bunkie68

Has anyone used them for fills or unfills?

I've recently moved to Louisiana. I was banded in Texas, and I'd like to get in to have my band checked out. I've contacted two surgeons here in Baton Rouge, only to be told that they won't see patients they didn't band, and the best I can hope for is a fill or unfill with the PA, no checking anything with a fluoroscope, just a straight fill or unfill. I don't want a fill or unfill, I want to know if there are any problems with my band that need to be corrected. Does anyone have experience with a lapband surgeon in Louisiana who will 1) see patients banded by another surgeon, 2) evaluate the band under fluoroscopy, and 3) consider removal (as opposed to revision) if it's needed? Thanks for any information!

And today? No pain at all. Go figure.

My name is Lisa, and I think I'm a lap band failure. I've been banded for nearly nine years, but haven't maintained my band since it was overfilled about eight months after my surgery (which was in August 2003). I couldn't swallow my own spit at that point, and had to have surgery right away to unfill the band completely. I was real leery of any fills after that, and then divorce and life and lack of funds intervened, and going back for a fill never became a priority. I've just started having pain that I suspect is band-related, and if it needs to come out, I'm mentally prepared to do that - the pain started on Friday, and feels kind of like a stitch in my side, with some soreness in my abdomen. I've debated going to the ER, but I'm not sure it's that serious - no fever, no throwing up, nothing like that - and I'm doing some searching to determine who I might need to call tomorrow to get in for a consultation. I just worry what recovery will be like from having it removed, since I haven't been real good about taking care of the band all this time. I find that my eating has slowed down a lot as I've gotten a bit older anyway, so I'm not worried about that. I'm now married to a man who's interested in eating well and exercising, and honestly, I think I've gained all my weight back over the years anyway. We're planning to move in a couple of months (my job is transferring me, which is good), and we'd scheduled a visit to look at houses in a couple of weeks. I don't want to get behind at work, and I don't want to screw up our move. Anyone who's had a band removed, what was recovery like? I just want tomorrow to be here so I can make some calls and see what I can find out. I'm tired of worrying that any little twinge in my middle might be something going wrong with my band. It can come out and that will be just fine with me.

Kim, how are you doing?

Finally, an update. All the CT scan that my primary doc back in Texas ordered found was one ovarian cyst, right side. The CT results mentioned the band, noted that it was there, and didn't mention seeing anything wrong with it, but I don't know that they were necessarily looking for anything to be wrong with it. So. We got ourselves moved to Louisiana in late June, and I had some pains off and on, but they were generally definitely in the ovarian area, most especially the right side. Not surprising, given what the CT scan found. The pain seemed to migrate up a bit from time to time, mostly on the right side, occasionally on the left, but it was never really severe. Twingy, annoying, but not bad. I started trying to find a surgeon here in this area to get in to see for a check-up. No luck yet - both of the surgeons I've found have told me that they don't see other surgeons' patients, unless it's just to see the PA for a fill or unfill (which I don't necessarily want). I've considered looking farther afield for a surgeon, maybe New Orleans or Shreveport, but if I have to have surgery, I don't want it to be an hour (or more) from home unless that's absolutely necessary. I hadn't had any pain that worried me a whole lot, until today. Today's pain feels higher, almost right between my breasts (which seems high to be band related to me, but I am short, so maybe not). It seems to hurt more when I stand upright, less so when I sit down - don't know how I'll feel when I lie down. I don't have any problem keeping food down, I'm not throwing up, I'm not having horrible burps, nothing is getting stuck. I just have this intermittent pain that kind of hurts. It isn't painful enough to send me flying to the ER, it just concerns me a bit more so than previously. I'm thinking that since it's proving challenging to get in to see a bariatric surgeon (and since my insurance covers exactly nothing to do with weight loss, surgical or otherwise), my best option right now is going to be to see a gastroenterologist. Perhaps then I can get some testing that will at least determine whether something looks wrong in there, and maybe then a removal could be approved as medically necessary. I just want to be over this. I want to not worry that every pain in my insides may be the precursor to it all going to Hades in a handbasket, to something going so wrong that I end up having surgery to save me from life-threatening injury. I've got two boys who need their mama, I want to be done with this and be able to wrestle and roughhouse with them without worrying that doing so will pull something loose with respect to my band. Perhaps all those worries are unnecessary, but I have them all the same. And in a funny twist, my appetite has really decreased over the last couple of weeks. When we go out to eat, I usually get three meals out of anything I order. I find myself thinking at meal time, "Hmm, it's time to eat - not really hungry, but I need to eat something." So I eat a small meal, and I stop. I've pretty much stopped eating anything sweet - just not interested most days, or if I am interested, a small bite of something sweet is enough. If I had been able to do that fifteen years ago (or if I had pushed myself harder to do that), I never would have gotten the lap band. All this worrying I'm doing about it, I wish I hadn't gotten it. Whine, whine, whimper. I need to get in to see someone who might be able to help me figure out what's going on. I've got a call planned for in the morning. We'll see how things go from there. If you've read all this, thanks for listening.

