I've recently had a horrible experience, need to vent, and wondered if anyone else went through something similar.

This past Sunday, I got stuck and vomited. Not the first time it's happened, so I expected to spend the next couple days on liquids. Monday morning I tried a couple sips of warm tea and it came up almost immediately. I called my MD's nurse and explained the situation; she asked me to come in Wednesday at 1PM and she would get me worked in. (My MD is in the clinic all day Monday and half a day on Wed/Fri, other days he is in surgery, doing rounds at the hospital, or at a nonbariatric clinic right on the same block as the bariatric clinic. Also, he is the only person who does fills/unfills. He has no partner or another person trained.) I agreed with her suggestion thinking that the band would loosen up enough to dring at least by Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I couldn't swallow my own spit much less Water. So, I called the clinic again on Tuesday. By this time I'm desperately thirsty, I've lost 10 lbs since Sunday, I'm vomiting up what little spit I'm producing and accidentally swallowing at least every 2 hours. My temperature is over 100 and my skin turgor is getting worse; my eyelids and skin over my knuckles would stay up in a little peak if I pinched them. I was peeing in small amounts sporadically. I knew I was dehydrated and voiced my concern to the nurse. She responded that he was in surgery all day, and she would try to get ahold of him. And, if she didn't call back, come in the previously arranged time on Wednesday. I responded that I didn't think I could wait that long. Her answer to this was to go to the ER. I was astounded! During the year and a half that I've been a patient, the MD and staff have constantly hammered into me to just give them a call if I need anything . I take this to mean that if an urgent situation like this arises, I can call and get their help quickly. I was very wrong. She did call back and told me to be at the clinic at 0830 Wednesday morning; the MD would come in between hospital rounds. I was so tired by this point and agreed. The next morning my husband drove me to the clinic (by this time I'm very weak, I'm down 12 lbs d/t Fluid loss). I check in and am told that it could be one hour or even three hours before he comes by. By this time I'm so tired and dispirited that I can hardly think. I burst into tears and say I'm going to have him take out all of the fill, I haven't had anything to drink in nearly three days, I've tried to get an appointment for the past two days, my husband has to be at work at 10, etc... I can't even completely remember everything I said, my brain was so clouded. I sit and the desk clerk tells me he has been paged. By the time I see him, it's nearly 11AM!! I had him take all of the fill out although he was initially going to just take a bit out to "decompress", but I insisted. I have a one-month appointment made, but I'm really debating going back. I love my band and don't regret having it done, but don't wish to risk a repeat of this experience. I am about 20 lbs away from my healthy weight and have learned a lot of great habits, so I don't doubt that I could do it. It would just be more slowly.

Has anyone else had an experience like this? How did your doctor respond?

Sorry so long and thanks for reading:redface:

Hey there sorry that you had a tough time with your band and dehydration. To be honest from what you posted I don't see where he did anything wrong. The advise to go to the ER was sound advise. Him being in a solo practice I don't see why he doesn't have a PA or Nurse trained to do Emergent unfills though. Glad it turnedmout ok for you but next time if he can't get you in in am day and your getting that dehydrated I would go to the ER

I was stuck over Memorial Day weekend. I was able to drink a little Sat., Sun., Mon., but by Tuesday I could not drink. I called my surgeon's office and they got me in that afternoon. He took out only part of the fill so The swelling would go down and told me to come back in 2 weeks for a fill to get my good restriction back. The staff and the Dr. treated me very well and I do not have the stress about the situation that you are having. I'm sorry to hear you were not treated as well. They should get you in sooner to get your fill level going again. When you go back you should talk to the doc about how you were not treated the way you should have been. My Dr. is in a solo practice and he is the only one who does fills. I do not and will not use the ER in this situation. I think people use the ER for all the wrong reasons and I do not have insurance to foot the bill. The Doc could have seen you during off hours before/after surgeries. It only takes a couple minutes of his time to treat his patient properly.

Edited June 10, 201016 yr by Humming Bird

Dehydration is not only a valid ER visit it could possibly lead to admission. Not misuse at all.

There would not have been that reason if her lapband doc would have treated her properly

I am done with it, OP glad your doing well

Thanks for posting, y'all; but I do agree with Humming Bird (ha! of course:rolleyes:). An ER visit would have consisted of waiting for several hours, only to have them call in my bariatric MD anyway to unfill my band since no one else in my city can (and would also incur a large bill). I actually did regret not going to the ER after calling the clinic on Tuesday when I realized on Wednesday morning that it would still be awhile before I would see the MD. I could have at least had some relief from IV fluids. But, the point is that I entered into this doctor/patient relationship with the expectation that something like this would be taken care of very quickly. This was an urgent situation that was turning into an emergent one, and my doctor was aware of it. Unfills take less than 10 minutes; and, as a nurse myself, I know that any paperwork would not take long, either. This entire situation could have been avoided on Monday if they had offered to work me in then. Now I wish I had pushed for that harder:redface:.

My heart totally goes out to you. I know what it's like to go days without water, though, not from anything getting stuck. It's a horrible experience and puts a lot of things into perspective. I'm glad you're okay now.