Looking Back...Should have asked WHAT ???

First off...I had the D/S surgery a little less than 2 years ago. I now volunteer at a nursing home with a bariatric unit and am asked questions about weight loss surgery all the time. I want to educate myself about the lap-band so I can speak about ALL weight loss options and I just do not know enough about the lap-band. I had attended a lap-band support group.

Next week I will be attending a local lap-band seminar. My question here is WHAT Questions do you wish you would have asked at your information seminar??? Please no questions that will get me tossed out on my now smaller butt !!!!

Thanks in advance for you input !!! 

I think it is important for all to know that the band is a tool, and yes a forever diet.   A lot of people think you get banded and the weight just "Poof" comes off.    So it is important for all to hear the ?  Do you automatically lose weight or are you forever technically on a diet?

Thanks for the reply Ann !!! I think we are all technically on a diet forever...probably not to the same degree.

My surgeon's seminar is very thorough, but from being on here for 2 years there are a few things that I believe are not stressed fully in regard to the band.

1.  How much maintenence is involved with the band?  The amount of fills vary greatly from person to person, but the reality is that you do have to get regular fills and sometimes unfills in order to keep the band the way that it's most comfortable for you.  I still see the doctor about 3x a year for one adjustment or another plus an annual upper GI to check band placement and labs (mostly for my peace of mind).

2.  Because the band is not a malabsorbtive proceedure you really have to make healthy choices regarding the food you eat if you want the maximum results.  All calories count and are absorbed.  The good thing is that so are the nutrients so the vitamin regime is not very strict- one multi and a little extra iron, Vit. D or Calcium IF needed.  Call it dieting or whatever, with the band you have to control what you eat.  The band will help control hunger and portion size but you have to make good food choices.

3.  Junk goes right through the band.  Unfortunately you can sometimes "eat around" your WL tool.  Anything that disolves to mush when ingested will usually go through the stoma so you have to use self control when it comes to things like candy, cookies, ice cream, potato chips, etc.

With all that said, I have had great success with my band and have no regrets!

I think it's excellent what you are doing!  What a great service for your patients!

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Best~
Lisa O.

As I look at my screen now, there is a banner headline which says "Tired of dieting? Why not get a gastric lapband?"

I would ask how people need to eat with the band. Is it as easy as that ( ridiculous!) banner implies! A good wls surgeon will tell you that it isn't. Like Lisa, my band has helped me lose all my excess weight and to maintain that loss for four years. I don't diet in that I deprive myself but I diet in the sense that I have changed what I eat. The band has not done that for me. It has helped me eat less but only I can make the initial food choice.

Thank you for educating yourself. Many people on here write the band off but it really can work. Not for everyone! Not fast! But if it s accepted for what it is and not as a miracle cure, it is a viable wls. In Australia, 90% of wls is banding - so are all Oz wls surgeons fools? The UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence which determines which treatments and surgeries are available within our national health service has evaluated bands as being safe and effectiv, again within the limitations above.

Kate

Ask how it works for someone who developed a weight problem because of health issues as opposed to eating issues. That's one of the reasons mine hasn't worked and I tried to explain that to my surgeon but he was just sure the band would help. See I already ate less than 1000 calories a day and still mostly do. My exercise is next to nil because I have lung issues that severely limit my ability to get exercise. So with out exercise and already eating quality food in moderate amounts it just couldn't work for me. I aced my psych exam, no eating disorders and boringly normal, no hidden childhood issues. And I swear if another person tells me it's a tool I'm gonna smack'em with my other tool-a monkey wrench!

 

In all seriousness, I wish I would have asked if removable/reversible also meant repairable! Because the damage the band did to my stomach/body is NOT reversible, or repairable. The band itself was removable as evidence of my revision to VSG. BUT the question needs to be asked; "If my band needs to be removed, how much damage will my stomach suffer, and is it repairable?" In many cases, the answer is "the damage is not reversible, you are left with what is left and unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you can you get back what the band took."

