do bands, sleeve and bypass and say that all three surgeries have their place in the management of obesity. Their stats for slips are still under 3%, removals for whatever reason still under 5%.

Most of the problems they pick up are from people whose surgery was done self pay at private hospitals and who were either poorly educated about the band or who could not afford regular aftercare and choose to keep their band tight. ( My hospital is National Health Service and so has to pick up emergency care of everyone, wherever their original surgery was done. ) They have just set up a Band Rescue Group to try to support and re-educate banded people who are struggling to lose weight.

As always, please note, I am not denying problems which are in no way self inflicted. I am simply reporting the experience of one group of hospitals.

Kate

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

Bette B.
on 7/30/12 8:47 am

Lap Band on 12/02/03 with

Waiting for the ****e storm to start . . .

Banded since 2003, maintaining my weight loss and still knowing I made the right choice for me. If you want information on what life is like for a band success, have questions or need help and suggestions on band life, feel free to message me. Otherwise, just read the Lapband Forum.

kate P
on 7/30/12 9:41 am - UK

Lap Band on 05/23/06 with

Bette, hopefully not. I hope people realise I am not denying that there can be problems with the band; just reporting they are not inevitable and ubiquitous.

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

Bette B.
on 7/30/12 9:51 am

Lap Band on 12/02/03 with

Let's hope that YOU are able to get the message across to people!

Banded since 2003, maintaining my weight loss and still knowing I made the right choice for me. If you want information on what life is like for a band success, have questions or need help and suggestions on band life, feel free to message me. Otherwise, just read the Lapband Forum.

kate P
on 7/30/12 9:53 am, edited 7/30/12 12:59 pm - UK

Lap Band on 05/23/06 with

I was today told something I didn't know. Apparently Dr Fielding is one of the leading band surgeons in NYC and has been banded himself for over ten years. Interesting!

Edited to add... I know nothing about Dr Fielding. i am told he is the subject of controversy and so the fact he has been happily banded for ten years may not impress people.

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

learning more everyday
on 7/30/12 12:32 pm

On July 30, 2012 at 9:53 AM Pacific Time, kate P wrote:

I was today told something I didn't know. Apparently Dr Fielding is one of the leading band surgeons in NYC and has been banded himself for over ten years. Interesting!

YEP, HE IS THE SURGEON I WOULD WANT...
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/horror_stories_follow_lap_band_surgery_JPHaUeuhbIANvH6orXEfeP

The state is investigating NYU Medical Center's booming weight-loss surgery practice, after three patients perished -- including a young lawyer who may have died of thirst -- following bariatric procedures, the Post has learned.

Drs. George Fielding and Christine Ren-Fielding, the glamorous husband-and-wife team in charge of the NYU unit, pioneered lap-band surgery -- in which a silicone band is looped around the stomach -- and performed it on Jet coach Rex Ryan.

"We're investigating the entire bariatric program" at NYU, said state Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond.

The probe began within the last two weeks following complaints from ex-patients, a source said. The Post exposed new malpractice allegations against the Fieldings last week.

Weight-loss surgery is under scrutiny in New York, and new dangers are being alleged in litigation, including:

* At least six malpractice claims against the Fieldings -- one brought by ex-Met Lee Mazzilli, after his teenage daughter was hospitalized with stomach "perforations."

* 15 lawsuits against gastric-bypass surgeon Elliot Goodman at Manhattan's Beth Israel Medical Center in five years.

* Allegations that a Westchester hospital hid the weight of a patient -- who later died -- to qualify her for surgery.

Even as the feds consider making weight-loss surgery more accessible -- with lap bands for teens and patients on the cusp of obesity -- long-term risks are only now coming to light, nine years after FDA approval.

"The long-term risk of the band may be as high as 25 percent," said Dr. Paresh Shah, a surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital.

Studies show the death rate for bariatric surgery is under 2 percent, but the research rarely accounts for deaths from complications after 30 days.

Christine Ren-Fielding admitted in an academic article that because some patients die months afterward, "the incidence of bariatric deaths in New York City is practically unknowable for us."

