Tuesday, March 27, 2012

iBand

I had my follow up with my doctor today after my EGD last week.  He said, "we went shopping for a hernia and we found a big one!"  Apparently, it's 6cm.  Which is large in Hernia Land, I suppose.

And then the doctor said, "We're running a clinical trial on something called iBAND, which is plication plus the band.  You don't have to decide if you'd like to participate today - you just let us know on surgery day!"  It sounds appealing - band with plication, faster weight loss, lower risk of slippage.  But it's also so new, and it sounds like surgery as developed by Apple...

I'm gonna be spending a lot of time thinking about this before May 16th.

6 comments:

  1. FYI - According to the manufacturer of the Lap Band, the iBand procedure is not currently "approved". I guess that explains the clinical trial. Interested to see what you decide :)

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    1. Yeah - my doc says he's going to do 200 iBand procedures and then stop and await results. I'm of two minds about it: 1) faster weight loss is very appealing; 2) it's brand new and doesn't have a lot of results right now.

      I don't know! This is going to be a tough decision.

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  2. I'd definitely do some research on it, but what could it hurt? :) I'm pretty sure bands are about to be a thing of the past, anyway... it's all about the sleeve now.

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    1. I think you're probably right about bands becoming a thing of the past. I'm still doing my research, but I'm leaning towards iBand...

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  3. A friend of mine did the iband 2 weeks after I got banded. She was only the second one her doctor had done. I was scared to death for her, but she has done great. She has lost weight faster than I have and has had less fills. I know it will be a very difficult decision for you...but curious to see what you decide :)

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    1. Good to hear about your friend - I hope she continues to succeed! Right now, I'm leaning towards the iBand. The cheapskate in me is like, "Two procedures for the price of one! Never turn down a bargain!"

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