SlimbandSexy

Wow! You look so great!! I love seeing success pictures. I lost my band due to infection in September (only had it 2 months) but am getting it put back in January. Looking forward to having the success you have had!! Congratulations!!

Hi! I had my band put in on July 28th and a few weeks later developed an infection. Unfortunately, the infection would not resolve and the band was removed on September 26. I just went to my surgeon for a follow up appointment. He told me that the infection wasn't bad but because it wouldn't clear up it was necessary to remove the band. He is confident that the infection is completely gone and has said he will put the band back in whenever I want. I am wondering how soon is too soon. I really miss having the band and the restriction it offered me (I had a fill during surgery and had pretty good restriction - not perfect but pretty good). Has anyone had the band out and then had it put back in again very quickly afterwards? Initially I thought I was going to have to wait until January but now I am hoping for maybe early November? That will give me 5 weeks recovery and 6 weeks before I leave for my Christmas holiday. Does that sound reasonable? Has anyone does this that quickly? It'll be 3 surgeries in just over 3 months. Thanks for your replies!

Hi! I had my band put in on July 28th and a few weeks later developed an infection. Unfortunately, the infection would not resolve and the band was removed on September 26. I just went to my surgeon for a follow up appointment. He told me that the infection wasn't bad but because it wouldn't clear up it was necessary to remove the band. He is confident that the infection is completely gone and has said he will put the band back in whenever I want. I am wondering how soon is too soon. I really miss having the band and the restriction it offered me (I had a fill during surgery and had pretty good restriction - not perfect but pretty good). Has anyone had the band out and then had it put back in again very quickly afterwards? Initially I thought I was going to have to wait until January but now I am hoping for maybe early November? That will give me 5 weeks recovery and 6 weeks before I leave for my Christmas holiday. Does that sound reasonable? Has anyone does this that quickly? It'll be 3 surgeries in just over 3 months. Thanks for your replies!

Can't really help but your bladder could be irritated or you could have a bladder or urinary tract infection. If it doesn't get better in the next day or so I would definitely see your doctor.

I was nervous about approaching my gp as well. I didn't need a referral but decided to ask her what she thought of it anyway. She was very supportive and told me that she had several patients that had already had it done with great success. I don't think your gp would be against it but may council you on the different WLS options to make sure you are informed and are making the right choice for you. I don't think your age will be a factor as you are already struggling with health issues at a pretty young age. Just put on your big girl panties (said tongue in cheek), march in there with confidence (even if you need to fake it) and have a mature discussion with him/her. I would approach it like this. "I would like to get a referral for WLS surgery. I have done a lot of research and have decided that lap band surgery will be the best surgery for me. While I realize the weight loss is slower and at my weight a lot of dr.'s might recommend RNY or gastric sleeve instead, here are the reasons I would like to have lap band surgery instead..... then list your reasons. I would then get into your current health issues and how losing weight could help correct them and prevent future issues which could be on the horizon for you. I would also discuss the diets you have tried and efforts you have made over the years and why you think you have failed and why WLS would help you overcome these obstacles. I think if you go in armed with knowledge and you can show the dr. that you have really thought about this and researched this you won't come up against much resistance - if any. You may get a whole lot of support instead! Good luck to you!

Hi BaileyRose, Thanks for your thoughts! I was a mess last Monday. My husband was working, my parents were babysitting for my sister and I was all alone at the hospital. To top that off I was worried about how my daughter was going to get home from school because she was on a field trip that day and wasn't going to get back in time to catch the school bus. My husband stopped by for a few minutes before he had to go home and get our daughter but otherwise I was alone there all day and went into surgery by myself. The nice thing was that both my parents and my husband were there when I woke up. I am feeling much better about things now. I am glad you are doing well and I am hoping everything clears up for you and you don't run into the same problem I did. I think the reason they didn't give me any more antibiotics is because they removed most of the infection during surgery and dosed me up good with IV antibiotics. Any more antibiotics and I risk getting a superbug which I really don't want. I am keeping an eye on it and it looks better every day so my body is fighting the rest of the infection on its own. Yeah me! LOL> I am self pay but my clinic has a really good guarantee. Anything and everything for 5 years is covered by them. Every check up, phone call, questions, fills, unfills, any revision surgeries are all covered for 5 years. Thank goodness for that! I could not afford to pay for another surgery. I am Canadian but lap band surgery is not covered here. The other surgeries are covered but the process is pretty rigorous and the wait time is horrible. Anyway, I didn't want one of the other surgeries. I wanted the band. I am looking forward to meeting with the surgeon next week. I will be bringing my long list of questions and he has booked an hour for me. Wish me luck!

