Band erosion, lap band major problems!

[Wallace06 5]

Hi everyone, It has been a while since I last posted but thought it was best to share our story especially after today's doctors visit. First thing first, both me and my wife had lapband surgery back in 2005 in Mexico. She had the Inamed band and I had the Swedish band. We both had fairly decent success with weight loss within the first three years, I myself a little over a hundred pounds and my wife lost roughly fifty pounds. Then the weight loss just platoed and stopped and we kept thinking we need another fill, then another until eventually both of us started seeing some small weight loss again but none in the last couple years. Then everything turned around about 6 months ago where we both experienced problems with our band. My wife started with sharp jabbing pains in her stomach and after a week of extreme pain her doc ordered a MRI to make sure all was well. The test came back and nothing showed abnormal plus the pain eventually just went away. Then my band eroded and lost over 4cc's of the Fluid. We tried having it adjusted again and the restriction lasted a day or two then went away and I was told my band had somehow developed a leak and would most likely need to be replaced or removed. I still have some minimal restriction at this point but nothing in comparison to what I had before, and yes I have gained back about 40 lbs of my weight. Now comes the worst part of the story, about 3 weeks ago my wife's stomach pains came back with vengeance and this is where I want you to pay attention because if you ever start experiencing these symptoms you need to be alarmed and see a doctor. She started having incredible amounts a very heavy and extremely foul smelling gas. So much to the point where she would stay up many nights in pain with very little sleep. Then came the very embarrassing and loud belching which had the heavy smell of sulfur within the belch itself "similar to a match being lit" or there would even be days where it smelled like boiled eggs. Things got worse and she got a referral to a gastrologist. At first they ran all the normal test including a stool sample with no results coming back as to what was happening. Then today she went back for an Upper GI which is a scope inserted down into her stomach. Well we finally have our answer, her lapband has somehow caused erosion in the stomach wall lining and the main band circle clamp has broken into her stomach itself. You can clearly see the picture of it with a portion of the band just sitting inside her stomach and it is somehow blocking her digestive track. This is what is causing the foul smell, it is basically decomposed food which the doctor said was most likely high fibrous foods like fruits and vegetables that were having a difficult time breaking down and passing through so they just were simply rotting. She also has massive ulcers lining the stomach walls which the doctor said were most likely caused by the band breaking through and causing an imbalance in her digestive fluids. Well needless to say she was advised to seek a bariactric surgeon for possible emergency surgery to have it removed which we already have scheduled for tomorrow at 3pm. I will keep an updated posting over the next couple weeks with her progress. One last thing, please do not think that the reason I am sharing this post is to possibly scare someone away from having the lapband procedure because I know that everyone's body is different, I mainly wanted to share what was going on with my wife because there maybe people out there on this board that are currently experiencing the same thing and have went in circles with their doctors trying to find answers. Believe me this is the most frustrating part of this, we have already spent over 1k out of pocket after insurance and my wife has went through months of unnecessary pain and suffering.. S. Wallace / Atlanta, Georgia

[Grider 92]

Hope she will be OK. let us know how she is doing. yes anything man made can go wrong, be well and thanks for sharing.

[MyDay2Shine 1]

Thank you so much for sharing. I am so sorry you are both dealing with so many complications. I think it is important to educate myself on both the pros and cons of my band, and stories like yours are very helpful. I'm interested to hear more about your wife and her recovery. Good luck to you and your wife, I will be thinking of you both.

Best wishes

Kristal

[Wallace06 5]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your replies and the showing of support for my wife. It is Saturday morning October 8th and I am sitting here inside the hospital room next to her bed side watching her sleep. She had surgery yesterday morning to remove her band but she had multiple unexpected complications during the surgery. Initially we were told the whole surgery should last between 1 to 1.5 hours in total and it would be done laproscopicaly. Unfortunatley once they got into her stomach they discovered the situation was far more advanced and complex than they could had ever thought. We were told that not just part of the band but the ENTIRE lapband clamp and some of the tubing had eroded and pushed itself completely into her stomach cavity. Because of this complication they abandoned the lapiscopic approach and made a vertical inscision about 6 inches above her stomach to go and fix the problem. Once they got in they discovered the ulcers in her stomach were also larger than orriginaly expected and the surgeon ended up having to bassicaly remove a portion of her stomach and repair it with tissue collected from elsewere in the body. The concern now is will the inscisions hold and will her body accept the essentialy patched layers of skin that are being used to repair her stomach. In whole the surgery lasted almost 5 hours and she is on a Morphine pump to control her pain. We were told her recovery time just here in the hospital will be a minimum of 6 to 7 days and the next step will require a barium swallow to confirm there are no leaks in the stomach itself. She also cant eat or drink anything for this entire period which I can only imagine what she is going to be like in a few days with that news.

I have to tell you, the more and more I read on here about the simualrities of many people posting their complications of the lapband and what it has done to their bodies and life "ESPECIALY 5 to 6 YEARS LATER" I really have to wonder if this device is miracle that we all once belived it was. Both me and my wife have experienced the joys of weight loss and now unfortunately the cost associated with it. Yes, I am also having complications with my band and even though I work for a major company with thousands of employees and we subscribe to a major healthcare provider here in the US guess what else is happening? We found out the This past Thursday afternoon that our insurance will not cover this surgery at all. It is considered an complication due to a non covered gastric band removal and even though it was also considered emergency surgery, the insurance company is denying the claim. What else can be said, I am not sure but it makes you wonder if all those people out there that use to baulk at us when we told them we had this surgery and how some of them would say we just cheated to loose weight were maybe right.

Stephen Wallace / Atlanta, Georgia

[Rachel412 116]

I am so sorry that your wife is going through this.

[bunkie68 6]

Stephen, how is your wife doing? I hope she recovered and is now doing OK.

[angie61 6]

Stephen,

Many of us (including me) want to know how both you, and your wife are doing? Please update us when you get htis message!

[Wallace06 5]

Hi everyone, I am Kelli , Stephens wife. Since the surgery in Ocotober of last year alot has been going on. First after the 6 day stayover in the hospital, the incision in 2 different spots started to abcess. Thus I had to do my own wound care until February of 2012. Luckily I am a nurse and it didn't totally gross me out cleaning and packing these 2 times a day. Now they are healed completely, thank God. I had also developed difficulties digesting milk products. I had a food allergy test when all the trouble began last summer and at that time I had NO allergy to dairy. But shortly after Christmas this year I noticed alot of acid reflux, gas, cramping and lose stools. So I put myself on an elimination diet starting by taking gluten out of my diet, that didn't help.I tried to take out all preservatives, no meat, ,I also added, Probiotics, Activia, digestive enzymes , even Zantac 2 x day. NOTHING. Then after eating some gluten free Cereal I had the worse episode ever and realized it was the milk.No more, cheese, ice cream, cream based Soups ans so on. I through trial and error I have developed a routine. Every day I take a Perscription strenght Pepcid, eat one Activia a day (thank goodness yogurt is low in lactose). IF I have any other milk poducts it is lactose free or if I'm out and decide to have cheese on something I take Lactose tabs first. It's a bit of a hassle but at least I can go in public (and work) without embaressing myself. I'm doing well, considering. But the biggest thing is I've gained weight. It's quite depressing but I knew it would happen after all I had become accustomed to depending on my band to keep my portions in check. I have since joined a gym and am having to depend on the "old" method of losing weight. Which got me in this mess because it never worked before. Thanks for all the support, Kelli W