Glad everything was OK with your band, and I hope y'all are recovering from Sandy. I live in Louisiana, so we're passingly familiar with hurricanes, and my heart just broke seeing all the devastation Sandy caused.

I'm so glad it was nothing serious, and I'm really glad your surgeon had such a good demeanor. (Can I go see him? I need to find one like that here!) I hope things continue to go well for you.

I called Dr. Bellanger's office and was informed that he doesn't see other surgeons' patients. Dr. Hargroder told me the same thing. I'm hoping they aren't the only two in town, to where the only way I can see one of them is if I go to the ER in excruciating pain and tell the ER I may need to see a bariatric surgeon, that it's possible any pain I'm having may be lap band-related.

I've moved to Baton Rouge, and I'm looking for a surgeon to check out my band. Thanks!

Alas, neither Dr. Hargroder or Dr. Ballenger will see patients banded by other surgeons. Any other suggestions?

Praying that all goes well! Let us know what you find out.

Thanks, y'all! I'll check with Dr. Hargroder.

I hope the procedure gives you some answers, and that it goes well.

I've posted my other thread about how I'm ready to be done with the band. I don't want to go back to the surgeon who put my band in, and I'm trying to find a place to do an unfill if there's any Fluid left in my band - I want to have it done with fluoro (which my surgeon never did), so that may give me some idea of what's going on with the band. In the meantime, I want to write all this down for future reference and to see if anyone has any thoughts to share. For about a week I've been having intermittent pain in my port area. At first I wondered if i'd pulled a muscle. It started out just feeling like a stitch in my side. Then it got gradually worse, and for a while it hurt rather a lot, but now there are times where it feels just fine, and other times when it hurts (although not so bad as it had done at first). I can't sleep on my side, because that hurts - I can only get comfortable on my back, and that's not my preferred sleeping position. Also, I've noticed a burning feeling in my abdomen at times, lower down than where I'd think heartburn would be (in other words, it doesn't feel like it's up in my esophagus). I don't know what that might be, but it makes me nervous. I worry that the band has eroded and stomach acid is leaking out, although if that were the case, I'd think I'd feel considerably worse than I do. I don't have any problem keeping food down, although I find if I eat more rather than less, I sometimes get that painful feeling in my left side where the port is. i'm not throwing up, not running fever. I just have an intermittent pain in my left side in the general area of my port and that burning sensation in my upper abdomen. I have contacted one surgeon regarding band removal, because this whole process is freaking me out enough that I've realized I'm ready to be done with the band. His office checked my insurance, told me it didn't cover weight loss surgery, and said that the surgeon didn't do just removals, he only did removals in conjunction with revising to a different weight loss procedure. I plan to get in to see my regular doctor this week, explain to him what I think might be going on, and see if he thinks there are any other possibilities such as some type of hernia. If I can rule some things out, then that will help. I'm also going to find someplace in the area for the unfill (or at least the check to see if there's anything to be taken out, it's been so long since I had a fill). And I'm going to continue to try to find a surgeon who will do just a removal without switching to some other procedure. In the meantime, has anyone else experienced anything like this? If so, what did it turn out to be?

