I had the Gastric Banding placed in 2012. I've moved away from where I had the initial surgery to a place that didn't have a doctor comfortable with the banding procedure. I've gone several years without having it adjusted but keeping my weight maintained so I didn't think much of it, I figured it was doing it's job and so was I. I recently had severe abdominal pain after having some lunch, was rushed to the local hospital, which then had to be transferred to a hospital an hour away from home to find a doctor comfortable with the banding procedure. It turns out the band slipped some time ago and completely eroded though my stomach. I had an emergency surgery with 2 surgeons for over 4 hours. They had to remove some of my stomach and a piece of my liver that had attached itself to the scar tissue. I have months of recovery ahead of me now and could have died from this when I thought everything was working fine. If you are considering getting the band please rethink it. If you have the band and haven't been check in a while, PLEASE go the doctor and get a complete check up as soon as possible.