"After the surgery, [doctors] just sort of wipe their hands," said Lara Quatinetz, whose sister, Rebecca, 27, was found dead in her Stuyvesant Town apartment two months after NYU gave her a lap band in May 2008.

The young lawyer, who wanted to lose weight she'd gained while studying for the bar, couldn't swallow food or water for days on end, lawyer Howard Wexler claimed.

He claimed the band was cinched so tight -- despite adjustments made during six post-op visits -- that solids and liquids did not reach her stomach.

The Fieldings didn't respond to requests for comment, but George Fielding has claimed his NYU Program for Surgical Weight Loss, which operates on almost 1,000 patients annually, has "the lowest death rate in the world, in the history of bariatric surgery."

The Fieldings "are incredibly competent surgeons," Lenox Hill surgeon Mitchell Roslin said. "I would let either of them operate on me."

Bariatric procedures -- which are advertised in city subways and take as little as 20 minutes to perform -- are big moneymakers. NYU billed Rebecca Quatinetz more than $26,000. Surgeons say their cut is often around $4,000.

Critics worry greed has led to surgeries on patients with less-than-severe weight problems.

Joan Delango said that one clinic told her daughter, Danielle, that she didn't need a lap band but that Danielle, 25, got one at Lawrence Hospital Center in Westchester in 2008. Six weeks later, she died after collapsing in her bathroom, said Delango, who has filed a suit.

At the time of her death, Danielle weighed just 156 pounds, Delango said. Delango alleges that Danielle was listed as being shorter and fatter than she was so the surgery looked better to insurers and regulators.

On Danielle's presurgery form -- which the Post obtained -- a doctor wrote, "Do not weigh patient."

"I believe they changed her height and her weight to change her ideal numbers," Delango said. "Why else would you not want to weigh her?"

kate P
on 7/30/12 12:59 pm - UK

Lap Band on 05/23/06 with

I knew nothing about Dr Fieldng and so I cannot comment on this. I was unaware of this controversy. I won't delete my thread as that is a bit like running away! But I have amended it.

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

Zee Starrlite
on 7/30/12 2:41 pm

VSG on 06/06/11 with

Who would stay days on end without eating or drinking? It happened to me but I was taking swift action (my surgeon didn't mention that he didn't live in NY and in 2005 no one would touch anyone else's Lap Band). Mitchell Roslin, M.D. saved me when this happened. He also thinks they are great docs at NYU and said he would let them operate on him. Ethical I am not sure but good surgeons they are.

3/30/2005 Lap Band installed 12/20/2010 Lap Band REMOVED
6/6/2011 Vertical SLEEVE Gastrectomy

Bette B.
on 7/30/12 1:13 pm

Lap Band on 12/02/03 with

ANYONE being successfully banded for ten years won't impress some people.

Banded since 2003, maintaining my weight loss and still knowing I made the right choice for me. If you want information on what life is like for a band success, have questions or need help and suggestions on band life, feel free to message me. Otherwise, just read the Lapband Forum.

learning more everyday
on 7/30/12 11:59 am

hmmm... http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Gastric-band-patients-ve-abandoned-NHS-health/story-15918830-detail/story.html

PEOPLE who had gastric bands fitted for health reasons believe they have been abandoned by the health trust that paid for their surgery.

Patients who had the weight loss surgery on the NHS have now been told that they will no longer have their routine check-ups and emergency appointments at Spire Hospital Bristol.

Just out of the blue I was told that NHS B&NES wasn't going to continue funding our care at the Spire Hospital any more.

"I had a letter from Spire saying that we would no longer be going to them for these appointments and that I would need to go back to my doctor but he said he had heard nothing."

Mr Hope, a hairdresser, said he had experienced problems with his gastric band which had required an emergency appointment and was told that had he not had the emergency procedure he could have died.

The 51-year-old was 22-stone before he had the procedure, and had tried to lose weight but struggled to shift it. He has lost five-stone since the band was fitted and his diabetes has improved.

"I think the NHS has a duty of care after they have done the operation but we don't know what is going on. We don't know what to do."

Nicki Coll, 34, was born with a disease that caused her hips to deteriorate, causing weight to be an issue for her.

