Girlmoose

Losing it, I had to have my entire band and everything removed because of erosion of the band too. I guess that is really common among infected ports because the infection goes up the cord to the band and everything gets infected then... I would have only had my port removed too if they hadn't done the camera prob test inside the stomach and found the erosion. :w00t: When they removed everything they left a deep open wound where the port came out. The reasoning is so that the area heals from the inside out. You have to use gauze or this 1/4" gauze tape (which I like better) to fill the hole and you use this whole process to keep it moist and bandaged up. You have to redo the dressing and process twice a day. This also keeps you from having this big dent area left behind too... :thumbup: I was surprised by having the port incision area left this way but everyone I have talked to, their port is taken out this way too. I guess it is to help with liquid and infection building up in that area again... When I was on strong antibiotics with this infection, my port area was draining until about 2 weeks after I started antibiotics. This new Doctor could tell immediately that it was a staff infection because of the dry layers of how it was closing up and that it was caused by some other type of infections. It sounds like all staff infections heal this way... I wish you all the best and hope the IV antibiotics work wonders for you and you'll heal up great!! GOOD LUCK! :w00t:

Firebolt, The Doctor that did my lapband surgery in Dec. was an "Internist" all he does now is bariatric surgery but he is well trained for any surgery from his past experience. He's probably 55 - 58 yrs old. After my second surgery he did to flip the port and see why I was having pain in my upper left rib cage, which was from tons of scar tissue and the cord being caught up in it, I felt great. No pain in the left side. I was concerned if we were making the right decisions before the 3rd surgery to just put in another port on the left side and clean up everything inside again. The surgeries are so expensive and they take so much out of you. The new Doctor I am going to (there are two of them together) are "surgeons". I wasn't sure how they would be compared to an "Internist" and fixing the problem. I have to say they were more thorough then the Internist. It's probably has a lot to do with their attitudes and interest in cases like mine that has helped me. They have a great bedside manner and spending all the time I want from them... I just started looking up other Bariatric Doctors in my area. I live in Denver CO and had a reasonable amount of Doctors around that to this surgery to pick from. I searched the internet to find them. They were like 25 miles from me and the hospital they work out of it but it was so worth it for a 2nd opinion. I didn't think they would be able to tell me much more then my "Internist" but I was so WRONG! If your Mom is in a small town, I know she probably wouldn't have enough to pick from. If things don't feel right with her Doctor, it is just to drawn out and painful sometimes to not get that second opinion. My Internist wasn't threatened at all by it and encouraged me to go... Good luck with whatever you and your Mom decides to do. Sorry that is so long... After this current surgery Monday. I have pain in my upper left rib cage again, where they pulled out the drain tubes when I left the hospital on Wed. It feels like someone took a hammer and beat around up there... I'm pretty sure it's from them cleaning out the scar tissue in that area where the cord was bound up. Sometimes that area bothers me more then the huge hole area... :w00t: Is your Mom still packing the hole? I don't know how my husband does it. I'm not sure I could do it to him! :w00t: We are wondering how long this last and closes up. My Doctor said 1 - 2 weeks... I hate to thing about doing this for 2 weeks! Is her drainage from that area too? Is your Mom on antibiotics??? They kept me on Cipro 500 mg twice a day, for 10 days and Levitan (which is almost 6.00 a pill) once a day for 5 days. Does your Mom have a low or high grade fever? That can be a clue too if she has an infection. You usually run a temp. when you are fighting something off... I don't know what test they will run on her... My expensive CT scans never showed infection or problems... I think because I had so much scar tissue (which doesn't come up on CT scans either). The only test that were good for me was the ultra sounds, regular xrays & they did run a good series of xrays the day after surgery to make sure nothing was leaking out of the stomach and he got everything closed off... Has your Mom had the type of xray since surgery??? Sorry this is so long... I'm probably repeating myself and being too long... I've been on the pain medicine a lot today and I take this pill for nausea that really relaxes me and makes me sleep a lot... I love that pill even more then the pain pills! Keep me posted about your Mom. I hope everything goes well today! :thumbup:

Hi Firebolt! I thought they may have stitched your Mom up without the equator that is left in your stomach and that was why she was seeping. :smile2: It had no where else to go... :confused: I guess I should watch out for this too. I have no idea about the scar size either... Right now I don't even care as long as the darn thing closes up quickly and heals. I just want to feel normal again and healthy... Is your Mom on a liquid/soft diet still for 2 weeks after surgery? They have me on one. The Doctor did said the xrays they took the day after surgery in the hospital to make sure everything was sealed and nothing leaking out from the stomach, that you can tell exactly where the band was and my stomach is still holding that shape. He said it can stretch back out but try and keep it small and not overeat I can't really eat more then about 5 bites and things don't taste good to me except for grape juice. I only drink a very small amount of that but I figure the antioxidants will be good for me and hopefully heal as quick as possible. I can tell each day is getting a little easier. I'll just be happy to get the first 10 days behind me. I'm suppose to see the Doctor again 2 weeks out of surgery so I'm hoping by then things look really good and healed... How is your Mom's recovery going and how was her visit with her Doctor? Is she in pain or fairly comfortable now? She's lucky to have you! GOOD LUCK to both of you! :ohmy:

I'm sorry to hear about your Mom's infection being so bad. They did the right thing by removing it all, even if it isn't what we really want to happen. I just got home today from the hospital today. My new Doctor ended up putting a drain on my left side and just took it out before I came home. The right port area they left a big hole! YUCK! :frown: I HATE that the most because morning and night we have to change it. My husband has to pull out the wet/dry gauze packing in this area, and then redo it all over again. They liked how well it is healing, but I have to do this one to two weeks until there is no more space to stick the gauze in. The Dr. did this so that it would heal from the inside out. I would have preferred stitches myself! I totally dread when it starts getting time to change it. I hope your Mom's recovery is fast and she heals well. With my other infections I had, my old Doctor said that drainage was good because the infection had build up has somewhere to go. This procedure wasn't near what I thought it would be. I just didn't imagine drains and this hole to deal with.... I hope this makes sense because I'm still on pain killers! Good luck to all!!!