Hi everyone! I am really hoping that I can get some information from people who have experienced what I am experiencing right now. I am 4+ weeks post-op and about 2.5 weeks ago I started developing a red, warm rash around my port site. My incision is completely closed over and there is no pus. It is pink/dark pink and warm to the touch and the skin sometimes feels like it is burned. My port is turned on its side but doesn't hurt. (The doc says it is still fillable and they will relocate it after I have lost my weight so it isn't so visible) There is one spot if I push on it the skin will start burning - not sure what that is. Anyway, I went to the walk-in clinic over the first weekend I had the rash and was prescribed an antibiotic cream. I used that for a little over a week but the rash kept coming and going so I went to my family physician after about 8 days of the cream. She prescribed cipro (I am allergic to penicillin) for 1 week. I then went to see the surgeon from the banding clinic the following day (last Wednesday). He said you have a superficial skin infection, keep taking the cipro and come see me next Monday. The infection seems to be improving but only by about 50% after 6 days on this antibiotic. So I went to see the surgeon again today and he prescribed a different antibiotic to start when I am done the cipro tomorrow morning. I am to go and see him again on Thursday as he is off on Friday and it is a long weekend. He doesn't seem overly concerned and said it should resolve itself but that my port could possibly be infected or if the infection doesn't clear up could possibly become infected. Then the band would have to come out, wait 8 weeks and try a new band (thankfully I have a 5-yr plan which is covered under the $16,000 I paid to have it done so all of these visits and any additional surgery will be covered) . He said there is no way to tell 100% that the port is not infected but he doesn't think it is. I am assuming that if this round of antibiotics doesn't work then the band will have to come out. I am very worried and concerned. Has anyone had a similar experience and what was your outcome? Of course I am hoping for great recovery stories with a resolution after the antibiotics but I also want to be realistic about what I'm dealing with here. Thanks so much for reading and I look forward to hearing your responses!

Congrats to you!! It is so encouraging to hit a major milestone like that!!

Msz Alie - I am glad that your incision healed up fine and you didn't have any further problem with infection. I think mine started when my port flipped and the tubing and edge of the port were so near the surface of my skin it sometimes felt like they were gonna pop through. I think bacteria gathered there and combined with the irritation it caused an infection that just wasn't going to go away. My understanding is that once the port/tubing/band is infected the only way to get rid of the infection is to remove it. So, it looks better today than yesterday and I am healing up. Hoping that because I barely had the band for 2 months that the infection did not get up to the band around my stomach and cause any erosion. I will find out when I go back to the surgeon on the 11th. Good luck to you on your journey!!

Well, I had the band removed on Monday evening in the hospital. My surgeon (the one that put it in) was there to do the surgery and everything went smoothly. I came home on Tuesday morning and have been recovering pretty well. I now have 4 holes instead of the three I started with though. They must have lanced or drained the infection site. It is very bruised there and kind of swollen but the redness has gone down significantly. I am not on antibiotics which I find kind of odd... but I guess with removing the band, draining the infection and giving me IV antibiotics on Monday they figure that is enough. And the infection does look way better. I have an appointment on October 11 with my doctor to discuss what happened, what could have possibly been done differently and what my future with the band holds. They have told me they will put it back in after a 3 month recovery. At first I wasn't going to do it but I realize that it's probably not likely I will have another problem like I did this time. At least I sure hope not! One of the things I will be discussing with him on October 11. Right now I am waiting for his medical assistant to call me to let me know what the surgical notes say and to confirm what exactly happened during surgery and what they found. Hopefully she will call me this morning. BaileyRose - Thanks for your prayers. Monday was a rough day and I needed them. Hope everything is going well with you and you are healing quickly!!

