Banded 11/4- Major Complications :(

[skinnysomeday1211 20]

Hi all. I was banded early Monday morning (11/4 @7:30am) and was out of recovery by noon amd seemingly doing well. The hospital I was in requires one overnight stay. I was fine until monday evening when I woke up from a dead sleep to regurgitate mucus and blood. I did thins about 3 times before I could finally fall back to sleep. The next morning they took me down for a upper GI with barium. 8 know something was wrong as soon I stood up on the machine and looked up at the screen. They advised me to sip the barium and it just sat in my esophagus and wouldn't go into my stomach. I ended up having a panic attack and they had to give me Ativan. I continued to throw up all day in horrible pain and misery. My dr. Wanted to wait it out and see if it was just swelled. By Wednesday, I demanded that the surgeon take the band out... but he convinced me that he could put a larger one in and I agreed. I went intio surgery weds nite and came out doing pretty well. The band that was in there had too much Fluid and was too small to begin with. I don't if I should blame my surgeon or hust agree it was a mistake. But I am happy to say I am finally home tonite and drinking fluids. I am in major pain at my sites tho since they were cut open twice. Im praying that this will work and I will do okay. Btw thanks for all the support and congrats on my other post that got deleted I think (?)

[ATTACH]37039[/ATTACH]

[NaNa 878]

Wow, what an ordeal. Good to hear you are on the mend and healing. Surgeons are suppose to have different size bands readily available once they get in to determine which size that will fit your anatomy.

Strange though I've always heard of others having to drink barium after surgery, I've had two bands and never had to do any of that post op.

Typically surgeons will prime the band with Fluid to check for defects, but the Fluid in the band during installation really should not make you too tight unless it's just too small for your stomach.

Ideally the band should not be too tight with priming fluid, if it is, as you can see that band was just too small for your stomach.

Hopefully this new band works out great for you.

[DELETE THIS ACCOUNT! 12,703]

My goodness, what an ordeal!!!

I'm so glad he was able to figure out the problem. Though, I'll be honest, if I were in your shoes I'd be seriously pissed at the surgeon.

I hope your journey is now problem free. Best wishes!

[MistyfortheMountain 119]

Wow! So glad you are feeling better! I know it's not much compared to your health, but I can't help but wonder about the money. Since it sounds like the fault of your doctor are you going to have to pay for both surgeries and all the cost that come with them?

[skinnysomeday1211 20]

Thanks for the concerns ladies. I also thought that it would have been obviously important to have different size bands available at the time of the first surgery. They made it seem like they never thought of a larger band as an option. I must also mention that the surgeons fellow (asst. Surgeon) cake into my room and first tried to take out Fluid that may have been in from priming... (he got 11 cc's!!!)... later in front of the ultrasound screen, the PA again tried to unfill the band and said she too out 4.7 cc's! So im thinking either the first time the asst surgeon didn't get the fluid from the band but the surrounding area or 2. There were 15.7ccs in my band to begin with!!! Still this didn't help and I threw up several times again.

[skinnysomeday1211 20]

Wow! So glad you are feeling better! I know it's not much compared to your health, but I can't help but wonder about the money. Since it like the fault of your doctor are you going to have to pay for both surgeries and all the cost that come with them?

My insurance covered the initial surgery so it BETTER pay for the doctor's screw up! I would have no way to pay for it at this point now

[skinnysomeday1211 20]

Wow! So glad you are feeling better! I know it's not much compared to your health, but I can't help but wonder about the money. Since it like the fault of your doctor are you going to have to pay for both surgeries and all the cost that come with them?

My insurance covered the initial surgery so it BETTER pay for the doctor's screw up! I would have no way to pay for it at this point now

[Maddysgram 6,159]

Sorry for your ordeal, glad things are ok now.IMO, your surgeon must have been high.No one gets that much Fluid, some get approx 4cc. Where did you have your surgery, so I can avoid that crap?

[Irishflower79 183]

Thanks for the concerns ladies. I also thought that it would have been obviously important to have different size bands available at the time of the first surgery. They made it seem like they never thought of a larger band as an option. I must also mention that the surgeons fellow (asst. Surgeon) cake into my room and first tried to take out Fluid that may have been in from priming... (he got 11 cc's!!!)... later in front of the ultrasound screen, the PA again tried to unfill the band and said she too out 4.7 cc's! So im thinking either the first time the asst surgeon didn't get the fluid from the band but the surrounding area or 2. There were 15.7ccs in my band to begin with!!! Still this didn't help and I threw up several times again.

So sorry this was your banding experience. I am glad you were able to get a bigger band and are now home.

[yaya1397 79]

Wow... So sorry! I'm glad that you are doing much better! I'll be very upset with the surgeon, sounds like him or his team did not know what they were doing! Wish you a speedy recovery!

[ekmw 56]

Woah! What an ordeal you had to go through.

I'm terribly sorry, and I hope you're feeling better!

[GoingforGoal 1,734]

Ahhh geeze. Everything you described sounds avoidable. What a terrible start to your journey. I'm just sitting here shaking my head. Like mentioned, both band sizes are usually at the bedside and the doctor makes a final determination during surgery based on your specific anatomy. Additionally, priming occurs prior to putting the band on and the Fluid is removed. They may do a 2nd priming after installation to verify that the apparatus has not suffered any damage. Some docs leave (usually up to 3cc, no more) as an initial fill, while others take out all the fluids as a conservative measure to allow everything to heal and for inflammation to subside. Never, have I heard of anyone getting more than 3cc at the time of surgery. WTH!?!?!

I'm very curious, did he sound apologetic? did he claim that's never happened before?

Please keep records of your conversations and a timeline of events/studies/results etc in case this does become a financial war with insurance vs doctor liabilities.

On a positive note, I'm so happy to hear all is better and you can finally start your recovery (take 2). Take it easy, I'm sure you stoma is not a happy camper. Keep us updated

[SarahRN482 66]

Holy cow, what an ordeal! I'm glad that you're home and able to rest in your own space. I how that the rest of your recovery goes a lot smoother than the immediate post op phase! Please keep us posted on how you're doing.

[rmalikone 108]

Wow if it was the small "lap band" that's a 10cc model and they had 11cc in-you should be pissed! As for having more than 1 band on hand I remember that after being wheeled into the OR and being knocked out I looked up and seen at least two "lap band" boxes. So that's another strike against your doctor for not having the 14cc model on hand also!

[Debbie3sons 1,936]

This sounds absoutley negligent of the Surgeon and his / her assistant as they are putting you at risk and as far as I know they have updated the bands in the last few yrs, and I made sure to ask my surgeon what size band he put in as I knew my stomache was lg, to begin with and if he put in the smaller band I would have had trouble , but this does not sound right at all as I have heard lately their are only 2 size bands the 10 cc & 14 cc so why would they give you 11 cc's in a smaller band or even in a larger one and you might want to ask another band surgeon about this as it took me and I am just saying this for me that it took me a yr to get to the green zone wich I am at 11cc's in a 14 cc band , so just for me I would ask what , why , and where I could find someone who knows what their doing and then sue this surgeon , was their mind not on the patient(you) at all , this is just crazy to me , I hope this gets and goes better for you now just focus on recovering from your ordeal and take it slow , and I am wishing you luck.