Help! Scar tissue covering my port, can't get a fill!! Anyone else had this?

[alliecat 0]

Hi,

I am sad to say that I went in for my 1st fill about one month ago and my doctor wasn't able to get the needle in. I can't even begin to tell you how dissappointed and upset I was. He asked me to come in 2 weeks to try again, it was probably too much scar tissue. Two weeks later, still no fill, just a very painful experience trying to get the needle in.

He thought that maybe the port had healed sidways in my abdomen and the tube was getting kinked. I had to go back in for surgery again. My doc opened me up to check my port and told me afterward that it was still lying flat, but covered with a layer of scar tissue. He removed the tissue, gave me a fill and sewed me up. He said it would be fine and to come in for another fill in two weeks

2 weeks later I went in for another fill feeling somewhat confident that at least this time i would finally get a "normal" fill. Again I was being poked and prodded with a needle but the doctor wasn't able to get in. He then told me that this was happening to 2 other girls in his office and he had no idea why. The scar tissue keeps growing back over the port so thick that the needle cannot access it. I am heartbroken. Every time i go to the office, i see a stream of happy patients coming in and leaving after their fill is done. How I want to be one of those patients!!! My fills experience isn't anywhere near that! I get worried that my body is rejecting the band.

I was told to massage my port area and come back in one month to try again. My doc hopes that my body will absorb some of the scar tissue. If we still can't access it, then we will possibly have to replace the port with a different one and move the position of it on my abdomen. Still, this doesn't guarantee that the scar tissue won't grow back again.

I really would like to avoid this. Has this happened to anyone else out there?? Any advice on how to get rid of this darn scar tissue? Anyone know more about massaging techniques with reducing scar tissue? Or anything I can take orally (homeopathic or nutritional to help with scar tissue?)

I tend to be an optimist and never imagined having any trouble with my LAP-BAND®®. I can't tell you how defeating this whole experience has been for me. I try to work through my feelings and remind myself of all the things I have to be grateful for, but there are times that i feel so despondent about it and the tears start flowing.:bored:

Any advice is GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Thanks,

Allie

[if only 0]

oh Allie! I thought that I was the only one this has happened to!

I had my first fill last SAturday and the nurse had an awful bother getting into my port, it was extremely painful but she did give me a fill. unfortunately, I have been overfilled and I had to schedule an emergency unfill yesterday in Dublin, not my usual clinic. the nurse tried for an hour and a half to try to find my port, she said my port had moved to the side and that it was moving everytime she tried to access it. I had such a terrible experience and came back home again without the unfill. she said I had a lot of scar tissue and that the port was very deep (I assume she meant that it was buried in a lot of fat!)

she has referred me back to my usual clinic again next Monday and she is going to arrange for another more experienced nurse to deal with me. I honestly don't think I can go through the experience again. no one mentioned about re-siting my port and having another operation, that must have been dreadful for you.

I don't have an answer to your query but I hope someone else comes along with some good news for you, I will be watching your replies with keen interest.

hang in there!

[alliecat 0]

Eileen,

So sorry to hear that you have been having difficulty with fills as well. Hope that your appointment on Monday goes much easier for you. I know that it is an awful feeling to have them digging around for the port. Haven't gotten any response on this thread, but did a bit of research myself about massage and scar tissue.

Yes, you can break up scar tissue through massage. I have been working on my port area any chance i think of it. (translation = alot of the time :seeya: I read to massage the area to the point between discomfort and unbearable pain. not too much, not too little. i have found that this massage does make me tender in the port area, but not too bad and it has been getting easier. i use back and forth (cross hatch) technique with both my fingers and sometimes my knuckles. my hope is to absorb some of this scar tissue so that my port will be accessible. i'll find out in three weeks if it has been effective. i'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

my doc also told me that my port moved around alot. don't know about you but i was thinking that perhaps my port is moving due to the intense amount of pressure exerted on it while he's looking for a fill. (geez!) when he opened me up to look at my port, he said everything looked great except for the scar tissue. perhaps that would be alot more reassuring if the band was working properly! as it stands, scar tissue is enough of an issue for me...

hope any of this info helped. please keep me informed with how things go for you. even though we are across a vast ocean, perhaps we can be of some comfort to eachother by learning about and sharing our experiences.

on a side note, my grandfather was born in ireland and we still have family there. i've always wanted to visit your beautiful country and hope to make it there soon!

warmest regards,

Allie

[if only 0]

Eileen,

So sorry to hear that you have been having difficulty with fills as well. Hope that your appointment on Monday goes much easier for you. I know that it is an awful feeling to have them digging around for the port. Haven't gotten any response on this thread, but did a bit of research myself about massage and scar tissue.

Yes, you can break up scar tissue through massage. I have been working on my port area any chance i think of it. (translation = alot of the time I read to massage the area to the point between discomfort and unbearable pain. not too much, not too little. i have found that this massage does make me tender in the port area, but not too bad and it has been getting easier. i use back and forth (cross hatch) technique with both my fingers and sometimes my knuckles. my hope is to absorb some of this scar tissue so that my port will be accessible. i'll find out in three weeks if it has been effective. i'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

my doc also told me that my port moved around alot. don't know about you but i was thinking that perhaps my port is moving due to the intense amount of pressure exerted on it while he's looking for a fill. (geez!) when he opened me up to look at my port, he said everything looked great except for the scar tissue. perhaps that would be alot more reassuring if the band was working properly! as it stands, scar tissue is enough of an issue for me...

hope any of this info helped. please keep me informed with how things go for you. even though we are across a vast ocean, perhaps we can be of some comfort to eachother by learning about and sharing our experiences.

on a side note, my grandfather was born in ireland and we still have family there. i've always wanted to visit your beautiful country and hope to make it there soon!

warmest regards,

Allie

hi Allie

lovely to hear from you.

I have good news! I went to the Belfast clinic on Monday and I am sure someone must have been praying for me....the specialist nurse tried 4 times to access my port and wasn't able to, so she said that 'the professor' happened to be in the clinic for a consultation with another patient. he got into my port first time and gave me another 2 mls in my 14 ml band! there was no mention this time about scar tissue or moving port! I think that I may have been dealt with by inexperienced/incapable fill nurses.

he has recorded on my records exactly where my port is and tells me I should have no more problems, the relief as i'm sure you will appreciate, is enormous.

I now have good restriction and I am starting to think that things are going to get better for me from now on.

have you had your next fill appointment yet? I hope your surgeon is able to get into your port so that things can get moving for you too. I know how despairing this whole thing can get, we put so much hope into this operation and any setbacks are just terrible to deal with. I know my problems with my band were starting to take over my mind completely, I hope and pray that your scar tissue does not come back and your massages work. please let me know how you are getting on.

which part of Ireland did your grandfather come from? I live in Co tyrone which is in Northern Ireland. I have never been to America, like you, I hope to go someday, perhaps when I win the lottery!