GinaT228

How do you know when you have a pouch dilation?

Yaaaaaaaaaay for you! I hope to get to the green zone soon. I have restriction but not to the extent that you all speak of. I can and have eaten a full meal in less than 15 minutes. I know I shouldn't but when you work in a very busy doctors office, most times I don't have a choice. I'm gonna call my surgeon next week and ask for another fill. Hopefully this one will do the trick. I've been longing for the green zone!

I was banded 5-13-13 and I've been having problems with my port since a few days post op. My port is quite prominent. More so than all of my friends that have the band. I have a friend that had her port replaced mid June and hers is not red, irritated or prominent at all. The scar is not even red. My surgeon seems to think I'm rejecting the port. My pcp seems to think it's a hyperstimulated nerve. Much like diabetic neuropathy. It's painful. I can't stand any sort of pressure up against it. But even worse is a very feather light touch. That is excruciating! My pcp has me apply a lidoderm patch for 12 hours on and 12 hours off. I've been doing this since last Friday night. It does seem to be working. I sure hope that it's something simple for you. Maybe you moved wrong or laid on it for too long? Whatever the case may be, I sure hope the best for you!

Welllllllllll my fellow banisters, I am so very excited about the improvement. The pics are proof positive. Y'all tell me what you think. The yucky ones are from 8-8-13 the almost normal looking one is from today.

Thanks, I'm quite pleased! And impressed. Still a bit cautious at this point (cautiously optimistic). I'm just a bit frustrated that my surgeon couldn't give me an answer. If my pcp is right and this is just an hyperstimulated nerve and not a rejection, well, it really doesn't matter. I just hope that my pcp is right!

Don't give up. You will get better. Did they put the filters in your lungs to prevent the clots from further travel? Or was that even an option?

Oh gosh! I'm so sorry to hear about all of the complications! I can somewhat related. I developed a blood clot after knee surgery a few years ago. But definitely not to the extent you are experiencing. I'm wishing you an uncomplicated and speedy recovery. Stay strong. You got this! :-)

Well peeps, I'm sooooooo very optimistic at this point! I went last Thursday and saw my pcp. He does not think my body is rejecting the port. He's seen it many times before. He says he could be wrong but truly doesn't believe that to be the case. What he feels is happening is a super sensitive nerve stimulation. Similar to diabetic neuropathy but not quite the same. He says that the scar was almost keloid in nature. He prescribed a lidoderm patch and said that by the end of this week it should almost be cleared up. It may never fully be pain free (it's sore and I sometimes have severe sharp electrical type pains with just the very slightest touch) but that this should pretty much take care of it. If not, then I will have to have an ultrasound to make sure there's no puss pocket under the port then he would go in and inject a steroid around the port but not in it to see if that would help. If that fails then he would agree with my surgeon and the rejection diagnosis. Well I'm here to tell ya, the patch is doin the trick! It has NEVER looked better! Yaaaaaay meeeeeeeeeee!

Sooooooo, I was banded on 5-13-13. I went back 3 days later because I thought my port looked a bit red and angry. Angrier than I thought it should. They did not seem to be to concerned. I've been on two rounds of antibiotics and had 4 fills. I came back again today and spoke with my doctor about possibly removing it. He's saying that as long as there is no active drainage to just watch and wait. This is what he said on July 11th too. I came in today completely expecting him to schedule surgery except he said to just wait. He also gave me another fill. He said it could stay the same. Red, angry, itchy, painful and swollen and I would wake up one day with drainage and see my port sticking out or I could just gimp along like this for god knows how long. Grrrrr! I'm frustrated!

I'm looking for a buddy or buddies in the Nashville area. I work in downtown Nashville but live north of the city. I would love to get together to walk and talk. Someone to share this journey with :-)

My surgery was performed by Dr. George Lynch at baptist metabolic surgery center in Nashville. I did have a stitch that was irritated. It was on the other side but it never looked like this and it finally came out and cleared up. Personally, Im just confused as to why my surgeon would say "it`s either going to eventually manifest as a full blown infection and you will wake up on day and its open and draining and the port will be visible and it will have started eroding through your stomach. Or you'll gimp along like this in hopes that it will one day clear up". I think when I heard these words from a credible physician I just kinda freaked. Internally i'm completely in shock and disbelief and wondering how anyone, let alone a physician think and say this? He told me that he'd like to see me make it another 4 months and maybe by then I will have dropped another 25lbs and then it would come out. Odd as it may sound, I sort of kinda understand why he says that because I was borderline eligible for surgery to begin with. I'm 5`2 and I'm currently 174lbs. When I started I was 200lbs with a bmi of 35 and 7 co-morbidities. My journey began before I realized it. My brother and sister had heart attacks last year on the same day just hours apart unbeknownst to each other! The very next day I'm scurrying between two hospitals 45 miles apart trying to be with both. Our father had his first heart attack at 27 and died at 51. My pcp is the one that recommended the surgery. I have done all the diets and would go from 144 on fen-phen up to 268 without. Then continue the yo-yo thing with all the other diets as well. My first consultation with my wls surgeon, he suggested the sleeve. I said are you kidding? I don't want to go that drastic, i don't have that much to lose. The band will do me just fine. Ugh!!! Hindsight..... So I'm thinking he wants me to get to as close to goal as possible and then completely remove it. He said he can't do a sleeve revision because my bmi and weight has dropped. Well hells bells! It was supposed to! I'm just completely frustrated at this point. I see my pcp next Thursday and I know he will make the call to my wls surgeon to get the ball rolling. Its not that I want to incur anymore issues and complications, I don't. I just keep hoping (blind faith?) that my little buddy will get better.

