Please help! Infection at port area

[TJWOOD 0]

Hi everyone. I am hoping someone can please help me. I have been experiencing so many complications and I am in so much despair. I apologize in advance for this long posting. I was banded nine weeks ago. I am a self-pay and paid $15,000. After 5 weeks and my first fill, I had major pain on my left side near my diaphragm where the band is located. My LB doctor told me there was nothing he could do in his office (no testing equipment) and if I felt that much pain, I should go to the ER. After 8 hrs in the ER and a battery of tests, and an $8,500 bill, I was told they can’t find anything wrong. I was given a prescription for pain killers and sent home. Upon follow up with my lap band doctor, he said that it is just one of those things. The pain finally went away two weeks later and I hoped that it was in the past. About two weeks later, at 8 weeks post-op, I went in for my second fill. That same evening, the port area began bruising and I assumed this was normal, like when getting a shot. After one week, the bruising turned into a dark red and itchy rash about 5 inches in diameter. I became increasingly concerned and had my LB doctor look at it. He prescribed some oral antibiotics and told me to keep an eye on it. Four days later, the red rash turned into a full blown, ugly infection. It was directly over the port incision (which had already healed and closed over the previous 8 weeks). Today, the infection looked nasty. It was bubbling along the area where the port incision is, about 4 inches long. My doctor had me come in immediately this afternoon. He had me lay down and I thought he was squeezing the blistering area to drain the Fluid. It was incredibly PAINFUL and I begged him to stop. I then looked down and was horrified to see a hole that was almost twice the size of a silver dollar right into my abdomen. He wasn’t “draining” it but scraping/digging out the infection/dead skin tissue. I thought I was going to pass out right there. Most of what he told me was only half understood because I was in a state of shock and disbelief. He stuffed a big wad of gauze in me, covered it up and told me to come back tomorrow morning to see “how I respond to the treatment”. He said he will have to schedule me for a "scope" (whatever that is) to see if I have any band erosion and possibly schedule me for emergency surgery to remove everything. Of course I'm still trying to get over the hole in my stomach. I can’t help but think that I will be disfigured forever, not to mention broke. And for 8 weeks the only fills I had were 2CC each and have had zero restriction. I feel like I’m the poster child for everything that can go wrong with the Lap Band. I wonder if my initial pain has something to do with this and my doctor was not vigilant enough. It seems like this infection was festering even before the rash began.

Edited October 29, 2008 by TJWOOD

[gone 4 ever 6]

TJ. I am so sorry about what you are going thru. I understand how bad that hurt. Years ago I had emergency surgery. I was in the hospital for 2weeks. Went home and 2 days later went back to my Dr. I had a severe infection. He ripped me open right in his office. No pain meds, nothing. I came up off that table almost. He then put me back in the hospital for 3 more weeks. Even after I came home I had a gapping hole that I had to have cleaned and stuffed 3 times a day. It took almost another 3 weeks for that to heal. My stomach is nothing pretty to look at.(minus the fat and strech marks and a c-section scare) I pray that you heal quickly and don't have to have surgery. Let us know what is going on please.

[JamieNP 20]

I am so sorry you are going through this.

I had issues 36 hours post op and ended up in the hospital for a week. They thought it was either an infection or a reaction to the band. After multiple antibiotics, things are much better and my site looks good. But I am one month post op and I am scared to death something is going to happen. Every twinge, pain or gas bubble scares me ( I had severe nausea and vomiting post op).

Hopefully there is not any issues with the band itself and you get to keep your band. Keep us updated!

[TJWOOD 0]

