Erosion - Band's coming out Tuesday

[AnnGolia 1]

My band was put in 10/2006 and I had no problems and lost a great deal of weight, 117 lbs total. I had been maintaining for a couple of years and was very pleased with my results. Then in October of 2013 I was having some slight discomfort under my rib cage. Motrin helped with the discomfort, then the pain went away, just last week the pain came back and on a hunch my Nurse Practicioner ordered a CT scan and that's when it was discovered that my band had migrated into my stomach. My bariatric surgeon called me two days later (after he got the results) and had me come in to go over my options. Surgery is the only choice and then he thinks I will need to wait a minimum of 6 months before I can consider either the gastric sleeve or the bypass, of course providing there are no complications. Also, like Sue I have had no symptoms other than the discomfort (like a strained muscle), and the appetite increase, and no feeling of restriction. I was at 11cc in my band and frustrated that I kept gaining weight.

My band is coming out on 3/11/2014 and then the countdown begins towards healing and then hopefully I'll be able to get the gastric sleeve.

It is nice to see that some others out there have experienced this as well, and though all the research I did plus talking with my doctor states it is rare but it does happen. My thought was Why did it have to be me?

[OuNewt 0]

Sorry to hear about band problems, I was banded in 2001. went from 296 to 169 in about 18 months. I've had one port replacement prox. 2 years back. Today Doc said possible erosion. I have pain and redness, indicating Infection at port location. Doc said possible erosion caused infection and it traveled from the band to the port along the tube. 4 months ago deflated band for hernia surgery, haven't refilled since. put on about 35 lbs.in 2 months. Starting anti biotic today for infection. very concerned about my future.

I've never written anything on the internet... Somewhat a skeptic that I'll hear anything back. It does help just to write everything down. sort of a release I guess. I do have a very loving wife that extreemly supportive.

[Sue Magoo 71]

OuNewt:

Best wishes to you for removal and success afterwards.

I didn't update after my initial surgery. I got a postop infection ten days after surgery and was back in the hospital on high doses of intravenous antibiotics for four more days. I woke up with a temperature of 104 on day ten, so I called my surgeon. He had me go to emergency room. They did a ct scan and found that I had infection inside. My kind surgeon was on vacation, but he came to see me twice in the hospital, driving down from Maine to MA each time. He felt badly about the infection. Not sure how it came, but probably from that gross band that had been accumulating food and germs in my stomach. The band actually looked black in the EGD pictures - gross!

So, here I am 8 months later with a lot of weight gained. I'm pursuing the sleeve now. Will have to wait and see.

I hope that all goes well for you. Please keep us posted, as I'm one of those crazy, caring people that will be worrying about you and wondering how you're doing.

Take care and be well.

Sue

[ERNJN 0]

Sorry to hear about the infection post-op, Sue. I'm also having my band removed due to erosion in April -- I'm worried about the recovery as the surgeon is going to convert me to a sleeve.

Is it standard to recommend 6 mo. healing before the sleeve procedure is done? My surgeon seemed confident in doing it all at once.

[Sue Magoo 71]

ERNJN: I'm not sure about that. I believe that my surgeon wanted to give me time to heal and recover from the surgery and post-op infection. It was quite draining. After that he did some testing and I was unable to get the sleeve because I have gastroparesis. They can do bypass, but I'm afraid to get that done. I'm struggling with my weight, and need to lose 70 pounds. I've taken off 23 pounds since November, so slow, but steady. Best wishes to you. Please post updates to let us know how you are doing. Good luck!

Sorry to hear about the infection post-op, Sue. I'm also having my band removed due to erosion in April -- I'm worried about the recovery as the surgeon is going to convert me to a sleeve.

Is it standard to recommend 6 mo. healing before the sleeve procedure is done? My surgeon seemed confident in doing it all at once.

[suepro 39]

My band has to come out this Tuesday. Had endoscopy this week and was shocked to learn that my band has eroded into my stomach. The pics are ugly and scary. I didn't have any signs other than could eat more and fills weren't helping. My doc took a barium swallow and suggested that I have an upper endoscopy. The pics show this nasty black band (yes, it looks black not white!) in my stomach. The area nearby is also leaning more toward red than pink and the Gastroenterologist said I have gastritis and esophagitis too. Anywho I am a bit sad about it, but really just want the ugly black thing taken out. My surgeon said I will be in hospital from Tuesday morning until Friday morning. They won't be letting me eat or drink anything until Friday morning. Yikkes!!! Does anyone know if I will have to start with liquids and proceed to mushies and then solids? Just curious because I need to grocery shop before I go in the hospital so that I can have what I need at home already. Anybody got any suggestions for the food, or for anything else related to lapband removal? Please let me know. I'm sorry that this is run on, but when I'm on this program it won't let me start a new paragraph. Thanks for any advice you can offer. Sue

Sorry that you have to have your band removed but it sounds like your symptoms were not as unpleasant as many of us get when band eroding stomach.

When mine was removed, I was immediately able to eat after not being able to keep anything apart from slider food down.

Good luck with everything.

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