Band has eroded - very painful!

[Sherbrooke 0]

I was banded in November 2006 and the whole procedure was very successful. I never had any problems and my fills always worked fine. I lost nearly 60kg. Last year (Oct 2009) I began to get very bad upper right abdominal pain. I had a huge lot of tests - x-ray, ultrasounds, bloodwork and a gastroscope (nasty things!!). They couldn't trace the problem to my band so they took out my gall bladder. The pain, however persisted. Sometimes the pain was so bad that I nearly took overdoses of papracetamol and codeine (I didn't want to kill myself, just enough to make me sleep and get rid of the pain. I didn't do that though I did take a lot of painkillers). I couldn't concentrate on my work or my home and became a social recluse. Last sunday I couldn't take it anymore, the pain was affecting my neck, jaw and back and went to casualty. A gastroscope showed that band had eroded into my stomach. In two weeks the band will come out endoscopically (through my throat!) and a small incision will remove the port.

I am a bit nervous about the whole thing: How long will the affected site around the stomach take to heal and will it be painful while healing (I don't think I can stand more pain)? Will my stomach return to normal? Will there be scar tissue and can that scar tissue cause problems? Is there a risk of peritonitis? I know I should ask my doc all these questions but I won't see him till the morning of the op.

I am hoping that the pain will go, once the band is out because I need a lot of physical and emotional healing. I also need my poor liver to heal after all the drugs.

Despite all the pain I have suffered over the last few months, I still beleive the band works.