It happened....leak

[Katlynn 0]

I haven't been on here in a long while but I wanted to pop in and tell you all that if you all the sudden don't feel any restriction please please please be a strong advocate for yourself.

The weight loss has been very slow going for me. In fact I have only lost 10 pounds since my surgery date of September 30th. I lost a bunch of weight before that on my own. Anyway, even though things were slow I could still feel restriction up until January. I went in for a fill January and the moment I left I could tell something was different. I always had great restriction immediately after a fill but not only did I not get more restriction, the restriction I had was gone. I was all the sudden STARVING! In fact I called my doctors office and spoke with a nurse 2 days later and asked if it was possible he missed the port when he did the fill...she assured me he didn't miss and said my tummy was just used to fills now and wasn't getting swollen after a fill. OK I believed her.

So I went back in 2 weeks later and had another fill. I had lost a pound so I think I wasn't taken seriously when I told them something was wrong. I was told that I didn't have as much to lose as a lot of people so I needed to put things into perspective. Was given another fill which now totaled 6 ccs.

Again, I could tell that something was wrong. No restriction...nothing. I was eating like I did pre-surgery. Nothing stuck.

Went back in 2 more weeks and was adamant that my band be checked for a leak. Tried to make it lighthearted and offered to go and get a cheeseburger from McDonalds and scarf it down without chewing right in front of them if they didn't believe me. Doctor agreed to pull my Fluid out to show me I didn't have a leak.

You guessed it....instead of 6ccs I only had 1.3 ccs in my band. So he apologized and checked my bandfor a leak using a Fluoroscopy. Unbelievably the Fluoroscopy showed no leak. He then put 5 ccs saline back in my band so we could see if the leak repaired itself.

2 more weeks later I go in and it's still leaking. I was then filled with 6 ccs of omnipaque (which is thicker than the Saline). It has been 4 days and luckily I still feel restriction. Hopefully the Omnipaque will continue to stay in otherwise I will have to have surgery to replace whatever part is leaking.

It is my belief that at my fill in the begining of January the tubing was nicked causing the leak. In fact that is exactly what the nurse told me she suspects is happened. So please if any of you guys have any issues with having less restriction inform your doctor immediately and insist your Fluid be checked. I have wasted 2 months now trying to be nice and taking everyone's word that it was fine when I knew deep within myself that something was not right.