No More Band for Me

Well I haven't been around in a while.  I have been having problems with my port - it felt like someone was pulling it from the outside in for at least a month now.  I don't have insurance right now so of course I kept putting off getting it looked at.  Finally last Thursday I touched this hard area on my stomach and "stuff" came out!  It scared the crap out of me so I called the doctor and they got me right in (and only charged me $50 which was great!).  As soon as they saw it they said I had a serious infection and had to go right to the hopsital for IV antibiotics and band and port removal in the morning.  I can't say that I am exactly sad about it being this is my 4th surgery having do do with the band.  And this recovery was definitely worse than any other.  I still have an open wound where they had to debreed the infection.  The infection went all the way through to the port and tubing.  I definitely get hungry a lot more - my stomach is constantly growling but I have been good by just trying to drink water instead of eating.  No one knows why or how this happened but it did and I am dealing with it.  I am still swollen from surgery but am down a few pounds already.  Just wanted to share my story.

Jenn Y.

Jen - I'm sorry, that sounds horrible. Was there any damage to your stomach from the band? They say that port infections are the first sign of band errosion. I'm glad your doing well now.

Have you thought about having a different surgery? I'm in the process of getting insurance approval to convert to VSG from the band.

Good luck!

Hi there Lynn, It looks from your profile that you may have already had your revision surgery. I was wondering what the complications and process looks like to have to convert from band to VSG. I had the Realize Band 5/08 and lost about 50 pounds +/- and haven't lost anything in a year almost and had to have an unfill and several "re"-fills and I still have not been able to get back to a sweet spot. Did you have other complications? I'm just wondering if I should seek revision or just try to work it out on my own still. Thanks for any advice! Melissa

HI, In my case I was diagnosed with pouch dilation that coupled with inadiquate weight loss meant that my insurance woudl cover my revision. You're over 2 years out - if the band was going to work for you it already would have.

Why did you have an unfill? Are you having any symptoms such as reflux (especially at night) or the abillity to eat more now than you could previously at the same fill level? If you had done well with the band and were just going through a little rough stretch I would say tough it out, go back to basics and see what happens.

If you are not happy with your quality of life with the band - low weight loss, food issues, reflux, etc, then your fist step should be to get an upper gi to confirm/rule out a mechanical problem - slip, dilation, etc. If you can document a problem with the band that gives you a leg up on getting insurance to pay for a revision.

If there is no mechanical problem with the band then you may have to look into a self pay option. A lot of people on the VSG forum were selfpay due to lack of insurance coverage for the VSG (Cigna is covering them so I was truely lucky). Even if there is no mechanical problem IMO the band may just not be the right tool for you so changing surgeries may make a world of difference.

I know it has for me. Let me know if you have any questions - sometimes I don't get OH notifications so you can email me any time - [email protected].

Good luck!