Jean McMillan

LOL! That reminds me of the famous time President Johnson lifted his golf shirt to show a reporter his incision from gall bladder surgery! Big to-do over that one!

Welcome, Krissy! The best way to get answers to your questions is to read lots of posts here on LBT. Everybody's experience with the band is unique, so the more you read, the better understanding you'll gain about the range of band experiences,. I'll take a shot at giving you some answers right now. Advice/Information? I could write a book to answer that one. Oh, wait! I did write a book! Down time after surgery? At the time, I was working from home at a sedentary job, and started back to work about 3-4 days after surgery. I assume that as a nurse, you're required to lift/assist patients, so your down time may be longer - maybe a few weeks? How did I do post-op? I lost 90 lbs in a year. That works out to 1.8 lbs/week, and the average weight loss rate with the band is 1-2 lbs/week, so I think I did pretty well. I have sagging skin but according to several plastic surgeons, that's related more to my age than my rate of weight loss. In terms of pain, my band surgery wasn't bad compared to my abdominal hysterectomy and breast reduction surgeries. Complications? I had a band slip (fixed by a complete unfill and 6 week rest period) and a port flip (fixed by outpatient surgery). I had my band removed this April because of bad reflux that I've apparently had for over 20 years in its "silent" form. It was aggravated by my small 4 cc band (no longer used in the USA). I'm planning to revise to the sleeve in the next month or so because my surgeon thinks putting another band in me is asking for trouble. Congrats on starting your weight loss journey!

You were awake for it? yeesh! I had general anesthesia for my port repair.

As you lose weight and your fat cells shrink, you're going to be able to palpate (feel by touching your abdomen) your port more easily. I couldn't feel my port at all for a few months - way too much flab covering it! Later I could feel it and was happy about that except when it chafed at my waistband. I liked feeling my port and knowing it was doing its job!

My port flipped. After something like 2 years of easy fills, it was harder and harder to access. My surgeon was able to access it under x-ray, but doing fills that way was ridiculously expensive in terms of time and the money billed to my insurance, so eventually I had surgery to re-position it. I'll be honest with you, that surgery was very painful because of all the scar tissue my surgeon had to deal with. I guess you have to consider the alternative? What's your co-pay for fills in the radiology department? Are you willing to go through that every time you need a fill or unfill for the rest of your life? BTW, we don't know why my port flipped. It could be that my workouts pulled a suture loose, or my original surgeon didn't suture it in well enough, or dumb luck. My current surgeon said that the possiblity of a flipped port is not a good excuse for avoiding exercise!

Is your brother, or your brother's doctor, a bariatric medical professional? If no, don't take their advice. Most non-bariatric physicians I've encountered know next to nothing about bariatric surgery, and what they do claim to know is ass-backwards.

Will they still do a revision on you? Depends on who you mean by "they". A surgeon will do a revision if the patient is having complications or issues with their band. They may even do it if the patient isn't having complications but wants a revision. Whether the patient's insurance company approves the revision depends on the individual policy. Some policies allow for only one WLS in a patient's lifetime. My insurance company approved my band removal and revision to sleeve despite my normal BMI because my surgeon provided evidence that the revision was medically necessary.

I can't remember where, but the other day I read that scar tissue usually softens as time goes on.

Scar tissue forms during the process of healing after an injury or surgery. When you fall and scrape your knee, the scab that forms is the initial part of the healing process. The same thing happens internally as a result of surgery. The body is trying to mend and reconnect the tissues that were cut apart. the collagen and other Proteins that the body uses to do this tend to connect in a different way than undamaged tissue does, so the scar tissue becomes thicker and more rigid than normal tissue. How much scar tissue forms as a result of band (or other) surgery depends on the individual. Scar tissue formation is not abnormal, but it can be difficult for a surgeon to deal with when performing surgical procedures (such as band removal) later on. If the patient has had several abdominal surgeries in her/his lifetime, there will probably be more scar tissue to complicate things. For example, my bariatric surgeon says that I'm a challenge to work on because I no longer have a "virgin belly". I have scar tissue from band placement, a port revision, band removal, and (further south) a hysterectomy. If a patient has a lot of scar tissue, a surgical procedure will take longer to perform, and the surgeon may decide that the patient's body needs time to heal (and, unfortunately, form more scar tissue!) before another bariatric procedure can be done safely.

They denied it because they said my co-morbidities weren't bad enough to make the surgery a "medical necessity". In my appeal, I told them how much they'd have to pay to treat my co-morbidities (high cholesterol, sleep apnea, etc.) until I'm of Medicare age. I guess that convinced them! But that was back in 2007. Anthem seems to have loosened up a bit about WLS since then.

You have whatever Anthem insurance is printed on your subscriber ID card. If you're confused about it, just call them and ask. It doesn't really matter where they're located as long as you have coverage with providers in your area. I live in TN and have Anthem BC/BS of CT because my husband is retired from the state of CT. Providers submit claims for our medical care through BC/BS of TN, who then recover the money from Anthem BC/BS of CT. Your WLS coverage and approval will depend on the terms of your particular policy. Anthem could have 1000 different policies for 1000 different organizations or individuals (probably more!). Anthem took 2 weeks to deny my band surgery and another 2 weeks to approve it after I appealed it. My BMI was 39.9 and I had several co-morbidities.

Congratulations and good luck!

You might see it after losing a lot of weight. Mine looked like a round bump under the skin, but it wasn't weird looking and I don't think anyone would have noticed it if I'd gone out in public wearing a bikini (which I assure you, I have no plans to do ever again in my entire life).

I haven't gotten all the records yet, and it's 100% covered by my insurance, but so far it's $1600 for the anesthetist, $46,875 for the hospital (for an overnight stay), and $3057 for the pre-admission testing. My surgeon's fee will probably be $5000+.

Nope. I could feel my port as a hard mass that sometimes felt like it got in the way when I used my abdominal muscles to bend over, but I couldn't feel my band around my stomach. It's my understanding that the nerves in the GI tract don't react to stimulation the way nerves do elsewhere in the body. For example, when you stimulate your thumb buy pricking it with a pin, the nerves in your thumb immediately say, "Pain!" But when an organ or structure in your GI tract is stimulated, the nerves send the pain signal elsewhere in the body.

that's a very interesting question. I believe I was a very compliant and conservative patient as a new post-op, and after my first fill I realized how important it is to fill the band gradually, because it took a lot of effort for me to adjust my eating to the new level of restriction. I also felt that I NEEDED every single fill I got, but several times I asked for small unfills because eating had become too difficult. So I think it all balanced out OK for me.

I've never been sent home from any surgery with antibiotics. I hate that this is happening to you, but it really is best to remove your band and port now. As your doctor said, infection at the port site is often due to bacteria traveling down the tubing from the band to the port, and that may be due to band erosion. If that turns out to be the case with you, I wouldn't have another band placed. I'd consider revising to a different surgery after your stomach has healed from the band removal.

If the port site is also hot to touch, you could have an infection there. It's good that you're going to the doc tomorrow. I'm not a stomach sleeper, so I can't help you there!

Sam, That's a lot of questions! I could write a book in response to them. Oh, wait. I did write a book. Everybody's experience of surgery (anesthesia, pain, recovery) is different; surgeons' protocols for pre and post-op diets vary greatly; weight loss varies; exercise varies...so there's no one-size-fits-all answer for you. I suggest that you cruise the forums here to get an idea of other bandsters' experiences. As for preparing for surgery: you need to be doing whatever your surgeon and/or dietitian told you to do in preparationg, but other than that, I'd say the #1 thing is to start adjusting your expectations. Success at weight loss surgery of any type requires a lot of work - in making good food choices, controlling portions, resisting the urge to eat for non-hunger reasons (like stress, boredom, comfort), exercising (at whatever keeps you from getting bored), etc. Average weight loss with the band is 1-2 lbs/week. That's an average that includes people who lost a lot more quickly as well as people who lost nothing or gained weight.

Protein bullets are a flavored, gelatinous protein supplement packaged in small bullet-shaped (or test-tube shaped) packages. They give you a big whallop of protein in a very concentrated form. I think they're disgusting - I'm not sure if it's the flavor or the gelatinous texture. You can get them in health food stores.

I'm so glad to hear you're feeling better. I was very hungry too starting the day after my surgery. I think it may be easier for you to tolerate when you have work to do to keep your mind off it. Hang in there!

I have to tell you a funny fill story. During one of my first few fills, I was lying on the exam table chatting with my surgeon (my original surgeon, who didn't use lidocaine to numb the injection site). I couldn't see much of what was going on. I said, "So, how much are you going to put in this time?" and he laughed and said, "We're done already! I put in .5 cc." I hadn't felt a thing!

That's the spirit!

Lots of questions! I'm going to insert my answers and comments into your text, below.

You're not alone! My dietitian told me I wouldn't be hungry after my surgery, but she was wrong. I was hungry starting on day 2, and clear liquids didn't do much to help. But there are some very good reasons for following the liquid diet, and I've just posted an LBT Magazine article about how to survive the liquid diet that might help you. Check it out here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/page/index.html/_/healthy-living/food-nutrition/how-to-survive-your-liquid-diet-r69 Hang in there!