In July of 2008 I had lapband surgery. I was a self-pay patient, and everything went well. Between the pre-lapband diet and after the surgery I lost 35 pounds, with no lapband problems. The disaster struck suddenly. I was getting ready to go to work on the morning of March 19, 2009 when I suddenly felt very nauseous and started throwing up bile. Five or ten minutes later I experienced severe abdominal pains on my right side. It was so painful and I just knew something was seriously wrong that I had my husband call an ambulance because I couldn't even walk to the car. Luckily, I was attended to right away at the hospital. The diagnosis ended up being acute necrotizing pancreatitis due to a bile duct blockage caused by a gallstone. I was taken to intensive care and stayed there 3 weeks. However, I remained in the hospital of four straight months. My ordeal included sepsis, kidney failure with dialysis (which resolved itself), lung failure, 6 operations, numerous procedures, etc. The surgeon had to take half of my colon, and I ended up with an ileostomy (which is hopefully temporary - the surgeon wants me stronger before he reverses it).

Twice I was fed intraveneously and allowed nothing by mouth - once for 2 months and once for 4 months, even after I went home. I also lost the lapband (my surgeon throughout all of this was the same one who put the lapband in), but i did lose 75 pounds while in the hospital. My surgeon and the hospital absolutely saved my life. I was told that for people who have pancreatitis as bad as I do, the mortality rate is almost 100%, and in fact they didn't think for a while that I would live. I am home now, and doing much bettter. Eventually I should fully recover, but this past year was a nightmare I feel I am finally waking up from. I am still slowly recovering from the 6 abdominal operations (mostly, my abdomen just feels really tight and heavy and it still takes a lot out of me to walk), but am lucky to be alive and thankful I had such a fantastic surgeon (Dr. Brengman, at St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond, Va.).

Wow, you had quite a year. Sounds like you are very lucky to be doing so well. Hope everything continues to improve. Good Luck!!