I have a problem with my band!!

Tracy W. · June 18, 2008

I have had my band for 10 months, had 4 fills and have been doing very well. I have lost 55 pounds. The other day, though, I had some pain in my port area, and later went to eat lunch and no longer felt any restriction. I went to see my surgeon today and he said that there was no Fluid left in my band. He told me that the tube may be detached from the port, or a faulty tube to the band occured, or a leak happened somewhere. He has only had three cases of it ever, and that It may be a simple fix, or a complete replacement of my band. I need to schedule surgery again, and he will not know what it is until he goes in there. Should I do a local area surgery checking the port and tubing, or go under to check it all? I can not get a date for over a month for the big surgery, so I am back to the beginning again. It is very depressing. Has anyone had this happen to them???

Tracy:confused2:

starrgirrl · June 18, 2008

Hi Tracy-

I had a leak in the tubing right at the port site. It was very difficult to diagnose. They had me go through xrays, nuclear medicine. Finally the doctor decided to go in surgically and check the port and tubing. That's when he found the problem.

Assuming that the issue is only with the port and tubing, corrective surgery is much easier than the original banding. Mine was done in a surgical suite as an outpatient. I was home the same day and had minimal pain. I was back at work the next day.

Actually, I had port revision surgery twice. (the first time was to reposition a flipped port, second time was to fix the leak). Both times were an easy recovery.

Lots of prayers to you for graceful resolution!

Tracy W. · June 19, 2008

I hope it is the minimal port or tubing leakage. I think the problem is the port because I have discomfort sometimes, and feel that it moves around which may have caused the leak.

I have scheduled for July 2nd. Did you go under, or was it local anesthesia?

Daisalana · June 19, 2008

My fills never went in, so about 6 months post-op they decided either my port had flipped, or there was a hole in the tube, or the tube detached from the port. They said they wouldn't know till they got in there, from watching fluero, you couldn't tell where it came from, but the fills would just go 'sploosh' into my abdomen.

Anyway, in September 07 they went in, it ended up my port had flipped completely backward, so they moved it. The surgery was a million times easier, I was just barely sore. I was ready to go after that!! It sucks knowing you have to get a fix, I was the first one something like this had happened to his patients, but just know it's not the end of the world and you'll get through it :biggrin:

June 19, 2008

I didn't have a leak, but a flipped port. Like starrgirrl and FairFacade it was a breeze compared to the first surgery. I was up the next day with minimal pain. I'm almost a week post-op and am already 100%. Mine was done under general anesthesia in the OR.

I hope they can find the problem and get the problem resolved. I'm sorry you're having to go through this. It sucks. Hopefully the fix will be easy and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Melanie6101 · July 29, 2008

Do you mind me asking, were you responsible for the bill for this?

gfjeblon · July 29, 2008

Did your insurance pay for all the workups and procedures to repair this problem?

July 29, 2008

I was not responsible for the bill. The insurance paid most of it and the doctor's office picked up the rest.

mrs.sean · August 6, 2008

Hi Tracy,

I was banded Decemeber of 07. I had lost just over 20 pounds when I started losing all restriction and I started gaining weight. That was in May of 08. Then each time I went to get a fill I had no Fluid in the band. They discovered that my port had a leak and I had to go in for surgery to have port replacement. I had to wait about 5 weeks for surgery and gained 10 pounds waiting for the port replacement! My port replacement was 7/18/08. I got my first fill last week and I am finally getting back to losing weight! I was so frustrating having a complication and having to wait so long for the surgery and not being able to control myself from eating crap! Now I am trying to get off the extra weight I gained! I totally understand how you feel. Did you have the surgery yet?