And, what is your reoperation rate for your band patients? Considering the study from the manufacturers of the band show a 1 in 4(25%) reop rate within 3 years due to adverse effects, I'd want to know my surgeon's personal stats on revisions, removals, and repositioning ops for his/her band patients.

Just out of curiosity, why was your band removed? Were you able to revise right away?
My band has to come out on Thursday because of erosion.

This was my reply to a topic on the main board today that kind of wraps up my experience without all the gory details:

Long story short:

I had it done in one procedure. Once my revision surgeon got in, removed the band, hoards of scar tissue and damage was found, and he had no option but to perform the sleeve, he had to do something. Due to the damage from the band, I popped a leak on 2 days post-VSG, and had an extensive recovery due to all of the damage the band did in 8 short months. Essentially, he had to remove more tissue than a regular revision, and my stomach was sewn back together from 2 separate pieces. The tissue was just too damage for the staples to hold properly.

To this very day when asked "would you do it again, any regrets?" , my answer remains the same "I would honestly endure every complication, struggle and obstacle again to live the live I have had once I recovered. I have zero regrets."

Here's the "why" I had to revise:

Flipped port from early out (a nurse on the bariatric floor made me extend my arms over my head and lug my huge ass up into the hospital bed the night of surgery, I felt an immediate POP in my abdomen at the port site, woke up to a hematoma and extensive bruising extending from my mid-line abdomen to my right side, it was about 6-8 inches in width, and major pain, I believe this is when I popped an anchor stitch, and movement, working out post-op once I was cleared is what caused the flipped/migrated port)
It migrated, and caused the tubing to actually pull on my band which in turn pulled on my stomach causing chronic pian and vomiting on water some days. I was not able to get fills, or unfills. An unfill is recommended before the revision, but my revision surgeon couldn't get to my port. I only had 3-3.5cc in a 10cc band. We didn't know how bad the damage was until he was in there. There was not a true erosion, it was strictly from the months of the tubing pulling on my band. The pain was so severe that I could not bend at the waist. I had hoards of scar tissue and adhesions throughout my abdomen, on my liver, and diaphragm. I have permanent nerve damage from the band. It is random pain, I've had diagnostics and the only conclusion that has been found is that it is nerve damage that I will live with for the rest of my life. You know that "referred shoulder pain" you hear so many bandsters talk about??? Yeah, I have that pretty much every day of my life and it's worse in pregnancy because of the baby taking up space and pushing on my daiphragm. It's just lovely. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my sleeve. No stricture, narrowing, no ulcers, nothing. I also have transit time issues and this is something I've dealt with since being about 4-5 months out. Any type of food with a skin, such as grapes, plums, apples, pickles, corn and some beans, I have to eat in moderation. Celery and coconut are pretty much off the menu for the rest of my life and I eat those foods with extreme moderations because of my transit time issue. When I say extreme moderation, I might eat 1 celery stalk over a 2-3 day period with cream cheese 2-3 times a year. I've had coconut on about 2-3 occasions, and that was well into maintenance, twice was a sliver of German Chocolate cake, and the other was on a different type of dessert/cupcake thingie.  Any of those food seem to hang out in my sleeve. For example, if I eat 6-8 grapes as a snack around 1pm, we have dinner around 6pm every night. I can eat dinner, and sometimes, I'll randomly burp up grape skins from 6 hours before after eating dinner(this happened on Saturday evening, it was repulsive). It's quite lovely if I do say so myself. Least to say, I know that it's something that I will always have to watch. I eat those foods, but I also know that I have to eat them in moderation. My body just does NOT process those foods. I peel most of my fruits and only eat pickles and cucumbers that have been thoroughly de-skinned to prevent these issues as much as possible.

I had all the other band issues; unable to eat solids, sliming, food getting stuck regardless of how much I chewed, it didn't matter.

My band surgeon was a douchebag and blamed "wild crazy sex" on my pain, and umm my husband was deployed so I wasn't f*cking anyone. He was an asshole to the upteenth degree. I left his practice after 5 months, and pretty much him telling me, you're just going to have to diet to lose weight instead of listening to me about my chronic pain.