I guess I spoke too soon. It seems the infection has returned. The surgeon gave me a prescription for another 5 days of antibiotics. I am on day 4 and it doesn't look any better. Dang. He said that when he looks at it on Monday (today is Saturday) he will make a decision but it looks like the port and band must come out. My surgeon will not remove just the port because of the risk of infection migrating to the band and then erosion. I am disappointed. Especially as he has said 6-12 weeks recovery before we can put another one in. Part of me is wondering whether I want to have it put back in and risk going through this again. Just not sure. Anyway, I will have to wait the 12 weeks because I plan to go away for Christmas and my travel insurance won't cover any complications from any procedures 3 months out of surgery so it will have to wait until I get back. It is so disappointing because I thought I would have been exercising, feeling fitter and getting on with my life by now. I haven't been exercising because of the opening in the incision and the fear of sweating and introducing more bacteria. Sigh. And the weekly (sometimes twice) visits to the surgeons office (which involves 1.5 hrs drive each way) has been a pain in the butt. I was really hoping to be a comforting story to someone but I guess I am not. Hopefully the surgery can be scheduled quickly and I can get on with healing. I am planning to get my gardens cleaned up and my big pantry cupboard cleaned out this weekend. That way I won't be so frustrated about not being able to do much after this removal surgery. On the plus side I will probably be able to get my home office paperwork cleaned up and maybe catch up on some movies I've been meaning to watch! LOL. And I am going to do my best to keep eating my 1 cup of food (mostly meat with some veggies) and hope I will lose some more weight between now and (possibly) getting my band back. Not sure if I'll have to do the liquids and mushies afterwards but maybe that'll help take off some more pounds. Gotta look on the bright side of things!

Farmers Gal - Just wondering if you are still on here and if you can update us on your situation. I sure hope things worked out well for you!!

Jackie, Glad you called the surgeon. I am with BaileyRose on this. I have also been dealing with a port wound/site infection. The infection is apparently gone now but it took a round of antibiotic cream, a week of cipro and then 12 days of clindamycin. Nothing to mess with. My incision opened up a little bit on the surface as well and has been draining for over 2 weeks now. My port nor the tubing were exposed - thankfully! My surgeon told me that if they were exposed he would automatically remove the whole band then I would have to wait about 8 weeks to heal and then have the surgery again to put a new one in. BaileyRose had a different surgery where her tubing did poke through and the surgeon was ok with putting it back in and sewing her up - and continuing the antibiotics (I can't speak for her but that is my understanding of her experience) We have both written posts about it recently so you should be able to find them on the Post-Operation section of this site. My post was titled Worried About Port-Site Infection. Where my incision opened up is finally scabbing over and hopefully will heal shut and I won't have any further problems. Crossing my fingers because I would really like to get a fill and I have to wait until two weeks after I am all healed (and I'm not all healed yet). My infection started about 2 weeks post-op (August 10) and I am still not done with it yet. I tell you all of this not to scare you but to let you know what has happened with me and so you can get an idea of how long this can take to heal and what the process might be like for you. I hope your infection clears up on the first round of antibiotics and there is nothing further for you to worry about!

BaileyRose - How are you today? I hope everything is healing nicely and the infection is going away.

