nosilla

Nosilla where in Atlanta are you having your surgery? I am having mine at Piedmont Hospital on the 15th.

My surgery is also on the 11th! I’m in Atlanta and am getting both excited and nervous. I can’t believe it’s almost time. Best of luck to you.

Hi Kay! I’m in North Atl and getting my sleeve on the 11th. Where in GA are you?

You're not asking a stupid question. And it's not TMI. Goddamnit, people depress me sometimes.
First: when did you have surgery? Have you done coke before, and is this typical? Had you had alcohol since your surgery?
Just based on the timing, I'd guess that you've got a stomach bug and that this isn't related to the drug use. Anyone vomiting for three days would feel ache in their stomach. Did you have a flu shot this year? Are you drinking a ton of Gatorade or Pedialyte to make up for the dehydration? If not, your symptoms are just going to feel worse.
Even if this reaction has nothing to do with the coke or booze, you know that introducing a rogue element into a healing system isn't a good idea, obviously, and you'll be more careful in future. Good.
Few things make me bristle with rage. Idiotic responses like this would be one of them. Her question was related to WLS, since she's concerned there's been an interaction between the drugs and the surgery. She's asking for help because she's worried. I am incredibly angry that your response was the first here, as it is worthless.

Hi everyone!!! I just got my sleeve date of Dec 7th!!!! I am so very excited! I get the lap band out this Friday (10/26) also :) The port came out many years ago so it’s just the band piece. Hopefully it is easy breezy. I’ve waited so long for this surgery, both of them, and the reality of it happening soon is starting to click. This year has been dreadful health wise. Plagued with diverticulitis flare-ups, severe sciatic nerve pain, and general malaise with not feeling well. I feel like I’m ending this year on a good note and feel empowered to have a kick-ass 2019! I’ll be Turning 45 this year and I’m going to make it as amazing as possible. xx

I’m a former bandster as mine was removed in October. Mine was placed in 2006 and was never able to be used (long story). My experience was very out of the ordinary and awful. I do hope everyone here does well! It sounds like you are all doing great so far.

Hi everyone!!! I just got my sleeve date of Dec 7th!!!! I am so very excited! I get the lap band out this Friday (10/26) also :) The port came out many years ago so it’s just the band piece. Hopefully it is easy breezy. I’ve waited so long for this surgery, both of them, and the reality of it happening soon is starting to click. This year has been dreadful health wise. Plagued with diverticulitis flare-ups, severe sciatic nerve pain, and general malaise with not feeling well. I feel like I’m ending this year on a good note and feel empowered to have a kick-ass 2019! I’ll be Turning 45 this year and I’m going to make it as amazing as possible. xx

I’m a former bandster as mine was removed in October. Mine was placed in 2006 and was never able to be used (long story). My experience was very out of the ordinary and awful. I do hope everyone here does well! It sounds like you are all doing great so far.

Wow what a saga! I'm glad to hear the band is out and that chapter in your life is over. What an experience!

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Wow...I logged back in to this platform as my journey continued and forgot this thread was here. I can’t believe I’ve been in this band nightmare for over 12 years!!! In 2007 I finally got the port removed. My doctor very nonchalantly said “it tested positive for MRSA infection”. I had NO idea the implications. He handed me a card for an Infectious Disease doctor and told me to go across the street to their office. Again, NO idea what was ahead. Suddenly I had a nightmare of a PICC line (took 2 excruciating days to insert) for Vancomycin and a wound vac system. I had both of these for weeks, my home was a virtual hospital. I even took that show to work a few times. Crazy. That was over 10 years ago.

In those 10 years I had just the band. I’d never been able to get it removed because it wasn’t presenting obvious negative effects and my insurance wouldn’t cover it. After a decade I finally started the path to revision to a sleeve. I had the band removed on 10/26. It was very complicated. My outpatient procedure turned into 6 days in the hospital. The band had eroded into my stomach (common) but also had RAVAGED my small intestines. The new surgeon said he had never seen anything like it. He had to get the band out of several spots in the intestines and do a lot of repair work. While recovering, about 24 hrs after surgery, things went south. BP low, breathing shallow, heart rate up, fever...ugh. Many tests later and we determined that my chronic Diverticulitis had flared up and was causing the additional pain and infection. It was a very long 6 days, and the fevers kept coming. After being released and on a better coarse of oral antibiotics, things are finally better. It’s been 3 weeks and I am almost not in pain.

It was a miracle I didn’t have a blockage, or major infections with that band. I now think my bowel perforations and infections may be related to the band. I had no idea and I guess the band was never visible in the CT scans. Anyway... I wanted to finish my 12 year saga.

I’m almost second guessing the sleeve surgery. I feel like I am 4/4 with bad surgery issues...but the reality is that a lot of things (if not all) were caused by that awful band. I may have the surgery, but it will be after the New Year. That bums me out because it will very VERY expensive with out of pocket costs...but realistically I need more time to heal...and I am unable to miss a wedding on Dec 29th. Not sure anyone will read this...but that’s where I am. Xx

I apologize in advance, i posted this also in the band removal forum, please dont bother to read twice!
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Hi all --
I am new to these boards and new to this removal board. I want to share my story and perhaps see if there is anyone out there that can relate to what has been going on with this band. Its an odd feeling to be completely unique in an experience, even among fellow bandsters.
After months of research and planning, i was banded on June 6, 2006. Let me first say that the date did not escape me (666) but I figured that if i were to reschedule based on the calendar date, that I did not have much confidence in my surgeon ... so on with the show. Oh, I should mention at this point that I was self-pay...and that I really didnt have 18k just sitting around, but I found it ... because this was for my health.
Quick history on me ... I am very short (5'1") and very round. At the time of the band i was in the 290s, and I carry all my weight in one place, my middle.
The band was put in and I did very well initally ... I lost weight due to the liquid diet and I was okay with that. Id actually spent many months on a liquid diet in my past so that part was not terribly scary. My first fill was another story. 2 months in and my port was already flipped. My surgeon always uses the UpperGI equipment so it was visibly flipped. He decided at that point that he should go back in and "fix" it. So ... we were back for surgery #2 in September to get the port fixed. Bye to another 5k, but again, its for my health.
My "minor" outpatient surgery for the port adjustment was my undoing. I developed post surgical complications and infections that kept me out of work going on 3 weeks. I ran a low-grade fever for weeks, but was told that its really not a fever until its over 102. I was constantly running 99-101 depending on the time of day. A couple courses of antibiotics and that went away. I spent a lot of time at my surgeons office. We were like best friends.
So ... funny thing happened about a month after Surgery #2. I was at work (finally) and leaned over my desk to reach something (short, remember) and noticed that my shirt was very wet on my stomach. Odd ... thankfully I was wearing a black cotton top. In the restroom I realize that I had sprung a leak.
Yes ... a leak. After much research I realized that what was going on was a seroma ... common with surgery involving a lot of tissue damage. My large surgery incision was constantly leaking a straw yellow "serious" Fluid. It wasnt infected ... it was just weeping. And it kept weeping for weeks, months, etc. Again, still best friends with the surgeons office. We just all thought it would go away. At one point it did close up. Very shortly after .. leaking from a new place (still along the scar of the incision that had been opened twice).
So .. life went on as usual ... just with a steady flow of bandages several times a day to contain the weeping. This went on for months. I will point out that a wound cannot heal if the seroma is springing like a leak. The seroma cannot be "cured" it just needs to go away.
I did go in for a fill, my first fill after the port correction. After using me as a human pin-cusion my doctor determined that alas, the port had flipped again. It was 100% flipped ... back to square 1. I will give him credit, after essentially saying "gosh, that shouldnt have happened" he did manage to give me a fill. I will spare you the details, just know there is a lot of manevuring you can do with what are essentially 2 knitting needles. I still had an open would where my incision was at this time, but I was smart enought to get antibiotics to keep infection free.
After more time, my incision never healed. It just kept weeping. At some point I was refered to a wound care doctor. I went ... once. Was told to pack my wound with this special gauze (again, i will spare the details) but that didnt last very long. One day when I did not follow the schedule ... not that i was very good at packing a 7cm wound, it seemed to close up a bit.
Well ... I have been pretty much living with that same open incision, bandages, tape for the last ... gosh, over a year now. I stopped going to my doctor. Partly due to being disgusted partly due to avoidance. I just wanted it to correct itsself. As long as nothing "changed' i knew what was going on.
Enter change. I did start packing my wound a bit a couple weeks ago, not fully, but i figured it would perhaps stimulate some tissue growth and maybe my wound would heal. It has not. What I did notice one evening is that I can actually see something in that wound. Its white. I believe it to be 1) the port 2) the tubing ... either way, I should NOT be seeing that for any reason ... and the fact that the port would have moved north like that is fairly scary.
So, I am here reading up on band removal. I need to schedule time with a surgeon ... if not the one I already used ... and get this thing out. I am sure you are wondering why I would live with this incision issue for so long. The answer is not that easy to explain. My surgeon looked at this weepy open incision for months before he sent me to a wound care. He didnt seem terribly concerned as it was not infected and figured it would work itself out. When something becomes "normal" its easy to take comfort in the status quo ... no changes...for the better or worse. Better than changes for the worse, right?
Anyway ... I am now totally hip to the idea of getting this band removed. I will say that I have NO idea if the band would have worked for me or not ... I dont PB all the time, but thats because I know I cant eat until the afternoon. I come home, drink a glass or 2 of wine... and have dinner. I am unable to excercise due to the incision. But I still love ice cream (sadly). I am now in the 260 lb range, have been for over a year.
All of this story to lead me to a couple of basic questions:
1) does anyone know of a doctor in the atlanta area that might be a good choice for consultation on the removal ( i dont want to go back to mine if i can avoid it)
2) how much have people paid for the removal when its self-pay in a hostpital? My old surgeon worked out of the Hosp and not a surgical center.
3) what is the recovery time? One of my big concerns is that I am fairly important at my office for day to day activity and its hard to take time off. I dont have another 3 weeks
Any advice, thoughts, questions are welcomed.
Thanks for reading.
Allison

