Hi there.
I had a gastric band put in in August 2011. From the minute I came out of surgery I was horrified at the size of the scar where the port had been placed, and was in agony hardly able to lift myself off the bed, furthermore the location of the port was also a shock. My surgeon never discussed with me the options I had of port placement, therefore, he decided that the breast bone was the best position for this.
Now, if you are a male, I don't imagine there would be much cause for concern at having the port placed on the breast bone. But for a woman who has a larger build and usually larger breasts to go with it, it is one of the most inconvenient places a hard piece of metal can be placed under the skin. Right under the bra strap which rubs continually on the port.
So my first word of advice would be if anyone out there is considering surgery, make sure you have a frank discussion with the surgeon about where the port is going to be placed in your body. After all, you are the one that has to live with it and work with it. I had no idea it was made of metal until it had been removed and I was shown the photograph.
I should also mention that I had only one fill of the band and was not able to swallow Water, so had to have it removed immediately, so I have my suspicions that my band was fitted too tight from the offset. This is another topic of discussion to be had with your surgeon.
I then started to work with the band and found that over time, anything I wanted to eat that was a healthy choice was a big no, no for me. It got stuck, I ended up bent over in pain and had to make myself vomit to get the stuck food out. Broccoli, beansprouts, bread, cauliflower, chicken, fish, scrambled eggs, meat, Pasta. rice. In fact, whereas I had thought I would still be able to eat foods I liked but in smaller portions, the fact became that I could not eat anything unless it was a slider food such as baked potato and Beans, mashed potato, salad was okay but got boring after a while. However, what I did discover I could eat was all of the bad stuff. chocolate, biscuits, sweets, cake with plenty of icing and sauces over meals to help it slide down.
It became embarrassing when out with friends who did not know I had a band fitted when I had to keep nipping off to the toilet pretending I was ill, and my poor husband paying for a meal I had hardly touched. What was worse, I was gaining weight because I was living on crap. Therefore my second word of advice is to consider carefully if this will fit in with your lifestyle. If you are always on the go with your job and eat on the run as many of us do, this is not the solution for you. Also, if you enjoy any kind of social life, consider what a bore you will become not being able to enjoy meals out and having to pass on restaurants when you see the menu and realise that there is nothing on there that you will be able to eat.
Finally, in April this year I had the horrible thing removed. The port had caused me nothing but misery, I was not able to lie down comfortably, I could not bend down to tie shoes or even getting out of a chair was uncomfortable because the port cut into me.
So, here I am, £10,000 worse off and really no slimmer thanks to having had a gastric band, than I would have been had I just joined a weight watchers program and learned to disclipline myself.
Life after a gastric band for me is far more comfortable in terms of wearing a bra, being able to lie down again, being able to reach my feet comfortably. I used a different surgeon in the UK to remove the band, and I can honestly say it was an entirely different experience. Even though the port scar was opened up again, the pain was minimal compared to what I experienced when it had been put it.
I am now losing weight following a weight watchers program online, and for the most part I am able to eat the foods that with the band were impossible to eat. I feel healthier and happier, but I am finding that food is sometimes still getting stuck as if the band were still there, and have had to occasionally leave my husband alone eating dinner while I go to make myself sick to relieve the pressure in my oesophagus.
I will be contacting my surgeon about this and will keep you updated if you are interested.
I just wanted to share my experience to help anyone out there make an informed decision on how to proceed if they want a band put in, or taken out. I hope that my story helps you with your decision, as I found it really difficult to find any experiences to compare to mine when considering having the band removed. Furthermore, finding a surgeon in the UK let alone a price for removal was a challenge in itself.
Good luck to you whatever your decision, but my experience was that a gastric band is not the answer to weight loss. It is a tool that is very difficult to work with unless you have time to prepare every meal from scratch and liquidise it.
Best wishes to all.
Not fat, just fluffy!
Two days after gastric band removal surgery