I just got back from the doctor's office and thought I would provide an update. He pulled the dressings out and looked at the wound. I suppose while I was in shock yesterday, everything looked bigger than it actually was. The actual size of the hole is about the size of a quarter, not twice the size of a silver dollar like I thought yesterday. Sorry for the alarm. The hole doesn't go all the way through into my abdomen so I don't have to worry about Soup coming out when I'm drinking it. Although last night, in front of my family, I held a bowl up to my belly while I was drinking Water just in case. I can't understand why my family looks at me and just shake their heads. The hole is through all the entire layers of skin and goes right through to the muscles of the abdomen. Pretty gross. Today, the doctor said that the infection/wound looks "really good" whatever that means. I guess he was comparing it to the way it looked yesterday. It appears that the infection is now under control since all the infected "stuff" was removed yesterday. He said it also appears that the port may not be infected. It is an inch or two away from the hole and does not have infection directly next to it. He wants to continue treating the wound with dressings and antibiotics before doing an endoscopony. This is the scope they insert through your mouth into your stomach to check for "erosion". If the infection clears and the wound heals, then there's a fair chance that the band and port are okay as this means that the infection is just localized to the area that it's in. I am going back tomorrow morning and he is setting up a home care nurse to come to my house and change the dressings twice a day. I do not want to do this myself since I have a very weak stomach (no pun intended). I don't know what this cost will be or who pays for it. The doctor's office manager is setting it up and didn't ask for insurance info or say anything about the cost so I am hoping he pays for it. The doctor seemed only concerned about erosion because the infection had to come from somewhere and that's one of the logical places. The other places are the port or from the needle from my last fill. When I went to the ER 3 or 4 weeks ago, they did comprehensive blood tests that should have shown the infection if it had existed at that time. Common sense tells me that the infection started after the ER visit and right after the fill that I had two weeks ago. I am really hoping that this will prove to be the case. The other good thing is the low grade fevers I've had off and on over the weekend have stopped as of yesterday.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

I’m not sure how things will turn out, but I’ll post an update when I know. I tried to be descriptive in case someone else has a similar problem, now or in the future, and this problem of mine proves to be helpful for them to better understand things. I know from reading about other people’s experiences, I have been helped.<o:p></o:p>

[peaches9 3]

I just got back from the doctor's office and thought I would provide an update. He pulled the dressings out and looked at the wound. I suppose while I was in shock yesterday, everything looked bigger than it actually was. The actual size of the hole is about the size of a quarter, not twice the size of a silver dollar like I thought yesterday. Sorry for the alarm. The hole doesn't go all the way through into my abdomen so I don't have to worry about Soup coming out when I'm drinking it. Although last night, in front of my family, I held a bowl up to my belly while I was drinking Water just in case. I can't understand why my family looks at me and just shake their heads. The hole is through all the entire layers of skin and goes right through to the muscles of the abdomen. Pretty gross. Today, the doctor said that the infection/wound looks "really good" whatever that means. I guess he was comparing it to the way it looked yesterday. It appears that the infection is now under control since all the infected "stuff" was removed yesterday. He said it also appears that the port may not be infected. It is an inch or two away from the hole and does not have infection directly next to it. He wants to continue treating the wound with dressings and antibiotics before doing an endoscopony. This is the scope they insert through your mouth into your stomach to check for "erosion". If the infection clears and the wound heals, then there's a fair chance that the band and port are okay as this means that the infection is just localized to the area that it's in. I am going back tomorrow morning and he is setting up a home care nurse to come to my house and change the dressings twice a day. I do not want to do this myself since I have a very weak stomach (no pun intended). I don't know what this cost will be or who pays for it. The doctor's office manager is setting it up and didn't ask for insurance info or say anything about the cost so I am hoping he pays for it. The doctor seemed only concerned about erosion because the infection had to come from somewhere and that's one of the logical places. The other places are the port or from the needle from my last fill. When I went to the ER 3 or 4 weeks ago, they did comprehensive blood tests that should have shown the infection if it had existed at that time. Common sense tells me that the infection started after the ER visit and right after the fill that I had two weeks ago. I am really hoping that this will prove to be the case. The other good thing is the low grade fevers I've had off and on over the weekend have stopped as of yesterday.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

I’m not sure how things will turn out, but I’ll post an update when I know. I tried to be descriptive in case someone else has a similar problem, now or in the future, and this problem of mine proves to be helpful for them to better understand things. I know from reading about other people’s experiences, I have been helped.<o:p></o:p>

You poor thing! I am so sorry that this is happening to you. I am glad that the infection is getting under control and that the Dr. is confident that your Band and Port are intact and unaffected. Hopefully this is just an aweful bump in the road for you.

However, the costs that You have endured? Augh, I'm sorry but I'd be INSISTING that the Dr. covered those in full... it certainly sounds like either his OR was unclean, or procedures were, or the Fill Needle was unclean... How else could that have gotten infected, as you said YOU were all checked out Healthwise prior to surgery.

I will keep my fingers crossed for you and wish you an uneventfull and speedy recovery.