Ha! If worrying were an Olympic event, I'd bring home the gold. :-) And if I'm not using the band as it was intended and don't plan to, then it makes sense in my mind to remove that worry. As for the pain that started this whole train of thought, it comes and goes. Sometimes it's definitely in the ovary area, sometimes higher. My doc said he couldn't really say why it moves around like it does, but nothing showed up in either the CT scan or my bloodwork that was out of the ordinary other than the cyst. Go figure.

Ha! If worrying were an Olympic event, I'd bring home the gold. :-) And if I'm not using the band as it was intended and don't plan to, then it makes sense in my mind to remove that worry. As for the pain that started this whole train of thought, it comes and goes. Sometimes it's definitely in the ovary area, sometimes higher. My doc said he couldn't really say why it moves around like it does, but nothing showed up in either the CT scan or my bloodwork that was out of the ordinary other than the cyst. Go figure.

Heidi, how are you doing?

Elcee, you're right - any type of pain or something that seems to be a health issue would be cause for concern. But removing that foreign object from my body would be one less thing to worry about, and I wouldn't be worrying that every time I exercised with my kettlebell I might twist something wrong, or that the foreign body inside me might be wearing a hole in my stomach. I won't fear that any little twinge might be something that would put me in the ER, or worry every time I run a little fever that the band is slipping or eroding and something is getting horribly infected.

Can anyone recommend a surgeon in the area who will do removal by itself, without revising to another procedure? If you do, please let me know. Thanks!

Thank you. Appreciate the input.

My doc called yesterday morning with the results of the CT scan. The cause of all this pain and angst? Ovarian cysts. That wasn't even on the radar as a possibility, and I was so relieved when I heard that that I was positively giddy. They should resolve themselves, and if they don't, I can follow up with my OB/GYN. This whole experience has confirmed for me, though, that I'm ready to be done with the band. I was so worried about the possibilities, and I don't want to worry like that anymore.

Exactly! I wouldn't assume that anyone's experience is the same as mine, but if someone says, hey, I had something similar happen, and it turned out to be X, and I was able to get it fixed and heal up OK, then that will tend to ease my mind until I can get in to see the doctor.

Evy, I wish I knew. I went to see my regular doctor today. He does have at least some passing familiarity with the band - asked me if I could feel my port, and checked to see if it was in the expected spot, so that's good to know. The pain has now moved to my right side, which is a complete puzzle to me how it would start on one side and migrate like that. But I can now sleep on my side like I like, rather than having to lie on my back, so there's that. On the plus side, the doctor said he didn't think I had a "surgical abdomen", meaning no need for me to rush to the ER right away. He mentioned several possibilities - gallstones, cholecystitis (which is also gall bladder-related and would require having the gall bladder taken out), pancreatitis, colitis, possibly appendicitis, possibly an ulcer, possibly (but not likely) a bowel obstruction. He said a lot of things are outside possibilities because I haven't had any other GI-related issues and haven't run any fever with this, and of course it could still be something to do with my lap-band. I go for a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis tomorrow, with oral and IV contrast. I hate IV's. *shudder* But at least the CT scan should show if my lap-band is out of whack, or if there's something else going on. He gave me a few weeks' worth of Nexium, and said I could take that on the chance that it's an ulcer - if it helps the pain, that will give us an answer, I reckon. So. CT scan tomorrow, follow-up with the doctor next Monday, and if nothing changes, we're still going to Louisiana to go house hunting this weekend.

I'm going to see my regular doctor today, to see if I can rule out some non-band-related things, I'm still trying to get in to see a bariatric surgeon, and I would never expect a diagnosis from a forum. However, I think it's human nature to ask of others who may have had similar issues if their situation compares to ours, and that's what I was doing.