adorkbl

Well it appears that my band is now holding fluid. No idea why, but the fill my Dr gave me to "hold me over" until the procedure actually stuck. I had restriction. so on Tuesday instead of doing the replacement he checked and nearly all the fluid was still there. So we are waiting to see how it goes. He thinks it may have been a snall gap between the hard and soft rubber on the port that sealed itself????

OMG that would ROCK. Crossing my fingers for that! So far so good. Still seem to have some restriction. Not optimal... but still there. Thanks! Me too! Thanks thanks. So far so good. And yes that PB was HORRIBLE the other night. Hope that doesn't happen again. Oh how exciting!! You can do it! Sounds like you have amazing restriction. I am jealous! haha. Hi Julie! Heck yeah you can join us. It is just a challenge to keep us all motivated and give eachother support. We aren't Dr K's snobs. Well I am not. Minidriver on the other hand.... :cool:

Possibly... I PB'd pretty severe on Wednesday night. So I do think I am more irritated than normal. I ate some bread that refused to go down. Wasn't expecting that at all. I haven't had restriction after a fill like that before, and certainly didn't expect it after being told I had a leak. Dr Monash just called me back and we both agreed to wait on the procedure and just check my level on Tuesday. If I am experiencing any level of restriction, there is no reason to rush a procedure like that. Guess I will see where I am at on Tuesday and decide where to go from there. :Dancing_sorry:

I have freaking restriction still from my fill on Wednesday. WTH? He only put a small bit back in and now it is choosing to stay in?? I am so confused. Left Dr a message. Maybe I should just wait for a dye fuoroscopy to confirm the leak before replacing the port?

Thanks. I scheduled my replacement surgery for next week. I hope this works. Thanks for the encouragement. I hope you can get yours fixed soon and back to your happy place. At least I haven't gotten there only to have it taken away. I still don't know what that feels like. KWIM. So in a way that is kind of a good thing.

I am thinking it was a puncture from a fill. No way to know for sure until it is taken out and looked at. Even then it may be impossible to tell. I did schedule the port replacement. I am *crossing fingers* that I will FINALLY feel restriction once I am re-healed and can go in for a fill.

I would like to join the challenge. Keeps me accountable. Put me down for 20. Working with no fill... and possible restrictions from port replacement... but I can do it. I lost 20 on my pre-op. Power of the mind... or something like that. :tt2: Again... thanks so much for your input. I did decide to repair the port and stick with Dr M. I really do like him, feel comfortable with him, and believe he has my best interests at heart. I am just a sucker for his bedside manner. :tongue2: Ha! I know right? It has been such a crazy road. I read back in my blog and realized I had my first gallbladder attack after my first fill, less than 3 months after surgery. So I never really had a chance to concentrate on the band. Spent four months in and out of ER, testing galore and switching PCP's to get it DX'd and removed. Finally got recovered from that and struggle with fills and no restriction for 3 months only to get DX'd with the leak. So heck yeah! When I look at all that, I am pretty happy with the 80 pounds I am down. (Actually from today's Dr's visit it is only 77. So in the last 4 months I have put back on about 8 pounds.) But it is all good. I scheduled my port replacement for Tuesday! I get a do-over. I just hope this time it WORKS! No more bumps!

I haven't had any issues with infection. I actually had to have my bandage replaced on my port incision the day after surgery because I overdid it and was bleeding through the dressings. I was anal about following Dr's orders though... so I am thinking he said it was ok by then. So I would say you are safe. =)

Ok I checked my blog. I pulled off my bandages 1 week post op. HTH's!

Thanks so much for that info Deb. Dr M basically said the same thing when I asked. That every leak he has seen or read about has come from a port. Every port that his parter has fixed has resolved the issue and the patients progressed well after. That really does make me feel better to hear what Dr K told you. A LOT better. I am sorry... I really don't remmber what Dr K told me. Let me see if I can find that in my journal. I "think" he told me when they started to peel off to take them off. He was most concerned with the port incision. Leave that one on as long as you can.

I know you are right. It is just hard to see the sun when you are at the bottom of a hole. I am going to weigh in with my PCP tomorrow and see what he says. I may wait until Dr K gets back to see what his opinion is... but honestly, I most likely wouldn't return to him because of the cost and travel, but I value his opinion highly.