Hi everyone!!! I just got my sleeve date of Dec 7th!!!! I am so very excited! I get the lap band out this Friday (10/26) also :) The port came out many years ago so it’s just the band piece. Hopefully it is easy breezy. I’ve waited so long for this surgery, both of them, and the reality of it happening soon is starting to click. This year has been dreadful health wise. Plagued with diverticulitis flare-ups, severe sciatic nerve pain, and general malaise with not feeling well. I feel like I’m ending this year on a good note and feel empowered to have a kick-ass 2019! I’ll be Turning 45 this year and I’m going to make it as amazing as possible. xx

Today has hit 8 weeks for me and I wanted to share my journey. I can't believe that time has flown but in the beginning, it felt like eternity. My surgery itself was pretty smooth. Not much pain just mostly discomfort because of the incisions. My first four weeks were definitely a challenge mentally. 2 weeks of puree probably was the hardest. That and my Water intake. But when I hit that 4 week mark and I was given the green light from the doctor that I was on my own, it felt liberating in a way. I didn't feel so restricted and I became mentally more conscious about what I put in my mouth and I focused on Protein and water. My strength and mentality changed.
I don't own a scale. Mentally it has always been depressing for me and I decided NOT to get one. I didn't want to let the numbers define my journey. Being that I have been on all kinds of diets and my weight has always YO-yo'd, I have a closet full of jeans in all different size ranges. I organized them by sizes in different slots and will let that tell me where I am at.
At last weeks doctors visit ( 7 weeks) I was down 30 pounds. I couldn't be more proud!! I feel so good and full of energy. This probably has been one of the best decisions I have made to do this surgery. I haven't started exercising yet , I do walk my dogs 2x a day for about 20 mins each time and have since a week out from my surgery. I know that I need to get started. At least walking long periods. I make sure all meals are protein based and if I have room, I will eat a bite of veggies. I cook a lot at home for my family and make sure its in the diet and on the days it's not. I usually have left overs. I always have a protein bar/snack in my car and water at all times. My meals consist of about 3 oz of protein and usually can't eat much past that. I have about 4- 5 meals like this a day. Every morning I have collagen protein in my coffee so I know I start the day with 22 g of protein and then usually go from there. If by the end of the day I haven't hit my goal, I end it with a Premier Protein shake.
For those of you that are just starting out, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I used to read all the posts on here daily and just kept saying to myself will this ever get easier and YES, it does. I've excepted my new lifestyle and hope that my journey continues to be as smooth as it has since week 4. I'm sure I will hit bumps here and there and I know it's always going to be mentally challenging when food has always been comfort for me. But I can say today I feel strong and I just take it day by day.

I’m so glad I found this thread. I already suffer from diverticulitis and will have my sleeve surgery by the end of the year. This will be a major battle for me as Constipation is my enemy. I’ve already planned on IV therapy for a while, but I’ll make sure I am diligent with adding miralax into my daily routine when the time comes.

I’m so glad I found this thread. I already suffer from diverticulitis and will have my sleeve surgery by the end of the year. This will be a major battle for me as Constipation is my enemy. I’ve already planned on IV therapy for a while, but I’ll make sure I am diligent with adding miralax into my daily routine when the time comes.

I going to be super honest with you. I feel legitimate hunger and *can* eat like I have zero restriction. It's called eating around your sleeve, and my surgeon did an amazing job.
I don't do it because I'd never lose weight. You can totally eat around your sleeve and feel real hunger and still have a perfect tool. I don't know if that was ever fully explained to you but that's in the past.
Try to focus on how you can move forward, succeed within your current framework and advocate for yourself ( maybe with a new team)
Don't go crazy on conspiracy theories until you have proof. Try to concentrate on the changes you can make, things you can control.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I got the band in 2013 only lost about 40 pounds. I had two prolapse. My esophagus is damaged from throwing up. In May 2018 the band was remove. I gained 30 pounds
I was sleeved 10-8

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So glad you are getting band out as I can tell you the longer you wait the worse it is. I had mine done together, it was about 5 hour total, 3 hour surgery 2 recovery room. I had my surgery at 8am I was up and walking by dinner time. I walked as much as I could and never had one gas pain. They have you hooked to everything so it wasn’t easy to get around. This recovery has been so much easier then having it put in.
good luck to you

@jendkopp I just got scheduled for the band removal for next week. I’m beyond excited. :)