SlimbandSexy

Wow! You look so great!! I love seeing success pictures. I lost my band due to infection in September (only had it 2 months) but am getting it put back in January. Looking forward to having the success you have had!! Congratulations!!

Hi! I had my band put in on July 28th and a few weeks later developed an infection. Unfortunately, the infection would not resolve and the band was removed on September 26. I just went to my surgeon for a follow up appointment. He told me that the infection wasn't bad but because it wouldn't clear up it was necessary to remove the band. He is confident that the infection is completely gone and has said he will put the band back in whenever I want. I am wondering how soon is too soon. I really miss having the band and the restriction it offered me (I had a fill during surgery and had pretty good restriction - not perfect but pretty good). Has anyone had the band out and then had it put back in again very quickly afterwards? Initially I thought I was going to have to wait until January but now I am hoping for maybe early November? That will give me 5 weeks recovery and 6 weeks before I leave for my Christmas holiday. Does that sound reasonable? Has anyone does this that quickly? It'll be 3 surgeries in just over 3 months. Thanks for your replies!

Hi! I had my band put in on July 28th and a few weeks later developed an infection. Unfortunately, the infection would not resolve and the band was removed on September 26. I just went to my surgeon for a follow up appointment. He told me that the infection wasn't bad but because it wouldn't clear up it was necessary to remove the band. He is confident that the infection is completely gone and has said he will put the band back in whenever I want. I am wondering how soon is too soon. I really miss having the band and the restriction it offered me (I had a fill during surgery and had pretty good restriction - not perfect but pretty good). Has anyone had the band out and then had it put back in again very quickly afterwards? Initially I thought I was going to have to wait until January but now I am hoping for maybe early November? That will give me 5 weeks recovery and 6 weeks before I leave for my Christmas holiday. Does that sound reasonable? Has anyone does this that quickly? It'll be 3 surgeries in just over 3 months. Thanks for your replies!

Can't really help but your bladder could be irritated or you could have a bladder or urinary tract infection. If it doesn't get better in the next day or so I would definitely see your doctor.

I was nervous about approaching my gp as well. I didn't need a referral but decided to ask her what she thought of it anyway. She was very supportive and told me that she had several patients that had already had it done with great success. I don't think your gp would be against it but may council you on the different WLS options to make sure you are informed and are making the right choice for you. I don't think your age will be a factor as you are already struggling with health issues at a pretty young age. Just put on your big girl panties (said tongue in cheek), march in there with confidence (even if you need to fake it) and have a mature discussion with him/her. I would approach it like this. "I would like to get a referral for WLS surgery. I have done a lot of research and have decided that lap band surgery will be the best surgery for me. While I realize the weight loss is slower and at my weight a lot of dr.'s might recommend RNY or gastric sleeve instead, here are the reasons I would like to have lap band surgery instead..... then list your reasons. I would then get into your current health issues and how losing weight could help correct them and prevent future issues which could be on the horizon for you. I would also discuss the diets you have tried and efforts you have made over the years and why you think you have failed and why WLS would help you overcome these obstacles. I think if you go in armed with knowledge and you can show the dr. that you have really thought about this and researched this you won't come up against much resistance - if any. You may get a whole lot of support instead! Good luck to you!

Hi BaileyRose, Thanks for your thoughts! I was a mess last Monday. My husband was working, my parents were babysitting for my sister and I was all alone at the hospital. To top that off I was worried about how my daughter was going to get home from school because she was on a field trip that day and wasn't going to get back in time to catch the school bus. My husband stopped by for a few minutes before he had to go home and get our daughter but otherwise I was alone there all day and went into surgery by myself. The nice thing was that both my parents and my husband were there when I woke up. I am feeling much better about things now. I am glad you are doing well and I am hoping everything clears up for you and you don't run into the same problem I did. I think the reason they didn't give me any more antibiotics is because they removed most of the infection during surgery and dosed me up good with IV antibiotics. Any more antibiotics and I risk getting a superbug which I really don't want. I am keeping an eye on it and it looks better every day so my body is fighting the rest of the infection on its own. Yeah me! LOL> I am self pay but my clinic has a really good guarantee. Anything and everything for 5 years is covered by them. Every check up, phone call, questions, fills, unfills, any revision surgeries are all covered for 5 years. Thank goodness for that! I could not afford to pay for another surgery. I am Canadian but lap band surgery is not covered here. The other surgeries are covered but the process is pretty rigorous and the wait time is horrible. Anyway, I didn't want one of the other surgeries. I wanted the band. I am looking forward to meeting with the surgeon next week. I will be bringing my long list of questions and he has booked an hour for me. Wish me luck!

Congrats to you!! It is so encouraging to hit a major milestone like that!!