Last update: for the future in case anyone is looking for information on this. Another appt with the surgeon today. I did the last course of 5 days on antibiotics and the incision (where it had opened up a little) continued to drain a little bit every day. No swelling, a little residual redness that is scarring but should go away within 8 weeks. The infection is officially gone and I have been off antibiotics for 3 days and no sign of it coming back. I am so relieved! The only concern I had was that the steri-strips fell off after just a couple of days because the incision continued to drain and the Fluid dissolved the glue on the strips. So, the incision still hadn't closed and the granulated tissue underneath was kind of bulging through. This is a pretty chubby area on me and when I move around or even sit for that matter my stomach pushes out on that exact spot. Oh, apparently granulated tissue is good, healthy tissue. So, the doctor put silver nitrate (ouch) on the tissue and then redid the steri-strips again. He put a lot more strips on this time. I guess he really doesn't want to stitch it. I feel pretty good about it closing over and the infection is gone so I am so happy! I am looking forward to my first fill in a couple of weeks. TOM arrived and has rendered the band almost completely useless. I still get a bit of restriction and I am being really good about sticking to the plan but the hunger is definitely there. Maybe the restriction will come back after TOM. I have heard that can happen. Anyway, that is my story and if it can help someone or give someone a little comfort or hope that their story will turn out good too then I am happy.

First let me say I am so proud of you for how far you have come and the success that you have - and you should be too!! It is hard work to lose weight and you have done it!! Someone else made mention of giving up just one thing until you don't crave it anymore. I think that is a great idea and maybe something you could try? Just give up the coffee creamers for now. Maybe give one thing up and add one thing in? The thing you add in could be a healthier food (say a hard-boiled egg for a snack to get more protein) or taking the stairs at work - or parking at the far end of the parking lot. Or maybe having an appointment with a personal trainer would make the gym time happen. Or maybe a 15 minute walk after dinner? I have also recently discovered myfitnesspal.com and am tracking my calories and Protein intake through that. It is the easiest program I have used and it is very helpful to see how I am doing. It also motivates me to be mindful of everything I put in my mouth. Good luck to you! I hope someone here can help you find the answers you are looking for to continue on your weight loss journey!!

Don't be discouraged. I lost almost 45lbs before people started noticing. That was before lap band surgery. Of course I gained some of that back before surgery and now I am the lightest I have been in years and not a single person has said anything - except my hubby and my mom. (I've lost 20lbs. since pre-op diet - to take me to a total of 54lbs. Surgery was July 28/11). I stalled right after going on solids and even gained 5 lbs. last week. Now TOM is here, that 5 lbs. has dropped off and I'm hoping to continue to go down! I joined Myfitnesspal.com last week to track calories - think it has been very helpful! I didn't notice a huge change in clothing size either. I was wearing plus size 18's (tight at my highest) and now I am wearing regular size 16's (which is about a plus size 14). And of course I lose weight in places like my ankles and wrists first, then my back. Don't worry - slow and steady wins the race! Be the turtle if you have to! He got there too! In a year we will all be rejoicing as we look back on where we started and how far we have come!

Woweeee! You look great! Not conceited - unless you start posting hot pictures of yourself everyday! LOL JK.

Good point Mindy! Although I am also self-pay as banding is not covered in Canada (at least not Ontario) my clinic covers everything for 5 years. Also, being Canadian I often forget the luxury we have of being able to go to the dr. or hospital whenever we need to and not having to pay for it. Well, unless you count the fact that our taxes are atrocious but that's another discussion altogether. LOL I don't think there is anything wrong with asking questions but people do need to be careful about what kind of advice they are giving. And advice from another bandster should never be taken over that of your doctor or surgeon or in place of a doctor or surgeon.

BaileyRose - Wow!! How scary was that!? I am glad that your surgeon got there right away and was able to put the tubing back and sew you back up. That is such a relief! I thought you'd have had to have another surgery - thank goodness we were both wrong! Thanks for asking about my infection. I took the last of my antibiotics yesterday morning and so far it looks good. The skin still has a couple of pink spots but they seem to be diminishing (more like scarring or bruising) and there is just a tiny bit of pink around the incision - doesn't look like infection though. The part of the incision that opened a little bit (not fully, just on the surface) has continued to drain but that seems to be slowing down a lot and it looks like it is closing up. I will keep an eye on it for the next couple of days then I will be going back to the surgeon to see if he is happy with it so far. I am hoping that I don't have to take any more antibiotics because they have given me a wicked yeast infection. Sorry, TMI.