It's been really quiet around here. I hope everyone is doing okay. I thought I would update in case my story helps someone else. I got a second opinion in a Doctor's office that has two Doctors together doing this. They were very thorough and really insisted that I have a scope, where you are in la-la land and they have you swallow a camera and take pictures inside your stomach. They went down and then angled the camera back up toward the band and sure enough I have lots of band erosion! I'm so glad I got a second opinion because I could have chosen to have a new port installed on my left side. I've had such good results with weight loss that I was almost ready to do this. In fact, I had surgery scheduled to do this but we ended up deciding for second opinion before we spent the money for a 3rd expensive surgery... My new Doctors are going to do surgery Monday afternoon to remove everything and repair the damage. They told me right off that with staph infections it is very common to have erosion of the band and it is very common to have lots of scar tissue as an issue also, which I have had. They think it is likely to that my liver has attached itself to my scar tissue around the stomach as well... :drool: They are going to repair and clean everything up. It sounds like I should expect lots of pain from this surgery... I'll probably be in the hospital anywhere from 1 - 3 nights, depending on how I do... I sure never thought this would be my story... I never thought it would be this bad... It sounded like the lap band is so easy and such low percentages of things going wrong... The new Doctors also said they have had a lot of cases they have fixed from people that have gone to Mexico and they end up somehow with these type of infections too... Not good news... Sorry... I really hope everyone else is doing better than me and recovering well... Good luck to all! :thumbup:

Hi Firebolt and Mom! My port has always been on my right side. The pain that I had in my upper rib cage area (that felt like a broken rib bone, because it hurt to breath deeply too) was from scar tissue from when they put the lap band in on Dec. 17th. I thought maybe there was a twist in the cord that started up by the band and then worked itself down eventually to flip the port. (Just my own rationing at the time, trying to explain pain in the left upper rib cage, when NOTHING is there...) However, after my second surgery May 5th to flip the port, he actually took those camera pics and printed them for me while they were doing the surgery. He said he had only one other case that had more scar tissue then mine. When they first go in they can usually see the cord right away. On me, all they could see was scar tissue! :smile2: They cleaned it all out and flipped my port, washed the port area out good with antibiotics and then started me immediately on antibiotics after surgery. When they tested the tissue they removed after surgery it did show an infection growing there. Looking back, I think I would have had better luck if they would have replaced the port when they flipped the port. I have a feeling your chances of a port infection is greatly increased when they go messing around with it... I felt great after that May 8th surgery though... Until 5 days after antibiotics and the infection blossoms again... I'm scheduled to have my THIRD surgery tomorrow morning. He said they have really good luck when they replace a port and put it on the opposite side (now my left side) where there are no signs of infection. They are going to clean up the port area again on the right side and remove the old port and look for scar tissue and organs to make sure everything is healthy and not causing these infections. If he gets inside and thinks its too risky to put the port in right now, I told him to just take everything out. I can't keep affording all these surgeries, xrays, and tests because of problems. :thumbup: I love my band and the results I have gotten with it. I've been through so much and expense, i hate to remove it all and now have nothing for it... Everyone says, you will just gain on the weight back too, unless you make some major changes in your lifestyle and eating... :wink2: Text book port infections, does say to remove the port, let the patient heal for a few weeks and then go back in and place the new port. Your Mom should be fine doing it that way... I just don't really want a 4th surgery. I also looked at the latest procedure (which my Doctor hasn't done on any of his patients but he is trained for it and the way he thinks things in this field will go strongly towards) is the Gastric sleeve... It's interesting because you don't have any fills or Doctor visits, not flipped ports, infections and etc. but it does cut out 2/3 of your stomach that you can't ever get back though... I've lost half of my weight already, but if there was a way they could do this procedure and maybe leave me with more of my stomach intact, I would really consider this procedure... I just don't have that much time right now to delay having surgery a couple of weeks to go to a Doctor that does this procedure around me. It's hard to find a lot of people who have done this either because you don't have a forum like this to talk to people who have had the sleeve done. The complication rates are very low, no mal-absorbation issues and the upkeep is so low that people aren't talking as much as they are about their bands... I'm a really healthy person and I'm always the one who has the flu just a couple of days while everyone else has it for a week... Same with colds or I just don't get them... This has really shocked me because I never thought I would have infection problems and this long drawn out lap band saga... My Dr. who is has been an internist for over 20 years and his wife is an infectious disease Doctor, which I'm sure he has been sharing my case with but saving me a visit to her. He also thought that my appendix might be the culprit of the infections. He said an appendix can infect the port, but a port cannot infect an appendix. I had a CT scan ran last week and said all my organs were fine, but it couldn't really read my appendix too well, the colon is in front of it. He is going to look and make sure while he is in there that it is healthy. If I take my electronic thermometer over my head, I have had a 99 - 100 degree temp for over a week now. I had this temp, after my first surgery (and he didn't put me on antibiotics after that surgery) and it eventually went away. I'm thinking the infection was just brewing in the scar tissue that your body does trying to protect the organs from infection and something foreign when it is in fighting mode... Here's an science experiment for you guys... I just started testing my left side area with this thermometer and it reads 98.6, very normal. When I put it around the incision area (which is redish now and obviously infected just from looking at it) it reads 101 - 102. It started this temp. before it turned red when the Dr. could see it was infected and red. The Dr. thinks my infection this time is close to the skin surface because the CT scan picked up no Fluid or infection around the port. Which is a good sign that my inside cavity, isn't a pool of infection like before when they drained over 30 c.c. of infection in the Radiology dept. (The Doctors couldn't see or feel the liquid or infection either. They were surprised there was infection in there when they ran the ultra sound) You can't always "see" that infection is there... This is another reason I think he can clean up that area, keep me on strong antibiotics and still put in a new clean port on the left side.... I Hope this helps. I know I've given a lot of info but there can be so much to this and you just want to make the best choices for a speedy recover with as little procedures as possible. I really need to get my life back on track. It's hard to put your life on hold this long when these things just drag out... I wish you and your Mom the best. :wink: I'll let you know what they find tomorrow in surgery, as soon as I'm up to it. Let me know how your Mom comes through this and what they find inside... This really is the only way they really know what's going on inside there.... I hope the infection hasn't gotten to painful for her... It's AMAZING how fast these infections blossoms and grows! :seeya: GOOD LUCK! :tongue2:

I live close to Denver Colorado. I just love moose and the wildlife here. :thumbup: I'm assuming you are in NY... You may have mentioned it and I forgot. I just took all my medicine for the night and feeling a little out of it now. I have been looking on line today researching the sleeve before I go to the Dr. tomorrow. I didn't even consider the sleeve before lap band surgery because I didn't want to change my body in any way and it was reversible... Now I'm looking at it in a totally different way that it would be better to cut out some of the stomach and have nothing rerouted or foreign inside of me. I'm thinking the sleeve is probably the way for me to go or I'll have nothing at all... Which I really don't like the idea of. :frown: I'm back on the strong antibiotics for severe infection but nothing is helping much, as of tonight. I'm taking pain medicine that is 8 times stronger than morphine and I still have a lot of pain when I move around... :eek: The pill of nausea does the best because it really puts me to sleep for a long time. I really appreciate you responding and sharing info. I'm hoping your right that the Dr. will help me out with the bill of going through all this... He hasn't even billed me yet for the first surgery in Dec. I hear it is not uncommon out here for the Doctor's billing cycles to be ever 6 months... Isn't that crazy??? I hate to see the bill when I finally get it! :eek: I'll let you know how tomorrow's appt. goes. The ER doctor last night was so nice and he said he told my Dr. how frustrated we were and how he needs to get me fixed up right away. My lap band surgeon is a really nice guy and personable so I'm hoping everything goes well. His wife is an infectious disease Dr. which has probably helped me get on the best antibiotics. He hasn't suggested I see her though but I'm sure he is probably talking to her about me... Sorry I'm rattling on... I'm just not feeling well and headed back to bed for the night, feeling drugged up... Thanks so much for your help!!! I'm anxious for you to have your surgery in Sept. It seems like a SLOW process but when i look back and see how I've lost so much weight in the first 4 months of surgery and my blood work was excellent within that short period of time... I'm sure you will be amazed too!!! Hang in there and good luck with the process! :biggrin:

I had my lapband surgery Dec. 17, 2007. I had an rough couple of weeks after that surgery. Then in April I started having pain on my left upper rib cage and two weeks later it started at my port. The port had flipped! :eek: On my May 8th, I had surgery to see what was causing the pain on the left side, which had a ton of scar tissue (2nd worse case my Dr. had seen) and flipped the port. The scar tissue they removed was tested and it was infected. :frown: He left me on antibiotics for 10 days. 5 days after that I started having horrible pain in my right side by the port again! :eek: He had an ultra sound done and the Radiology Dr. removed 30 c.c. of infection! :eek: It came back as a staph A. infection and they put me on antibiotics for sever infections for 3 weeks. About 4 days after this procedure, I started leaking and seeping infection from my scar where the port was. That lasted about a week and a few days and then finally closed up. I did great for two weeks off of antibiotics... Then last Sun. the pain in the port area came back! :eek: I had a CT scan done Tues. Everything showed fine. Dr. thought it might be my appendix infecting things because I was tender when he pushed around my appendix. CT didn't show any pockets of liquid or any organ problems. :thumbup: The Dr. said he would see me in 30 days! :eek: Well needless to say I didn't make it 30 days... I ended up in the emergency room with a definite red hot infection showing up around my port and skin. They called my Dr. and got him back on board. I'm suppose to see him Monday. They are going to have to remove the port and let it heal 6 weeks and then go back in and put a new port... OR, take it out completely... OR, take out the port on the right and put a new clean port on the left side. OR, do the gastric sleeve... I'm halfway to my goal. 40 - 50 pounds to go. I don't know that much about the gastric sleeve... I can't keep going on with this pain and infection but I don't want to give up all the good things I have accomplished with my band. For the first time in 10 years my cholesterol, trigs, blood pressure are all in the normal range... There doesn't seem to be too many web sites where people go to talk about gastric sleeve and their experience like I have found for the lapband forum. I appreciate your discussions about the sleeve here. I'm pretty sure my insurance won't pay for this sleeve surgery since I've already had the lapband too... I'm usually a really healthy person. A fast healer... I'm just so surprised my journey with the lapband wasn't successful... I'm curious too, what made you pick the sleeve over the lapband??? I sure wish I had... I don't think my body likes foreign objects... Good luck to everyone! Thanks for sharing! :biggrin::biggrin:

Hi everyone! It's been pretty quiet around here. I hope everyone is doing okay and keeping the infections at bay... :thumbs_up: I have been off of the strong antibiotics 2 weeks tomorrow and doing fine until this afternoon. I've started having pain in my right side. :eek: The incision has been closed for over a week and not seeping infection. It doesn't look bad at all. The pain is on the innder side (away from my skin) and spread wide. That is where the infection built up before that they drained during an ultra sound. I'm hoping that this pain is just a sore muscle or something from working on the computer and sitting too long last night... Wishful thinking, I know.... I hope everyone can update with some positive results on the infection front! Good luck to all! :biggrin:

Leticia, I hope you are still recovering well and feeling better. I was wondering if you had pain in the stomach area where the band was and where they removed it... Just curious. I think you will do really well since you haven't needed that many fills. It is motivating also to know that your liver was really enlarged and you DON'T want to go back to that! Your mind seems to be in the right place and just stay there. It seems like a few extra bites each day led us to being overweight. Just listen to your body and when your satisfied. I think if I had not drank with meals 15 minutes before and an hour after a meal, I wouldn't have eaten as much and gotten overweight. I realize now how even without the band, how much more food a person can eat when we wash it down. Also, by chewing and chewing and chewing before you swallow, you can tell which foods is going to leave you hungry. The foods that can just dissolve in your mouth from chewing, isn't going to fill you up like meat, fruit and veggies. GOOD LUCK with your journey to being healthier!!! I hope Bill is still infection free. He has given me hope that I can do this too! :success1: The Dr. took me off of my strong antibiotics Monday to see what happens before we just do expensive surgery to replace the port. I've been 3 1/2 days without pain or infection around the port area. The small area that was barely seeping is trying to keep a scab. The showers kind of make it soft again though. The Dr. says the 5th day is when this type of infection blooms... :biggrin: He will be really encouraged if I can make it 7 days without signs and after 2 weeks I should be out of the woods! YIPEE!!! I'm still holding my breath though because I know how fast and intense the infection can come back if the port is still infected... :hurray: I'm going to keep positive thoughts for everyone and their healing process! Hang in there!!! :thumbup:

I looked up the staph infections on the net... I don't think I really wanted to know before now... UGH! :thumbup: I'm hoping, I'm not being dumb considering leaving my band in with such a serious type of infection. :thumbup: When the Radiology Dr. removed the infection, using the ultra sound to see where the infection is and exactly where to put the needle and when the infection was drained. The infection shows up as a dark area on the ultra sound and he kept showing it to me as he was doing the procedure... The port also shows up as a dark area on the ultra sound so it was a little hard for me to know, what is the port and is there any more liquid left but the Dr. felt pretty confident that he had gotten most of it. The reason I'm explaining this is the Radiology Dr. gave me a good visual of the importance of this procedure and draining it.... He told me that before draining the infection it is like a big round ball of infection. When you drain the infection, it is like deflating the ball. You are now left with something much smaller and flat (like his hands together). It helps the antibiotics work better because they now don't have to penetrate and work on so much infection. It's a much smaller area it has to attack and kill... I know how much draining I had, especially the first 24 hours! :thumbup: I can only imagine how much drainage others have had that didn't get some of the infection removed first... I'm wondering if this is some of the difference between Bill and I. I guess I'm hoping this will help me from having some of the damage from a staph infection and help me heal faster from it and why I wasn't put in the hospital for IV's... :sad: I wish I had my port as long as Leticia and had lost most of my weight and been maintaining. I'm not as comfortable with the thought of having it removed... I'm afraid to go back without the band... I don't want to fight my weight my entire life. :laugh: I'm thinking I'm going to tell the Dr. that if he goes in and the infection inside is big or has spread or a risk of damaging my health, that he needs to remove the band and port entirely... I can't keep going through these surgeries. I wish insurance was better for these procedures. It gets expensive for flipping the port surgery and I already know this one is going to be more expensive then that surgery. If the Dr. thinks things really look good and I have a good chance of putting the port on the left side and staying infection free, then he should go ahead and do that. I'm thinking that this is really my only option at this point... :thumbup: Leticia, you sound really good for just having surgery on Tues. I'm sure you have a peace of mind now and know that you can heal fully and put this behind you. I wish you all the best and I know you have learned a lot and you are going to do GREAT at keeping your weight off and getting the next 25 off... I talked with someone on this site that had lost over 100 pounds and was having trouble getting the lasts 25 off with the band. She was really considering weight watchers to teach her how to eat healthier and smarter to give her that little boost at the end... You may not need something like that. You may already have a good eating plan and DETERMINATION can go a long way! :smile2: Good luck and get plenty of rest this next week and keep that incision area CLEAN!!! (I'm turning into a germ phobiaist!) One thing I have learned from all this is, no matter what... Surgery is surgery and even if it is a little procedure, it still takes 6 weeks to fully heal! I'm sure you'll feel GREAT way before that though!!! :crying:

CONGRATS Bill!!! 1.5 weeks with no antibiotics & no infection!!! That's really encouraging news! :eek: I'm sending positive thoughts your way for the next few weeks that you'll beat this infection from ever coming back! GOOD LUCK! :woot: You do have me curious though and maybe I don't really want to know... :thumbup: What ugly things can a staph a. infection do inside??? It was EXTREMELY painful for a couple of days before we figured it out and drained it... I'm hoping that since we got it out within 5 of the pain starting that hopefully it was limited in its destructive ways. Over night a light scab has come over the seeping area. (About a 1/4 to 1/2" long). It's worrisome because that means it has no where to drain and get out of my body as long as it is still brewing... :woot: On the other hand, it has to stop seeping some time, if it is ever going to heal on it's own also... :smile2: Just not sure I'm going to be as lucky as you... Your weight loss is GREAT Bill!!! :woot: I wish I had 60 pounds off! My weight loss is either really slow or all at once after surgeries or fills. They did tell me, when your body is fighting hard on these infections or illnesses, it goes into that fight or flight mode and the weight loss slows way down or STOPS! :woot: I was eating so little at times and NO weight loss at all! UGH! No rewards there for being sick... :woot: One thing that might help fighting the infection, if your up to it, is just plain walking! It increases oxygen into your cells, which will help you fight off infections and illnesses. :woot: Besides, being great for our muscles and toning, without over doing it. FYI for all. I did talk to the Allergen company (manufacturer) twice since I've had all these problems. They were very nice and helpful. They followed up and called me back to see how I was. You talk to an RN, who does document your case. They have talked to my DR. also. They try and come up with ideas and other cases they are following to help you get through these times. Probably tries to protect themselves too from problems... GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

