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Boy, have I had problems

A

abandster

Member
I was banded in November, 2005. I got a port infection in November, 2006. I had the port removed. Giving my body 6-8 weeks to heal, we went in to a new year and no insurance no longer covered wls. I had to beg to get it covered. Port replaced on the other side of my body in March, 2007. In March, 2010, the tubing started coming thru the (long since healed) incision above my belly button. Again, surgery. The tubing was to be removed as was the port, if it had been compromised. Surgeon "cleaned" the tubing and removed the port in June, 2010. The incision took 8 months to heal and once during that time the incision had to be reopened so the infection would drain. No more surgery for me..... at least not wls. I still have a band and still have tubing but no restriction and no port. I'm done. Way too many problems and co-pays for me. Prior to my surgery, I weighed 303. I lost 92 pounds while I was banded. Today, I weigh 283. You have no idea how disappointed I am in myself. Just something else that I tried that failed. :(
 
I ended up having my band removed. I don't want anything else "foreign" in my body. My nephew nearly died from problems with the band and is still in bad shape. So I got the RNY 3 weeks ago. if i need surgery, I'll go all the way. I would never again recommend the band to anyone after what I've seen and heard.
 
Abandster-Don't blame yourself for the problems you had with the band. I haven't heard many good things about the LB. I think it's just the nature of the beast. Even the surgeon that I am going to use said he only does the band if he has a patient that is very insistent or has a medical issue that prevents them from having another WLS. Just try to take things a day at a time and give yourself a big pat on the back for having tried. I had a "minor" back surgery in September 2008 and the incision took a little over a year to heal completely. My first back surgery (major) was in January 2002 and it only took 5 weeks to heal...go figure. It will be a cold day before I have another back surgery and trust me when I tell you I need another one.
 
give yourself some time to heal before you decide to opt for any wls. I feel bad for you ecause after everything with my rny I gained back 50 lbd...though our stories are different the sense of failure is there write to me any time patti
 
Janet, thank you for posting. I worry about the foreign tubing floating around in my body and then the thought of that band on my stomach and me gaining weight and thinking about that band cutting in to my stomach just really makes me nervous.

I was very sorry to hear about your nephew and I do hope he gets over all of this and turns out to be just fine....and real soon.

Good luck with your RNY. I never considered that because I thought it was too drastic....at least for me. And I really didn't think the sleeve was a good idea at first but now I'm rethinking all my options to decide what, if anything, I should do.

And, no, I won't recommend the band to anyone ever again and will certainly try discourage anybody who's even thinking about it.
 
Hi Pat....I'm trying not to beat myself up over failing at yet another attempt in my life but its difficult. I do have lots of medical "conditions" like arthritis in both knees, HBP, thyroid disease.....who knows what could account for me not being able to have any other surgery. But now, I want what's in there OUT. I hate that the tubing and the band are still in there. I'm SO angry at the surgeon.

My mother had back surgery many, many years ago and as bad as she needs it again, she won't have it either. I'm so sorry for your complications on the wound taking so long to heal but I can certainly relate. I have minor back pain but simply from all the weight I'm toting around....nothing to what you're experiencing but mine is bad enough.

I see you have RNY on the horizon. Good luck. I know you will be fine and I hope the loss of the weight will help your back some too.

Thanks for this post to me with your concern. This too shall pass!!!!!
 
Patti.....I know about gaining weight. I've seen people with every different type of wls and I've seen few people keep it ALL off and lots of them who gained MOST of it back. We all thought we'd be able to eat most anything we wanted....just smaller amounts. I don't think any of us realized we'd still be on a diet for the rest of our lives. I think wls still has some tweeking that's needed before it does what we all want it to do. I know its just a crutch but for me, it wasn't a very good one.

Thanks for the offer to keep in touch. I hope we can do that. You are almost 10 years out and I would have been 6 years out so we've certainly learned things along the way.
 
I try not to get discouraged and most of the time evenwhen I will see a couple of pounds go away I am grateful. I know the answers I just fail to do thenext right thing. hang in there we are all on the same journey. keep writing patti
 
Sounds awful. So sorry you have had so many complications. I dont think you failed, sounds like the equiptment failed you. Dont be so hard on yourself.
 
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