Band Leaking and Pain

pioneerheartland · August 10, 2008

Hello All,

I was banded on 2-14-08 and have only lost 15 lbs. Since the surgery, I let me NP know I felt no restriction and he just keep bringing up exercise and recently, a food diary. I tried to tell him I was eating "good, approved" food but I was not feeling satisfied. As we talked, I happened to of mentioned after his last fill of 8cc I felt like I had been kicked by a horse in my chest afterward. He became concerned, checked my port fill, and explained my pain was due to the saline leaking in my body. He explained some of the ports have leaked but if the leak is in the line I would be responsible for the cost. If the port is leaking (which I hope to gosh it is) then the Lap Band company would pay for the port and it could be taken care of in an outpatient setting. The NP did stated he had a patient who experienced my situation and her port "fixed" itself with no further problems. He filled me up and left that appt with an appt in 7 days. This weekend, I know it has leaked again and now I think it has flipped since the port area is extremely sensitive and there is hard spot on the port. I know must give him a call tomorrow about the pain I am feeling.

I am very frustgrated and concerned since I was a self-pay and the self-pay covers for 12 months of visits only. I have already lost 6 months of free visits and now I may be liable for more costs.

Can anyone give advice on how to handle this situation and share your thoughts if my port has actually flipped?

Thanks-tucsonmom

snowbird · August 10, 2008

Can't your doctor do a fluoroscopy to be sure everything is in place?

If not, you might want to check with a couple of the Mexican doctors that will do a fluoro for $100 or less.

If you have gotten all your fills from your surgeon's office, I would think a leaky band should be covered by them too, since many leaks are caused by bad fills--piercing the tubing in error.

Sorry i don't have more to offer other than my sympathy for your troubles.

pioneerheartland · August 10, 2008

Hello,

The doctor has never used fluroscopy or anything like that for my fills. They just stick the needle in. Even with the doctor performing the fills, they still state that a nick in the line by the NP is not covered. They stated I signed off on that before the surgery.

hippmom · August 10, 2008

due to my fills being hard to do i feel the dr poked a hole in the tubing to my band, but of course that was never the way he looked at it so as a self pay i had to have the tubing replaced as an outpt. the dr didn't charge but i had to pay the hospital charges, but i think the baddest thing was the band never worked the 1st 6 months i had it and i got very discouraged. it has taken my 2 years to loose 66-68 lbs of the 100 i need to loose. btw i never associated the pain i had with a fill and leaking salline, i was always stuck 6-10 times each fill and just thought pain was part of it all!!!! i would not and do not recomend my dr. to anyone that talks to me about weight loss surg.