bubblesbgood

back in june i had the pleasure of talking to some of you as i was awaiting my crapband removal and hopefully my new sleeve. when they went to remove my band it was busted in 3 places and covered in put, they found numerous adhesions as well as the mesh that was supposed to be covering the large hernia that almost killed me in 09 (see the tell us your story section) in a big coil with my organs attached to it. so many of you had such supportive words and one of you had even referred me to an attorney that i am now using. lo and behold i started to get bills that were marked "insurance maximum reached" when i called my insurance it was to my surprise due to the fact that they say i have reached my lifetime maximum. therefore my dream has come to an end i currently weight the most ive ever weighed in my life 293lbs, with no hope of ever being able to afford the surgery on my own, my co-morbities have all returned and im alone. i wanted to thank you for all of your support and help you are a great bunch of people and may God bless you! you will never know what your kind words meant to me.

i understand but if i cant afford to self pay i cant afford to pay for a new policy and this is a union plan so there is no choice at open enrollment believe me ive searched high and low for an answer

ty for all of your responses i cant afford to self pay thats the problem...im already 7000 in debt thanks to insurance not letting me know i even had a lifetime maximum. this has been the worst journey i have ever been on and quite frankly there is no where else to turn yes i have an attorney we just started the lawsuit this could take upwards of how many years? in that time what do i do just get fatter as i go on and like i said all my comorbities are back so how long can i really last. just so sad...i have no choice but to give up the dream because it is so unrealistic to me now. the new law doesnt go into effect until 2014 and its only for "essential" surgeries and in case no one has noticed bariatric surgery isnt considered "essential" and never has been. just lost thats all.

holy crap i thought i was reading my story! hang in there we can only keep trying and praying right? i too had my band out it wasnt eroded but i had sepsis a few years back and well i guess it hadnt been completely cleared up because when they removed my band it was busted into pieces and covered in pus and my stomach was so overinflated it wasnt funny from an overfill. so here i sit in my depression, eating, ive gotten past the pity party and have been exercising and watching a little more than i was if nothing it will make me feel better. hang in there and please keep me posted i wish you well! i will get the sleeve november/december i hope.

holy crap i thought i was reading my story! hang in there we can only keep trying and praying right? i too had my band out it wasnt eroded but i had sepsis a few years back and well i guess it hadnt been completely cleared up because when they removed my band it was busted into pieces and covered in pus and my stomach was so overinflated it wasnt funny from an overfill. so here i sit in my depression, eating, ive gotten past the pity party and have been exercising and watching a little more than i was if nothing it will make me feel better. hang in there and please keep me posted i wish you well! i will get the sleeve november/december i hope.

hey sylviamom its good to see you here too. i have gained since i had my band removed but i am not giving up hope i have to wait the 6 mos as well because there are other compllications from the first surgeons incompetence. so i keep exercising doing what i can food wise it is depressing.

i asked my foot doctor why this was happening to me he said when you start on the machine your feet are ok they they expand from the bloodflow and the exercise to try loosening your laces a bit as that is what is cutting off the circulation

i can sooooo relate i got as far as getting my band out and because of all thats wrong i have to heal first it sucks having to wait because i feel like ive done nothing but struggle for 5 years and its just so saddening to me. lets try to keep our chins up, realize that this is temporary and move forward. good luck!

ohhhh nooo! you were so kind and encouraging to me the other day when i had a problem i hate to see this happened. im here if you need and yes i will take that attorneys name and number!((((((hugs)))) we will get thru this.

ty for all of our words of encouragement due to horrible circumstances i couldnt get sleeved too many horrors inside from my other surgeon. they did manage to get the band out even though it was pus covered. i am a total mess inside at the moment and must heal before i can get sleeved.

here we go! tomorrow at 330 my lapband journey of disappointment will end. its been 5 yrs of hell and i have to admit im a little nervous but im also hopeful. i have a new surgeon and a new hospital. i believe the outcome will be much better than the band. this time around i kind of know what to expect. ive had my bag packed for 2 weeks now (think im a little anxious?!) i got my home in order so i wont have the compulsion to clean every 5 mins. , i even got a new sectional sofa to heal on as i cant sleep well in a bed now. the treadmill is set in the livingroom so when i need to walk i can hold on to something and set the pace. i have all the protein/liquids/creamys. got the nails done and facial. all my support people are waiting. hubby and my daughter are ready theyve been through the worst of this trek with me, im so grateful for them and so grateful i didnt have to do it alone. as a support he will do the liquid stage for a couple of days only because he doesnt think he can do it, but will do the creamys and up right along with me. it is so different this time.while im nervous thats to be expected im also excited, i have an incredible surgeon, a fabulous N.U.T, and an amazing therapist who is helping me deal with the mental addiction i have had with food since childhoood. food you are no longer my friend, lover, mother, nuturer you can go now. Ok Creator, im pulling the "ask, believe, receive" card. i know you hear me and will answer. so grateful! will keep my new friends on here posted!

