The Story of My Band

I decided to put the " whole story of my band" in one place . Now that I am having to tell it some with having issues with it . After going back and reading past posts from my blog , its rather depressing seeing all the crap I went through . So Here is a time line i guess you would call it.

July 2007 Lap Band Surgery
My surgery went well. I was losing weight on a regular basis after post op . My first fill I had restriction , I believe I had a second fill and started to not feel well and had to get a slight unfill .
6-10-08 First Total Unfill due to too much throwing up , not being able to keep food down etc.
I was getting fills about every 6 weeks but it seems like every fill I would need an unfill a week or 2 after , it was just too much .
August 2008 Down 109 pounds
10-08 Doc thinks I am "sensitive to Fills" after having to have many fills and unfills, he decided I needed to get smaller fills to see if that would help eliminate unfills.
3-09 Band slip. Not only had it slipped but i was about an hour away from having to have surgery ! I was severely dyhradated as well.
The doc after totally unfilling me told me to wait and we'll do another X ray . We did and the band had not "Un done " Its self. ( It was also flipped , you know when you look at the band in flouro you can see the outer rim ? MINE you could see the INSIDE part that your stomach goes through ) So he said to wait until he was done seeing patients , In the mean time he was calling the hospital to make arrangements for surgery . $4000 !! Is what it was going to cost me.
He saw the rest of his patients and we did another x ray and BAM my band moved on its own !!! NO SURGERY . My doc told me " You are VERY LUCKY " he was not happy with me for waiting to come in !!!
4-44-09 Slight fill after slip. I went to my doc appt last week and my band is fine. Its stayed in place and he even gave me a slight fill which I was not expecting. So as of today i am on mushies after nearly a month on liquids. things are going down fine, no issues. He actually gave me a larger fill than I have now and after waiting around the office i realized it was too much so i had him take some out.
So I am doing well. Another couple weeks I should need another fill. I have to get these 11 pounds off i gained in the nearly 3 weeks I had been totally unfilled.
Needless to say Dr R was not too happy about that weight gain !!!
7-29-09 Band Slipps Again:
I got SEVERE Stomach pain . At first ( sorry TMI) I thought it was constipation . It did not go away . Saturday same thing, stomach pains, cramping , aching. Just BAD. I was not really eating hardly anything or drinking anything cause it hurt too bad . So after everyone bugging me to go to the ER I decided I did not want to do that in CASE it was band related ( which I honestly did not think it was at all ) I did not want anyone but MY doc touching my band.
SO i called my doc on Sunday (I was starting to get nasueased ) and was afraid I would throw up . He called me in some phergan and it did not help . He said if i was not better to get to his office Monday .
So i did.
Get in there drink the barrium and he says " uhh ohh that's not good" It sitting there. NOTHING is moving through my band . Which was a little odd cause i COULD drink stuff but it seemed like once it hit my stomach it came back up .
SO he totally unfills my band. NOTHING. Its not moving.
So i wait a while , he comes back in and takes another X ray and the barium has gone though a LITTLE but not much at all. By now , however i can drink water fine.
So he thinks that either my band never completely healed on its own or i have what he calls a "Chronic" Slip. Either way , he does not think it will get better OR for that matter that it WILL Keep happening with out surgery . SO I have to go in on Monday to get checked and then decide about surgery . AT this point im prepared for it. However im TERRIFIED Of losing my band. People do not understand. They say " OH well you are at your goal weight ( Which BTW I lost 10 pounds in 3 days ) what do you have to worry about now , JUST eat Less " OK DUMB ASSES If it were that EASY I would not have needed the band to begin with . The THOUGHT Of losing 125 pounds and it slowly coming back on is almost more than i can bare ! So that's what's going on . ( Exerpt from my blog )
10-09 Check up on Slip , Getting stuck , Doc checks band looks fine.
8-11 Band useless. Cant be filled .
I went to get my fill today and doc went to fill my band . I had my barium swallow and when he filled it , the barium sat there ! Nothing , So he backed off , nothing sat there .. he backed it out to .01 NOTHING ! Sat there .... He took all of it out and the barium barely trickled through . He said I have scar tissue or something that has built up . I can either have it repositioned ( not recommend ) Or I can and probably need to have it revised to a sleeve. Nothing major is going on for me now , i am not having any problems BUT I could at any time, if i got sick or something because I do not have much " wiggle room" so to speak . The cost for the new surgery ????? $13,000 !!!!!! Its basically 2 surgeries, one to have the band removed , wait 3 months then have the sleeve done !!! SOOOOO I am going to have to do what I can on my own for now to lose the 50 count them 50 Damn pounds I have put back on !!
I am very upset and disgusted w/ the situation and partially myself ! Part of this is my fault for eating the way I have the past year when my band had next to nothing in it !



Fill Schedules
8/27/07 1.4 cc
10/5/07 2cc Fill
10/30/07 .5cc Unfill
12/10/07 1cc Fill
12/17/07 .5cc Unfill
02/14/08 .5cc Fill
4/22/08 .2 unfill Fill
5-19-08 total 2.5cc
6-10-08 Total Unfill !
7-31-08 1.5cc Fill
8-25-08 .50 cc fill
10-7-08 .50cc Unfill 1.5 Total
3-31-09 Total Unfill
4-22-09 Small Fill .25 Cc
7-29-09 Slip Total Unfill


There is my story ! I now know I was not at fault so much for my weight gain .
But I still am frustrated with this whole situation . What I did by having surgery I thought was bettering my life, prolonging my life for myself , my family and most of all my kids. It turns out it may have did the opposite and caused my more problems .