Where did my band go? Anyone else?

iamlisad · June 20, 2008

I really appreciate the insights that you have both offered me into the program at Magee. It's funny, I was in the exploratory pre-op phase for about a year and always saw Kelly in the office. Then post-op I've had Rachel. I haven't seen Dr. McClosky since surgery on 2/29. I've lost 35 pounds and I feel great, but I'm still very frustrated. So here's my question for you Magee folks for today....

In about 10 days I'll be leaving for a 10 day trip to Cambodia with some other Asia stops along the way. My kids were born there and we've gone back a couple of times now. During my last visit Rachel said that I would need to come and have my band emptied before flying that far and going to a location without easy access to healthcare. But, I only have 1.5 cc in my 10 cc band right now. I have NO restriction. She also said that when I get back I'd need to start over again at 1 cc and slowly build back up (build back up?? I'm nowhere...)

So I'm scheduled next Tuesday to have my band emptied and I'm thinking of just cancelling. I know this will probably make them mad, but is it my decision? Do you have any thoughts on this?

Thanks so much...

Lisa D

Pittsburgh, PA

Magee patient

Lunabeane · June 20, 2008

Lisa, why don't you call Kelly and ask her what she thinks? I know that some people have issues with flying...that's what I would be concerned about rather than the health care in Cambodia. There have been too many inconsistencies with Rachel for my liking. Have you considered speaking to Dr. McClosky? I'm not sure if she is approachable or not but I would certainly voice my concerns. I've learned to follow my gut instinct when it comes to the office. I've been very pleased with the nursing care and the surgeon but I am very cautious when it comes to the PA.

Susanbee · June 20, 2008

I would ask to speak to Dr. McCloskey....she's the one the really knows. Since you don't have any restriction I don't see why you need to be unfilled. I think the problem would come if you felt restriction and something would get stuck. But....i'm not a dr.....good luck....tell us what happened.....i'd like to know how the situation was handled...susan

iamlisad · June 30, 2008

I'm still waiting to hear back from Kelly about my scheduled un-fill tomorrow. I'm really reluctant to go in for it, but I'm not sure how they'll treat me if I decide just to cancel. I flew to California and back a week ago for work and to be honest upon arriving home I was a little tighter, for about a day. But at this point.... 4 months into it with 1.5 cc and no restriction, I think I'd welcome a little tightness. I'm hoping that once they discuss it they say just go ahead and go with the 1.5 but we shall see. I'll keep you posted!

Lisa

Lunabeane · June 30, 2008

Lisa,

I meant to get back to you after my first fill. Bill, the Nurse Practitioner that does my fills said that I didn't have to get an unfil when I travel to Peru. I have a 10cc band and Bill put 2cc's in upon my request to be conservative. I asked him to put 2cc's in because I was reluctant to be aggressive on my first fill. He was initially going to start with 3cc's. I wonder if you could request that he does your fills? I'm not sure if Dr. McClosky requires her fills to be done by certain people...but it's worth a try if you want someone that is more aggressive.

iamlisad · July 2, 2008

Thought I'd update you on what ended up happening. I called and asked to speak with Rachel since that is who my appointment was with. I was put through to Kelly's voicemail. She called me back and said that she really wanted me to come in to discuss this with Dr. McCloskey, so I did so yesterday. I still didn't "see" Dr. McCloskey, but I saw her surgical fellow and heard them talking about me in the hall.

They were very concerned about my going to Cambodia with anything in my band since I would have to go to Thailand (a short plane flight or long car ride) to find anyone who knows anything about bands. Since I was supposed to have 1.5 cc in the band, they wanted to take .5 back out. I reluctantly agreed.

Kelly came in to do the withdraw and could only get .5 cc out. It was NOT my imagination that going from 1 cc to 1.5 cc left me with less restriction than I had before, because God knows where it went but it sure wasn't in my band. She ended up simply putting .5 cc back in. Kelly was great and assured me that as soon as I get home she will give me my 1 cc and I can come back in every 2 weeks to get more as needed until I have restriction.

When I went to check out and make my appointment for my refill, they told me that I already had an appointment for that on July 22. I knew that appointment was to be with Rachel so I asked if I could change the appointment to either Kelly or Bill. The response was a hushed, "Rachel is no longer with us." So maybe I wasn't the only one having problems??

Anyway, we're off today for our trip. I'll let you all know how an almost empty band does on a 15 hour flight since that's our travel time from Newark to Hong Kong. Thanks again for the suggestions and support from the Magee folks! I really appreciated it.

Cheers -

Lisa