I had a leak in my tubing, that had to be corrected with a re-surgery last March... the Fill nurse had nicked the tubing (twice) during TWO fills... anyways it was months before I could get it repaired or prove to them that I DID NOT have restriction. Long story short, everything was paid for BY the Clinic not me... I too was self pay $18K

[TJWOOD 0]

Here is an update. Tomorrow will be three weeks since my port incision infection was cleaned out. The open wound has beeen healing well. It realy is amazing how the human body heals. I have learned to change the dressings myself three times a day. The wound ('hole") needs to heal from the inside out. All the redness is gone. You would think that I should be on the road to recovery, but I am still concerened. I have had a low grade fever on and off since, but recently the fever has been increasing toward the 101 to 103 range. The doctor says there is no external eveidence of an infection. The pain I had before has also returned. It is almost in the center, slightly left, under my rib cage. I think it where the band is. It feel like it pushes up against my diaphragm. My whole abdominal area and upper chest is sore. It is almost unbearable to lay down and sleep and if it wasn't for the fever knocking me out, I probably couldn't. The 11/20 is my next appointment. I feel like telling my doctor to either fix me of get this band out of me. I want to be normal again.

[peaches9 3]

Here is an update. Tomorrow will be three weeks since my port incision infection was cleaned out. The open wound has beeen healing well. It realy is amazing how the human body heals. I have learned to change the dressings myself three times a day. The wound ('hole") needs to heal from the inside out. All the redness is gone. You would think that I should be on the road to recovery, but I am still concerened. I have had a low grade fever on and off since, but recently the fever has been increasing toward the 101 to 103 range. The doctor says there is no external eveidence of an infection. The pain I had before has also returned. It is almost in the center, slightly left, under my rib cage. I think it where the band is. It feel like it pushes up against my diaphragm. My whole abdominal area and upper chest is sore. It is almost unbearable to lay down and sleep and if it wasn't for the fever knocking me out, I probably couldn't. The 11/20 is my next appointment. I feel like telling my doctor to either fix me of get this band out of me. I want to be normal again.

You should not still be having a fever! I get to an ER now and not wait until the 20th...

Are there any NURSES out there?:smile2:

[plain 12]

Are there any NURSES out there?:rolleyes2:

There are no nurses that can diagnose a stranger over the internet. The best advice remains what you said :

If one has any concerns, see a doc. If one even THINKS the concern is serious, go to the ER.

[TJWOOD 0]

I will continue to blog because hopefully my experience can provide some help to someone else (not a substitution for medical advise of course). My Lap Band doctor will not be back in town until next Tuesday due to his father passing away. I saw my primary care physician (pcp) on Monday, the 17th. My pcp took a culture of the would, blood test, and two blood cultures. The cultures will take 3 days to get results and we won't have them unti Thurday or Friday. The blood test portion was completed and the results showed that I have some anemia (level of 10.7 whatever that means) and a white blood count of 15,900. The doctor said I definitely have an infection still in me, but he needs to wait until the cultures come back to exactly what kind. I can't believe my lap band doctor never oredered these. For now, the PCP is starting me on Leviquon antibiotics. He said he can change it if we need to once the culture results come in. I probably will give it one more day before I give in and go to the ER. My fever hit 103.5 today.

[CSBinABQ 0]

How awful for you! I have been through a staph infection incident and it wasn't fun.

I'll be banded in Dec in AZ, and wanted to make sure I didn't have your doctor. What was his or the clinics name, please.

And thanks for bloging your experience, it is great info!

[SaintsandSailors 0]

How awful for you! I have been through a staph infection incident and it wasn't fun.

I'll be banded in Dec in AZ, and wanted to make sure I didn't have your doctor. What was his or the clinics name, please.

And thanks for bloging your experience, it is great info!

I'm just a lurker here and have also been following TJWOOD's experiences. I think I read that her doctor is Dr. Schlesinger and the clinic is called Arizona Weight Loss Solutions (something like that). I've read on Obesity Help that the best lap band surgeon in all of Arizona is supposed to be Dr. Simpson, who only does lap bands and has the most experience with them and another good one is Dr. Debarros, who reportedly has a lap band himself. Hope this helps.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I'm just a lurker here and have also been following TJWOOD's experiences. I think I read that her doctor is Dr. Schlesinger and the clinic is called Arizona Weight Loss Solutions (something like that). I've read on Obesity Help that the best lap band surgeon in all of Arizona is supposed to be Dr. Simpson, who only does lap bands and has the most experience with them and another good one is Dr. Debarros, who reportedly has a lap band himself. Hope this helps.

