Could everyone feel your port?

[EmmaWang 0]

I am not able to feel my port. I was told by the nurse that my port is located under my long incision. However, I touched the area around it, actually I touched and felt my entire abdominal area, but could not locate the port. Does this pose a potential problem for filling? My first filling is scheduled on next Thursday. I am very concerned with where my port it. I hope this does not mean I would have to do a band reposition. I mean, I ony had the surgery about 1 month ago.

[lacasst 1]

I could barely feel my port in the beginning too.I can now feel it very easily.So I think as you lose more weight it get's easier to feel.Dont worry unless the Doc tell's you that you have something to worry about!!:eek:

[rathsog 0]

Try flexing your stomach muscles (in my case what little of them there were :eek::w00t:) and see if that pushes it up a bit.

I would suspect your doc. won't have trouble finding it.

Oh, and by the way, it's not directly under that incision. For me, it's down and over to the right about an inch.

Edited April 6, 2009 by rathsog

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

I can't feel mine either! But my doctor's physician's assistant felt it immediately -- guess she knows exactly what it should feel like which is, apparently, not like what it looks like, LOL. She's done both my fills without any hesitation. You should be fine!

[EmmaWang 0]

Thank you all very much. Now I feel much better. I started my soft food phase beginning last week. Even though I've eating pretty healthy food - fish, eggs, fat free cottage cheese, Tofu and vege, I certainly have been eating 6-8 OZ each meal. Since I couldn't feel the port, I was afraid that because I ate too much at each meal, so I messed the band up. When I go in for my first fill next Thursday, hopefully my nurse will have no problem finding my port just like Cathy's physician's assistant finding hers.

[Q8bandster 0]

try to lay on ur back and press gently under the long incision , its much easier to detect it while laying back..

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

You're really not eating way too much. Remember, you don't have a fill yet so your band is wide open. Your doc willl have no problem finding your port. I belond two two LB forums and between them I've only heard a couple of reports where someone's port wasn't readily accessible and both times the port was tilted. Not sure why that was so but if I've only seen two reports like that, it must be pretty rare. That means you're not a statistic!!! Good luck, and let us know how the first fill goes.

[Good4me1313 54]

Don't worry about it, I still cannot feel mine either. However, I have had two fills one by the surgeon and one by his assistant, both were able to access my port first try, no problems. They really do know what they are doing!!

Good luck........

[EmmaWang 0]

I tried last night laying on my back to feeling around my incision area (both up and down, left to right). I still couldn't feel it. My concern first was that if I couldn't feel it at all, would it create a problem to the doctor or nurse who is going to do my fill on Thursday. Yes, I was worried that my band was tilted. Since Good4me's doctor and nurse had no problems doing her fills while she couldn't find hers. I guess I shouldn't worry myself so much. Cathy thanks for the advice. I have a worrisome nature. I'll come back and let everyone know how the first fill goes on Thursday.

[EmmaWang 0]

Hi Everybody,

I'd like to report that I just got my first fill this morning. After I went into the doctor's office, I told the nurse that how much I have been eating at every meal. She laughed and said "yes, you do need a fill". The PA asked me to lie on my back on the table, bump up my tummy then lift up my head. It was like doing an exercise. She then rubbed my tummy and found the port. My port is actually located right above the big incision (only 0.25 inch from the incision, very close) She pushed the needle in (it hurt a bit, felt like a sting) and moved up and down for a minute trying to locate the port access point. It hurt a little when she was moving the needle up and down, but it was bearable. Finally she found it. She gave me 4.4 cc to a 9cm realize band. She said that my port just sucked all the saline in. I was told that my band could hold maximum 11 cc of saline. The entire procedure took about 10-15 minutes. So it was not as scary as I thought before.

My stomach felt a little different than before after drinking one cup of Water. It felt a little like after the surgery. But I wasn’t burping or feeling nausea. So she released me.

She also told me to stay on liquid for two days then soft food for another two days. Then I could go back to regular food. I know that 4.4 cc is pretty aggressive comparing to most of the first fills that I read in this forum. Hopefully it would work out fine. I bought 2 cases of EAS brand Protein shake (coffee with caramel flavor). It tastes much better than what I had before. I drank half carton down, I was not hungry anymore.

[Marmite_crumpet 0]

Unfortunately, not only can I feel my port, I can see it too :sad:

I have a haematoma above the port site which, 2 months on, still hasn't been absorbed.

Check out my "lump":

[EmmaWang 0]

Hi Marmit,

Yeah the "lump" is obvious. Is "lump" resulted from your surgery or first fill? Have you talked to you doctor about this? If it were hematoma, I am sure it will be absorbed sooner or later. Everybody is different in healing over an injury. My Mom is a slow "healer". She needs almost twice as much time to get healed as others. I hope the lump gets down soon.

[Marmite_crumpet 0]

Hi Marmit,

Yeah the "lump" is obvious. Is "lump" resulted from your surgery or first fill? Have you talked to you doctor about this? If it were hematoma, I am sure it will be absorbed sooner or later. Everybody is different in healing over an injury. My Mom is a slow "healer". She needs almost twice as much time to get healed as others. I hope the lump gets down soon.

Had it since surgery. Surgeon says it will go down when it is reabsorbed ... in time.

As far as healing is concerned, I am actually a fast healer. My scars looked good very soon after surgery (I actually posted pics in the "Scar Stages" thread 7 days post-op :sad:).

I'm back for another fill next week so we'll discuss my lump then.

[Good4me1313 54]

I am glad all went well with your fill today!

[EmmaWang 0]

I am glad all went well with your fill today! :thumbup:

Thank you. But occasionally I got this "congested" feeling in the chest" and sometimes my abdomen felt pain (bearable) just like the feeling I had when I have my period. I don’t if this symbols that my fill might be too tight?