I agree with all of you. This site is good for support but we should not rely on others for medical advice. My surgeon won't even give me medical advice over the phone. He has said - I'm sorry but you'll have to make the drive in to see me because I really can't diagnose you over the phone - and I agree with him. The one time I called him to discuss my skin infection was more to ask when he wanted to see me (because things had changed) not if he wanted to see me. And he saw me 2 hours later. That said, I have come on here with questions (about my skin infection). And I have been to the doctor and surgeon and walk-in clinic 6 times for just this infection. For me it was looking for a little more information, hoping to find someone that dealt with the same/similar issue and had a positive outcome, or find someone that had to have another surgery but after being re-banded had no problems. I was looking for hope and some reassurance that everything would be ok. I wasn't really looking for medical advice. Sometimes, I think people come on when they can't get to their regular surgeon/clinic right away, don't need emergency care and are just waiting for the morning or to make an appointment. I find that understandable.

I was worried about you too! I am glad that everything went well and they were able to stitch it up for you. Sure beats having another surgery!!! Yeah! What a relief! Congrats on the NSV also! I will be glad to see a smaller cuff and lower bp as well. I am borderline high bp (no meds). I can not wait to go back to my family doctor for my physical next summer as a whole new person!

BaileyRose - That stinks. I sure hope you get good news tomorrow. I know my surgeon told me that if the wound opens and the port or any part of the band is visible then the whole thing has to come out and they start over. I sure hope that does not happen for you.

If that rash is warm or you have a temperature then you need to see a doctor as soon as possible. You could have a skin infection. I don't want to scare you but it is better to be safe than sorry. If it is a rash that is related to a medication they have put you on then the hospital can change the medication. If it is an infection then they can put you on antibiotics. I would err on the side of caution and get seen sooner rather than later. I am speaking from experience. 3 weeks after I was banded I developed a pale pink rash near my port wound (above my port and just in that local area). It was a little itchy and slightly warm to the touch. 29 days later I have been through a round of antibiotic ointment, a week of cipro and 12 days of another antibiotic - I forget the name right now. The rash is healing and hopefully will be gone soon but it has been a slow healing process. I wish you all the best and like I said - I hope it is absolutely nothing but only a doctor or your surgeon can tell you that so I would make the trip to see someone.

Try not to get too frustrated. Once I started on solid foods my weight loss stopped. I lost 7 lbs pre-op and 10 post-op and nothing since. I have not had a fill yet either and am wondering if TOM is making me hungrier or if I now need a fill. Up until a few days ago I had good restriction and then poof. I am going to wait out this TOM and see what happens before I make a fill appt. I have been on solid foods since August 19th. This week I actually gained 5 lbs! Ugh - TOM is on the way so I am hoping that is it. (I did not overeat, I know that) I have started using fitness pal to track my calories - they say 1200 calories a day will help me lose 1.5lbs/week. And I am sticking to it. Trying to divide my calories between 3 meals and 2/3 Snacks a day. It does not sound like you are eating very much at all - don't let your body go into starvation mode. Eat every few hours whether you are hungry or not. My surgeon could not stress how important that was. If you're in starvation mode then your body will hold onto everything. Try to eat 5 or 6 times a day if you can. Patience will win out on this. It is especially hard during PMS but you can do it!! And just try to remember to eat slowly and chew chew chew your food and you shouldn't have a problem. Oh yes, and small bites. I have only had a little bit of a 'stuck pain' when I swallowed too much at once or didn't chew enough but it subsided after a couple of minutes and went down. Reminds me to be careful. You can do this! PS. I think the port pain is normal for a while. It is the longest area to heal.