I'm so sorry to hear about your infections and lap band journey. :thumbup: My journey hasn't been what I expected either... I was banded 12-17-07 and did fine. In April, I started having some pain in my upper left rib cage. Then a couple of weeks later, I had pain in my port area. My port had flipped! :thumbup: I had my 2nd surgery, May 8, to flip the port back. He looked at my left side too and found LOTS of scar tissue! They removed it and cleaned everything up and flipped the port. They sent the tissue in and had it tested and found a low grade infection. UGH! I had a low grade temp. from 99 to 100 for about 7 - 10 days after my first surgery in Dec. but the Dr. wasn't concerned too much. He said if it were 102 - 104, they would be concerned about infection. After the 2nd surgery they did put me on antibiotics for 7 days. The Dr. says he always flushes the port and surgery areas with strong antibiotics too. I felt GREAT 10 days after my second surgery. NO pain on the left rib cage area... NO pain by the port! :w00t: About 4 - 5 days after that, I was in HORRIBLE pain! :thumbup: Worse then ever. If I wasn't afraid of the emergency bill not being covered, I would have been there!!! The Dr. worked me in and we went through all the options and things it could be and decided to do an ultra sound (instead of the expensive CT scan) on 5/23, and he gave orders if there was Fluid for the Radiology Dr. to remove it while I was there... Sure enough... FLUID! :thumbup: The Radiology Dr., while using the ultra sound to guide him, removed 30 C.C.'s of... this is gross... bloody, yellow infection!!! :thumbup: The good news is... They numb you up (instant relief... YIPEE!) and it took a whole 5 minutes for the procedure. The Dr. put me on Cephalexin 500 mg every 6 hours. I started feeling so much better! About May 27th or 28th, I noticed the incision area around the port looked a little inflamed, warm and pinkish red. I decided to sleep on my right side since I wasn't having pain there and just see if something would happen where it might open up... :crying: About 4 in the morning I woke up to a soaked shirt! :thumbup: It was continuously rolling out of this area in the incision that was 1/2" long. Maybe a little longer. A yellow watery infection... At times, it was a thick yellow discharge. The first 24 hours to 48 hours, it was heavy. It has been seeping ever since then. The last few days it has really slowed down and trying to get a scab now. A couple of band aids hold it now for the day. I'm letting air get to it now and the color of the incision is good now and it isn't inflamed. I've been on strong antibiotics for severe infections since May 22. Clindamycin 300 mg every 6 hours. My options are to finish up the antibiotics next week and the Dr. says if I can go 1 to 2 weeks with no infection problems there, I'm out of the woods. He said the infection blooms 5 days out from stopping the antibiotics and that is exactly what happened to me before. The 5th day off of antibiotics after my 2nd surgery, I was in horrible pain from the infection. They ran a bunch of test and grew things in the lab on the 30 c.c. of infection they removed. It only came back with a Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph) Infection. It is the normal kind of Staph that is on every surface... Not that type that is dangerous or contagious or unresponsive to antibiotics. My other options in this case is... 1. If I don't think this infection is going to heal and stop seeping, I can do a 3rd surgery before the antibiotics run out. Remove the contaminated port, wash that area out and flush with antibiotics and close the area up for a few weeks. Then have a 4th surgery and put in a new port on the left side (now currently on the right side). OR 2. Do the 3rd surgery as above but go ahead and put in the new port on the left side, so I only have one additional surgery... Which is what I am going to do, if I have to go in for another surgery. I see no signs that the infection is anywhere but this right port area. OR 3. Remove the whole thing... :thumbup: I don't want to remove the band because I love how you don't feel hungry and not fighting with dieting and guilt about eating.... My cholesterol has gone from 220 - 240 over the last 10 years to 180! YIPEE! My trigs have gone from 280 to 120! My blood pressure is down from really high to the normal range! :thumbup: I've had so much success even with all this crazy and abnormal stuff... I'm usually a fast healer and never have problems like this... It's so discouraging and I hate to think of the added expenses of these surgeries too... :smile: but I don't want to give up. I guess I can be as stubborn as these infections can be. Bill, I'm so encouraged that you were able to overcome your infection. I feel like I'm in the same boat... My Dr. is trying to give me every opportunity to fight this off before deciding on another surgery. He told me I have less then a 50/50 chance because antibiotics work through the blood stream and it is very hard when your dealing with a foreign object, to treat it with oral antibiotics... :thumbup: I'm hoping to be one of those that are lucky enough to beat the odds... Sorry this is so long but if it can help anyone, I guess it is worth it. GOOD LUCK to all those infection fighters!!! :thumbup:

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd update... I kind of hate to because it just seems like bad news and I think this is a rare thing (hopefully) and no one else goes through this... :tt2: When I went into the Dr. with xrays that said my port had flipped again the Dr. disagreed with it and had another radiologist he uses read my xrays and agreed it had not flipped! They even took xrays of a sample port and cord to show us it hadn't flipped. It can be tricky reading them if a radiologist doesn't do it a lot. :incazzato: The bad news is I was in the worse pain EVER and of course it is a Thurs. 4:00 appt. We went through all the possibilities of what it could be and we decided to do an ultra sound and see if there was Fluid by the port or if they could find a hernia or something. We just didn't really want to cut me open a 3rd time and not know what's wrong and if I even needed surgery. Sure enough... FLUID! The Dr. wrote on the ultra sound order that if there was fluid found to extract it so I wouldn't have to go back in and maybe get relief right away. :huggie: The radiology Dr. numbed it up right away and using the ultra sound machine extracted the fluid. They removed 30 c.c. of a bloody infection!!! :eek: I did get instant relief. :sad: They ran test on the infection and it came back as a typical staph infection and put me on strong antibiotics for a severe infection for 10 days. About 5 days into the antibiotics the port/incision area was still red and warm so I decided to lay on my right side one night to see if it would open up and drain... sure enough! 2 hours later I woke up to a wet shirt! It drained really heavy for about 24 hours of a watery/yellow discharge, sometimes thick and then toward the end it went more watery again... It has been draining for a week now! slowly... seeping out now. Almost stopped now. When I went to the Dr. last week to check the incision area and discharge he gave me less then a 50/50 chance to heal this on my own. :eek: He explained the antibiotics are absorbed through the blood stream and it is hard to clean up an infection in a foreign object, like the port. It can absorb the antibiotics from the blood stream... He put me on the antibiotics a little longer to give me the best chance possible to heal it before surgery again on the port. I don't think it is going to heal by itself. He said usually around the 5th day off of antibiotics the infection blooms! If I can go 1 to 2 weeks off of antibiotics with no infection, I should be fine... But being that I'm still draining a little yellow watery stuff and I only have 5 more days of antibiotics, I don't think it is going to clear up. :frown: My choices will be... 1. remove the port for a couple of weeks. Stay on antibiotics and then have a second surgery to add a brand new clean port on the opposite left side. OR 2. remove the port and clean the area and flush with antibiotics ( like the first option) but add a brand new port to the left side and muscle and only have one surgery but a little more risk about an infection coming back. I'm really considering option 2 because I don't want a 4th procedure and it seems like the infection is probably existing because of the contaminated port on the right side... A week from now will tell. Sorry this is so long but just in case anyone else has an "infection" problem maybe this will help them... I'm a fighter and I've done so well losing 40 pounds already and bringing my cholesterol and trigs. to a normal, healthy level in 4 months that I couldn't do in 10 years on my own, I'm going to work through this because if I just give up, I know I'll be right back to where I was or worse. :frown: I've never had problems like this before and I usually am a quick healer... I just think all this trouble now is just because of an infection on or in the port now. Good luck to all and hang in there. :driving:

