I did not sign up for this!

[Social gal 0]

I was banded on 10/28/09. I have had several previous surgeries and have come through them with no problems. So... I knew something was not right when the days following my surgety my DH was literally lowering and lifting me in/out of bed in order to go to the bathroom. At the most, I was getting down 2 Protein Shakes a day and 1/2 bottle of Water. I was in extreme pain and felt like I had a lot of gas trapped under my left rib cage.

Saturday night I call the on-call nurse and she advised me to go to the emergency room. There they gave me Fluid for dehydration, stong pain meds, and a CT scan. The scan was normal so after getting hydrated, was sent home. Miserable all day Sunday and this morning.

Finally I call a co-worker who was banded in Feb. by a different surgeon. She told me that all the the pain I was in was abnormal. I mentioned that at surgery my surgeon puts in 3 ccs to start you out with. My co-worker flipped out when she heard this!! She told me that the reason I was so miserable is becaus I am too full. I got into the surgeon and the first thing he did was take the 3 ccs out.

I feel better but but am very wearly of this whole process. Could anyone give me some words of wisdom?

PS - now I can eat soft Proteins - any suggestions?

Lisa

[123crod 170]

Wow sorry you had such a hard time. I hope you will start feeling well soon!! I had no problems but know a few people who have but now that they are healed up they are feeling so much better physically and mentally.

Hang in there it will get better!

[Lady Lap Band 71]

That was so ridiculous that your surgeon put Fluid iny our band. that is not suppose to happen until 4-6 weeks post op and even then 3cc is WAY TOO MUCH for 1 fill. Go very very very slow with fills from here on out......I would start like every 4 weeks (3 if you feel no differece) and just get 1 hald of a cc each time. the slower the better with the band!

[pipedoc 0]

3cc sounds like alot, but what size is your band? they make them up to 14cc so if you have a big band, 3cc might not be that much

[scrappin spud 0]

I was banded on the 29th...so far so good, however, my dr recommended drinking 64 to 100 oz of fluids a day and walking 10 minutes each hour for the first 2 days I was home to move the gas bubbles...my shoulders were hurting because of the gas and my back was also hurting because of no BM...today is Monday and all is well, I am still tired but the gas is gone and I try and walk at least 5 minutes each hour which includes twice up and down my stairs at home to keep me strong....I think my abdomen healed quicker with my hysto but I am sure that we will both heal soon....hang in there...plenty of Oct bandsters to give support.

[isaviolinist 11]

It really pisses me off when surgeons put Fluid in the band at the time of surgery. It just seems like the cause of many unnecessary complications.

I don't think 3 ccs is necessarily too much for the first fill (my first fill was 5 cc's and I didn't have any restriction afterward), but I am strongly against putting Fluid in the band at the time of surgery. Glad you are feeling better now.

[Michelle1972 0]

I was banded Monday 10-26-09. Like the others said, you aren't supposed to have a fill for several weeks out. Take care of yourself and I promise it will get better.

Don't let this get you down!

[Patterba 6]

Lisa,

I too am sorry you had this experience. It is tough enough when you return home and have to make so many other adjustments. Glad you took the bull by the horns and got the surgeons attention.

I concur with everyone else that has posted, no fill at point of band implant. I hope your surgeon doesn't think he was doing you a favor..

Hopefully the wealth of experiences on this board will also serve as your voice of reason, but it sounds like you knew something was wrong and acted on it.

Good luck to you.. hope the rest of your voyage goes smoother..

Be well.

[gbakerc 2]

realize bands are implanted empty. The Lap band is typically implanted with 3 to 4cc's in the band. I think if you search around most people that have the Lap band AP are implanted with some Fluid in the band. Rarely is this an issue. You could have very well had excessive swelling which could have caused these issues. I don't think you should be wary. After you heal and start getting appropriate fills I think you will feel better. It was a really tough way to start. Hopefully you will be better soon. Best of luck.

Greg

[kechianyree 0]

I have the lapband and it was implanted empty and my surgeon says I won't get a fill for 4 weeks til Dec to make sure I heal before we do anything else

[sweetheart181 10]

I have a 10cc lap band and my doctor puts in 3cc's during surgery for most patients. I never had a problem with it, I'm actually glad he did it because my bandster hell was a lot shorter than most.

[Chellz423 0]

wow, we had the same situation, I was banded 10/7 and on 10/13 they had to remove alll 3 ccs because I was swollen and the band was too tight too soon. I'm much better now, I go for my first fill on 11/17....can't wait to get the restriction back......get well soon

[LisaMc 1]

Wow! We live paralell lives....and my name is "Lisa" too! How about that! I had my surgery on 8/28 and went through the same exact situation you described. After 3 days, I went back to the surgeon's office in a heap. He told me that it is a "guess" at best how much Fluid to start you out with. There is also swelling. Some people swell more than others. The swelling acts as restriction too. When you have swelling and you add too much Fluid, you have double restriction. They took out all of my fluid (I had 3 cc's) in the office. I felt better immediately! I walked out of that office feeling fine after being so sick I could barely walk in there.

I will warn you that taking all of the fluid out of the band can be a problem later. It has been a very slow process for me to get some restriction after being sick. When the fills are .5 cc's at a time, it can take 6 fills just to get you back to where you started.

Get some fluid taken out. You will feel so much better right away. Good luck to you! I feel (or should have said "I have felt") your pain! :thumbup:

[Colls 0]

I was banded on the 20th and had 3 cc's at the time of surgery. However, I was not allowed to leave the hospital until I was able to drink 4 oz of liquid in one hour. The process was very time consuming:

1 oz in an hour (4 times)

2 or in an hour (4 times)

3 oz in an hour (4 times)

4 oz in an hour (4 times)

I was okay until I reached the last hour of the 4 oz - I got very nauseous and had to stay an extra night. My surgeon game in and told me there are a couple of reasons this could have happened. One - they took me off of the IV medication and gave me two pills to swallow. In order to swallow the pills you are required to drink a little more liquid in less time - this could cause nausea. Two - the band has 3 cc's and they may need to do an unfill if I can't get the 4 oz down with out feeling ill.

I think it was the pills - the next time they gave me some I asked them to break them in half and then took them in a longer period of time.

I feel great right now and have been on Clear Liquids since the 18th. Tomorrow is my second follow up and I should be okay to start mushies (I can't wait).

[txtigergirl 0]

Lisa - you also asked about a good soft Protein. Canned tuna is soft and has a ton of protein.