Hello, I just joined this organization, but maybe something I can share will help you as you go through this turn of events in your weight loss journey. I had a sleeve in December of 2008 and did really well for nine years. I lost 135 lbs which was really close to my goal of -150 and kept the weight off. But in January of 2018 I had some episodes of choking and vomiting that I thought were due to eating food too fast. I was living in a country not very familiar with sleeve patients and although I told the doctor about my altered anatomy, he diagnosed me with a hiatal hernia and treated that condition with Prilosec. After six weeks, the vomiting and choking was increasing in frequency and I was pretty much on liquids but even those sometimes would not go down. He increased the Prilosec and told me I might be eating too much, too fast, too fatty, or too spicy. After the third visit, he recommended surgical correction of the hernia, but my instincts told me not to let someone unfamiliar with bariatric patients operate on me. I kept going, knowing I needed to see my surgeon back in the US but also not being able to go bac****il June of 2018. By the time I arrived in the States, I was vomiting 5-10 times a day and really miserable. The surgeon in the US was very upset and said, "You're not going to like what you're about to hear." He proceeded to tell me that a particular suturing technique that had been used on my sleeve (back when sleeves were rather new) was creating a scar that had rolled inward and was physically blocking the path. The only correction that would last (in his expert opinion) was revision. He wrote an urgent letter my insurance company stating that this was an emergency revision and medically necessary. I had the revision done on July 9, 2018. I flew out of the States to a brand new country on July 29, scared to death! I have not vomited since July 9 which is a sweet relief! I have lost a lot of my strength during the sickness prior to and the recovery after. I have also lost 30 more pounds. I joined this organization though because I have struggled with a lot of feelings of loss after the revision, because my sleeve and I were a very happy couple. My gastric bypass is a lot more strict in that there is NO WAY I can even have one sip of carbonation at all without dire effects. My lifestyle with the sleeve was so easy that I never told anyone outside of my immediate family I had it! For over 9 years, I was "passing" as a normal person. But this revision: there is so much more to passing that it became impossible and I had to confess to some new friends why I am not interested in the brunch buffets, mimosas, and happy hours that normally I could enjoy to a small extent. Now there is nothing there I can enjoy. It is better than vomiting for sure, but I still need this support group to make a new path for myself. So it's been a couple of months since your original post. How are feeling now and what is the plan for the future?

the other one is John Rabkin in San Francisco

Has anyone here had the gastric bypass revision to the ds? I am trying to get information on the procedure, how it works and who in Georgia does it?

Thank you

Patsy

No, the bloating has gone away. There was a very deep incision from the lap band port removal that I also had to have packed. I found that incision to be very painful. The doctor said he had to cut through a lot of muscle to get to the port. It has healed now and no longer hurts. Overall, I found the revision surgery to be pretty difficult to recover from and my doctor said it was significantly more invasive than just a gastric bypass.

Are you revising to bypass?