Schlesinger??? Oh Lord... I had no idea. I wish I would have seen this sooner.

Schlesinger has more paid posters than any other AZ doc, not here but on OH. It's sickening to see them in action. Check out the revision boards on Obesity Help - Weight Loss Surgery, Obesity Support Groups, Obesity Forums, Surgical Procedures and you'll see what I mean. If anyone writes anything the least bit negative about the doc on the patient testimonials the paid posters dog pile them.

OP... you seriously need to have an upper endoscopy to rule out erosion. When you have a port infection the bacteria can often times travel up the tubing to the band and cause erosion. This is a big deal.

Are you in AZ? If there is anything I can do to help please let me know. Stay on top of this, don't let any doctor pooh pooh this, this is a big deal. You can lose your band over something like this.

As for Simpson... he's okay. I don't like that he doesn't follow his patients after surgery, the rest of his staff do. There are several very good surgeons in Phoenix and surrounding areas. Burger and Aldridge in Flag are good, St. Lukes docs are good.

OP, if there is anything I can do to help please let me know.

[SaintsandSailors 0]

PAID POSTERS!!? Too bad the AZ OH boards aren't reading about what he's doing to this poor woman. They should know about this. This person should report him to the medical board. I am wondering why didn't he didn't give her antibiotics in the first place for that size of an infection? Ignoring internal infection is very serious - people can die from infection! In fact, TJWOOD hasn't posted lately and the last message said she had 103+ fever!!

Interesting that his office told TJ that the doctor wouldn't be in the office until Tuesday. I just looked at the AZ OH board for fun and someone whose profile name is "Lizzie" just posted on her profile today that he performed revision surgery on her LAST Friday, Nov. 21st! So, apparently, he WAS in town! But, I guess he was only available for new patients! $$$$

TJ, please give us an update! I'm concerned! Even more so because your doctor's office lied to you! This is awful beyond words!

Edited November 28, 2008 by SaintsandSailors

[lapbandkitten 0]

Wow, you are sure hell bent on bashing this gals doc!

I read what TJ wrote and she stated she went to the ER initially and had a complete work up and nothing was found then. So then she was better but had another issue several weeks later, after her fill. She was then given antibiotics by the LB doctor. There was not open wound at that time. Then she posts that she did have a wound but that it was not as large as she thought quarter size. All this after she initially posted it was about 5 inches. I know its scary to have issues and the fact she paid a ton of money for this. But why are you blaming the doctor? It appears as if he did the right things, sending her to the ER and THEY found nothing wrong, then prescribed oral antibiotics cleaned the wound and cared for the patient. This is only her side. (maybe you should go back and re-read her posts)

As far as a doctor doing a surgery on a patient a Friday when they are due back in the office the next Tuesday, maybe he was not seeing patients in his office but doing surgery already scheduled to those patients did not have to wait to get rescheduled. How devastating to have your surgery postponed!

Sweaty, do you just like to cause problems for the docs not on your recommended list? work for another doc? Get real to tell someone to report a doc to a medical board is outrageous! You seem to "lurk" just to cause a commotion! I read your posts on the OH board! WOW you have some real hate in you! you seem to push Dr Simpson for some reason. Maybe you are paid to promote him?

These boards are to help us not to spread hate and lies!

No I do not know the doc in question nor do I live in Az. I just was looking at this post and was amazed at the nasty comments!

[SaintsandSailors 0]

Wow, you are sure hell bent on bashing this gals doc!

I read what TJ wrote and she stated she went to the ER initially and had a complete work up and nothing was found then. So then she was better but had another issue several weeks later, after her fill. She was then given antibiotics by the LB doctor. There was not open wound at that time. Then she posts that she did have a wound but that it was not as large as she thought quarter size. All this after she initially posted it was about 5 inches. I know its scary to have issues and the fact she paid a ton of money for this. But why are you blaming the doctor? It appears as if he did the right things, sending her to the ER and THEY found nothing wrong, then prescribed oral antibiotics cleaned the wound and cared for the patient. This is only her side. (maybe you should go back and re-read her posts)

As far as a doctor doing a surgery on a patient a Friday when they are due back in the office the next Tuesday, maybe he was not seeing patients in his office but doing surgery already scheduled to those patients did not have to wait to get rescheduled. How devastating to have your surgery postponed!

