Band to bypass stories?

When is your surgery? Mine is this coming week. I would love to hear some good stories!

My surgery is 1/17/13... FYI I did a search on Lapband to rny revisions and read a lot of great stories!

On Friday, I was notified of insurance approved for a band revision to sleeve, but I still have RNY in the back of my mind.  I am interested in reading the replies you get on this one. 

I am having the band to sleeve.  The band was removed 9/4 and will get the sleeve 1/22.  My reason is I did well with the band when it worked with just portion control.  If something goes wrong in the future I could go to a ds if I need too.  Re-routing my guts will be an absolute last resort.  That is why I lived with the band another year waiting for insurance to cover sleeve.

I had my band out 9/28/12 and just had my RNY gastric bypass 11/29/12.  Doing great!  Weight isn't coming off quite as quickly as I'd like, but I'm also a "lower weight" bypass patient (255 at time of surgery - 240 now).  

My surgeon required a 6 week minimum healing time from band to bypass.  He also will only do an open approach for bypass after doing the two laparoscopic procedures (band insertion and the band removal).  So my recovery time is extended over those who had laparoscopic bypass.  I have to have a g-tube for 6 weeks post - op.  Haven't needed to use it, but my surgeon requires in for open RNY.  I would have to say that the g-tube is my biggest "issue"...purely cosmetic issue...but issue non-the-less.  I hate it and can't WAIT for it to be gone on Jan 10th!   Woot!

Each surgeon is VERY different.  Yours may not go to these lengths.  Mine is a bit of an over cautious fellow...however his post-op results are more than stellar!

Good luck in whatever you choose :)

Thanks for your response!! It has given me many questions to ask my surgeon tomorrow.  He normally requires 6 weeks in between removal and rny, but will do mine in 3 weeks, because i have a week off of work.  However, no one has mentioned the 2 laparoscopic limit, so i'll be asking about that tomorrow..so, thanks.

I had a non-adjustable band in 2001. Never lost much weight, but gained it all back and then some after a few years. in 2012 I had a revision to RNY and have been very successful, going from a size 22 to a size 2 in 10 months. I only wish I could have had RNY sooner!

The good: finally lost the weight. ;-) I wear a size 0-2. I can run. I run 10 to 15 miles a week. I am running a marathon next year. Already signed up!

The bad: I spend way to  much on clothes.  I'm freezing all the time even though I take my vitamins and eat protein. My hair is thinner. I can't eat tasty big starchy meals (not sure if this is really a "bad" thing.)

The ugly: I have so much baggy, hanging skin that I have to keep my arms, legs, and belly completely covered to go out in public. I don't mean I am embarrassed by it, I mean it is actually grotesquely disgusting to the point where it would scare people or make them feel sick! You know how some people get sick from the sight of blood or can'****ch gory horror films? It's literally THAT bad. 

Wow!! What a successful story!!! I hope I have similar results! What type of exercise did u do?

I tried a lot of exercise programs, old and new. I liked Callanetics, but it hurt a lot. I heard about one called "couch to 5K." a 12 week program that didn't cost anything, didn't require a lot of time every day, and worked fantastic!  Google "couch to 5k" and you will find tons of versions of it. I did the treadmill version. 

I'd tried couch to 5k, but didn't know there was a treadmill version.  Thanks for the tip, I will google it.