Dr. C, I need your opinion

Dr. C. I really need your opinion. On May 16 I had a slight fill in my band. Later that evening after I had soup, I began getting a tight feeling in my throat. I kept swallowing, breathing deep etc. It felt like a knot in my throat. It came and went but worried me so I contacted my surgeon's office. We gave it some time but after almost two weeks it hadn't stopped so I had the .2ccs taken out. That didn't help either. So this morning I went back to see my surgeon and he took out 1.cc leaving me with 1cc in my band. I'm nine months post op, down 66 pounds. He then wrote me a prescription to go to our local hospital for a swallow test. I live 1 1/2 hours from my surgeon and a military hospital did the swallow test. I had two radiologist in the room who asked me to tell them more about Lapband. I did. And I told them why I was having the test done. I gave them the symptoms. The took many shots, and the one radiologist said to me that he saw my stomach slipping back and forth, in and out of the band. He said if you took your forefinger and your thumb and touched the tips together making a circle and put two fingers from the other hand inside the circle and moved them in and out that is what my stomach did when I took deep breaths in and out. My band was stitched in place. I have the photo's of it. I've never pb'd, puked, slimed. And I can eat normal foods. I have no pain, just discomfort from this marble type feeling in my throat. Does this sound like a slip to you? They said there is no hiatal hernia, nothing coming up into the esophogus. I just can't believe I could have a slip like this with no pain, no puking. I can't see my surgeon again until Monday afternoon...and I am worried sick. I know a slip can be fixed but right after I had this surgery, my insurance co. stopped covering it or anything relating to it. Does this sound like a slip to you or an inexperienced radiologist reading the swallow test? Thank you for anything you can add to this. Kay

Kay, Hard to say without looking at the films, but I vote for inexperienced radiologists. Hate to say it, but having a barium swallow done in a place where they know nothing about bands is pretty useless. The stomach is wrapped around the band with the stitches that are put in place, it sounds like they may be describing that. A slip would cause pain under your breast bone typically, not up in your throat. Also, you can tell if there has been a slip by the angle of the band on Xray. It should sit at a 45 degree angle upwards from left to right, sort of like this / . If it sits like this -- or like this \ then there has likely been a slip. Make sense? If you can take your films with you to your surgeon. Good luck, Dr. C The Deaconess Surgical Weight Loss Center Cincinnati, Ohio (513) 559-2545