Lap band hell!

[BandedKT 7]

I was Banded the 07/06/14 i lost 8kg on the pre op diet and was so excited to begin my weight loss journey! I then started weeping from an incision site and being a nurse and also it being my body I kept presenting at the ER telling them I had an infection, my surgeon was away and they kept sending me home on the same anti biotics I had been taking for 72 hours telling me to give them time to work however I could see and feel the infection spreading! I ended up with cellulitis which the antibiotics cleared however the port site started weeping and I ended up out one day and looked down to find my top soaked in blood, ppl around me thought I'd been shot! Eventually after a week I got to see my surgeon who admitted me to hospital and after another 2 days they decided I needed to be opened up again and washed out! I was then left with two very big deep opened wounds! I was out of hospital after 5 days and had district nurses daily to change my dressings and pack my wounds! I then had to wait until the wounds fully healed before my first fill! I finally got a fill in August! 5cc and nothing, four weeks later another 2cc, still nothing, another 4 weeks and 1cc, still nothing, I'm on shakes twice a day and a healthy meal once a day plus exercising but I'm getting no where with the weight loss, it is so disheartening! I'm wondering how many calories those of you who have been successful consume a day? I was averaging 800 at 110kg but I was told that's not enough! Thanks for reading my whinge if you bothered to finish it!

[2muchfun 8,927]

Well, I had no post surgical complications but I did have Bandster hell for 4 months. Not till my 3rd fill 4 months in did I start to feel any satiety/restriction. Reading here for 5 years, I know I'm typical and so are you except for the infected incision. Just keep getting your adjustments and soon you'll be in the yellow zone and then the green zone.

BTW-During those 4 months after surgery I didn't really diet, I just ate healthier food. Stayed away from pizza, tacos, ice cream etc. I didn't gain any weight and maintained the 12 lbs I lost the first 2 weeks after surgery.

[lisacaron 5,075]

@@BandedKT Holy cow you have been through the mill with this procedure! I had one of my wound sites get infected and open up. It happened about 2 weeks after the surgery. A tiny bit of stitch was left in the site and it sits right where my waist band sits, the seat belt covers and my desk at work hits. So it was doomed from the start.

It healed up pretty well didn't spread to the point of what you had to go through! It weeped right away, but I lathered it with bacitracin at the first sign of feeling a hard lump under the incision and feeling warm around it. I didn't even wait to see the Dr. and about an hour later that sac under the skin came up to the surface and weeped out. I saw the Dr. on Monday and it was pretty much clear and just told to watch it and keep it covered. It did take a while to heal due to the location and moving around but it did.

I'm sorry you have had to go through so much. When they did the port wound and cleaned it all out did they ensure that the port was connected and working well etc.

When they put Fluid in are they able to tap it to pull some Fluid back into the syringe before putting more fluid in? That's one way to tell that it's working.

Keep in touch here this is a great place for support when you really need it. Many of us have gone through bandster hell. I am going through it again now...I had to have fluid taken out of the band due to a pouch dilation and yes I am hungry hungry again and even more hungry the more I go to the gym....I'm trying to stay on track and eat all good things and band size meals but admittedly that is VERY hard and the first 3 weeks I was OK but this week...is HELL. I ate a whopper! OK I have not eaten one of those in over 2 years! Bun and all friend!!! NOT good.

In fairness I was starving after running around all day and lost sight of stopping to eat something healthy, and driving through to get the boys something was just too much for me and I ate it! Yep...did I feel guilty after? No..and I don't now either...but I still don't want to fall back into that fast food easy habit. I need to have some fill put back in and it just reminds me why I had this surgery to being with. If I could have lost weight alone I would not have needed surgery, so after 3 weeks of being strong I succumbed. I won't beat myself up...I'll just pray along with you that when we see our Dr.'s we can get past this feeling and start losing!!