mom2babyrose97

It's not 'common', but my 2 port infections consumed my whole band experience. I have written a very detailed (with current pics) journal of my experience if you follow the link in my siggy. Erin

Who've had problems? It's just nice to know that you're not alone sometimes! Please email or respond to this thread. I've written about my experience in detail at the website listed in my siggy. Hoping I'm not alone. Erin

Hello, I think I've seen you at the meetings before! I have a ton of clothes that I had folded and gotten ready to bring in before I ended up losing my band. I would still like to give them to people, but don't necessarily know that I belong at a Band support meeting when I ended up having to have mine removed. :cry Would you like me to drop them by your home? Thanks! Erin

I had that happen with my first wound. Actually, I don't know that it tunneled. New tissue grew too far up, closing over the top of a hole/tunnel. My Dr. had to re-cut through this tissue inside my wound 2 times b/c of this. The nursing service that comes to my house during the week sends a wound specialist every Friday to take care of me. His expertise has been wonderful to have and it seems that I have questions for him almost every week. He (and other nurses) have said that abdominal wounds just tend to take longer to heal. I know I'm just getting impatient, but I really am! I think it was easier to be on the wound vac with my first wound b/c there was a light at the end of the tunnel. A new port once my hole closed up. Now there's nothing to look forward to. No light, only weight gain :cry I know I will pull myself out of this, but it's been a hell of a long, trying almost 6 months. I never thought I would be here on my 6 month 'Band-anniversary'. I have a LOT of pictures on the OH website if you click on the link in my siggy, if anyone's interested. They're pretty graphic though, so consider yourself warned! I've gained 5 lbs in the last 6 weeks or so. I have just GOT to stop gaining! My Dr. prescribed Xenical last week to help me lose, but I haven't noticed anything yet (weight related anyway, BM's are another story!) I'm not eating like I used to, but still more than I did while banded. Hunger sucks!!! Anyone have any experience with Xenical (my Insurance doesn't cover it and it was $215 out of pocket :omg: ) or any other pill that seemed to help at all? Also, I know we've all dieted like crazy (and failed) or we wouldn't have had or be looking into surgery, but did anyone ever do something that really did work? Non surgical obviously. TIA!!!

A wound vac is literally a vacuum. Because my ports were infected, he wasn't able to just stitch them up and call them good. I had/have a big, deep, hole all the way to where the port was stitched in and where he removed all the infected tissue around it. My first one was like 4 inches deep and the 2nd was only a little over 2 inches. That's still a long way when you're watching something disappear into you! Anyway, they cut this foam stuff into the same rough dimensions as the hole and pack it into the hole using a Qtip. Then they attach a vacuum type thing on top. All of the drainage is sucked through the foam and into a canister through about 3-4 feet of tubing (which I keep shoved into my pocket). The vac itself weighs about 10 lbs and I'm just growing to loath it after 5 months of it!! I can't even get up to pee in the middle of the night without unplugging it from the wall and taking it with me. I asked my Dr. yesterday if I could just get rid of the vac and pack my wound. It's supposed to help wounds heal up to 1/3 faster than just packing, but at least for me it's still a very long, slow process. I just want to be able to move around freely again, even if I do have a hole, KWIM? Yes, I've been billed for the 3 follow-up surgeries. Actually, my Insurance has been billed. The wound vac, supplies, and nurses who come to my home 3X/week runs about $9000/month. With the 4 surgeries, labs, wound vac, etc etc my Insurance has been billed over $150,000 and counting:faint: I'm SO grateful for Insurance, and can't imagine where I would be if I DIDN'T have it!

I had a post op port infection and had my band removed on day 5 after I got my port. I was hospitalized and on IV antibiotics Sunday night, found out Monday morning that I would have surgery on Monday afternoon. It ended up being Monday night at around 7pm, so I ended up having to stay overnight. I think the reason that people 'bounced back' so quickly after having it removed is b/c you have nothing foreign anymore. No port pain, no stomach pain (at least I didn't) etc etc. Of course, after both of my port infection surgeries and band removal I ended up with big holes in my abdomen that I've had the wound vac on, so it's not like everything was miraculously better for me upon removal. First hole took 3 months on the vac and this one is a month and a half and counting. Second hole was on the opposite side of my abdomen and a much smaller hole, so I don't know why it's taking so darn long! The depth is almost the same as it was 6 weeks ago :welldone2:

I was told that I would still have some restriction for a while, b/c of scar tissue from the band, but I haven't noticed ANY restriction. I WISH I had some!!!

I wish she had told us if she was a diabetic. I have my own little list here to see if my dr. is right on some of his hunches on port infections and diabetics getting them more commonly Yes, I am a Diabetic, although it's diet controlled, and my AC1 is actually below 7 which it's my understanding technically makes me NOT Diabetic anymore. I test my sugars daily still, but they're all within normal range. I have been told that having Diabetes makes you heal more slowly, but not that it makes you more likely to suffer from an infection (unless it's a Diabetic ulcer or something similar). I tested positive for Staph during my port removals. My Mom is Diabetic and has suffered numerous foot/ulcer infections which eventually led to various foot amputations and finally a below the knee amputation. This surgery (Band) was one way for me to get healthy and NOT follow in her footsteps!! My Dr. told me that I was not more or less likely than any other patient to get a repeat infection, especially b/c he was placing the new port in a totally different area. He said I had the same chance as everyone else...which is minimal. I think less than 2%. I hope he wasn't misleading me?

