Port Site protruding and irritated.....HELP
Hello!!!
I thought I knew it all until I had the band. I am an RN and know how to spot an infection so I initially didn't worry...
I had the band on 11/24/09 and have since lost 10.5 pounds. This is a revision surgery. I originally had a RNY in 2004 and lost 114 pounds. I gained about 40% and looked into revisions....I sort of didn't qualify for the ROSE procedure b/c my pouch wasn't dilated enough, but my anastomosis was over dilated. So the surgeon suggested the band to reestablish the restriction b/c I was hungry all the time b/c food was not staying in the pouch to create fullness.
Anyway, things have been going well until about 3 weeks ago I noticed an irritation and slight redness around my port incision. It was not swollen or tender just skin irritation. Eventually it became more red and I saw one of my docs. What he said stunned me: It could be;
1) cellulitis - treated with antibiotics. He gave me 7 days of Levaquin. (this is the option I prefer)
2) an indication that there is inadequate perfusion - blood flow - to the port site due to my prior abdominoplasty (I had 7 pounds of abdominal skin removed in 2006) and
3) an indication that the band has slipped. This means it would have to be removed. I was so stunned that I could not even ask questions, such as once removed can it be replaced???
Well, the skin irritation didn't improve with the Levaquin (but I got a sinus infection and that got better) so maybe the med couldn't tackle two infections. I recently started applying cortisone cream to the site and see a very slight improvement. However today the port site was protruding quite a bit and rather than feeling somewhat flat and like the size of a sweettart it now feels like the size of an apricot. Please pardon the food examples.
I am going to see the surgeon on Thursday 1/7 for what was supposed to be my first fill, but I am not so sure about that. I am worried that they will have to remove the band and that all of this will have been a fruitless and emotionally, painfully and financially expensive waste of time. Most of all, I feel trapped. I had the original surgery because I needed to get away from obesity and all the associated health problems. For the same reasons I did the revision - because I felt I was headed back to where I came from and I am simply unwilling to return to that place!! If the band needs to be removed I don't know what my options are. I am left with a small pouch but an opening between the pouch and the intestines that is almost as large as the pouch and causes food to pass immediately into the intestines and I never have a feeling of fullness. This is a physical reality that only surgery can repair and now it seems that that surgery may need to be reversed. Needless to say I am FREAKIN' out!!!!!!!
So, have any of you experienced anything similar? How large is your port? Is it normal to protrude like I described? If what I am experiencing has been experienced by anyone else it would help tremendously to know.
Thanks!
I thought I knew it all until I had the band. I am an RN and know how to spot an infection so I initially didn't worry...
I had the band on 11/24/09 and have since lost 10.5 pounds. This is a revision surgery. I originally had a RNY in 2004 and lost 114 pounds. I gained about 40% and looked into revisions....I sort of didn't qualify for the ROSE procedure b/c my pouch wasn't dilated enough, but my anastomosis was over dilated. So the surgeon suggested the band to reestablish the restriction b/c I was hungry all the time b/c food was not staying in the pouch to create fullness.
Anyway, things have been going well until about 3 weeks ago I noticed an irritation and slight redness around my port incision. It was not swollen or tender just skin irritation. Eventually it became more red and I saw one of my docs. What he said stunned me: It could be;
1) cellulitis - treated with antibiotics. He gave me 7 days of Levaquin. (this is the option I prefer)
2) an indication that there is inadequate perfusion - blood flow - to the port site due to my prior abdominoplasty (I had 7 pounds of abdominal skin removed in 2006) and
3) an indication that the band has slipped. This means it would have to be removed. I was so stunned that I could not even ask questions, such as once removed can it be replaced???
Well, the skin irritation didn't improve with the Levaquin (but I got a sinus infection and that got better) so maybe the med couldn't tackle two infections. I recently started applying cortisone cream to the site and see a very slight improvement. However today the port site was protruding quite a bit and rather than feeling somewhat flat and like the size of a sweettart it now feels like the size of an apricot. Please pardon the food examples.
I am going to see the surgeon on Thursday 1/7 for what was supposed to be my first fill, but I am not so sure about that. I am worried that they will have to remove the band and that all of this will have been a fruitless and emotionally, painfully and financially expensive waste of time. Most of all, I feel trapped. I had the original surgery because I needed to get away from obesity and all the associated health problems. For the same reasons I did the revision - because I felt I was headed back to where I came from and I am simply unwilling to return to that place!! If the band needs to be removed I don't know what my options are. I am left with a small pouch but an opening between the pouch and the intestines that is almost as large as the pouch and causes food to pass immediately into the intestines and I never have a feeling of fullness. This is a physical reality that only surgery can repair and now it seems that that surgery may need to be reversed. Needless to say I am FREAKIN' out!!!!!!!
So, have any of you experienced anything similar? How large is your port? Is it normal to protrude like I described? If what I am experiencing has been experienced by anyone else it would help tremendously to know.
Thanks!
Snedly318
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