Yep, food is going down fine. I've only had one stuck episode. And nothing like what most described. I felt a full, pressure sensation in between my breasts. It lingered for a few days. What finally got it was something I'd read on here. I downed a tablespoon of melted butter and had my husband "burp" me and then I jumped off the steps a few times and it did the trick.

Thanks for all the responses today. The pics are from last week but it's still the same. It's not getting better but it's not getting worse either. Yet. I truly hope and pray it doesn't either. I've never had drainage out of it. It's not that he didn't try. He did. When I went to my last visit on the 11th he squeezed it and I looked at him with THE look and he quit. I could have taken his head off! I work in the medical profession (I'm a receptionist in a doctors office for 19 years now) and I don't want to second guess him. I don't want him to be wrong. I keep praying that I will wake up one morning and my gremlin will be normal. I go see my pcp next Thursday. I had planned on talking to him about all this anyway. Oh, no x-ray has been done or scans or gi series. I did tell him about the rotten egg burps I've been having for going on two weeks now. He said it's stasis. Where the food stays in the pouch too long. I said, isn't that a bad thing? He said not always. Idk...

Has anyone's acid reflux come back? I was banded 5-13-13 and had a hiatal hernia repair as well. No acid reflux until this past week. Now it's back like it was before. I'm also fighting a port infection. We are hoping I'm not rejecting it. I'm on week two of bactrim ds. At this point he said it could go either way. I sure as hell hope it goes the good way!

Well here it is several days later and the redness is gone. I called the doc that day and they called an antibiotic in and I see my docs partner tomorrow for a follow up. But Friday night I had potato soup and a few small bites of a roll. Woke up Saturday with pressure and pain in my mid breastbone area. Not sharp burning pain just a dull ache. Pressure. As if that damn roll that I should not have had is STUCK! I drank water, hot tea, coffee, hot water with lemon, pineapple juice and even butter. You name it, I've tried it. I have not slimed. Had the urge ever to throw up. Never been nauseated nor pb'd. Just pressure. So I have to go in tomorrow and possibly have an unfill. Dammit! I honestly cannot believe I did this to myself. I really thought I was following the band rules. But I suppose I was a bit overzealous with the bread. I am hoping that this will right the wrong I inflicted upon myself and that I have not done serious damage. I have already buried the mental bread. Now to hopefully get rid of the physical bread! And can I just say, I ABSOLUTELY love this forum! I spend quite a bit of time on here reading. I hardly ever post or respond because I'm too busy reading! But such a plethora of information!

Hi peeps, long time no talk! I've been doing well until today. So here's the scoop. I was banded on May 13th and had a 2cc fill on the 20th At that appointment my doc told me to start incorporating regular foods two days after my fill. I did with no complications. Until today. Night before last I had a bit of tuna for dinner. And I chewed and chewed and chewed some more. Then for lunch yesterday I had baked tilapia 1/4 filet with a bite or two of cabbage. Again I chewed until it was mushy mush. Today I feel (not sure if it's been there this whole time or not) a ridge from port to pouch. And my abdomen is a bit sore and distended. I have chewed a couple of gas c with some but not much relief. So here's the question. Has anyone else experienced this? The discomfort as well as the raised area from port to pouch?

Hello my peeps! I am 10 days post op and had a hiatal hernia repair done with my lap band. Did anyone else have this done? I am noticing as I'm eating my cream of chicken soup (prepared with fat free milk) that there is a bit of tenderness in my mid breastbone area as it is going down. I have removed any chicken bits and it's only soup. I just experienced this sensation yesterday and now again today. Thoughts from the peanut gallery???

Well I did call my docs office yesterday afternoon. They seem to think I'm constipated. I took milk of magnesia with the expected results. I do feel some relief. But I'm going to have to call back this morning because I have a nice pale red ring around my port area about 3 inches in diameter. The incision itself is fine, just the red ring around it. And there is a red streak going from port to pouch, also where my pouch is, it's very hard a protruding. Almost like my port. I'm afraid this does not bode well. I'm trying not to freak out but of course I am.

Holy smokes! How much have you lost! You look awesome! And you were banded 3-14-13?

You guys are such a blessing to me! I have truly found the place I need to be. I woke up this morning with a different mindset, a different outlook. Thanks to all of you. I truly hope to be an inspiration to a future newbie as you all have been to me.

Okaaaaaay peeps, I am so ashamed and disappointed in myself. I have been over eating for two days. I really didn't think it possible. I realize it's been soup, but still! And tonight I had a low fat, low sodium tomato soup. BUT, I added a couple of chunks of velveeta. I honestly thought I'd be physically sick. Throwing up or nauseated. But nooooooo. Ugh! I will not set myself up for failure! I let my emotions take control and lead me the wrong way and now I am truly concerned about how easy it was but also concerned of the serious repercussions to follow. Hopefully none as I am only one week and a day post op. Holy cow! I am so pissed at myself!

Oddly enough, I was just reading a post on carb cycling. Thank you for the kind words of encouragement. I truly appreciate them. Just disappointed in myself for giving in to stress. I have got to find a way to constructively deal with stress. It can no longer be with food. I knew this going in. This just personally proves to me that it's going to be much tougher than I thought. It all started Sunday afternoon when I started thinking of going back to work on Monday.

Then you must give us '' white'' people an authentic recipe! :-)

Yummmmmmm!

I am post op day 6. I just had a some egg drop soup and about 3 to 4 teaspoonfuls of Greek yogurt. About 10 minutes after eating I went upstairs and sat down on the couch. When I did I experienced a shift or heavy gurgle in my port area. It didn't hurt. Nor was it uncomfortable but I had not experienced that sensation before. When I shifted positions on the couch moments later, it happened again. Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be concerned? Could I have caused a slippage?