Thank you guys so much for all of your responses. I have had an awful week. The 'Depression Demons' are coming on strong, and I haven't been able to work through it yet. Part of my problem is that I NEED to know that the worst is behind me...and I don't believe it really is yet. The nurse came to change the wound vac packing on Friday and the nurse before (on Wed) hadn't done everything right (kind of complicated so I'll spare you) and my skin around the 'hole' is blistered, red and raw. It's so bad that they couldn't even put the wound vac back on, so I'm packing it this weekend, which sucks b/c it still hurts so bad. With the wound vac once it's done it's done for a couple of days. Packing it twice/day hurts though. I don't remember the hole from my other port infection hurting this bad, even though it was a much bigger hole. Also, my incision (where the Dr. cut open the HEALED scar from my 1st port infection and tried to make it look better...which I didn't give a dang about and had no idea he was going to do until I woke up from surgery) has started draining pus. It's been draining for almost 2 weeks now, but it's always been a bloody type drainage. Now there's no blood, it's just yellow pus. I'm SO depressed about this. I don't know what he'll do. It he'll re open it and have me pack it, have another surgery where he can re open it and I'll have a 2nd wound vac site...I just don't know. I know this is pretty technical, but in the end 1)my 2nd port infection site doesn't look good and 2)the site that HAD been healed from my 1st port infection is infected again. As bad as it's been the last 5 months, I just want it to start getting better!!! I can't tell you how much all of your messages mean to me. When I'm feeling my lowest, I read them all...over and over and over. To have this bond with strangers is truly amazing, and is a source of inspiration to me. I do not feel strong right now. I feel as though I've been kicked in the stomach, and everytime I think it's going to be done I see the foot chamber back to kick again. Enough is enough!!! I'm ready to heal up and be 'normal' again, whatever that means. Thank you for caring!!!

I wish there WERE something to prevent them. During surgery when I was getting my 2nd port, I was told they did things to prevent infection above and beyond what they would normally have done. 4 days later, infection STILL set in. Not the best person to ask maybe, but would love to hear it if anyone has any ideas.

I am so sorry that you had to go thorough all of this. What does 'prestine' mean and why did he have to remove the band? I took prestine to mean that it looked perfect. Didn't look like there was, or had ever been infection by my band, no signs of erosion, no slippage...perfect. I had him remove the entire band. In my mind, the band does no good without a port to be able to do adjustments. You hear EVERYONE talk about finding the 'sweet spot' after 4-5 fills (usually). Well, without a port, there's no such thing. To remove a 2nd port implies that at some point I would have to have a 5th surgery to give me another new port, which would once again run the risk of infection. I've just gone through too much and my family is at the breaking point as well. I have 5 children and none of this has been fun for any of us. My youngest just turned 3 and my oldest is 15. They need me. They need me healthy, not battling infections and spending time in the hospital. My husband has had to take literally weeks off work to help me, and my insurance company has been billed over $150,000 for all of my surgeries, wound vac, specialized nursing visits etc, and I still have a wound vac (almost $9000/month). There comes a point when you just have to re-think what's important. While I wish with all my heart that the band had worked for me, MY reality is that it didn't. That for some reason it took 7 days the first time and only 4 days the 2nd, for an infection to form at my port site. How do I know it wouldn't have only taken 2 days with a 3rd port?! At first my Dr. didn't want to remove the band, but after thinking about it overnight and listening to my feelings about it, he agreed it was probably best. I am still grieving the loss though. Hope this makes sense?

I have written on this site a few times, but am looking for support during this time of depression, frustration and defeat. In a nutshell, I was banded last September and only 7 short days after being banded I started having drainage from my port incision. The next day it was confirmed that my port area was infected. My Dr. cut open my port incision to allow the area to drain better (I packed it twice/day) and I was put on antibiobics. Three weeks later it was no better, and I had surgery to remove my port. Three VERY long months of using a wound vac 24/7 and having nurses come 3 times a week to treat me later, I was finally off the wound vac and my hole was closed!! This was on January 2nd of this year. January 11th I had a new port placed. January 15th my new port incision started draining and I was hospitalized. The next day my Dr. confirmed that my NEW port was infected and I had surgery (my 4th band related surgery in less than 5 months) to remove both the port as well as the band that same day.:faint: My Dr. said that he checked the band when he was replacing my 2nd port, and it looked 'prestine'. No errosion, or slippage. He said it looked perfect even as he was removing it. Of course, there is much more to the story, but I have journaled it all on the website at the bottom of my signature if you would really like to see exactly what took place during my band journey the last 5 months. I have many pictures too, so consider yourself warned. I am currently back on a wound vac :cry for this newest hole left by my port infection. Also, during this last surgery my Dr. (I had no idea he was going to do it) opened up my HEALED port scar and fixed it so that it wouldn't be such a big divot (which I could have cared less about). Nine days later, this new incision is still draining and I'm more than a little paranoid that it will become infected again and I might end up with multiple wound vac sites. God, I sure hope not! So, here I am. I have lost 46 lbs since September. It's not really been the result of the band though, as I've never had a port to get fills with and have had very little restriction during the entire 5 months. I am, however, deathly afraid of gaining back the weight I've gone through hell to lose. I would be SO happy if I could lose another 50 lbs, but right now I'm more concerned with not sabotaging myself and gaining weight back. We all know how easy it is to do! I feel very alone. I am not banded anymore, and feel uncomfortable visiting some of the message boards I have frequented for years. This is all so new still that it's hard for me to hear others' victories when I feel like I had just lost the battle. It took me 4 long years to be able to be banded, and I WAS banded for 5 months. It has consumed my life for almost 4 1/2 years and now I am left with nothing but scars and a wound vac. I hope this makes sense? I was very happy (although it makes me feel bad to even admit!) to see that this site has a forum for those of us who've had complications. They DO happen as much as people want to believe that the band is perfect and simple. Sorry this is so long, but as you might expect my emotions are running high. I have more to say, but will save it for another time. Thank you for your support! Erin