Ironic. I am pretty sure my unfill is where my problems started also. I went in with 5cc's from a different Dr who did my fills under fluoro. New Dr gave me 2cc's for a total of 7cc in a 10cc band. I left and found out I couldn't swallow water. returned to have him take out just a smidge and could gulp water right away after. Have never felt restriction to any extent since. I have lost my battle with dieting. I was down to 299 right before my gallbladder surgery which was in August. I am back up to 309 as of today's office visit. I really hope a new port is the answer, but am afraid of having it damaged again? Maybe if I had reached some level of restriction before and knew what it felt like... it would be so easy to say yes yes fix me... but I am just so depressed about it all right now. I feel like the whole surgery was a mistake.

Thank you so much for weighing in on the matter. At first I was so pissed I wasn't even going to consider it. But the more I think about it, the more I am thinking of just having him fix it, and continuing care with him. Just sucks to be his first leaky patient. I took a gamble when I had this surgery self pay, and unfortunately I ended up on the side of the statistics no one wants to. Lucky me.

Ugh. That is a long time!!! ((hugs)) Are you getting a repair??? Do you know where the leak is? I pretty much have never had restriction. I have had a long road with the acid reflux DX and then the gallbladder, so I am not sure if I am first realizing the leak now only because I can finally focus on the band. ?? Dr wants to repair the port... but I think I want to have a dye study done first to make sure it is the port. ???

My doctor finally confirmed today that I have a leak. I have know for over a month... but we kept testing for a bit to make sure. 8cc's was put in 2 weeks ago, only 3cc's was left today. *sigh* SO frustrated. I have at most maybe experienced 1-2 days of restriction after a fill that quickly went away. Not sure how long this leak has been there. I feel like I have been on a freaking diet forever! This is not what I paid 10,000 for.

I "believe" I was maintaining 5cc in my band since my last fill before my gallbladder surgery. I had 2cc, then another 2cc, then 1cc all under fluoroscopy with Dr Berger in Flagstaff. Then I went to Dr Monash for my gallbladder. Had that surgery, recovered, and then did an upper GI so he could make sure everything with the band looked good and started follow up with him. My first fill with him he withdrew 5cc's, so it appears everything was still there from Dr Berger. ??? Who really knows. He says my port is tilted. It takes him multiple sticks every time I go in. He uses a new needle each time to reduce risk of damage, but who knows if that is what happened. One time it took 3 needles and a lot of poking around before he got it. He did call me back since my last post and said the reason he didn't order a dye fluoroscopy study is because in 100% of the cases he has seen (either through reading, or his partners cases), it was a port issue. He said if I am more comfortable with a dye study first, he will order it. He just felt it was unnecessary. I did ask that he write a script for that; I want to know for sure. I do feel better after talking to him again. He has always had trouble accessing my port but I am hoping if I do have him replace it, he will no longer have those issues. ??? His track record IS good, and he came highly recommended from my PCP who was banded by his partner. I think that IF he did cause my leak, it was a mistake. No one is perfect. He did admit that it could have happened during a fill, but there is no way to know for sure. Even after the port is taken out, he says it can be difficult to tell if it was a faulty stick or a malfunction with the band. He IS cutting costs drastically for me to have it fixed. He has offered to fix it for $500. He will do it in office under local. He says he has not had a leak come up yet, I am the first (lucky me). It basically comes down to do I still trust him 100% with my care. I am still not sure. I realistically would love to have it replaced by Dr Berger in Flagstaff and then continue care with him again. I like that all his fills are done under Fluoroscopy... but I don't like the long drive (over 8 hours round trip), the very expensive fills, and how he doesn't seem to remember me from Adam. *sigh* I feel really stuck. I really do like Dr Monash and I trust him. He seems like he wants to get in there, fix it, and get me going on the road to restriction. He calls me back personally to answer my questions, I like that he knows me and I am not just a number to him. Am I crazy to continue to go back to him if I feel even a teensy bit deep down that he damaged it? I asked him about it and he won't use it. Doesn't fix the problem. I agree with him. I wouldn't slap a band-aid on a gaping wound... and I am not going to fill my band with a thicker solution so I can hold my leaky fluid a bit longer.

I need some support. Big time. I just found out I definitely have a leak. I had 8cc's in my band 2 weeks ago after my fill. I had 3cc's today when I went in to check on things. I am so confused! Dr is denying that he could have caused damage to my port from the fills. I am not so sure. I had no issues before I saw him, but maybe they just were masked becase of all my gallbladder problems?? I have never really experinced restriction, so how do I know it hasn't always been leaking??? He is offering to fix my port. How do I know it is my port?? Does anyone know if there is any testing that can be done to tell exactly where the leak is coming from???? I called Dr K's office but he is in Canada until next week. I feel so lost. Do I trust my new Dr who I really really like? Do I go back to Dr K and start all over. I just can't afford this anymore. I feel like I spent 10,000 for a hunk of plastic to sit in my stomach and do NOTHING. I guess my feelings of having been on a 10 month long diet have been confirmed. :thumbup:

Marie... you look great! =)

I had Salmon for dinner on Friday night. The night after my fill. I usually have a hard time with it... it is rougher going down. Had NO problems. That is why I am worried. Haven't heard of the sticky stuff. Will ask him about it next week. Honestly, I am so sick of being in the same 300-305 range weight wise I want to scream.