i plan to stay on here with all the positive people and one of the only places i can get true understanding. this has become my haven. i had the same thoughts as you on food and will see my nut and try to stay positive. they only got as far as removing my pusband as it is now known. he wants to let me heal before he moves on to my other problems. ty for all of your help!

at 5pm yesterday my surgeon went in to remove my lapband and perform my sleeve gastrectomy. once inside he saw the horror my other surgeon left inside me. if you read "my story , lengthy but its mine" you know the fate i suffered under that doctor already. the mess inside of me was a band broken in 3 place and covered in pus, a hernia that was supposed to be meshed that is exposed while the mesh is a huge roll just laying in the half attached to my insides. i also have adhesions everywhere. you can imagine how angry and sad and depressed i am at the moment. i will need to heal for 3-6 months it seems before they can even touch me and figure out how to fix all this damage. maybe then i will be sleeved. im just so heartbroken.

i agree with you shooting him everyday for a year wouldnt be enough. yes he is still practicing at the only hospital he's allowed to admit in. scary.

my new surgeon was able to get the lapband out thank god so at least half of my surgery is done. i can understand him wanting me to heal im just so angry it never seems like i can get away from that last surgeon and what hes done to me. i am just so sad, angry and depressed.

way back in 2006 i had hit my top weight of 275 lbs. no matter what i did hunger and carbs would always attack and win. i saw an ad for lapband in dec. 2006 and called they set me up for a seminar. i attended and i met the 4 surgeons who were there. after listening to the types of surgeries available etc. i chose the lapband again because it seemed the least invasive and could be removed if need be. i met the first surgeon and explained to him what i wanted and that i planned on interviewing all the dr.s that were at the seminar. he said we all work together etc he played right into my emotions by telling me what i needed to hear "this has effected you your whole life" etc. he schmoozed me into becoming his patient little did i know this was going to be the worst mistake of my life. i was given a list of test/drs i had to see for preop i was visiting all these dr's most of them had never dealt with lapband surgery and when i called my dr to keep him updated they would make me come in when i arrived my file was at another office why i couldnt tell you because id only been a patient in this office. the surgeon was always at least an hour late which i attributed to maybe helping others so it never struck me. at my appts. they kept saying "when you get your bypass" time after time finally i said "if i wake up with a bypass you guys are in big trouble!" they even called to say "your bypass has been approved" i checked out this surgeon online on health grades and various other sites and nothing came up. so comes the day of surgery. i arrived at the hospital at 8am for a nine am surgery at 10am the surgeon arrived. i finally got wheeled in at 1030am for surgery. i awoke in immense pain, the surgeon said he nicked something and therefore i bled out for about 20 mins till he found it. after feeling really green for about an hour they sent me home. 2 days later i had a huge rash that covered my entire belly. the dr. said take benedryl. 2 weeks after surgery i finally managed to sleep in my bed only to feel like i couldnt breathe i had this odd pain in my shoulder blade i called and went in to see the dr. he said it was just gas, this pain continued until my first fill 2 months later, lo and behold i couldnt get my fill because my button had come off and wedged itself by my lung. it was repaired, then 1 month later i went for my fill. the weight was coming off in a great manner. i went for another fill when i could eat more i said my button is really sore, i had a hernia under my button. another surgery, this was the MO for the next couple of years until i ended up with 4 hernia ops. i developed this pain in my stomach and i kept telling the surgeon who had now moved to another office he didnt notify anyone until they called the old office for an appt. when i told him of my pain he said ohhh its just your organs being able to move again. this lasted about 6 months until i had another hernia and they discovered i had adhesions, the way i found out about the adhesions was when the OR nurse called the next day and informed me. that dr. looked right at my husband in the waiting area and walked right by him. but the story doesnt end there. in Nov. 2008 i had really bad pains in my stomach i called the office and told them that i was having really bad pain, i had a hernia op in sept. and could my dr. see me asap. the secy who answered said she would inform him and he would call. he didnt call me back and the pain went away...for now..so i let it go...zoom forward to Jan.31, 2009. i was working part time as a preschool teacher and was also a realtor. i awoke that friday to having a stomach virus i was vomitting i thought ok id caught it from one of the kids i called my dr. because i knew i was vomitting like crazy and need to probably have my band opened. he never returned my call and come sat. i felt better so like a moron i let it go. sunday i was putting out open house signs and got the