Missing Band?!?

[khandi489 0]

Hi everyone,

I am very, very confused right now. I hope someone can help me out, even if it's just speculation.

I was banded June 18th 2009 with the Realize band. I lost about 30 pounds in 3 months. Then I stopped losing. I never hit the "sweet spot" with fills, and I started getting heartburn when I was filled to about 5 ccs in my 11cc band. The doctor thought I was filled too tight, so he took some of the saline out. This irritated me because I had never had very good restriction, so how could I be filled too much? Then he told me that he wasn't going to fill me up past the 5cc point again because that was too tight. I had flouroscopy done twice after that but he never filled me to 5 ccs again. This was all back in December. My surgeon is 2 hours away from where I live and he is only in the office on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. I go to law school and between January and about a week ago, there was no way I could go back up to Dallas to try to get a fill. After classes ended, I came back home to Michigan to visit my parents. My PCP ordered an upper GI because I wasn't losing weight and because of my heartburn.

When the radiologist did the upper GI yesterday he didn't see a lapband! He thought he might have saw part of it, but that was in my abdomen. My stomach looked perfect he said, and there definitely was no band around it. What the heck does that mean??? I've found rare instances of the lap band becoming unlocked, but what about with the realize band? I'm just really freaked out because I either got scammed by one of the nation's leading bariatric surgeons or there is a band floating around in my body somewhere.

Any thoughts/advice/comments/suggestions are welcome.

Candace

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Hi everyone,

I am very, very confused right now. I hope someone can help me out, even if it's just speculation.

I was banded June 18th 2009 with the Realize band. I lost about 30 pounds in 3 months. Then I stopped losing. I never hit the "sweet spot" with fills, and I started getting heartburn when I was filled to about 5 ccs in my 11cc band. The doctor thought I was filled too tight, so he took some of the saline out. This irritated me because I had never had very good restriction, so how could I be filled too much? Then he told me that he wasn't going to fill me up past the 5cc point again because that was too tight. I had flouroscopy done twice after that but he never filled me to 5 ccs again. This was all back in December. My surgeon is 2 hours away from where I live and he is only in the office on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. I go to law school and between January and about a week ago, there was no way I could go back up to Dallas to try to get a fill. After classes ended, I came back home to Michigan to visit my parents. My PCP ordered an upper GI because I wasn't losing weight and because of my heartburn.

When the radiologist did the upper GI yesterday he didn't see a LAP-BAND®! He thought he might have saw part of it, but that was in my abdomen. My stomach looked perfect he said, and there definitely was no band around it. What the heck does that mean??? I've found rare instances of the LAP-BAND® becoming unlocked, but what about with the realize band? I'm just really freaked out because I either got scammed by one of the nation's leading bariatric surgeons or there is a band floating around in my body somewhere.

Any thoughts/advice/comments/suggestions are welcome.

Candace

You need to get a copy of the disk of the upper GI as well as the report. You can call hospital records and request one. Then take it for a second opinion to an experienced bariatric surgeon who has a good reputation. Get copies of your operative report, all other tests and your follow up visits with fill records. Take all of this with you.

If you have a band floating around somewhere in your abdomen, that it a problem that needs to be addressed. I know that some radiologists aren't that experienced with band patients but to have your stomach look perfectly normal with no band is troublesome.

Good luck.

[Mimilou2004 13]

OMG!!!!!!

Mimi