2 years out and NOW having problems!!! :o(

[SherriWittler 1]

(Copied this from my MySpce blog .... thought it would just be easier that way)

March 5, 2008 - Wednesday

<TABLE class=blog cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=30></TD><TD>Medical crap .... Going crazy here!!!

Current mood: frustrated

I need some prayers (or if praying isn't your thing, some positive vibes), please.

I had my LapBand surgery 2 years ago. Everything has been fine ..... Except that I have developed reflux really bad and take pills for it!!! Well, about 4-5 months ago I started 'throwing up' some about 2-3 times a week. These past 4 weeks have been TERRIBLE and this past week has been more than I can take. Yesterday I 'threw up' 8 times during the day and much more during the night time. And most of that was from TRYING to drink liquid stuff ..... Not even food. I could not even sleep last night.

I have been worried that my band as slipped or something (things like that DO happen .... I knew all this up front!!).

I called my Weight loss (WL) doctors office this morning to talk to them. They want an upper GI done to see if slippage has occurred and then to take some Fluid out of my band to give my stomach a rest. Okay ..... Here is where I am going crazy!!! My insurance will NOT pay for any of this at all. I did know that up front 2 years ago that they do not pay for any WL surgery or complications from it ( I was a self pay patient). So my WL doctor is asking if my primary doctor can have me get a GI Xray here where I live and fax him the results ASAP. I live in a different state than where my WL doc is at. So, I call my Primary doc and she HAS to see me first before she can refer me to a doc for an upper GI?!?! I ask why .... She says for insurance purposes ..... I tell her that my insurance will not pay for it, that the upper GI will be as a cash patient, so why does she have to see me. Now she said she wants to see me so she can have it documented that she saw me and referred me to a doc for an upper GI. WHAT?!?!? So, I ask when is the soonest I can come in. They say Friday afternoon. WHAT?!?! I then ask how long after I come in can I get an upper GI ..... She says it could take 2-3 weeks for them to get me in to a GI doctor!! I tried to explain how I need something ASAP ..... That I am throwing up and cannot hardly eat!! I took the appointment and told them that if I can travel to where my WL surgeon is this week and he can get me in someplace then I may be calling back and canceling that appointment w/ them.

I just am so depressed. I have a call back to my WL surgeon's office and am just waiting for them to call me back. I want to get something done ASAP. I hate this waiting game and I am not good at it.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE id=blogComments-2 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=blogCommentsProfile>Sherri

</TD><TD class=blogComments width="100%"><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=blogComments>Great news!! My WL nurse got me in down at Topeka on Friday ...... Upper GI at the hospital at 10:45 am and then meeting w/ my WL doctor and her at 1:30 Pm to go over X-rays and decide what to do.

Posted by Sherri on March 5, 2008 - Wednesday at 4:29 PM

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March 9, 2008 - Sunday

<TABLE class=blog cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=30></TD><TD>UPDATE on my medical crap )

Current mood: okay

Okay, here's the update.

I went to St. Francis hospital in Topeka, KS Friday at 10:45 am to have an upper GI. They got me all ready and the doctor at the hospital was asking me 'what's going on w/ you that you are having problems?'. I told him about my throwing up for months now and the pain I have been having. He told the tech gal to start me w/ the thinner barium since I am having a hard time keeping things down. He told me to take a drink and to NOT shallow until he tells me to .... He said it will move fast and he has got to be ready to start taking pictures. He tells me to shallow .... I do ..... He makes this really funny face and says, "Um, I have NEVER seen this before ....... Let's have you take another drink and shallow". I do and he says this is really different. Of course, I am freaking and ask him, "WHAT ..... What is happening that is different?!?!". He pulls the 'live motion Xray machine around to where I can see it and points showing me my lapband and then he says all the stuff ABOVE your lapband is the barium that you just drank and not one drop has passed though your band. I asked him was this normal .... He says, "NO, this is not normal .... This is why you are throwing up .... liquid should be passing ..... Slowly, BUT passing". So now I am freaking ..... My heart really beating fast!! He told the 2 tech's that he wants to get some still images. So, they do all those. An hour later I am done. He tells me that he will get all the images and report done and have them to my doctor's office when I go for my 1:30 appointment that afternoon.