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is doing well. Just thought I'd check in and let you know I'm still having some trouble... :youcandothis: 10 days after my 2nd surgery to have it flipped, I felt GREAT! I went on an hour to an hour a half hike and THE PAIN CAME BACK! Within 3 days of walking (and off of antibiotics for 3 days), I was hurting so bad I was in tears! UGH!! It was worse then EVER! To make a long story, shorter.. We did an ultra sound and found Fluid around the port area. My Dr. gave orders that if they found liquid around the port to drain it while I was there. They numbed me up (YIPEE! RELIEF!) and drained 30 c.c of infection!!! :welldone2: They tested it and grew cultures. Yesterday, the Dr. office called and said I had a staph infection and they put me on super strong severe infection antibiotics for the next 10 days. They want me to rest and do nothing while this heals. Just after 24 hours of starting the new antibiotics and getting that infection drained last Fri., I'm already feeling so much better! :scared2: I think I have had this low grade infection going since my banding in Dec. My Dr. and the Radiology Dr. gives me every indication that this should solve the problem and it should now heal completely. The pain is already so much less. I can walk and get up without feeling horrible and it has only been 24 hours on the new medicine. I just want everyone to remember, even though they feel good, you have to take good care of yourself and your port. It's so easy to overdo it. They say you can go back to normal so fast... I think surgery is surgery and you still need to give yourself 6 weeks at least to heal before doing anything to strenuous. Fluid and infection can build up so quickly and be difficult to get a handle on it... Good luck to all and here's to a skinner summer!!!! :thumbup:

Buffie, I wanted to mention to you... Once I had the second surgery and he cleaned up all my scar tissue(left side) & flipped my port(right side), the pain in my left rib cage went away! The CT scans and ultra sound, does not show scar tissue. My Dr. was completely surprised when he opened me up and saw so much scar tissue... He took a picture with the camera while doing surgery and you couldn't even see the cord! It was all around it, getting caught up in it... So you might not know and answer until he looks inside... Unless, there is some other xray test to see scar tissue inside the cavity???? My Dr. said none of them show scar tissue... Bummer! :scared2: Good luck tomorrow!!!

The saga continues... :success1: I thought I was doing fantastic... Until 10 days after my second surgery (to flip the port back & remove scar tissue). I was feeling great and decided to go for an hour and a half hike... Later that day, the pain started back up! :waytogo: Worse then ever! :scales: I thought the port had flipped again! They did an xray, which they told me it was flipped a 2nd time! :party: My Dr. looked at the xray and had a Radiologist he uses look at my xray and they both determined it was not flipped! :welldone2: I was in so much pain 3 days after the hike, I was in tears! Each day, it just felt worse... The Dr. worked me in and saw me. We went through all the things it could be and narrowed it down. The more we thought about it we decided to do an ultra sound. He wrote orders that if they found Fluid they could drain it right there, while doing the ultra sound. He wanted them to look for a hernia also and whatever they could find... Sure enough, there was fluid! While using the ultra sound, they withdrew 30 c.c of blood & infection!!! They give you a shot to numb it up and it took maybe 5 minutes for the procedure and INSTANT relief! It felt great being numbed up! They ran test and grew things in dishes over the long weekend. Tues. I got a call from the Dr. office advising that it was a staph infection! :woot: They changed my antibiotics that I was on my 2nd bout with, to a really strong antibiotic for severe infections. Even though I was on an antibiotic since seeing the Dr. last Thurs. and withdrawing the infection, Sun. night and Monday, I felt like the infection might still be brewing and growing... :clap: I started the new antibiotics Tues. afternoon (yesterday) and I already feel so much BETTER!!! :scared2: I can actually walk, move and bend with a lot less pain! My Dr. & Radiology Dr. said I have a great chance of healing with the new antibiotics & getting a lot of that bad infection out so the antibiotics can work even better to kill what is remaining. They want me to rest and basically do nothing while this heals. They don't know how I caught the infection... Could be in the surgery room... Could be from touching money or anything and then touching the incision area and something getting in... Who knows... I really think it was from surgery though because I've had a low grade infection (temp 99 - 100 for 10 days) after my first surgery in Dec. and it seems to keep flaring back up. After my 2nd surgery to flip the port they did put me on an antibiotic. They tested the infection & scar tissue they removed when flipping the port, so it should have cleared up after that. There were 6 -8 antibiotics that showed would work on the infection and they gave me one of them... However, 4 days after completing those antibiotics, the pain came back! :eek: I have faith that these super strong antibiotics should clear it up for the last time, after removing a lot of the infection. I have some energy today and actually beginning to feel like my ol' self! :thumbup: This is just my experience from pain on the left rib cage area and the port area now. You might ask your Dr. if the pain could be from an infection... Keep an eye on your temps. so you can report it to the Dr. and see if this is a possibility... Good luck to all!!! :youcandothis:

I was banded 12-17-07 and had pain in my upper left rib cage for 10 days. It started about 4 days after surgery. When I went in for my post op, the Dr. didn't know why i would have pain on my left side. I couldn't take deep breaths in because of the pain. I did have a low grade fever during this time of 99 to 100. They ran a CT scan and it turned out perfect. 2 days later the pain went away. I assumed it was from walking from the parking garage to the hospital and etc. a couple of times that worked some air and gas out, that caused the pain. Then in the beg. of April, I had another attack! :thumbup: It hurt to breath deeply and I just wanted to hold my rib cage area, but maybe down just a little bit more. Not quite so high up in the rib cage... This lasted for two weeks and then the pain started by my port! :thumbup: I was going to my Dr. and they were running blood work that came back great and I didn't want to pay for another expensive CT scan that showed nothing before so they did a normal X-ray showing that the port had now flipped! :thumbup: On May 8th, last Thurs. I had my 2nd surgery to flip the port and for them to check my left side to see what was causing me discomfort. I didn't think they would find anything because the "attack" was over on that side and it wasn't bothering me as much as it was. The pain was all at the port. When they went in last week to flip the port, he took some pictures with the cameras they use... kind of gross this part... You couldn't see anything for all the SCAR TISSUE! :thumbup: It took them 2 hours to clean it all out and flip the port back. They put me on antibiotics after this surgery and I didn't have the low grade temp. this time. I'm recovering much more normal and able to do things where in Dec. I was in bed for over 2 weeks! I'm never down that long. Always healthy and a quick healer! The Dr. said that there was only one other patient he had ever seen with scar tissue worse then mine! :thumbup: I see the Dr. tomorrow for my follow up post op and have lots have questions to ask. Not sure he will have the answers though. I'm wondering if my body had an infection (which they weren't worried about because it was so low 99 - 100, not 103 degree type temp., which would mean a serious infection) and I've heard this is your bodies way of covering things up and trying to protect itself... :cry_smile: OR, was my body trying to fight off a "foreign" object... :hurray: It's been a bumpy road but I feel so much better now. I'm hoping the scar tissue stays away and my body accepts things now and quit trying to over react with the scar tissue... This is just my experience and what happened to me and the left rib cage pain... I've had a little bit of that pain off and on since surgery but the last 2 or 3 days I haven't had it. The nurse said some of the pain after surgery in that rib cage area, was because of the cleaning out of all the scar tissue up in there and all around... I'm hoping I don't have any other problems with it and it is all behind me now and smooth sailing ahead! :hurray: Good luck to all of you and hope you find answers and solutions to your mysterious pains too! :hurray:

Lachica39, so sorry I didn't respond. :thumbup: I'm just beginning to feel better and haven't been on the computer much. If the Dr. can fill your port, it hasn't flipped. :hurray: One of the ways you know it has flipped, if you don't have any pain with it is, they hit a hard surface and can't go in with the needle. Good news for you! :thumbup: I don't know when you were banded but I had a soreness in my muscle for 2 months after surgery. I had to have a second surgery on May 8th, a week ago... I had to have my port flipped and they wanted to see why I was having pain on my left side where nothing is except the cord going between the band and the port... When they got inside, it was SCAR TISSUE!!! :thumbup: He said there was only one other case worse then mine that he had seen. :thumbup: It was a two hour surgery, cleaning out all the scar tissue that had developed and flipping the port. He gave me pics from the cameras they use inside your stomach, before they started cleaning up the scar tissue and after. It's really gross, looking at your insides but before there was so much scar tissue around the cord and everywhere, you couldn't see nothing! :thumbup: The after pictures, you can see normal things... like the cord and organs and etc. :cry_smile: I see the Dr. tomorrow and have lots of questions for my follow up after surgery. I'm wondering if my body was trying to fight off this foreign object or what. I had a low grade fever of about 99 to 100 for a wk to 10 days after my lap band surgery in Dec. I wasn't taking antibiotics like I did after this surgery either... I'm wondering could I have had an infection and my body was trying to protect itself and I've heard your body can use scar tissue to try and protect and cover things from it... Whatever the reason, I hope this is all behind me!!! I feel so much better and recovering so much faster then 12-17-07 when I was banded. About the eating Lachica39, I agree with the Dr. that if you chew your food to basically liquid you can eat more. Just physics. I tend to drink a little Water with meals and I can eat a little more. :thumbup: I've had 1 c.c. fill 1/29/08 another 1 c.c the first of March and during surgery last week he has put in another 1 c.c. so I am up to 3 c.c. My weight loss had stopped this last month while I was sick. :thumbup: What a shame to eat so little and not lose a thing! The Dr. said my body was in a fight or flight mode and it was hanging on to everything in fear that I was sick and something was wrong. Plus my physical activity was as little as possible because of the pain. :thumbup: Since surgery last week, the scales have finally gone down 5 more pounds! YIPEE! My appetite is like it was after surgery before, pretty slow and not that hungry. It's beginning to wake up a little more but still very small amounts and if I just make healthier choices when i do eat something it has really helped get the fat burning going again! YIPEE! :hurray: Sorry this is so long... Hopes this info helps you or someone else out there! :hurray: Good luck to all!

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd update what is going on. I saw the Dr. Tues. We've agreed to flip the port this Thurs. morning at a in/out surgery center place. We did a pre-surgery filling with the insurance. Doesn't look like they will pay the $1,400. for this surgery. They will pay the $1,400. for the exploratory type procedure for them to look around for the pain on my left side, which has nothing to do with the flip port. The pain on my left side and the pain I was having taking a deep breath on that side is only like 5% or less of what it was a few weeks ago. He doesn't think they are going to find anything but it might be worth looking around so they don't have to put me under again if it flares back up. :thumbup: But it does mean I'll have two incisions to heal back up instead of one. :w00t: My Dr. said that since they are a "Center of Excellence" the insurance company tracks everything they do. He said the flip ports have only been happening in about 5% of the patients. Very low and he has never seen one flip twice. He said he thought I ripped the stitches somehow because he sews it through the four corners that are made on the port to attach to the muscle and through the the wall liner.... No wonder I was so sore in that area for over a month! :thumbup: He is going to resecure it strongly and I'm going to be as careful as possible not to go through this again! :sad: I was working at the gym pushing myself pretty hard and I think I'm going to do a more moderate approach healing this time. The Dr. also said that they are finding a slipped band more common then a flipped port. I think he said it was running around 15% for that. I'm really glad I only have the flipped port!!! I'm hoping life can feel normal again. My weight loss has been about zero since all this... :smile2: No exercising and laying around a lot more because of the pain and not eating that much is not very rewarding! For as little as I'm eating, it would be nice to benefit from some pounds lost! :frown: Oh well, I just want to get this part behind me and move forward!!! Good luck to all and take care of your ports and bodies! You don't want to go through this inconvenience and expense! :tongue:

Hi fellow Coloradans! :w00t: I went to Dr. Chae first by Skyridge Hospital. I liked him and his credentials but he was not a "center of excellence" back in Oct. 2007, so my insurance would only cover 1,500. for him to do the surgery. They referred me to Dr. Tillquist in the same surgical group but at Swedish Hosp. since he was already a "center of excellence" with Anthem. I personally liked Dr. Chae's experience and he actually works with Mayo & approves other Doctors and clinics to become a "center of excellence" for lap band surgeries. I wasn't crazy about his staff. Seemed a little unprofessional that way. I think because it was a new office and they didn't have a strong foundation around them. It gave me an uneasy feeling. Just trying to call and get ahold of Susie could take days. It was like they weren't in the office everyday. I think they will work all that out in time though to be an awesome place to go. Dr. Tillquist's office is ran like a typical Dr. office. Very professional. Easy to get a hold of nurses right away, get your questions answered & on top of things quickly. Dr. Tillquist has been very sensitive and listens well. I've had some pain and he promptly did a CT scan a couple weeks after surgery. The pain went away and the CT scan showed everything fine. Then 3 1/2 months later the pained came back. They got me right in. Together we came up with a plan. Ran blood work first. Then an xray. I do have a flipped port which is causing some of the pain. :thumbup: I'll have to have that fixed but they are very thorough and never him or his nurses ever make me feel like a bother, even though I feel like one... :coolgleamA: I have faith that I'll get get this "corky" stuff I have going on worked out with him & his staff. I wish I could say it was a breeze for me but I just ended up being one of the few who has had to work out some complications. I'm on my way though. I could have never lost this much weight by myself! In 4 months my cholesterol has dropped from 220 - 240 range over the last 10 years to 180!!! :w00t: My VLDL and all my numbers are in the normal range already which I thought I would never see in my lifetime again!!! My Trig. numbers were 287 and now down to 120!!! :thumbup: I'm not feeling like my life revolves around eating anymore. My brain has caught up with my stomach now and when others around me want to eat fast food and etc. I'm like "you can't possibly be hunger again!" Or, even want to eat it. Doesn't sound appealing to me at all and I worry about their health and what they are doing to their bodies now... It has been a "disconnect" for me with food. My surgery was 12-17-07. I've had 2 fills. 1/29/08 2 c.c. & 3/5 1 c.c. I have good restriction both times. Not in any hurry to get another one, even if I could. The weight loss has slowed since I haven't felt great this month... Mainly, because I'm not exercising and walking as much as I was. But that will come back as I work through this other stuff... :cool2: The support meetings are helpful because you do learn a lot from other people and it helps keep your head together and in the right perspective... And it can help you make the decision if lap band is right for you before surgery. Everyone's experience is a little different too... Good luck to all!!! :thumbup:

NC413 I'm so sorry to hear about your port and the incompetence of the Dr. office and staff! UGH! I'm glad your getting to take your vacation and able to wait until it is now convenient for you. You just have to stay positive and work through it. I'll share my story with you that is still on going too.. Earlier in the month I started having pains in my upper left rib cage. It hurt to breath deeply, a cough or sneeze was impossible. Nothing is on the left side and the Dr. didn't know why it was hurting. It hurt just like this about 4 days after my lapband surgery 12-17-07 and lasted for about 10 days. They did a CT scan and everything came back normal. A few days after the CT scan the pain went away. We just assumed some air &/or gases got caught up there... Then this month the exact pain came back... I didn't want to do another expensive CT scan that might not show the problem now so we started with blood work which was amazingly improved since my surgery. Then all the sudden my left side felt better and my right side port area started hurting and protruding out... :tt2: They sent me in for an xray and sure enough the port has flipped. :sad: I see the Dr. Tues. and will decide what to do. Sounds like a little surgery to correct it and secure it better. (I have the Alergan band too. He said it was the best...??? He attaches the port to the muscle too during the surgery. I don't know how this flipped but I was going to the gym and working out on the bikes and treadmills and feeling good about pushing myself before all this hit... But who knows why these things happen... :thumbup: I kept calling my Dr. office almost everyday to keep the ball rolling on this. I didn't want to schedule a test every other day or two because the pain was so bad I was afraid I would end up in the emergency room or something. I'll let you know Tues. what happens but I think I'm looking at surgery in my near future... Good luck to everyone and hang in there NC413!

How are all the December bandsters doing??? Hope everyone is doing well and having much success now that spring is here! Here is my April catch up... The bad news first... I've had a rough month. :frown: I've had pain in my upper left rib cage and it hurt to take deep breaths in, for a couple of weeks... Then my right side where the port area is, has started hurting for over a week and pushing out at the port. Xrays now show that my port has flipped!!! :eek: I see the Dr. on Tues. and will probably have to have a little surgery to flip it back and secure it back in place. :thumbup: The good news is I had a lot of blood work done because of this pain and here is how AMAZING I have done in 4 months! 12/14/07 Cholesterol 240 - Now 180 :sad: Trig. 287 - Now 120 And all my other numbers were in the normal range too! Yawhoo! :tt2: I wasn't sure I would ever have a normal range of these conditions after more than 10 years with them being high and refusing to go on medication. I always got the Dr. to give me one more change of losing weight and trying to get healthier on my own. I'm still in shock that in 4 months and not quite 1/2 way to my goal that this would be accomplished! I hope everyone is seeing positive results too after taking the plunge in Dec. and missing all that holiday food!!! It's certainly worth it now!!!

I was banded 12-17-07. My first fill was 2 c.c. on 1-29 and then a 2nd fill of 1 c.c. on March 5th... Which I though the nurse missed the port... :rolleyes2: I have been able to eat without too much trouble. Smaller amounts but the weight loss has been very SLOW... And now all of the sudden... it feels TIGHT! :smile2: I took 3 Advil this morning when I woke up for some shoulder pain... I took one with Water and made sure it went down and then did the same with the other two... I guess I didn't wait long enough between pills... :eek: I was so sick!!! It was about a 15 minute or so episode with pain and to stop trying to throw up and keep them down or get them back up. This was my first problem like this. Does anyone else find that it takes awhile after a fill to feel the tightness??? I'm afraid to get another fill too after this... I want to lose weight but I don't want to be miserable either with this slimming... I'm hoping I'm just having an unusually bad day... Teech, how has your weight loss been with your tightness? I'd be afraid to have another feel too... :confused2:

HI! I understand your concern. :thumbup: I was banded Dec. 17, 2007 and my experience was that I started having bad pains in my back that started about the 4th or 5th day out from my lap band surgery. It was more towards the center of my back and shoulder blades. Then a couple days after that I started having pain in the upper left rib cage! :Banane17: It was so hard to roll over in bed between that and the soreness from the port hole area... When I went to the Dr. a week after surgery for my check up he didn't know why I would be having pain way up there... It just wouldn't go away so two weeks out from surgery he scheduled a CAT scan... which showed nothing wrong. The pain ended up going away about 3 days after the expensive CAT scan... I think it was air and gas caught up there and I wasn't moving around enough because of the pain. It was cold and snowy here and the only place to walk around was the house... I think when I had to walk to the Dr.'s ofc and park in the garage across from the hospital and walk all that way twice in a few days the pain started going away... Must have started working itself out. My CAT scan was $2,500.! :Banane17: The insurance did cover according to deductibles but still I had to pay for some of it... Looking back... I should have walked and got around after surgery more. I'm usually a very quick healer but this surgery for some reason kept me down a couple of weeks because of the pain... Staying in bed just doesn't work things out and doesn't get you back to normal life very fast... Just my experience but always talk to your Dr. and nurses because you just never know if it is a problem other then gas... :eek: GOOD LUCK and hang in there. It does get better!