Congratulations on your lap band success. I see that you had it placed in 2014. So you would naturally still believe in your tool. Work it for as long as it will work for you and I hope that you and your husband beat the odds and after 5-10 years, are still problem free with no suffering, no extrem pain in your stomach, shoulder, esophagus , sleepless nights of sitting up , inability to swallow your own saliva, Ect Ect ....The veteran banded people do not intend to scare or be negative , just simply try to make others aware that they have lied to us about its longevity and it is not a forever tool. The problems with this tool are real and painful and we just try to support one another in telling the truth about our suffering because even the most compliant lap bander feels like a failure when the band begins to give problems.  Good luck with your band and I really hope in 5-10 years you find yourselves with the most elite bariatric health coverage plan you can find . Just in case 

also , the band WILL tell you what to put in your mouth and cause people to regain the weight when it becomes a problem to eat a piece of chicken, or fruit and the only thing that stays down is a slider food .... 

I don't see how the port could have been anywhere near your appendix or any other organ for that matter bc the port is subcutaneous and your intestines are in a very protective bag called your peritoneum . Also , your appendix is in the right lower quadrant of your abdomen at the very end of your cecum . This is baffling and I can not imagine how this could happen. I wish you luck in finding the problem. Please update 

Hi,

I had my surgery about 5 years ago but since have had one pregnancy and baby, which went well. However, last May I had to have a complete hysterectomy (TAH) and the colorectal surgeon found my appendix adhered to my band port (don't ask me how the hell that happened). Since healing from my TAH I have intermittently had port site issues. Lately it's getting worse. It feels like it's in a new place and it is showing swelling and bruising. I am going to call the center on Monday to see if I can get in to get checked out but wanted to see if anyone here has any insight to help ease my mind. I had some hip X-rays done the other day and my band and port showed up on them and to me it looked like the port line was kinked but I have no clue how it looked before I don't remember. Any help or encouragement is greatly appreciated. 

Very good point.   Did you revise your's or do you still have it?

i have seen the same with many surgeons, they do not like doing the band and opt for VSG, unless the patient is adamant on having the band.  It's good that we do have many surgeons keeping the long term success of their patients in mind.  And furthermore educating them. It's rare, but they are out there 

He just makes the whole thing sound like an easy walk in the park. It probably works that way for less than half the people who are banded if they are lucky. So many of us did follow all those rules of eating tiny bites and chewing well, eating slowly and staying focused on eating only to end up with food getting stuck anyway or food expanding once it gets to the stomach. He says we should have been able to eat any food including breads and pastas but just had to go slow. Well I've been there tried that and any food like that would turn to glue and make a giant blob in your stomach either making you slime for hours or have to run for the nearest bathroom to hurl.

Then there is the see your surgeon often unless your insurance is changed like many of us and we no longer had bariatric coverage and couldn't afford to self pay several hundred bucks to see our surgeon. Then we'd just have to wing it on our own until something went wrong then we'd have to some how find the money. If there is a slip or other serious issues you have to just live with them because they can't afford surgery.

He is describing a life if perfect with the band sadly that isn't reality for the majority of us. Unless you have lived life with a bad band you can never understand the pain and suffering so many of us went thru. I along with thousands of others have permanent damage from our bands and are reminded daily of the true horrors of this torture tool!