Doc says my band is not even around my stomach.....

[aspenAvery 1]

Hello all.... I am really confused and am just starting to do research on what this could be, what happened, and what to do about it. I was banded in May of this past year ('09) and as of September had lost about 8 pounds, 16 if you include the preop diet. I was hungry from day one and never seemed to be satisfied and eating a half a cup of food was no where near realistic for me. I laughed at them when they asked me if a half a cup was filling me up and thought that there is no way that anyone really only eats a half a cup of food 3 times a day. I was still eating what ever I wanted with no problems at all. It was as if they told me it was there but it really wasn't. They just kept telling me that I was doing great and that I needed a fill and that I needed to control my eating with will power and the weight would come off. Well, I got up to 7.6 cc's in a 10 cc band and was getting hungrier and hungrier with every fill. I was also having a lot of pain on my left side. Everytime I went in, they would tell me its just from having something foreign in my body and that it would eventually go away. In early October I went in to the clinic because I was in severe pain and figured it had to be my lapband. They did a barium swallow and said that everything was fine.... no stretching, no blockage, that everything looked perfect that if I was still in pain to go to the ER. Well, I went to the ER that night which led to my most recent surgery just a few days ago on New Years Eve. In the mean time, in early December I went to the lapband clinic wanting a fill because I was so hungry and eating all of the time.... the nurse discussed some things with me and we decided that since I would be having surgery in the next few weeks that it was best to take out a few cc's until after the surgery (she removed 2 cc's). They also asked me a ton of questions and the nurse deemed that my band was fine and there was no slippage, dilation, nothing. She said that I had nothing to worry about that I was doing fine and regardless of the 10 pounds I had gained she was not worried about a thing... she said after the new year we could get on track again. Well, I had laproscopic surgery, through my belly button on the 31st. When my surgeon came out to talk to me when I was done he told us that he looked around and that my lapband was just hanging there, that it was not even attached to my stomach, it was just floating around in my abdomen. I was shocked but it seemed to explain a lot of how I've never felt any different with the lapband except for the pain on my left side. My surgeon said that he took lots of pictures and wanted the name of my lapband surgeon so that he could contact him personally. I have no idea where to even start with this. How did this happen? Could it be something that I did? Could it be a faulty band? Could it be the surgeon? Shouldn't they have seen that during the barium swallow test? I watched the swallow test and you could see the liquid go straight down and then jet out into my stomach.... did not hesitate, did not stop, did not fill up a tiny pouch above the stomach, just went straight through into my stomach. They said that was normal so I believed them. Any advice, answers, insight would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!

[crzytchr 3]

That is outrageous. :scared2:Wow, it sounds like someone owes you some serious answers, and another surgery to fix this. I would get copies of the pictures that your surgeon took and look into hiring an attorney. Hopefully you will be able to get some kind of compensation so you can get someone else to perform your next surgery.

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

Well, I would start with a lawyer! you have this other surgeon's photographs and statement. I would find an attorney and discuss the fact that the band needs to be done over and you want the first surgeon to be financially responsible for the costs as well as damages. Plain and simple.

There is what is called a "standard of care" and not "buckling the belt" so to speak falls far, far short of the standard of care.

[corinne211 0]

Omg please tll me you sued the surgeon and the hospital!!