jc2008

Just a little update, but i went to see my doctor again today. I am 41lbs down from when i first had the band in in december (of course it was taken out 2 weeks later cuz of the infection). But he gave me a check in full for ALL the hospital costs from the first surgery... Now with the band + the removal i am out a total of a few hundred dollars only. Was afraid that i would be out the 7k of hospital fees. so relieved this is all over now.

well saw my doc again today and am actually VERY RELIEVED.. He told me to bring all the bills I am getting for the removal surgery i had to him and he will take care of them.. He also is giving me a full refund of the money i paid him for the original surgery and is calling the hospital to try to get back as much as possible from them for the original surgery too (hopefully i will just have to pay cost there). So i should only be out a couple thousand instead of 13k+removal surgery fees. A load off my mind really.. Was scared it was going to be a big legal hassle but he seems to really want to set this right. Apparently in 5 years and doing 4-5 bands a week i am only the second person to lose my band like this (within the first few weeks of installing it). I guess concentrating on the financial aspect of all this mess made me not concetrate on the fact that i had a HUGE infection in my abdominal cavity.. I guess im just lucky it hurt like hell so I knew something was wrong and the doc got in there early enough to clean it all out..

Yeah im wondering if the ibuprofen might have messed me up. But the nurse practioner KNEW i was going to take it for my knee after my one week appointment.. She should have said something if it could cause a hole.. Anyways, going to talk to the doctor on thurs to see if he can help get some of the removal surgery bills taken care of. He is a part owner in the surgery suite where i had the operation and removal done at, so i know he can, just need him to help a bit so i dont have 4-5k of new bills to deal with...

I go in to talk to him on the 31st. I just found out i had a severe herniated disc in my back which has a greater than 50% chance of requiring surgery, so i might be in for surgery on that (blah yuck). So i definitely wont be taking him up on the offer of a new surgery. I just wonder how to ask: hey can i have my money back? and wonder what he will say.. My mother has lots of lawyer friends, and one will take up my case if the doctor doesnt give us a satisfactory resolution. I mean, 14k for a band i only kept for 2 weeks + the bills of the surgery for removal is gonna be like another 4k or so...

I was banded on Dec 18th. On the morning of Jan 1st i had a huge pain (ie worst i have ever felt) in my left side. It was so bad i had to rush to the bed and i could not physically get up again. Hubby said 'gas pain' but I didnt quite think so. It got slowly better throughout the day, then happened again that afternoon. Was talking to my doc on the phone all day and he did suggest at one time that maybe i should go to the ER where he could see me, but i decided to wait until the next day (non-holiday). On Jan 2nd i went into my doctors office and the doc that saw me thought it was my gallbladder since it was on my left side and my port and stuff was on the right side. I went in and had xrays, ultrasounds and blood drawn, and then i guess they realized it was an infection in my stomach from my band. So that nite my doc came in, told me it was an infection, and that we were going to surgery to remove the band in an hour. He said i would not be able to have another band. I have tried to get clarification on what exactly happened to me, all my doc says is that my body rejected the lap band and gave me an infection. They did not culture the band, i asked if they were going to, and before the surgery they said they were, then afterwards they said they didnt culture it.. My doc is offering to do a sleeve or bypass free of charge since the band failed, but I am just not up to having another surgery after that scare. I am self pay, and i need to go in there next week and talk to him about all that happened. I am basically out 13.5k + the cost of the hospital stay of the removal. I feel like to have an infection that was that big within 2 weeks of getting the band in could have been a result of germs during surgery or something besides the fact of my body rejecting the band.. Anyone else had this happen? I really am wondering if i have any legal grounds to try to recoup what i paid for surgery...

Apparently, they didnt culture the band when they took it out. So there is no way to tell if it was the dr or hospital's fault (fishy huh?). I am spending my time trying to feel better from the second operation, and will go see my doctor again in 3 weeks to discuss doing another type of surgery (sleeve or bypass). He hasnt mentioned anything about a refund, instead he is offering me the other surgeries for free and will work with the surgical suite to get the hospitalization part down to cost for any new surgery.. I am not sure what i will do. The band seemed like the best option for me, as it was reversable. I am not so sure how open i would be to a permenant operation..

The doctor said the sleeve or bypass was still a possibility, just not another band with the infection i had. Right now, after having surgery twice in two weeks, thinking about having ANOTHER more serious, non reversable surgery makes me very scared. He did mention when i was in the hospital that he would do either one for me, but i was all drugged up and in no mood to talk. I get to see him again tommorrow to get my stiches out, so i guess will talk more then.

On Jan 1st i had SEVERE pain on my right side that had me crippled to the point of not being able to get out of bed. IT just came upon me suddenly, no warning. It got better throughout the day but happened again that night with the same intensity. Kept in touch with my doctor during the day, since the office was closed and went in the next day for an appointent. After the morning appt, i was sent to the surgery suite to have some basic tests done, cuz they thought it was my gallbladder, but by that evening i was admitted to the hospital and by 8pm that nite the doctor had taken me back to surgery (almost 2 weeks to the day of me getting the band) and removed it due to an infection/abscess.. I still dont know much about what happened to me, everytime the doctor tried to talk to me i could just cry. I cannot have another band he says, and i had an infection which had made a hole in my stomach and that this has a VERY minute chance of happening.. I go to get my stiches out on thursday and hopefully learn more about what happened to me. You dont just get an infection out of the blue i wouldnt think. I am also cash pay so its hurting a bit more than just my emotions at the moment... My mother and my sister have both done great with the band over the past 3 years. I guess it just wasnt ment to be for me.

The link to the Protein shakes/soups I use is in my signature (i recommend the chicken Soup, chocolate and vanilla, can add sugar free pudding to vanilla for different flavors like banana or pistachio). As to the original topic, I was on jenny craig when i was in junior high (gaa i been overweight ALL my life). I managed to lose 60lbs on it which i kept off until my junior year of high school. It comes back, thats the point, unless you make some really serious changes or stay on the program forever and ever.

Yeah, i knew i was gonna lose restriction before my first fill when i healed. Just thought it ironic that i lost restriction the day i started the ibuprofen regime for my knee. Ahh well, i go in for my first fill on the 22nd.

I have been having problems with the side of my knee, finally went to the doctor yesterday and she told me to take 600mg of ibuprofen every 6-8 hours until i go see the orthopedic doctor on wednesday. Now, since i started this regime, i havent felt full at ALL.. you think that all this ibuprofen to make the swelling in my leg go down has made my stomach swelling go back down to normal so i have like 0 restriction? I am still keeping my portions small, but the full feeling is DEFINITELy not there anymore at all.

Yikes, you are trying to get 100 in a day? Im suppose to go for 40-60 a day. I can do the 40 by drinking 3-4 of my Protein shakes/soups ( PrescriptFit shakes and Soups ) If i double up 2 scoops at Breakfast and 2 scoops at lunch and a sensible dinner then the skakes definitely cover my protein and dinner is just bonus protein. 100 seems like it would be too much for me to try at this point.