Wallace06

Hi everyone, I am Kelli , Stephens wife. Since the surgery in Ocotober of last year alot has been going on. First after the 6 day stayover in the hospital, the incision in 2 different spots started to abcess. Thus I had to do my own wound care until February of 2012. Luckily I am a nurse and it didn't totally gross me out cleaning and packing these 2 times a day. Now they are healed completely, thank God. I had also developed difficulties digesting milk products. I had a food allergy test when all the trouble began last summer and at that time I had NO allergy to dairy. But shortly after Christmas this year I noticed alot of acid reflux, gas, cramping and lose stools. So I put myself on an elimination diet starting by taking gluten out of my diet, that didn't help.I tried to take out all preservatives, no meat,,I also added, Probiotics, Activia, digestive enzymes , even Zantac 2 x day. NOTHING. Then after eating some gluten free cereal I had the worse episode ever and realized it was the milk.No more, cheese, ice cream, cream based soups ans so on. I through trial and error I have developed a routine. Every day I take a Perscription strenght Pepcid, eat one Activia a day (thank goodness yogurt is low in lactose). IF I have any other milk poducts it is lactose free or if I'm out and decide to have cheese on something I take Lactose tabs first. It's a bit of a hassle but at least I can go in public (and work) without embaressing myself. I'm doing well, considering. But the biggest thing is I've gained weight. It's quite depressing but I knew it would happen after all I had become accustomed to depending on my band to keep my portions in check. I have since joined a gym and am having to depend on the "old" method of losing weight. Which got me in this mess because it never worked before. Thanks for all the support, Kelli W

Hi everyone, Thank you for your replies and the showing of support for my wife. It is Saturday morning October 8th and I am sitting here inside the hospital room next to her bed side watching her sleep. She had surgery yesterday morning to remove her band but she had multiple unexpected complications during the surgery. Initially we were told the whole surgery should last between 1 to 1.5 hours in total and it would be done laproscopicaly. Unfortunatley once they got into her stomach they discovered the situation was far more advanced and complex than they could had ever thought. We were told that not just part of the band but the ENTIRE lapband clamp and some of the tubing had eroded and pushed itself completely into her stomach cavity. Because of this complication they abandoned the lapiscopic approach and made a vertical inscision about 6 inches above her stomach to go and fix the problem. Once they got in they discovered the ulcers in her stomach were also larger than orriginaly expected and the surgeon ended up having to bassicaly remove a portion of her stomach and repair it with tissue collected from elsewere in the body. The concern now is will the inscisions hold and will her body accept the essentialy patched layers of skin that are being used to repair her stomach. In whole the surgery lasted almost 5 hours and she is on a Morphine pump to control her pain. We were told her recovery time just here in the hospital will be a minimum of 6 to 7 days and the next step will require a barium swallow to confirm there are no leaks in the stomach itself. She also cant eat or drink anything for this entire period which I can only imagine what she is going to be like in a few days with that news. I have to tell you, the more and more I read on here about the simualrities of many people posting their complications of the lapband and what it has done to their bodies and life "ESPECIALY 5 to 6 YEARS LATER" I really have to wonder if this device is miracle that we all once belived it was. Both me and my wife have experienced the joys of weight loss and now unfortunately the cost associated with it. Yes, I am also having complications with my band and even though I work for a major company with thousands of employees and we subscribe to a major healthcare provider here in the US guess what else is happening? We found out the This past Thursday afternoon that our insurance will not cover this surgery at all. It is considered an complication due to a non covered gastric band removal and even though it was also considered emergency surgery, the insurance company is denying the claim. What else can be said, I am not sure but it makes you wonder if all those people out there that use to baulk at us when we told them we had this surgery and how some of them would say we just cheated to loose weight were maybe right. Stephen Wallace / Atlanta, Georgia

Hi everyone, It has been a while since I last posted but thought it was best to share our story especially after today's doctors visit. First thing first, both me and my wife had lapband surgery back in 2005 in Mexico. She had the Inamed band and I had the Swedish band. We both had fairly decent success with weight loss within the first three years, I myself a little over a hundred pounds and my wife lost roughly fifty pounds. Then the weight loss just platoed and stopped and we kept thinking we need another fill, then another until eventually both of us started seeing some small weight loss again but none in the last couple years. Then everything turned around about 6 months ago where we both experienced problems with our band. My wife started with sharp jabbing pains in her stomach and after a week of extreme pain her doc ordered a MRI to make sure all was well. The test came back and nothing showed abnormal plus the pain eventually just went away. Then my band eroded and lost over 4cc's of the fluid. We tried having it adjusted again and the restriction lasted a day or two then went away and I was told my band had somehow developed a leak and would most likely need to be replaced or removed. I still have some minimal restriction at this point but nothing in comparison to what I had before, and yes I have gained back about 40 lbs of my weight. Now comes the worst part of the story, about 3 weeks ago my wife's stomach pains came back with vengeance and this is where I want you to pay attention because if you ever start experiencing these symptoms you need to be alarmed and see a doctor. She started having incredible amounts a very heavy and extremely foul smelling gas. So much to the point where she would stay up many nights in pain with very little sleep. Then came the very embarrassing and loud belching which had the heavy smell of sulfur within the belch itself "similar to a match being lit" or there would even be days where it smelled like boiled eggs. Things got worse and she got a referral to a gastrologist. At first they ran all the normal test including a stool sample with no results coming back as to what was happening. Then today she went back for an Upper GI which is a scope inserted down into her stomach. Well we finally have our answer, her lapband has somehow caused erosion in the stomach wall lining and the main band circle clamp has broken into her stomach itself. You can clearly see the picture of it with a portion of the band just sitting inside her stomach and it is somehow blocking her digestive track. This is what is causing the foul smell, it is basically decomposed food which the doctor said was most likely high fibrous foods like fruits and vegetables that were having a difficult time breaking down and passing through so they just were simply rotting. She also has massive ulcers lining the stomach walls which the doctor said were most likely caused by the band breaking through and causing an imbalance in her digestive fluids. Well needless to say she was advised to seek a bariactric surgeon for possible emergency surgery to have it removed which we already have scheduled for tomorrow at 3pm. I will keep an updated posting over the next couple weeks with her progress. One last thing, please do not think that the reason I am sharing this post is to possibly scare someone away from having the lapband procedure because I know that everyone's body is different, I mainly wanted to share what was going on with my wife because there maybe people out there on this board that are currently experiencing the same thing and have went in circles with their doctors trying to find answers. Believe me this is the most frustrating part of this, we have already spent over 1k out of pocket after insurance and my wife has went through months of unnecessary pain and suffering.. S. Wallace / Atlanta, Georgia

WOW, A great deal has changed since I left this last posting over 18 months ago, first of all the clinic in TN is no longer open, I would guess the closest for you would be here in Atlanta if you live up in TN that is. Go to this web link www.fillcentersusa.com to look for the closest location to you, we use NP Darlene Zebley in Roswell, Georgia which is just north of Atlanta. She is great and she also only does her fills through Flouroscopy and charges a very reasonable $120.00 plus the fill which is $165.00 so totalit is $285.00.. Still it is a very good deal due to the fact with Flouroscope you are gauranteed to get a good fill. Me and my wife kelli have both seen Darlene Zebley at least 3 times in the last 14 months and we are both very happy with her. She scheadules appointments on every 1st and 3rd weekend of each month and see's patients on Saturday's & Sunday's as well. Good Luck, Stephen Wallace

Hi everyone, Me and my wife have both used Fillcenters location down in Moultrie, GA for several fills now and believe me we would like nothing better than to see them open an office up in Duluth or Atlanta. We have to drive about 4 hours each way to get their now but still none the less the service we have received from the PA "Darlene Zebley" at this location has been outstanding and well worth the drive. Mrs. Zebley is highly skilled at what she is doing and we will continue to see her even if she does not get an office here in Atlanta. Also needless to say $150.00 a fill is so much easier on the budget especially when you are gettting two at a time. Stephen Wallace / Douglasville, GA Banded 08/25/05 - 351 lbs at heaviest 05/24/07 - 227 lbs now with about 40 more to go.. Kelli Wallace Banded 12/27/07 - 267 lbs at heaviest 05/24/07 - 225 lbs and still loosing..

Hi everyone, This is a re-post from a few weeks ago.. I know how inportant it is to keep the postings fresh but i want to help anyone in need as well. I just want to share with the group that we have finally found a very dependable fill clinic that is close to anyone living in the South East. Me and my wife Kelli drove up from Atlanta last Friday which was only about a 3 hour drive and even though we could have made the round trip in a day we decided to stay on over night and get out an experience Nashville. This was Kelli's first fill since her surgery back on December 27th. She has lost about 30 lbs now and she was very excited about getting her first adjustment. They did the procedure under Flourascopy "which required us to have to follow our nurse over to a imaging center which was about 20 minutes further from the clinic" but I am glad we did it this way so we could confirm 100% where Kelli's access port is. They ended up only putting in .8 cc's which I know does not sound like it was enough but at the time it was all she could handle, any more and she just shut closed completely. The whole procedure only took about 2 hours from the moment we arrived. This clinic is part of the group listed on the Fill Center USA website and their prices are very reasonable at only $300.00 for your first fill and $150.00 for each additional. The Flouroscopy was extra and optional, but if you have insurance they will bill your insurance company directly. We were told that they are very successfull with getting the insurance to pay for the service, she mentioned that it had something to do with how they coded it to get payed. Anyway I feel very comfortable in recomending them for anyone local in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, or the sourounding area. Debra Kleven was super nice and made us feel very welcome. She even gave us her cell phone number and told my wife if she experienced too much restriction she would meet us back at the clinic on Saturday to make an adjustment before we left to go back home. Here is the information on the clinic and the location address: Lamplight Health Care Providers L.L.C Dr. Winston Griner M.D., Debra Kleven MSN ACNP, 2603 Elm Hill Pike, Suite K Nashville, TN 37214 Phone: 615-349-6927 Stephen & Kelli Wallace / Atlanta, Georgia

Hi everyone, I just want to share with the group that we have finally found a very dependable fill clinic that is close to anyone living in the South East. Me and my wife Kelli drove up from Atlanta last Friday which was only about a 3 hour drive and even though we could have made the round trip in a day we decided to stay on over night and get out an experience Nashville. This was Kelli's first fill since her surgery back on December 27th. She has lost about 30 lbs now and she was very excited about getting her first adjustment. They did the procedure under Flourascopy "which required us to have to follow our nurse over to a imaging center which was about 20 minutes further from the clinic" but I am glad we did it this way so we could confirm 100% where Kelli's access port is. They ended up only putting in .8 cc's which I know does not sound like it was enough but at the time it was all she could handle, any more and she just shut closed completely. The whole procedure only took about 2 hours from the moment we arrived. This clinic is part of the group listed on the Fill Center USA website and their prices are very reasonable at only $300.00 for your first fill and $150.00 for each additional. The Flouroscopy was extra and optional, but if you have insurance they will bill your insurance company directly. We were told that they are very successfull with getting the insurance to pay for the service, she mentioned that it had something to do with how they coded it to get payed. Anyway I feel very comfortable in recomending them for anyone local in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, or the sourounding area. Debra Kleven was super nice and made us feel very welcome. She even gave us her cell phone number and told my wife if she experienced too much restriction she would meet us back at the clinic on Saturday to make an adjustment before we left to go back home. Here is the information on the clinic and the location address: Lamplight Health Care Providers L.L.C Dr. Winston Griner M.D., Debra Kleven MSN ACNP, 2603 Elm Hill Pike, Suite K Nashville, TN 37214 Phone: 615-349-6927 Stephen & Kelli Wallace / Atlanta, Georgia

Hi everyone, I just want to share with the group that we have finally found a very dependable fill clinic that is close to anyone living in the South East. Me and my wife Kelli drove up from Atlanta last Friday which was only about a 3 hour drive and even though we could have made the round trip in a day we decided to stay on over night and get out an experience Nashville. This was Kelli's first fill since her surgery back on December 27th. She has lost about 30 lbs now and she was very excited about getting her first adjustment. They did the procedure under Flourascopy "which required us to have to follow our nurse over to a imaging center which was about 20 minutes further from the clinic" but I am glad we did it this way so we could confirm 100% where Kelli's access port is. They ended up only putting in .8 cc's which I know does not sound like it was enough but at the time it was all she could handle, any more and she just shut closed completely. The whole procedure only took about 2 hours from the moment we arrived. This clinic is part of the group listed on the Fill Center USA website and their prices are very reasonable at only $300.00 for your first fill and $150.00 for each additional. The Flouroscopy was extra and optional, but if you have insurance they will bill your insurance company directly. We were told that they are very successfull with getting the insurance to pay for the service, she mentioned that it had something to do with how they coded it to get payed. Anyway I feel very comfortable in recomending them for anyone local in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, or the sourounding area. Debra Kleven was super nice and made us feel very welcome. She even gave us her cell phone number and told my wife if she experienced too much restriction she would meet us back at the clinic on Saturday to make an adjustment before we left to go back home. Here is the information on the clinic and the location address: Lamplight Health Care Providers L.L.C Dr. Winston Griner M.D., Debra Kleven MSN ACNP, 2603 Elm Hill Pike, Suite K Nashville, TN 37214 Phone: 615-349-6927 Stephen & Kelli Wallace / Atlanta, Georgia