AnneV

ANYONE WHO "MIGHT" HAVE A LEAK... I was banded May of this year. After numerous problems with my band losing fluid for magical reasons my Dr. drops this bomb on me Monday -- and boy am I glad I had a witness with me!! The company that makes the bands (the ones all docs at St. Francis in Fed. Way WA use) recently changed the basic design - sometime early this year. Well, apparently the new model of band requires the needle to be left in the port for an extended period of time - a minute or so lets say - after the fill and then firm direct pressure must be put over the insert point of the port for a minute or longer to allow the port to reseal to prevent fluid from leaking out. Many people I've met that have been banded this year have been having the same problem of a "leak" without an actual leak -- soooo the Dr's started doing some in-office experiments -- discovered the oozing from the port post-fill and contacted the band company. The manufacturer says no foul & will do nothing. The kicker...they are still putting those bands in people. So -- I don't need to pay to replace my port..yet.. but so far 50% of my fills have almost completely emptied by band... and yes.. I'm a cash pay. Just thought everyone might like to know so they can check with their own Docs to see if this might apply to them

Yep - I go see my Dr. tomorrow & will give them one last chance to correct what's been happening and provide me with a resonable explanation. I've already spoken with four other Dr's that do fills in the area - one of which won't take me because of who my surgeon is - but two of them sound equally promising. I've pretty much decided to try Dr. Fox, but I'm going to - at the least - give my current Dr. the reason why I'm leaving & see what he has to say about it. It's so upsetting and frusterating to see my hard work go down the drain like this when I have a 9lb loss month followed by a 9lb gain month - talk about emotionally taxing - it's too much!! Hopefully things will get better with a new Dr. - I'm really crossing my fingers on this one. Wish me luck :-)

Dr. Oh did my surgery - which went very well - and both Dr's Oh & Hirai have provided my aftercare.

RECONSIDER!!!! Myself and two other girls that I met during my lap band procedure and three others, which I have lost tract of were all banded by Dr. Oh on May 22, 2008 at St. Francis. ALL THREE OF US have had nothing but problems and no help at all from the Dr or his office. You go in for a fill at $150 a pop and they tell you that you have a leak - then they say you don't - then you have 5cc's in your band and after the next fill you only have 1.5cc and they explain that "it happens sometimes & they don't know why". Now this isn't just happening to me -- three of us -- banded on the same day by the same Dr. have had an identical experience and we only met at the hospital. I was at 6cc last month & now I only have 1.5cc - this is the 3rd time this has happened to me, but I have to continue to pay the $150 each time for their errors. Every month I do well on the scale - the Fluid seems to magically disappear from my band!! It's FRAUD!! My family Dr. is shocked & is looking into possibly filing charges against his office & I've also been contacted by 15-20 other people I've met on this site that have had a similar experience. I think the lap band when working properly can be really great - I've lost 9lbs in one month before -- however, really really do your homework -- I thought I had, but this has been a nightmare!! And - plan on waiting 2 hrs to get in for fills and they absolutely will not return your phone calls under ANY circumstances!! My Dr. even called their office directly & they wouldn't return his call! Best of luck to you & feel free to ask me any other questions as I'd hate to see anyone else have a similar experience that many of us have had in the recent past.

So - I went in for my third fill today - told the Dr. I felt absolutely NO restriction & went he went to withdraw fluid from my port says - "huh - it's empty, you must have a leak". Now - I'm a cash pay only 3 months out and I'm being told I'm responsible for all costs for repair ranging from 7-15k depending on where it's leaking. Do we any have any recourse for this?? I can't believe this is happening -- spent all the money I had in the whole world to do this - I was told the chance of this happening was .02% -- hummm.. hard to believe. Anyone else near Federal Way WA have this problem or anyone have any advice??? Very upset here.

I went for my second fill yesterday and only lost six pounds between fills. I was soooo disappointed. I've done everything correctly and have been absolutely starving every minute of the day. Hopefully I'll find a little restriction with this second fill. Sounds like everyone is pretty much melting away - which is great! Anyone else have a weightloss stall this soon after surgery??

311 lbs at consultation/ 292 surgery day May 22nd/ 283 1 wk post-op/ 275 today - still on clear liquid till the 23rd - can't wait to finally chew something again!!! Hoping the weight loss picks back up again soon - it's been slow going the last few weeks.

Hey there - this is my first post - reply actually - I was banded May 22nd also! For the heartburn I've been using the gas-x patches & they are helping a lot. I've been drinking about 4-6 cans strained minestroni or alphabet soup a day & that's keeping the hunger at bay. Hang in there - you are definately not the only one with these same questions! Best of Luck