She has already had hip replacement surgery and said her doctor had advised her to have a gastric band so that she did not put too much weight on her hips.

"They got me the funding to have it done because it is not about being vain but because of my hips," she said.

"I remember asking them whether this was for life, because with the cost of the operation and follow-up I would not have done it if I had thought the maintenance would not be covered.

"If I had known it would be £150 a time if there were problems with my band and to pay for X-rays I would never have gone for it."

Ms Coll, of Saltford, said that she has attempted to contact NHS Bath & North East Somerset to find out how the care and maintenance of her gastric band will be managed in the future but has not had any conclusive answers.

"NHS B&NES said to go to my GP who would put in for my funding," she said.

"But when I went to my GP they had received no notification of it at all.

"I then contacted B&NES again and they could not tell me in an emergency where to go. I've been informed that some hospitals there could be a five-six month wait and by then I could be dead."

Esther Hope, 53, had her band fitted two years ago after her doctor recommended it to help ease the arthritis she has in her knees.

The nail technician said: "Since I've lost weight I've become a lot better and I have not been to the doctors since I asked for the band.

"But the fact that we won't get the back-up and we aren't getting any answers at all.

"If they weren't going to follow it up at the same place they should have sent us somewhere else for the operation."

A spokesman for NHS B&NES said that the decision to move maintenance of gastric bands from the private hospital was made by the South West Specialised Commissioning Group after a review and all patients would be given several options of where they could have their follow-up appointments in the future.

He said: "The NHS does and will continue to look after these patients as part of our duty of care."

kate P
on 7/30/12 12:58 pm - UK

Lap Band on 05/23/06 with

There is no indication of the source of this article. It looks like a local gossip web site?

Spire is a private hospital, not NHS. I note the NHS did perform his emergency operation, presumably because the private Spire would not.

Not sure what this article actually shows except that one man is unhappy enough to want to share his woes. A second, Ms Coll says she paid for her op, so again, a self pay patient at a private hospital.

I also note that the local nhs are in fact offering alternative care options. Despite the lady saying she paid privately and was not a nhs patient.

This is a very muddled account!

Kate

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

grannymedic1
on 7/30/12 12:02 pm - Lake Odessa, MI

Revision on 08/21/12 with

Thanks, Kate. No, problems with the band are not inevitable, nor are you, Bette, and others in some rare group of endangered bandsters. There are problems for some people and that is very sad, but there is also success for others.

The Band Rescue Group gives me a hilarious image of people rushing into squalid quarters and saving the lives of dozens of poor little underfed, ungroomed, shivering little bands. I love it!

Highest weight: 212.8 Current weight 135 Lost 77.8 pounds

Bette B.
on 7/30/12 12:04 pm

Lap Band on 12/02/03 with

Well, a lot of them may have come from band mills, so the comparison to dog/puppy rescue is not a big stretch.

Banded since 2003, maintaining my weight loss and still knowing I made the right choice for me. If you want information on what life is like for a band success, have questions or need help and suggestions on band life, feel free to message me. Otherwise, just read the Lapband Forum.

kate P
on 7/30/12 1:07 pm, edited 7/30/12 1:08 pm - UK

Lap Band on 05/23/06 with

You were of course correct, Bette. I report on one specific hospital group and get an immediate reponse trying to show I am talking nonsense. Unfortunatetly, the poster appears to have no idea how the NHS works in the UK as in fact her article supports my comment that many problems are caused by private docs and the nhs picks up the pieces!

And can you imagine the reactionI would have got if I had quoted a web site which appears to be a local gossip column?

Anyone reading this....

I WAS SAYING WHAT ONE NHS HOSPITAL GROUP IN THE UK TOLD ME. Is that clear? i was not speaking for the whole nation. i was not saying the band is perfect. I was not denying band issues!

Ye gods!

Kate

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

Bette B.
on 7/30/12 1:15 pm

Lap Band on 12/02/03 with

Is that clear? i was not speaking for the whole nation. i was not saying the band is perfect. I was not denying band issues!

You know what people hear when you (and I ) say stuff like that?