Msz Alie - I am glad that your incision healed up fine and you didn't have any further problem with infection. I think mine started when my port flipped and the tubing and edge of the port were so near the surface of my skin it sometimes felt like they were gonna pop through. I think bacteria gathered there and combined with the irritation it caused an infection that just wasn't going to go away. My understanding is that once the port/tubing/band is infected the only way to get rid of the infection is to remove it. So, it looks better today than yesterday and I am healing up. Hoping that because I barely had the band for 2 months that the infection did not get up to the band around my stomach and cause any erosion. I will find out when I go back to the surgeon on the 11th. Good luck to you on your journey!!

Well, I had the band removed on Monday evening in the hospital. My surgeon (the one that put it in) was there to do the surgery and everything went smoothly. I came home on Tuesday morning and have been recovering pretty well. I now have 4 holes instead of the three I started with though. They must have lanced or drained the infection site. It is very bruised there and kind of swollen but the redness has gone down significantly. I am not on antibiotics which I find kind of odd... but I guess with removing the band, draining the infection and giving me IV antibiotics on Monday they figure that is enough. And the infection does look way better. I have an appointment on October 11 with my doctor to discuss what happened, what could have possibly been done differently and what my future with the band holds. They have told me they will put it back in after a 3 month recovery. At first I wasn't going to do it but I realize that it's probably not likely I will have another problem like I did this time. At least I sure hope not! One of the things I will be discussing with him on October 11. Right now I am waiting for his medical assistant to call me to let me know what the surgical notes say and to confirm what exactly happened during surgery and what they found. Hopefully she will call me this morning. BaileyRose - Thanks for your prayers. Monday was a rough day and I needed them. Hope everything is going well with you and you are healing quickly!!

I guess I spoke too soon. It seems the infection has returned. The surgeon gave me a prescription for another 5 days of antibiotics. I am on day 4 and it doesn't look any better. Dang. He said that when he looks at it on Monday (today is Saturday) he will make a decision but it looks like the port and band must come out. My surgeon will not remove just the port because of the risk of infection migrating to the band and then erosion. I am disappointed. Especially as he has said 6-12 weeks recovery before we can put another one in. Part of me is wondering whether I want to have it put back in and risk going through this again. Just not sure. Anyway, I will have to wait the 12 weeks because I plan to go away for Christmas and my travel insurance won't cover any complications from any procedures 3 months out of surgery so it will have to wait until I get back. It is so disappointing because I thought I would have been exercising, feeling fitter and getting on with my life by now. I haven't been exercising because of the opening in the incision and the fear of sweating and introducing more bacteria. Sigh. And the weekly (sometimes twice) visits to the surgeons office (which involves 1.5 hrs drive each way) has been a pain in the butt. I was really hoping to be a comforting story to someone but I guess I am not. Hopefully the surgery can be scheduled quickly and I can get on with healing. I am planning to get my gardens cleaned up and my big pantry cupboard cleaned out this weekend. That way I won't be so frustrated about not being able to do much after this removal surgery. On the plus side I will probably be able to get my home office paperwork cleaned up and maybe catch up on some movies I've been meaning to watch! LOL. And I am going to do my best to keep eating my 1 cup of food (mostly meat with some veggies) and hope I will lose some more weight between now and (possibly) getting my band back. Not sure if I'll have to do the liquids and mushies afterwards but maybe that'll help take off some more pounds. Gotta look on the bright side of things!

Farmers Gal - Just wondering if you are still on here and if you can update us on your situation. I sure hope things worked out well for you!!

Jackie, Glad you called the surgeon. I am with BaileyRose on this. I have also been dealing with a port wound/site infection. The infection is apparently gone now but it took a round of antibiotic cream, a week of cipro and then 12 days of clindamycin. Nothing to mess with. My incision opened up a little bit on the surface as well and has been draining for over 2 weeks now. My port nor the tubing were exposed - thankfully! My surgeon told me that if they were exposed he would automatically remove the whole band then I would have to wait about 8 weeks to heal and then have the surgery again to put a new one in. BaileyRose had a different surgery where her tubing did poke through and the surgeon was ok with putting it back in and sewing her up - and continuing the antibiotics (I can't speak for her but that is my understanding of her experience) We have both written posts about it recently so you should be able to find them on the Post-Operation section of this site. My post was titled Worried About Port-Site Infection. Where my incision opened up is finally scabbing over and hopefully will heal shut and I won't have any further problems. Crossing my fingers because I would really like to get a fill and I have to wait until two weeks after I am all healed (and I'm not all healed yet). My infection started about 2 weeks post-op (August 10) and I am still not done with it yet. I tell you all of this not to scare you but to let you know what has happened with me and so you can get an idea of how long this can take to heal and what the process might be like for you. I hope your infection clears up on the first round of antibiotics and there is nothing further for you to worry about!

BaileyRose - How are you today? I hope everything is healing nicely and the infection is going away.