Sweaty, do you just like to cause problems for the docs not on your recommended list? work for another doc? Get real to tell someone to report a doc to a medical board is outrageous! You seem to "lurk" just to cause a commotion! I read your posts on the OH board! WOW you have some real hate in you! you seem to push Dr Simpson for some reason. Maybe you are paid to promote him?

These boards are to help us not to spread hate and lies!

No I do not know the doc in question nor do I live in Az. I just was looking at this post and was amazed at the nasty comments!

I don't "have it in" for anyone and don't consider my comments "nasty". They are just my opinion and it's a free country the last time I looked! If this were happening to me, it is what I would do. TJWOOD can do whatever she wants. it's her decision. NOT MINE AND NOT YOURS!!

A. I was just answering someone else's question as to who this woman's doc was, because she said she wanted to avoid going to him! Why don't you get on her case? I am not even the one who mentioned that this doc had paid posters. That was someone else as well! I never knew there was such a thing as paid posters! And, you think I AM one of them? Well, for a "paid poster", I'm not doing my job very well. Only (now) 3 (THREE) posts on here and maybe 8-10 on ObesityHelp over a 6-8 month period?

B. I do not "push" Simpson. I don't even know Simpson, or any of these docs for that matter. I only know what I have read from what others have posted, and maybe they are ALL paid posters! I have no idea - truly! Someone was asking about LB doctors in AZ, so I repeated what I had read. I also mentioned Debarros because I read that he has a lapband himself and has been through the experience. And, because you brought it up, I just read my old comments on the AZ board from MONTHS ago (I hadn't been on there in MONTHS before checking in recently) and I also mentioned in ONE post ONLY that I read that a Doctor in Mexico called Aceves was supposed to be good.

C. This woman should not have had to go to her primary physician to test for infection, after all that time with the infection growing in her body - her surgeon should have taken blood, urine, or whatever was necessary when she showed the first signs, instead of just scraping out the wound and letting her go home to a dangerously high fever. The PCP knew what to do! Why didn't her surgeon? What if she had waited a week or so to see her surgeon and not gone to her PCP? And if her surgeon did give her antibiotics (it appeared as though he was just treating the wound, not the systemic infection), why didn't they work? Perhaps she needed ones which were specific to her particular breed of infection which he didn't bother to test for.

P.S. I am not the only one on here who is concerned that this poor woman's surgeon has "dropped the ball" with her care. Perhaps I am the only one who mentioned that he should be reported for it. Maybe that was hasty, but this is the type of thing people can die from and should be taken seriously, as others too have said. Just because someone has an M.D. after his/her name doesn't mean they never make mistakes. If someone is not doing their job properly, they should be called on the carpet for it, no matter if they are a "doctor"! In fact, even more so BECAUSE they are a doctor and have sick people depending on them to make the proper decisions and do the proper tests! Plus, if you read what TJWOOD actually wrote, she said that the doctor's office said that he would not be BACK IN TOWN until Tuesday, so if he was performing surgery on Friday, he was OBVIOUSLY in town.

I'll tell you what I do hate and that's doctors thinking they are above everyone else and lying to patients! That also goes for doctors not informing patients about all the weight loss options that are available to them; they like to just inform patients about the specific surgeries that they perform. Like it or not, medicine is a business just like everything else and everyone is trying to make a buck. I guess that explains the need for "paid posters".

And, if you think they know what they are doing in the ER, you are sadly mistaken. The ER sends people home all the time after misdiagnosing them only to have the patient come back dangerously ill.

BTW, her last message said she had 103+ fever. I'm more concerned about why she isn't posting, than worrying about what her surgeon did or didn't do at this point! She may VERY sick!

It is not "outrageous" (as you say) to report a doctor for not responding appropriately to infection - another surgeon in AZ got reprimanded and cited by the medical board for it and got dropped from his hospital, leaving the patients he had in his pipeline in the lurch - that was about 6 months ago. And, a few other prominent surgeons in AZ have also been cited. Many more than once. You can read for yourself on the medical board, if you are so interested.

Maybe you work for the doctor who did this to her? Maybe you're one of those "paid posters" that BubbleButt was talking about!! Sure sounds like it! Let's see how many others of you are going to jump onto this board and attack this post! I guess BubbleButt was RIGHT!

Edited December 3, 2008 by SaintsandSailors