Roger and I go to Tallgrass to meet w/ my weigh loss surgeon at 1:30 PM. Him and another doctor have already gone over all my images. Here's the scoop ... I 'must have' irritated my stomach several months ago w/out knowing it and it has been 'festering' all this time building up over ALL these months. The bottom line is I have ulcers and lesions all over the inside of my stomach ABOVE my lapband and all over my esophagus, my 'pouch' above my lapband is SO SWOLLEN that it is a miracle that anything passes though it he said. He said they have to treat it aggressive and that means to take everything out of my lapband!! (*this is when I thought I was going to loose it ..... Take everything out! - - I was freaking thinking they might take 1/2 out and now he's says EVERYTHING!!!*) He said that by him taking everything out of my band that hopefully my stomach can take a rest and we can get all the ulcers and lesions healed up. He said that him and the other doctor did not see any slippage or erosion of my lapband which was a good thing (WHAT - - it's a WONDERFUL thing - - PRAISE GOD!!)

So, he goes and gets the nurse and has her come in with a 'procedure tray' to unfill my band. While I'm laying there on the table being stuck w/ a needle that has stuff in it that is hurting and stinging like hell so that the 'procedure' doesn't hurt, part of me is screaming inside, screaming like they are taking away a part of 'my tool' that I need to loose weight!! Roger is trying to make 'small talk' w/ the doc about 'my problem'. When he finally gets ready to go into my band, it is the weirdest filling I fill moving inside my stomach. Of course, Roger told me later that it is a good thing I don't see the BIG needle they use to go into my band with!! (YIKES .... I hate needles!!). After the doc is done and I get wiped off and bandaged up, I lay there for a second.

Now the 3 of us (Me, the doc and Rog) are sitting there and the doctor is telling us 'the plan' to get me better. I am taking 4 pills a day that coats and fills in the ulcers and lesions. Two pills for reflux. Stop eating solid foods (Like I have not been eating any solids since last Tuesday!!). liquid diet for 3-4 days, soft stage foods for 3-4 days and then after that to start eating foods that are diced up really fine and to take little bites and to chew the crap out of them before swallowing. If at anytime I have a hard time advancing up to the 'real food', I am to stop and go back to 1st base!! I am to not to drink or eat any food that causes 'burning' ..... Food w/ acid, alcohol, etc ... I am to take the pills for at least 2 months and then he'll decide on a new plan after those 2 months.

We are going back on March 21 for a 'check up' and for the doc to see how I am doing.

Once I have all these ulcers healed up, then we can talk about getting fills again in my band. The doc said that my goal right now is to get healthy and to NOT worry about loosing weight .... He said I may even gain weight during this time. *I started freakin again!!!*

So, that is my update on me.

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[VegasGrace 1]

Wow...2 years out and then a problem.

Thanks for sharing your story.

While I'm done with weightloss, the band will always be with me.

In the back of my mind I always wonder IF something will happen. I've already decided that IF that day comes, I'll just have it removed. yep...then keeping it off will be so up to me. And that's scary.

[SherriWittler 1]

In the back of my mind I always wonder IF something will happen. I've already decided that IF that day comes, I'll just have it removed. yep...then keeping it off will be so up to me. And that's scary.

I know that i probaly would gain all of my weight back of I would ever have my bnd taken out. The band has been a VERY good tool for me and I hope I never have to have it removed. *keeping my fingers crossed!!*

[JoJoBanana 0]

God be with you in what I know is a difficult time.

I ve had ulcers and reflux long before I even heard of a lapband~but time and meds do heal these.

This is a strength builder and a temporary setback.

Thank God it wasn t ruptured or infected and they were able to leave your band intact.

I will have you in my Prayers.

Good Job on your weight loss success BTW.......

[losinit! 0]

hows it going now?