Information needed

Hello all,

I am trying to go from band to sleeve. Had my band for 8 yrs, and its been dilated for 4.5 yrs. Developed reflux for the past year, but nothing in the band, so gained almost 40 lbs of my 116 loss.

I have been to one Dr. who is very well known in my area, but he is the most expensive. (self pay) Seems like he does one right after the other. They even have a TV screen that shows when the next surgery can be scheduled. 2 weeks ago, the soonest they had was end of Sept.

So going to 2 more Dr.s in the next few weeks. One of the Dr.s requires that I attend an all day seminar about the sleeve. The other 2 do not. Not sure why. Also, one of the Dr's will not do the band removal/sleeve at the same time, which is flustering since I am a one girl office.

Just want to pick your brains on what to expect, recovery, diet, what worked for ya'll best and such. I know we are all different, but just wanted to get some input.

Thanks,

Montie

Hi there!

I'm a band to sleeve revision.  I had my band for about 5 years before I decided enough was enough.  I never lost a lot of weight with it, I got food stuck at EVERY meal no matter what it was, and I developed GERD and a hiatal hernia.  I had to find a new surgeon because my original lapband surgeon is a jerk. He told me it was my fault the band failed and that I needed to stop eating "pizza and cheeseburgers" every day even when I was on a strict 1200 calorie, low carb diet.  I went to a higher ranked hospital and found my new surgeon.  He was appalled at my treatment and even though my barium swallow showed "nothing wrong" with the band he was willing to help me.  He said to me verbatim that "the band doesn't work for most people".  I nearly cried with joy that I finally found a surgeon who understood me, my problems, and wanted to help me.

My advice to you is to try and find a different surgeon.  It sounds like that band surgeon is a band-mill and enjoys the $$$ he gets from band patients (fill and unfills, etc).  Honestly, an all day seminar about the sleeve isn't a bad thing.  You should try to get as much research on the sleeve as possible and going to the seminar will give you some insight into that surgeon's practice and experience.  Also, you should ask these surgeons how many revision surgeries they do.

I had to have my revision done in a two-part surgery as well.  Do you have insurance that could possibly cover at least one of them?  If you find a good surgeon, they can probably make notations on your insurance documents as to why removing the band is medically necessary.  I felt more comfortable doing the two separate surgeries because doing it in one shot, IMO, is too much.  My surgeon told me the leak rate goes up when you do it in one surgery and don't give time for the stomach to "rest and heal" after the band.  Honestly, removing the band was easy peasy.  I had it done on a Friday and went back to work on Monday feeling fine.  My sleeve surgery was also a pretty easy recovery once I got home from the hospital (because who can really recover in an uncomfortable hospital room?).  I took a week off from work for my sleeve surgery but I honestly could've been fine with only 3 days off.

The diet with the sleeve is 100% different than with a band.  With the sleeve, I can eat healthy, whole foods unlike with the band where greens, chicken, and other healthy things would always get stuck.  It is so much easier to eat healthy now with the sleeve because I don't need slider foods to survive like I did with the band.

You're making a great decision for you and your health and I wish you the best of luck.  Feel free to PM me for any other questions you might have.

I had my band for 10 years and it too dilated and gained partially back without restriction.  I had a two step process with 90 days in between but there are people who have done it all in one step and did fine. 

You might post on the revision board and see if anyone can recommend someone who has done a one day operation in your area. If you're self pay, it will save a ton (like $10-$15k) of money. 

The feedback my surgeon gave me is that there is an increased chance of leaks with a one step so that's why he doesn't do them.  He's only had one leak in hundreds of sleeves....so he's being conservative.  Leaks can keep you out of work for 6 months in a worst case scenario so think about that. He also said because where my band was seated and the scar tissue, that an RNY would be easier because it would cut above the scar tissue but I wanted the sleeve so that's what he did:)  Ask about how your reflux impacts a sleeve versus RNY scenario as well. I know I'm losing slower than a virgin sleever and slower than I did when I had the band, probably because the delta between my beginning diet (in calories and content) isn't that much different than what I'm eating now.

The restriction with a sleeve is totally different than that of the band in my experience.  The band was really fickle, one day I could eat lettuce the next day I threw it up.  The sleeve is much less sensitive to that, but you can still overeat and have to throw it up but it's rare.

I would plan on 2 weeks out....if you have a desk job you may be up and around in 4-5 days but if you can swing it two weeks will make sure you're not over tired, etc. Or build in time for naps, etc.

My sleeve recovery was harder than just the band removal....the band removal I felt OK within a couple of days, the sleeve took the full 2 weeks.

Sleeve diet is a lot like band....protein first, eat 2-3 ounces and then stop.  Pretty much the same rules but without the flakiness of what you can eat day to day.