worst pain in my chest and stomach that even childbirth couldnt compete with i went back home told hubby to call an ambulance i thought i was having a heart attack thats all i remember until 3 days later. it turns out they couldnt find my surgeon for 2 days as yet again he had moved offices to the hospital i was staying in and they still couldnt find him? i had intestines that had pinched into guess what? another hernia....why this dr. kept stitching them shut instead of using mesh ill never understand. so my intestines had become pinched in the hernia and for months i would get that pain and then they would come out and id feel better. well this time they stayed in there and died off i had had gangrene. they removed 3 feet of intestines. as lay in my hospital bed the pain was excruciating i kept trying to tell the nurses something was wrong and they kept screaming at me to be quiet that i was driving them crazy. the next day i couldnt concentrate, i couldnt keep a thought, then i started sweating sooo badly it was running down my face. the next thing i knew i heard code something, they said "ok bonnie your blue we are going to give you a tube to help you breath. i had sepsis and was dying. i ended up in ICU on lifesupport with a 10% chance of survival. i remember hearing my husband cry for me to please come back so we can raise our daughter together, i remember hearing friends that came to see me. i was in icu for over 10 days and lo and behold i did come back to the surgeon standing there berating me for "not giving him a chance to fix anything" can you imagine my frustration? i finally got to a regular room and after another week there i signed myself out as my surgeon had informed me that he was taking his wife to the bahamas for her bday and i had no dr. looking after me. i went back to see the dr. a week later as i was told by the nurses to come back. i still had a drainage hole and he kept telling me to come back in 30 days? ummm i have an open wound and you want me to wait 30 days.i went back in 2 weeks because it had become swollen and red and they found i had pneumonia and guess what? ANOTHER HERNIA!. i started to look for an alternative surgeon at this point as i truly believed this man was going to kill me. no one would take me on with my history. i kept trying. but still had to see him until i could find someone. the last straw was when i went to see him and he filled me. for the next 8 months i was vomitting in my sleep, he sent me for an endoscopy while i was filled (i now know this couldve perforated my stomach) yes folks this is in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. he started brow beating me because id only lost 26lbs. i felt like a big fat loser. i realized i could eat more than the 3 bites of food i cut my self down to and went for a fill, this time he had to take out more than he put in thus id had an overfill for 8 months gee wanna know why im puking and im not losing weight? that was it i swore even if i didnt find another dr. to take care of me this one would never touch me again. my primary dr got involved and found me one of the top surgeons in the country who is head and director of 2 of the centers of excellence in my area. after 1.5 years of trying to work with the botched job the other surgeon did we realized there was so much wrong with his work, he used too big a band he never measured...he has my button right on top of my ribs...my stomach from being overfilled for so long and from vomitting so much has a bulge that cannot be fixed. after taking it on the chin for five years with this band from hell only to weigh more than i did before the lapband was put in. i am now getting it removed on June 5th 2012 and my new dr. is doing a vsg. am i scared? more than anything but i do believe it will work for me because i have the best of the best. this dr has had the same office for lets hear it...10 years!!! he has a nut on staff not one who doesnt know anything about lapband it turns out now when you pull the other surgeons name up on health grades it flashes "malpractice" i have since found out he was booted out of one hospital where 4 women died under his care not surprised on that one. i have not given up hope on myself i believe my new surgeon and my vsg will work. i look forward to the day that i can say i survived death, a bad doctor, a rotten lapband i deserve a second chance again. wish me luck please!

ty ty!!

so glad to hear youre awesome news! yay!!! i love to hear it when someone is doing well! God Bless!!!

when i had the lapband put it it was the gas they fill you up with did you try walking a lil if they let you?

ohhh i bet you R right, the "i dont have the juevos to have the surgery myself but im going to project my horrible self image onto you by making you feel like i have control over you and when you let me have it ill run and hide" syndrome lol

id call my surgeon and let them know. im not sure it would affect the surgery or not. dont beat yourself up we are all just human

hey you stood up for yourself! thats an achievement im my book and you were nicer about it than i would have been, lol. i commend you, ignore the idiot! there will always be someone with an opinion.

amen!!

im on the list for tomorrow 2 at 330pm good luck and ill see ya on the flip side!

i was told color on toes ok, i have lcn aka permanent french on my nails they said ok they just need to be able to see if my nails change blue from lack of oxygen.