Help~ I'm pre-op and have questions.

Hi guys. I just started considering WLS since our insurance changed the beginning of October and now it is covered. I'm a 40 BMI. I have a tentative date for May set up with a surgeon for Lap Band. I was completely 'thrilled' at the option of Lap Band because a girl I'd went to school with lost about 100 pounds in 8 months with it and she's doing great.That's about how much I'd like to lose...

BUT the more I read, the more worried I get. The Lap Band community is so torn. It seems it's a 50/50 chance on whether it's a success or not. I cannot go through something like that and lose only 20 pounds. :(

To be honest the sleeve scares me, big time. For example, what if you only have 15-20% of your stomach left and you end up with stomach cancer? They couldn't really remove much more of it to save your life? I'm sorry, but I think of *everything*. It just seems really extreme to me. I just wanted to check on you guys and see how it is here. Is it that same 50/50 split or is most everyone happy with it?
I'm so confused and disappointed. I just want something that can help me so I'll be healthy and 'normal'.

Not only did I get the sleeve but I have worked in a Bariatric office for close to 9 years now. I am here to tell you the band for the most part does not work. In the beginning the surgeon I work for didn't do bands because he knew they didn't work but when they got most popular he gave in and did them as that was the demand. We now see so many of those patients coming back because their band either "didn't work" or caused such complications, such as band slippage, erosion, gerd, food getting stuck ect, that they have to come out and people want the sleeve.

If you get the band I assure you you will be back to your surgeon within a few years asking him to take it out. Save yourself a surgery and just get a sleeve. Do you have a family history of stomach cancer? If so maybe that is something to think about, if not the odds of that happening are 1,000,000 to one. I'd rather take the chance of living a lifetime of healthy and happy then remain obese because of being worried about stomach cancer...that's not living.

Good luck with your journey!!

Whatever you decide, make sure you research.  If you are only concerned about stomach cancer, then I really think you need to read more about the band because there are a lot more problems, complications, maintenance, etc than with the sleeve.  There are people that are very successful with the band but I would check the stats of the office you are going to have the surgery with to see what their actual success rate is.  Actually I would do that with all of their surgeries that you are considering.

I am biased, I love my sleeve.  I lead a very normal life other than I can only eat smaller portions.  I eat 3 times a day and two light snacks.  I have lost 116 lbs in 10 months.  I have changed my lifestyle and my eating habits which is what you need to do no matter what surgery you decide on.

Welcome and good luck!

I know 3 people who got the band, and none of them reached their goal.  2 have had to have the band removed due to complications from it.  The other still has the band in, but it's not filled anymore.  I was thinking the band, too until I started doing my research and learned about the sleeve.  I am thrilled with mine, and have no doubt at all that I will reach my goal...and stay there.  I've never felt this way before in my life.

Also, I worked in medical claims and billing for 25 years and never heard of anyone getting stomach cancer.  I'm sure they did, but I never personally saw a claim for it.  I assume....and it's just an assumption....that they would basically do a bypass if that ever happened.

I love my sleeve.

Jane

If it makes you feel better, doctors have been performing gastrectomies (total and partial) for decades and decades as treatment for cancer and ulcers.  You can actually live without a stomach - they take part of your intestines and convert it into a stomach.  That's the absolute worse case.  But there are risks to everything, and you have to weigh the risks of being obese today to the risk of developing stomach cancer (or some other stomach ailment) sometime in future.  The odds are usually on the side of getting the weight off.

Lapbands can do damage to the stomach and the vagus nerve that's permanent.  And the makers of the lapband have admitted that it's not a one time surgery - the band won't last a lifetime.  In the meantime, even if the band is working for you, you've got to deal with the fills and unfills which insurance doesn't cover.  AND, if you read the band board and the revision board, banded folks who want the band out have trouble getting insurance to cover it, even when the band is causing significant problems.  The thing that hooks folks on the band is that it's advertised as reversible, but it really isn't.  It's removable.  But the damage it causes isn't always reversible.

emelar is basically correct - the worst case is that you fundamentally get a gastric bypass, (but without the intestinal rerouting to leave behind that remnant stomach, and the vitamin and mineral malabsorption that goes along with it,) Think about that for a moment - the worst case with the sleeve, if they have to remove the stomach completely at some point in the future, is better than what many docs promote as the "gold standard" of WLS.

You are going to find that the vast majority (not everyone but close) who has the sleeve is really happy with it.  Research as much as you can and read this board religiously (including back pages) to get a better understanding of living with the sleeve from a patient's point of view.  Read every journal article you can get your hands on about the sleeve.  Once you are sure this is what you want, spend as much time researching surgeons and make the most educated decision possible in both choice of surgery and surgeon.  The sleeve is not standardized and you need to find someone that will give you what you want (once you know what that is of course).  Good luck to you.  As for me, this was the very best thing I have ever done and I was self-pay.  Best ROI in history if you ask me (or my husband).  :)

What about acid reflux? It's already a problem for me. How much worse does it get? How bad is the surgery? I'm so nervous.

It depends on the reason that you have reflux.  You might already have a hiatal hernia and this is causing the reflux.  If this is the case, make sure that the surgeon you choose, aggressively fixes the hernia.  This can actually make the reflux go away or at least get much better. Not all surgeons do this, you want one that does.  If you have reflux for other reasons, you should really talk to a doctor about the odds of it becoming worse.  

From all that I've read on these boards, you couldn't pay me enough money to get a Lapband. For some people, it really worked for them... and that's great... but for me the amount of complications people have seems overwhelming. I know two people in my real life that have had it. One never lost weight and the other lost 80 lbs (not all of her excess weight) and then had to have it removed this year because she was tortured by it.

I love the sleeve. I didn't not worry about the possibility of stomach cancer. I was so miserable, unhappy, and unhealthy before surgery that I was willing to take that risk. Honestly, if I end up with cancer (even stomach cancer), then not having much of a stomach would still be the last worry on my mind! Maybe I was destined to get stomach cancer and the the portion of it that they removed is where the tumor would've been? lol... seems just as likely as me getting it someday in the 15% remaining!

Good luck!!