Possible Flipped Port/Frustrated

[Tiffykins 673]

I will attempt to keep this short and kind of the cliffnotes version for you.

October 1st 2008 - LapBand placed

October 2nd - recovering in the hospital, one of the nurses made me pull myself up into the bed, and I pulled something at my port site. An enormous hematoma developed that spread from the mid-abdominal line and extended down about 6-8 inches down my belly towards my belly button and stretched to the right side of my body.

7-8 days post op - The hematoma is still present and continues to spread across my abdomen. My surgeon "diagnosed" the condition as Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia with no blood study being ordered. My bloodwork including my platelets and RBC was normal pre-op. They can't remove my sutures because of the swelling at the port side and the enormous hematoma that is present. At one of the lap sites, the sutures can not be removed because there is a "scab" of some sort grown over it, the nurse "digs" around in the lap site and determines she can't get to them, and tells me to come back in a week.

3 days later, a disgusting dark brownish "cottage cheese consisitency" substance starts coming out of the lap site that the nurse dug around in. I go in, he "cleans it out" and I have an open wound and can see into my abdomen. I saw nice pink tissue, not a layer of fat, it is gross, and takes another 3 weeks to heal properly. That is only after, it seals up then gets infected and I demand to be put on antibiotics.

All of that healed by the week of Thanksgiving and I got my first fill. 2cc's, still no restriction. I wait until January 21st to go back in for another fill because my doctor refuses to give more than 1 fill every 2 months even though I call mid-December questioning my fill schedule. January 22, another fill, 1cc in, for a total of 3.5cc in a 10cc band, I was miserable. I had no restriction, was hungry all the time. He told me to call him back in 3 weeks for an update. I did as I was told, and he told me to come back in.

Oh yeah, I was down 30 pounds from October 1st to December 18th. I weighed in today and have gained 8 pounds since December. I am extremely "thick" through my abdomen, I carry the majority of my weight in my abdomen, and have always had constant port pain. Well, today he could not access my port. We are doing a fluoroscopy (spell check on that one), he dug around in my port site for several minutes and could not get in the port. He drew back blood on a few tries, it was beyond painful, it was more than pressure, I have a huge pain tolerance and I was almost in tears. I have a large amount of scar tissue around the port site due to the "popped" port suture (this is my assumption). He does NOT use fluoroscopy on a regular basis, and my port has always been "Weird" (almost inverted) since I came home from the hospital. My band has never had restriction except for immediate post op swelling. I also want to mention that I was given a total of 5cc of heparin during my hospital stay (over a 30 hour period), and had a horrible recovery. My blood pressure dropped dangerously low, I have never "thrown up" and only gotten something stuck 3 times and it was microwaved meat.

Anyways, I am scared out of my mind and need some direction, help, guidance. I can not change surgeons as I am married to an Air Force member, and our surgeon choices are very limited. There is only one other surgeon in our area and he won't take me for at least 1 year. Changing surgeons is not an option due to insurance rules with Tricare. I am so upset, I've had nothing but problems with the band since having the surgery and now this. I truly feel like it isn't my band, it's been my after care, and my surgeon. I know the band works, but I think it may not be the WLS for me. If I have to go through another surgery, I am considering a revision.

I do not have the emotional fortitude to continue with this, and it's been emotionally draining. My husband is about to deploy, I am a mom to a wonderful 10 year, and have a career that is being affected by my appointments and constant issues. . I have not really had issues with the band, but just not getting the results that I feel I should be getting. I have occasionally cheated, and have 'eaten around the band' on occasion, but for the most part, I have followed the band rules, yet am left feeling like I am not getting the results that I would like to get. I do not know what to do anymore.

I'll take any advice, support, or direction you are willing to give me.

Thank you for your time and input.

[silvers320 12]

Wow and I thought I was having some issues! I don't really have much advise but I am having some similar frustrations.

Was banded 7/25 - Had no issues until October when had some swelling and leakage from the port site. I was told it was nothing to worry about by the covering doctor (regular was on vacation). When I saw my regular doctor he told me I was infected and it had to come out.

So back to the hospital, port comes out. I get felt with huge whole in my stomach so it can heal on its own.

On 1/9 I have port put back in. I go back to the doctor on 1/25 and have a huge hematoma - again nothing to worry about. A couple of weeks later I am in extreme pain - I go see the doctor and he is convinced that it is headed to infection. So I get put on antibiotics daily which requires a daily trip to the hospital which is 1.5 hours away every day. We are headed to the second week of this fun!!!!

On the plus side I have lost about 100 pounds, put I would like to move on with my life already. I think that is what has me so pissed.

Anyway - no words of wisdom, other then the Band does work and is well worth all the efforts. Just wanted you to know you are not alone.