I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad time of things. Just to let you know you are not alone I will share my story. I went to the doctor monthly after having the band put in May of 2008. I kept telling him I had pain and he looked at me like I was crazy. I was still always hungry and finally he said the band was leaking and 9 out of 10 times it was the port, so he said "let's replace the port". This was 6 months ago. I stll had the same problems , so he decided we would replace the entire unit. (Oct. 2009) I was supposed to be in the hospital overnight but when I woke up in recovery I was told that the band had to be completely removed. The band had slipped, it grew into my stomach, the acid in my stomach corroded the band and the band ate through my stomach. I was in the hospital for 9 days. I was told this was very rare and from what I am finding out now, it is not as rare as they are saying. Please, anyone who reads this; listen to your body and insist that the doctors listen to you. This could have been prevented if the doctor had looked into my complaint about pain by doing a scope test to see the band had slipped. Now all they say is that it is no ones fault and it is just something that happens. Remember, doctors work for you! By the way, I started out at 346 lbs and am now at 270. Since the band was never fully functional I lost this weight by sheer willpower and exercise and will continue to in the future. I had the band in me for 1 and a half years.