S L.
I had my revision Lapband to Gastric Sleeve
Sep 16, 2014
I had my revision on September 8th and it was better than expected. We were worried that the bad did a lot of damage and caused a lot of scaring.
My surgeon Dr. Amy Neville was very positive in what she had found during the surgery and she therefore was able to do the sleeve at the same surgery.
After a last conversation before surgery I proposed to get a bigger Bougie size to my surgeon because this statistically would have a higher likelihood to avoid GERD as well as leakage.
My surgeon agreed and suggested 44F instead of the most commonly used 32F size of Bougie. And I am glad we did. I still feel full just after a few spoons and this will not change too much over time that it would concern me. Also I do not have to loose as much as many others. So I am very happy with my decision.
The only trouble I had was extreme nausea right after surgery and for the next two days after. Now not anymore.
Pain was very manageable and I am very happy to say that I felt is was way easier than I had expected especially since I am suffering from Lupus.
After 8 days I am feeling very well now, still not 100 % but better every day.
In this first week after surgery I have lost 7 pounds. But I told myself that I do not want to be the slave of my scale so I put it away and only plan to use it again when I am into my next smaller jean-size.
I am happy so far and do not regret for a second that I converted to a sleeve. I am super happy to have the band out for which I had paid $18,500 ..... should have bought a nice little car for that money. My health problems caused by the band had been very debilitating at times. Not only permanent pain, vomiting, damage to my esophagus muscle function and a hernia but also an increase in Asthma to the degree of permanent coughing with blood and mucus discharge. And last but not least horrific GERD.
All of this because of my lapband. If there would be a class action law suite taking place against all lapband companies I would join !!!