Banded since 2003, maintaining my weight loss and still knowing I made the right choice for me. If you want information on what life is like for a band success, have questions or need help and suggestions on band life, feel free to message me. Otherwise, just read the Lapband Forum.

kate P
on 7/30/12 1:24 pm - UK

Lap Band on 05/23/06 with

Bette, it just gets so BORING! I fully accept people like Nic and Zee. They had problems, they share and warn. Or people like Hislady who joins in to say how wrong her band was for her.

But this board is just so tedious these days. I rarely post now and miss the camaraderie there used to be. There were always people with problems and despite what some claim, they did get support. Not from everyone, I admit. But from many. A small number of people have made it their mission in life to warn people off the band. Fair enough! But do they have to do it quite so incessantly? Why not just answer questions. These people are as aggressive and biased in their negativity as a certaini infamous lady was aggressive and biased in the other way.

I will probably now get told fhat I can't talk because I started this thread to praise the band. But I didn't! I just passed on what ONE set of professionals told me. i made it clear that the band can go wrong!

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

Bette B.
on 7/31/12 7:36 am

Lap Band on 12/02/03 with

What's wrong with praising the band? If people can post that ALL BANDS WILL FAIL (Oh nos!!), then we should be able to post that it's NOT TRUE and that there is a possibility (slim or otherwise) that it works.

Banded since 2003, maintaining my weight loss and still knowing I made the right choice for me. If you want information on what life is like for a band success, have questions or need help and suggestions on band life, feel free to message me. Otherwise, just read the Lapband Forum.

Tarris
on 7/31/12 12:58 pm

Kate and Bette...keep posting...you both are a significant reason I still bother to log in every day. And logging in makes me feel more accountable. So you are helping me!

kate P
on 7/31/12 1:29 pm - UK

Lap Band on 05/23/06 with

Tarris, for about five years I was an addict! I read and posted on here every day. Initially it was to get support and advice but as time went on that switched to offering my own experiences to help others. The board was never drama free! We had all sorts of major surgery wars. But it was very much a support forum. A few people were not supportive! They blamed people for band probems which were not their own fault. But most people were there to offer and receive support.

But now it's an unhappy place. Two veteran bandsters have recently told me and a few others privately that they have been having issues. Sadly they felt unable to post on here. They believed that the very people who complain they never received support when they had issues would be the first to say " I told you so". They were not embarrassed to admit problems, they were afraid of ex-bandsters gloating. Not all ex-bandsters are like that, but some are.

So I rarely post here now. My main board is a UK one. People talk openly of their problems, receive support and advice. We all sympathise and try to help those with serious complications but we all also praise each other and celebrate the new lives that so many of us have got with our bands. The whole ethos is supportive and positive.

Kate

Highest ever 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too low - deliberately regained to 150.
Blip (regain of 27lbs) during 2010. Dealt with (after leak repair).
Nov. 2010 set new (more realistic!) comfort zone of 150-160
Dress US size 26 to 8/10 (5ft 4ins tall) 2.8cc in 4cc band.

A VERY HAPPY BANDSTER.

justjudy
on 7/31/12 7:45 pm - Canton, MI

Lap Band on 05/25/07 with

My strong suspicion based on the newer data trends, is that the band is not what many of us hoped it would be when we had our surgery years ago, I also have stated before, and will again, that I suspect the band will decrease greatly in popularity and may even be off the market in the future, as long term data becomes available.

Having said that, there are many of us out here who have bands and are not experiencing major complications-at least not yet. Some of us are at our goal weights and many of us are still struggling to get there.

I honestly haven't seen many of us cheer leading the band, encouraging the band to newbies without thought, or denying the problems. We mainly try to be here for folks who have a band and who have questions about how to manage it.

I think Kate and Bette are two of the most honest and forthright posters on this site, and a huge help to those who have chosen to be banded. The site is certainly not what it used to be, and I believe the negativity here has even contributed to some lapses in success because folks are afraid of being attacked here.

It is always good to see discussion handled with respect and accurate information from both sides.

Judy
Progress, not perfection

ObesityHelp

Weight Loss Surgery Directory

Feedback about banding from my doc.