a little worried

My mother in law has a hernia that needs surgery. She went and spoke with a surgeon and he told her that he would also like her to have the lap band procedure. He wants her to get banded before he does the hernia repair which makes no sense to me. I think he should correct the problem at hand before he tries to go extra curricular. Because he wants to do the band first I feel like he really just wants her money. She had a very major bacterial infection in her abdomen last year. Serious enough that the doctors were not sure she would make and they had to bring in specialists to treat her. She had to wear a pump post op to pump out extra infection that they were not able to get rid of during surgery. Because of this I think this is something she really needs to carefully consider before she does it. Can anyone help me out with some pros and cons of having this procedure and let me know of problems you may be having. My sister told me that there have been some disturbing reports about the lap band and that the FDA is investigating the lap band....does anyone know anything about this??:confused::cursing:

My mother in law does have a hiatal hernia and if you looked at my other responses she does have diabetes. I do not feel that it is appropriate to ask someone what their BMI is and how much they weigh. If I had to guess I would say she is probably around 270 and she is 5'4". She does not have any high blood pressure or any other medical problems other than being overweight and the diabetes. I have no clue what the infections you are speaking of are. I do know that the infection was not caused by being in the hospital which someone else had previously asked.

Thanks for the great information! I will certainly pass this on to my mother in law.

I never thought of the possibility of having both done at the same time before visiting this site, but it does make sense. Why should she have to deal with two recoveries if she can do it all at the same time? I think she really just needs to consult another surgeon and get his opinion.

By the way...thanks for the advice on the book. I will pass that information on to her!

My mother in law is just a little older than you and she is on meds for diabetes. I know that weight loss would be a big help in controlling her diabetes. I actually just got done visiting the FDA website and did not find any disturbing reports. I am the internet research queen and don't know why I hadn't previously thought of that. I guess some times your emotions just take over and your forget common sense. I may be one of the few people in this world who actually gets along with their mother in law and I am doing this research because I care about her. I am sure she is probably doing a little research of her own, but when we sit down and talk about this in the future I would like to have intelligent responses to the things she says to me.

I honestly do not remember the name they labeled the infection she had. I think she needs to check out another surgeon before having this done. I am very worried at the possibility of her getting another infection! I hope you are feeling better!!

Thank you for your reply. I recently suggested that she make an appt. with her primary care doctor to get his opinion on this procedure and to find out if he thought it would be safe for her to do it since she had the infection last year. I hope that she follows that advice. I was just trying to do a little research for her so I find out what people think of it and have an educated conversation with her. Congrats on the weight you have lost! Looks like you are having a lot of success with it. When did you get the band?