freedom0702

ezzie5 - I agree with the others. I feel that my revision was just a "bump in the road" for me. I've learned thru this experience that I can't get/keep the weight off by myself. After my port got a hole in it and I had no restriction, I gained about 20 lbs back. Now that the port has been replaced, I'm back to losing. It's a great tool! A couple of things I would suggest to you though is 1) try to find a support group in your area, maybe the surgeon you are considering has one. This way, you can meet and talk with people who have used the same surgeon you are considering and get a better idea if the band and surgeon are right for you, and 2) if/when you do get your band, be assertive enough to tell them if you feel something they're doing doesn't seem quite right (ie: I should have been more assertive when she kept digging around trying to find my port). Don't be passive like I was. Only you can decide if this is right for you. I know it is a scary concept, but I feel this has been well worth it for me. I wish you the best with the choice you make!

Well, hopefully this will fix it for good. I had my revision in September and have had 2 fills since. I think I'm at my sweet spot, finally. Another plus is that they must have cut a nerve during the revision so now I can't even feel the needle when she does a fill. All in all, I think it was worth it. I'm having a hard time now believing that this actually going to work this time. I am feeling like, OK how long before it stops working again. I think I need to see someone for this kind of thinking so I can get my head back on track. I don't know what I would do if I had to have another band surgery. I try not to even think about that. Hang in there and I hope it will all be worth it for you too!

Just a word of advice for you about letting them poke you so many times. I too, had a tilted port and they would poke me several times each fill. Finally it poked a hole in my port and some of the tubing. I had to have a port revision. Not fun, took longer to bounce back from that surgery than the original one. Please don't be afraid to speak up so you don't end up like I did.

The first surgery I had to pay a $150 co-pay to the hospital. I don't remember what I paid the doctor. The second one had a $175 co-pay, my co-pay increased January '09. The dr never sent me a bill (which is good since I wouldn't have paid him anything anyway since it was their fault). He did get paid from my insurance though. Also, because I had a revision, I get another year of fills at no cost. Normally, because the 12 months was up, I would have to pay a co-pay of $15 for each fill.

I had to have my port replaced due to a leak and my insurance did pay for it. I don't know about getting realize to pay for a defective band or to pay for your time off, my band was damaged from the dr asst digging around in it trying to do a fill and poked a hole in it. Good luck to you!

Well I finally got my port revision on September 3rd after having a hole in the port for several months. My original port was placed too high and also tipped sideways making it very difficult to fill.:w00t: Then they poked a hole in it because they kept poking and moving it around so much trying to find the port. I agree that the pain was at least as bad as the original surgery. I've been more sore for a longer period of time with the revision than the original surgery. The PA said that's because they had to do a lot of disection to move the port :eek:. She tried to do a fill a couple of weeks ago but it was too swollen and sore so we decided to wait a couple more weeks. I just got my first fill since the revision today. They put 2cc in during the surgery and another .7cc in today. Can't feel any restriction yet, but sometimes it takes a little while to feel it, maybe tomorrow morning I'll have some :scared2:. Sure hope I can get back to losing again. I've gained about 10 pounds since December (last time I had good restriction). I'll let ya all know how it goes.

I just had my port replaced a couple of weeks ago, they discovered that there was a hole in the tubing near the port. My insurance did cover the revision. I haven't gotten a fill since the revision, sure hope it works this time.:biggrin:

Thanks everyone. That doesn't sound so bad considering I've been getting a fill every month for over a year now. They found a hole and did a revision this week though, so hopefully I won't have to get a fill as often now.

Funny you should ask about this today. At our support group meeting last week, the doctor was there taking questions and I asked him if being pregnant would cause the port to move up and rub on the rib? He said that shouldn't be a problem. But I think it makes since that it would cause it to push against your rib as I even noticed that it did that again when I gained a little weight back. ??? Who knows! It never made a difference with mine if I wore jeans or not, however, I always wore stretchy jeans with elastic waist. The only thing that helped me was taking pain meds for about 3 months until I lost enough weight around my midriff that caused the port to move down enough to stop rubbing my rib. After all that, I had to have a port revision yesterday because there was a hole in the tubing. I had been getting fills for the last 6 months and it would only last for about a week each time. When dr replaced the port, he moved it down a couple of inches and over to the middle more. The original port was also sewn in at an angle so he sewed it straight this time so it won't be so hard to fill. I hope it works this time. I'm ready to get back to losing. Good luck and let us know what your doctor says about your port.

I have a question for those of you who have had their bands for years and reached their goal weight. Do you ever get to a point where you never have to get another fill? Or do you need to get them occasionally forever?

Kim, so did you get your port replaced? If so, how are you doing now? I'm having the same problem you described and am looking at having a port revision, but am waiting until end of May so I don't have to take so mcuh time off work. Hope everything went well for you, please let me know.

So is the port you have now a low profile or is that what it's being replaced with? I too am looking at revision surgery, possible the end of this week, for the same reason. I was wondering if the surgeon (though I haven't asked him yet) would replace it with a low profile one as I've read where some people have the regular one replaced with a low profile one after they lose so much weight. I've only lost about 45 lbs so far, but I don't want to have more surgery than absolutely necessary, so maybe he will do it now.???

mnn2501 - how did your dr determine that your port had flipped?

CristiOT - Glad you're feeling better. I saw my dr. He still didn't do an xray as someone had suggested to me. He said that wouldn't do any good. But he said he guesses he could do a revision and move my port, but there is a real risk for infection if he opens the incision. Or we could try pain pills for awhile and see if as the weight comes off if it will stop hurting. I'm opting for the pills for now. I don't want another surgery if at all possible, no matter how small.

Did they have to do the surgery all over again or just go in and re-stitch the port? I see my dr a week from today. I am going to insist that he do an x-ray then or maybe even before since I go for a fill this Friday.