After reading some of the posts here I thought I would post what has just happened with my whole LB experience.
I was banded on 10/16/2009; had a non eventful recovery and although the band was empty still had enough restriction from the swelling that I continued to loose weight and all was going well with one exception, the gas. It was horrible, didn't matter what I ate, how slow or how much I chewed I would have such painful gas that I began to truly think something was wrong. GasX helped a little as did walking around stretching but it never really went away.
My first fill occurred 11/13/2009; it too was uneventful, seemed to have gone right until a few days later I noticed I wasn't really hungry at all in the mornings and that I had this dull ache that ran from just below my left rib cage diagonally downward across my abdomen to just under my right rib cage. First thought was that the cold meds I took had irritated my stomach. Then on Saturday 11/21 I woke up, wasn't hungry again but felt "sick." Then at 10:30 A.M. the most agonizing pain hit my abdomen and nearly took me to the floor, it knocked the wind out of me and within minutes I was on my way to emergency.
In emergency they contacted my surgeon and he ordered that the band be deflated, upon doing that I had almost complete reliefe of the pain minus the cramping and spasms I was having with position changes. They started me on IV Antibiotics as they were concerned there was possibly infection at the band site. I was kept in the hospital until the following Tuesday 11/24 when they released me on oral antibiotics -I had been able to drink fluids and eat very soft foods without problems. Despite feeling better I had this sensation that there was something between my breast bones that felt like it had a "hold" of me, Im sure it was the band but it wasnt too bad and seemed to fade with movement.
By Wednesday morning I was back in Emergency with the exact same pain that had started it all and elevated temps of 101-103. This time they wasted no time and took me to surgury and found several different things:
1. Contaminated stitching used in original surgery -recovered and sent off for testing.
2. Large abcess that had filled abdomen with pus and then somehow found its way into the bloodstream, blood cultures later revealed I was septic from the infection.
The band was removed and also sent off for testing and examination.
I am home now, still on pretty powerful antibiotics to deal with the sepsis, I have two jackson-pratt drains from my abdomen which are still draining pus and other tissue from my abdomen.
With the band out I feel 100% better despite the other complications I am dealing with, I'm just glad it is out and I am on my way to recovery.
