Lapband slippage- problems while waiting for corrective surgery

[Ses 0]

I have a slipped lapband, that's confirmed, I go in for surgery next week to correct it. Very nervous.

First problem is that I haven't been able to stick to the preop diet. I know that's so terrible, and the first time I was waiting for this surgery I did great with the preop (had to postpone due to having flu), but this time... It's crazy. I have no willpower. Don't know what to do with myself. Anyway, been on Optifast for a day... so late, such a late start >_<

But for a while now though, I've been sick. I've started to vomit up food again, always undigested.

A few days ago was when it got really bad. I was up all night one night .... I had to get it out, it hurt so much, I just swallowed lots of warm Water and it bounced back up with no effort. I found that when I flushed out my esophogus, the pain started to subside, but it took all night... I think I cleared out all the stomach and it was 5am before I was able to really sleep without pain.

Can't say what it looked like then... I was so tired!... but now, I am having the same problem. Ate a stick of celery and some peas, and they had to bounce back up undigested... so much pain till they bounced out! There's also brown stuff in there. I am on a preop diet, Optifast, and I KNOW I've eaten nothing brown today!

I can't stop vomiting... it's crazy, even water's hard to keep down. The band is loose now but it feels as bad as it did when it was tight and had slipped.

What is it? I have been trying to contact the surgical co-ordinator but no luck... is it serious? Should I keep trying stubbornly?

I have to admit, I'm half tempted to tell them to let my body have a break from the band for a few months... it really is unhappy at the moment, I don't know if restricting an upset and possibly injured stomach is going to go down that well, as far as body goes.

[Ses 0]

No one has any advice or support or anything?

[ellendeette 1]

Yes, I have advice. I have been there before. I had my first band put in on May 20, 2008. My band slipped in July 2009. You have to see a bariatric doctor ASAP. Otherwise, you could get terribly dehydrated. Your body needs fluids. You could become very weak. This is life threatening.

When my band slipped, my saliva, Water, and food would not stay down. Everything came up. Even sucking on ice chips, the Water would come up. I became very weak. I was on vacation in Kaui. I went to the ER and there were no bariatric surgeons there. They called my surgeon over the phone. They tried getting Fluid out of my band but it was so twisted they could not access the port. They gave me an X-ray and CAT-scan. They put me on an IV all day so I could get fluids. I flew home the next day and had all kinds of tests and they took my band out. I did not eat anything for almost a week. I had only the IV with salt in it. I had a new band put in in November 2009. I am relieved its back in but when my band slipped I was so discouraged. I thought it would never happen to me.

This can be quite serious when your band slips. If you cannot reach your bariatric surgeon, go the emergency room and they will call your doctor. Its obviously best if you have the same doctor who put your band in to talk to but the symptoms you are describing might mean that your band has slipped and is cutting off food and water going down. Good luck! Please post again so me and others will know how you are doing.

[minimeme 1]

Sweetie, celery and peas are very hard for someone with a band if they are already having issues. They are both very fibrous. Carrot sticks and broccoli tips would be easier for you.

From the lapband site:

Common Problem Foods

Some foods have difficulty passing through the stomach opening created by the LAP-BAND^® System and may cause blockage. These include:

• dry meat
  
• shrimp
  
• untoasted or doughy bread
  
• rice
  
• Peanut Butter
  
• fibrous vegetables like corn, asparagus, and celery
  
• nuts
  
• greasy or fried food
  
• membrane of citrus fruits
  

[Sue Magoo 71]

Hi:

If you're throwing up brown stuff it could be blood. It looks like coffee grounds sometimes when it comes up. Please keep on trying to get your surgeon or go to emergency room.

Hope you feel better soon.

Sue

[scottyd 0]

I for one have been through this just with in the past few weeks. I have also had my band replaced when I went in for a fill and they checked the position of the band. a few hours later I was in surgery getting it replaced. Get to your Dr. for the band. I did the vomiting and whole works. This is no time to drag your feet the sooner you get this done the sooner you find if you can have it replaced with out having the band out for months to heal. Then do another surgery. So my friend see your Doc now.

[Ses 0]

Okay, so here's what's been happening...

I ate celery because I was on pre-op diet which had no crunchies... should have ate carrots, you're right!... and I craved crunchies. Will remember them next time.

Peas... yeah. I eat them raw which makes them easier. Uncooked pea skin is really easy to get through, but if it's cooked, I have issues... same goes for corn kernals.

Anyway, it seemed that fluids stayed down after I gave the stomach a moment to relax. And then I ate softness once more. I think something got caught... which is amazing, the band was totally empty of fluid!

So today was supposed to be the day of reposition/replace if nessasery. -siiiiiiiiigh- Did exactly what they wanted. No food/water after 10pm. Arrived at 6:30am, waking at 3:30am to make the long trip.

Waited one hour in the admissions clinic.

Waited another two hours in the reception of the day surgery clinic. Dad, who came with me, asked the receptionist what the delay was and we were told that there were six lapband patients before us that morning!

It was about 9am, maybe 9:30ish when they finally let me into the pre-surgery ward and got me dressed up in the sexy purple hospital gown and disposable panties. Oh yeah, did I feel hot. At least it was kimono designed... tied up at the side.

So I lay down. Waited. Dozed. Waited. Dozed. Watched people get wheeled out. Waited. Dozed. Heard snippets from nurses. Found out woman in bed beside me was getting a lapband put in. Waited for fancy socks (to help encorage blood flow) but the nurses forgot them. Heard nurses, that nearly half the lapband related operations were repositioning or replacing. (Christmas related? Hmm...)

I was starting to get a bit cranky by 1pm, have to admit. I'd told the nurses that I had to tell the surgeons about some complications, I knew they'd want to know about the vomiting and stuff, but hadn't even seen the anesthesigolist yet... just nurses wandering past without a word. Bright lights in ward were burning brain and making forehead numb. It was also fricken cold with air con going.

Yeah, I know I sound whiney but it really was getting tiring.

Anyway, the lady beside me got wheeled out at about 1:30pm. So I waited more. And more. And more!

It was about 2:15pm when I was FINALLY wheeled into holding room for the OTs. Dad went downstairs to wait. We both thought 'Hooray, this is it, surgery by three!'

So I waited. Nurses in the room waited. I watched, again, as patients were wheeled in and out within 15mins,as I sat there, and sat there.... 3:30 came by and I watched as surgeons started to go home.

A guy who'd been there the entire time as me, a Chinese man, had gone into the OT some half an hour before me. I heard the nurses get a call, half an hour after he left the holding room, that the poor guy had been canceled. They were complaining, as he already had his lines and stuff in!

I kind of paid attention to the bad feeling at that point.

It was at 4pm when, after being in the hospital all day, that I heard the nurses in the holding room start to complain without naming my name:

'What do they mean, there's no beds? They knew that at 9am! What, they didn't book one?'

I KNEW they were talking about me now.

The nurse came back and wheeled me back to the pre-op ward. Surgeon came out and was really appologetic. Turns out the anesthesiologist didn't want to operate on me without an intensive care unit bed... which he hadn't booked... and even though I had a 23 hour ward bed booked... and the surgeon had been trying all day to get me a bed. He nearly had one but it was grabbed.

I did get to tell him about the brown stuff in the vomit, and he told me it was blood and to not eat 2 hours before bed... which is why I am awake now... so I think he'll kick their bums harder to get this fixed!

But now I have to wait 1-2 months before I get a new date.

Anyway, they gave me some sandwiches and a cup of coffee. Poor Chinese man was also given the same, his arms bandaged... he goes back on tuesday, but because my surgery is 'elective', it isn't urgent...

Bah.

Oh man, I am exhausted. 22 hours without food and Water, and then 8 hours lying there in hospital garb waiting for the operation, it is amazing how much that drains you. My body's going to be repaying me for all that stress all night.

So now I just need to get through a month or two of slipped lapband. I suppose the best thing is to eat slow, small portions, and to avoid danger foods, right?

:smile2:

I will go to my GP this week though and see if I can get him to do something to check the inside of the stomach. If it's bleeding inside, it might just be scratched, but it might help push the surgery from being 'elective' to important.

[Ses 0]

Yesterday an interesting thing though is that when I was going home (three hours travel!) anything I ate or drank tasted sweet. ANYTHING. Dad was eating potato chips. I tried them... and they tasted sweet, like they had suger coated on them. My Water, filtered bottled Water, tasted sweet. The sandwiches from the hospital tasted sweet.

Anyone know what that was about? I hadn't eaten or drunk anything for 22 hours, was that it?

[Ses 0]

Had the surgery, and am recovering now. :thumbup:

[crzytchr 3]

I just now read your story and it is good you are doing well with recovery. Update when you can and I hope your band experience is better this time.