Little Teapot

B-52: Thanks so much! This is exactly what I needed to hear. I'm learning that this journey is difficult for the impatient!

I originally had the Realize band. My surgeon offers both, and he said he usually just picks one unless his patients have a preference. I did a little research and decided that I wanted Realize. That was in May '11. Jump ahead to November '11, and I find myself getting the Realize band taken out and replaced with a Lap Band because it had a leak. Yep, I had to have the ENTIRE surgery done over again. Upon finding out that my Realize band had a leak, my surgeon turned to his nurse and said, "We've only had three leaks in the past, and they've all been with the Realize band, haven't they?" Turns out, it is most likely a manufacturing defect...still waiting for the drug company to finish analyzing the band. I'm not telling you this to discourage you from getting the Realize band. It could have been a flook for me, or maybe just one particular lot of the bands were defective. I'm telling you to question your surgeon further about his personal history with using each band. I wish my surgeon would have filled me in on the fact that he has had three leaks with Realize and no leaks with Lap-Band. Instead, he withheld that information and told me to pick whichever one I wanted. You deserve to know all the info before proceeding with surgery! Good luck with your decision!

I had my fill under fluoro yesterday, and there is indeed a leak. It's in the band, not in the tubing as I had hoped/suspected. This means I have to have surgery again to replace the band. I'm pretty devastated right now. The kicker: I asked my surgeon before surgery if I should choose Lap-Band or Realize and he said he uses them both and they're pretty much the same. He said they've shown the same results. I did some research and decided to go with Realize. Now he tells me he's only seen two leaks in his career, and they've both been Realize bands. They've also both leaked from the exact same place as mine. This is an example of information that would have been useful to me FOUR MONTHS AGO!!!! I'm so upset over this whole situation. I feel like telling him to just forget replacing the band and do the sleeve or bypass. I just feel a little hopeless right now.

Thanks so much for your response. I do plan on calling the office tomorrow and get the ball rolling on this fluoro appointment. I would have insisted on something sooner while I was in the office if I hadn't been crying too hard to speak. I just felt completely helpless in that moment, and I didn't feel like the doctor wanted to acknowledge that anything could be wrong. I don't even know if he understood why I was crying. He probably thought I was crying from pain! lol. I completely understand how you feel about losing some the the advantages of early stage post-banding weight loss. It's so frustrating to think of how far along I could have been by now. Anyway, no sense feeling sorry for myself. The sooner I get this fixed, the sooner I can get on track with weight loss. Thanks again Desdemona!

I was banded May 20th of this year and including the pre-op diet, I've lost 32 lbs. My first fill was horrible. There was a resident with the surgeon learning how to do fills. I should have refused, but I'm a student in the medical field, so I know you have to learn somehow. Long story short, he and the surgeon stuck me a combined 6 or 7 times before accessing the port. The put in 2cc's and I left with an appt to come back in 5 weeks or so. I didn't really feel a difference, which I know can be typical on such a small fill. On my second fill appointment, I was seen by the fill nurse. She was able to access the port right away, but could not pull out any Fluid. I was already worried that the resident poked a hole in my tubing, but she comforted me by saying that with all the poking, he may have gotten flustered and still not hit the port. She put in 2cc's said to come back in 4 weeks and we'd check. Well, that appointment was yesterday. I was incredibly nervous about finding out if those 2cc's were still in my band. There was a surgeon there to do my fill (not my surgeon). He accessed the port right away. I felt him pushing and pulling the syringe, and then he said "Hm." I looked up and he said, "well, I can pull out what I'm putting in, but nothing else." I started bawling like a baby right there on the table with a needle in my stomach. The doctor didn't seem to care, but the nurse there tried to comfort me. Long story short, he put in 4.5 cc's and said to come back in a month. He didn't even want to acknowledge the possibility of a leak until I brought it up again. He said it's possible, but maybe the nurse didn't really access the port last time. Yeah right, I know she did because she pulled the saline in and out just like he did. If his 4.5 cc's aren't in my band when I come back in four weeks, then I most likely have a leak and will have to have surgery again to repair the tubing. I feel crushed right now By the way, my fills have never been done under fluoro, but I'll most likely be insisting from now on. Would anyone who has gone through tube replacement surgery be willing to share their experience?

What can you tell me about having tube/port replacement surgery? Was it a similar experience to the original surgery. I will most likely be having leaking tube replacement soon. Thanks.

Wow Jessie, my story is SO similar! I was banded May 20th of this year and including the pre-op diet, I've lost 32 lbs. My first fill was horrible. There was a resident with the surgeon learning how to do fills. I should have refused, but I'm a student in the medical field, so I know you have to learn somehow. Long story short, he and the surgeon stuck me a combined 6 or 7 times before accessing the port. The put in 2cc's and I left with an appt to come back in 5 weeks or so. I didn't really feel a difference, which I know can be typical on such a small fill. On my second fill appointment, I was seen by the fill nurse. She was able to access the port right away, but could not pull out any Fluid. I was already worried that the resident poked a hole in my tubing, but she comforted me by saying that with all the poking, he may have gotten flustered and still not hit the port. She put in 2cc's said to come back in 4 weeks and we'd check. Well, that appointment was yesterday. I was incredibly nervous about finding out if those 2cc's were still in my band. There was a surgeon there to do my fill (not my surgeon). He accessed the port right away. I felt him pushing and pulling the syringe, and then he said "Hm." I looked up and he said, "well, I can pull out what I'm putting in, but nothing else." I started bawling like a baby right there on the table with a needle in my stomach. The doctor didn't seem to care, but the nurse there tried to comfort me. Long story short, he put in 4.5 cc's and said to come back in a month. He didn't even want to acknowledge the possibility of a leak until I brought it up again. He said it's possible, but maybe the nurse didn't really access the port last time. Yeah right, I know she did because she pulled the saline in and out just like he did. If his 4.5 cc's aren't in my band when I come back in four weeks, then I most likely have a leak and will have to have surgery again to repair the tubing. I feel crushed right now By the way, my fills have never been done under fluoro, but I'll most likely be insisting from now on.

Thanks for the responses guys. I just needed to hear that what I'm going through is normal. I just need to be patient with myself.

I'll take any input I can get. You don't have to have a Realize band to help!

I was banded on May 20th of this year and I've had one fill so far of 2cc's. I'm down 27 lbs, but only 6 lbs lost in the last (almost) two months. I feel like I never even had surgery. My second fill is tomorrow, and I hope it's an aggressive one. I'm curious as to what other realize bandsters have experienced with the effectiveness of their fills. How many cc's until you "felt" something? Were you ever worried that you'll never lose weight successfully with the band? I know everyone is different, but I need some hope here! Please tell me I'll eventually feel something from my band!

It is annoying when I'm looking at a cute top and then realize it's a maternaty shirt. What gets me the most though is that there are such cute and trendy looking maternity clothes available and ugly crap for plus size. I always feel like we're being punished for being fat...like we don't deserve to be big and look cute..unless we're pregnant. Ahh, hopefully this will soon be a former annoyance.

So I had surgery on May 20th and am down 27 pounds so far. I work at a hospital and some coworkers were just congratulating me on my success so far. I work in X-ray and I got this elderly patient who looked at me and said "I hope your baby wasn't in the room with us during the procedure." and she pointed to my stomach. FAIL. Went home and cried.