Jaime.... I see you just had your surgery! Yay! Congrats girly! =) Welcome to the other side.

Hi ladies. I know I have been absent for awhile... but I was taking a mental break. Long story short, no restriction for me again. I was concerned I may have a small leak so I went in and told my Dr that. He withdrew all the saline and discovered I was only at 5cc's and not 7cc's. :rolleyes2: He told me not to worry, he thinks that if I had a leak I wouldn't have maintained the 5cc's, that the pressure would have reduced it to less than 1cc. Well I am very worried. He filled me with 3cc's for a total of 8cc's now and I have a follow-up with him next week. I still do not feel restriction. I feel like I could continue eating and eating, but I don't, I stop myself. I went out to dinner a few nights ago and ordered seafood enchiladas. The dinner came with rice, beans, and 3 enchiladas. I ate about 1 and a half enchiladas, a spoonful of rice and most of the beans. I felt satisfied, but had NO sign's telling me to stop. I stopped because I knew I should... not because my band told me I had to. If I was truly filled to 8cc's I don't think I would have been able to eat that much. ??? Lunch today was half of chicken salad sandwich on wheat with a half a snack bag of chips. I am saving the rest for dinner. Normally I would have eaten it all and then some. But again I feel like I am stopping myself... not the band stopping me. Maybe I just haven't pushed it so that is why I haven't gotten any signs??? I am feeling very lost! I am terrified to go in next week to see what else has leaked out. I had gained all the way back up to 311 as of last week, but am back down to 304 as of today. So at least that is positive. Also I didn't have to use a seatbelt extender on the plane when I flew to WI last weekend... another goal to cross of my list. But honestly I am having a hard time feeling good about that with the possible leak hanging over my head.

I will check when I get home from work (2am) lol. so I will get back to you on it tomorrow. I am pretty sure I have a 2XL in there. =) Dee I am with you there too. I think these past two weeks have been so frustrating because I slipped up a little and it was like the flood gates opened. I thought I had slayed these demons but truth is they are always lying there in wait. :thumbup: I have re-adjusted my Halloween goal, and made some new personal goals that will hopefully get me back on track. Halloween candy in comm here is what has really de-railed me. Way too many mini Snickers and Milkyways. Then I just HAD to try the Ben & Jerry's Cake Batter ice cream and that got me all fixated on freaking ice cream again. :smile2: Unfortunately for me, my vices are not stopped by the band. The silver lining in all of this is I am AWARE of what is going on. I am maintaining my weight or bopping up then back down. Previously I would have just keep going, not paying attnetion, and packing it all back on. I need to hold onto that silver lining. That is keeping me sane! lol. :w00t:

Thanks... I am trying. I think I have let some old habits creep in, and now that I am working 2 jobs I feel more pressed for time and eating right and exercising is so damn time consuming! lol. AWESOME! WTG on the new clothes size! I would love some hand me downs. I am currently wearing 24, 26 & 28's. Let me know how much you think shipping would be and I will send it out to you. What size winter coat do you need? I have some from when I was smaller and living in WI... I dont need them in AZ for the most part. lol. I can dig through my tub, I think I have a nice powder blue down one and possible a down white coat. I will check when I get home.

WOWOX7.... You look AMAZING!! WTG!!!

Anita~ Nice to see you. Glad to hear you are recovering from surgery well. My gallbladder was a heckava lot worse than lap band... I can't imagine how it would feel to have my uterus removed and a hernia repaired all at once!! Take it easy missy! :smile2: Marie~ Hope your bill gets straightened out. I was told my fills were $100 then when I went in they suddenly were $150 becuase they didn't realize I had my surgery elsewhere when quoting me. Uh yeah... I think not. Still cheaper than flying back to CO and possibly having to stay overnight etc. Hopefully it is a clerical error. Crossing fingers for you. My weigh in for today is the same. -0... +0... no change. I am still in a funk, haven't gone to the gym and have been eating like crap. Someone please help me get back on track. Phooey. :wub: