Lap or open removal?

[desertmom 297]

Hi

I just dont have anyone to discuss this with....my life is a nightmare at the moment and I smile,say nothing,help other people stay on their diets...(have a weightloss group that meets at my house...:faint: )

I actually wrote somewhere how I think I have been healed and to cut a long story short,my will and I suppose not the Lords will.....cause all my old symptoms are back in full force and tomorrow is one year after being banded....

I have to go for an endo and have been putting it off...(the dr that sees me is hopping up and down with anxiety about this...)

I am terrified that this is it....this stupid band will have to be removed and I am back where I was a year ago..I am so depressed and so sad and I am petrified of having another operation.....I hate how this has turned out for me...Have worked really hard this year to lose weight and to get this band to not make me so sick the whole time....its been a year and I today feel like I did the first time I started having the symptoms that has been making my life a misery...I have chest pain,abdominal pain,heartburn....then just now I sit and read of people saying do I really have a band because I dont feel it....it just seems so unfair and I am really battling with all this at the moment....

I am bouncing ten pounds up and down and have been for the past 5 months...dont have restriction,cant get another fill (pain gets to bad) and just dont know what am I going to do?

Well,this is a big whine isnt it?To get to the real reason for this threat....how was your bands removed? Lap or open....I dont even know who will do a removal as I havent seen the guy that did the op in over 10 months,just one of his side kicks....

Anyhow,please tell me how the removal op was...was it worse than the band (which actually was a breeze for me) how long in hospital?how long to recover?

Thanks for info and ears....

[kellymoos 4]

Mine was laprascopic....why do u think that you will have to have your band removed?

[PhotoNut 7]

Aww *big comforting hugs*

I can't imagine being in your shoes, but I know that we all have our own paths to walk so that God can teach us what we need to learn. He knows us better than anyone, including ourselves, and He is obviously working in your life right now. Lean on Him, trust in Him. Give this entire thing over to Him and go get that endo knowing in your heart that He will bring about whatever is best for you. Whether it be keeping your band or having it removed, He will be with you and He will guide you on the path that will take you where He knows you need to be. Have you ever read Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard? Marvelous little book that takes you on a journey of surrender. I think it would really speak to your heart right now and I highly suggest you read it.

I don't usually respond to posts here on LBT like this, but I felt led to this time. I'll be praying for you. *hugs*

[shanna 0]

Desertmom,

I'm praying the endo turns out just fine but if it doesn't and you need to have another surgery maybe yours can be fixed (if it's a slip). My band was removed laproscopically and the surgery was very similar to the first, for me. More pain in the port area because they're messing around with muscle.

I am hoping you don't have to go through band removal but if you do - we're here for you.

[desertmom 297]

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

I am affected, on a daily basis, by the band and not in the sense that I have restriction and will lose weight.

I battle severe abdominal pain,back ache directly behind the band (late afternoon when I get tired) heartburn and what I now call a hot esophagus that is just this fire in my insides.....well,sometimes I do have a day or 2 when it is not that bad but at least 4 days out of 7 this is a really big issue in my life..

I just cannot learn to ignore the physical discomfort in order to just get on with my life.....I can never predict what a day will be like and it has really affected my everyday interaction with people......When I feel awfull it really stops me socially and well,that sucks....

I'm just at a point where I really believe that I cannot be having these symptoms and nothing is wrong.....only way I will know is through the endo but that to me is really facing the reality of the band....one being something is wrong and I will at least know I wasnt a total hypochondriac but might lose this LAST CHANCE that I took,or 2.......it is ok I am a total hypochondriac but the pain is real and thus the band doesnt work for me....I am on a total low carb diet most of the time and that is how I lost the weight.the band did make me stay on the diet in the sense that I cannot accept the failure to not lose weight.....I diet.......

So,maybe after giving this band a year of my life (in every sense of the word) it may be time to just be done with it and to move on .....it is the move on to what that I am having a huge problem with....I really need to feel fine again...just be....not lose my voice halfway through the day because of the acid or just walk around half wistling all day to kind of cool my throat down.Want to be able to really exercise seeing as I am now able to after losing all this weight....

But in all honesty...if the dr tells me the band is ok and he cannot find what is wrong I dont see myself removing it even for all the reasons I give myself......I still have 60 pounds to lose and I can most days now deal with the issues....especially if I know it is not forever....The band still makes me more consious of the issues at hand thus dieting is a little easier because people know I have the band and I have a terrible fear of failure....

I am sorry it is late,emotionally I am just flat and my English just deteriorates the faster I try to think.....maybe tomorrow I will be ashamed of complaining again......Anyhow,it is good to know that the ops can be done lap,that it isnt that bad,that it might not be neccessary.:clap2:

Thank you for the encouragement.....Photonut,the Lord really knows whats best and needed and well,as I've said before....my way is not always His way just as His time for something is not always the same as my time.........I'm sure there is a lesson here....still fail to see it somehow...:bananadoggywow: Still feel this should have worked......

[Alexandra 55]

Desertmom, I just want to wish you the best with whatever you decide to do next. Living with constant pain and discomfort is no way to live, and I know I'd rather bt 60 lbs overweight than have to compromise my entire quality of life because of pain. I hope they will do the testing, find out that something easily fixable is wrong (like a hernia or something), and you can be repaired. It's just not right that you've been suffering for so long. :bananadoggywow:

Please keep us posted. Good luck!!

[Elisabethsew 50]

Are you taking an acid blocker (Pepcid, Nexium, etc.) for the acid reflux? I take a medication that causes the symptoms you are having and when my MD added the acid blocker (taken once a day) it made all the difference.

Your endoscopy will at least give you some answers and then you'll be able to make an informed decision. Living a life in constant pain when you don't have to just doesn't make sense. Talk to your MD about ALL your options.

[Mita 2]

My heart goes out to you. I cannot say that I had the burning so intense with my heartburn but it has gotten alot better with the Nexium. I pray that you get the answer and that you will not have to lose your band...{{{{HUGS}}}

[GeezerSue 7]

My removal was open and done as part of the DS surgery. The DS can take three hours or more, but my entire revision surgery was less than two hours.

[desertmom 297]

hi

Iv'e been on Nexium for as long as I've had the band.It really makes no difference to the hot insides (which I frankly doubt is heartburn)but it helps with the pain some...(thats the meds I stopped taking for a week and felt wonderful only for the pain to return so strongly that I thought I was going to die...)I'm permanently taking serevent inhaler and singelair for my lungs and I also take something for high blood pressure.....often thought it might be the meds causing the symptoms but cant stop taking them.....and that is also why I want to avoid having more anasthetics.....have a lung condition and it scares me the way dr's fuss about it pre-op.(I dont ever complain or get sick from my lungs....I as a rule just dont do sick..)

I honestly have done everything I can to get better,to make the band work,to live with the effects of it....there is absolute nothing I can think of anymore.....the dr's have been of very little help.The surgeon that did the operation wanted to remove it 10 months ago as he didnt know what caused the symptoms and frankly couldnt care less..according to him these symptoms are jus not really possible...so...

Having had a very difficult year with this and with all my praying friends telling me that they cannot get confirmation for any convertion operation I just am stuck at this...have been trying to just get along with this as best as possible but have to face the fact that well,this is just not working...

I just want to say something about having Barrett's Esophagus.I must advise you strongly to go and read up on the causes,the fact that it might cause cancer and the fact that it cannot really be reversed.....but they can stop it from getting worse with meds and preventing acid and reflux.

The research I did indicated that the band is absolutely contra-indicated if you have it and my dr said he would immediately remove the band if there is any sign of it......please weight the pro's and con's of this very carefully.That is just my thought on that.Please dont take offense as it just is something that should be taken very seriously.

Thanks for your replies.In the light of day things dont look so bad and I will update if I've been for the endo.

Again,thanks for replies.The last time I had such a dark moment as last night was actually before the band,stuck at weighing 150kg or 350 pounds,not knowing what to do about it ....I certainly dont hate this band.......