Lots of people have been asking for my port infections/removals that lead to my current erosion, so thanks Alex for giving me a place to put it. Now I can refer them to once place.

I was banded by Dr. Lopez in Tijuana 5/5/04. My port site began leaking a week after surgery and never healed. It was red, hot, inflamed, infected. A month after surgery, I went back to Tijuana, where Dr. Kuri removed my port (I couldn't get Dr. Lopez to return my frantic calls or e-mails.)

Before going to Kuri though, I consulted with five different band surgeons because I didn't want my port removed; I just wanted antibiotics to kill the infection. Every single band surgeon agrees on one thing though, which is that an infected port MUST come out. Antibiotics may relive the redness and infection symptoms, but the infection will just keep coming back. Infected ports can (usually) lead to erosion since the infection travels down the tube, so an infected port needs to be removed immediately.

Even after port removal, the same wound refused to close and started leaking a few days after removal. I started going to local Vegas doctors, Urgent Care, even my vet! Nobody knew what was wrong. They put me on antibiotics, which didn't help. At one point the wound got so bad that Urgent Care said it needed to be lanced. They sliced it open and drained an awful amount of infected liquid, then packed the wound and had me come back the next day for another packing cleaning.

The wound still wouldn't close, and one day the tube popped out of my body. I walked around crying, not knowing what to do since local doctors don't know the band, and the 2 local band docs in Vegas refuse to see patients banded elsewhere. I started complaining to Inamed and anyone else who would listen, then I mentioned Inamed liability and told Inamed, "Your boy's club is making a lot of money off American patients that are walking around sick while you're getting richer." That's the comment that burned Inamed enough to contact Lopez for me.

8 months from my original surgery, Lopez (my original surgeon who ignored me this whole time) finally called after being urged by Inamed. He said we could start our relationship all over, and for me to come to Mexico. So I went to Tijuana for my 3rd time, where Lopez misdiagnosed me with "Band Rejection." He said the reason the port wound wouldn't heal is because my body was rejecting the tube, which is made out of the same material as the band, so he said my band would eventually "Reject" as well. However, Lopez was impressed with my 70-pound weight loss and agreed to give me a new port, even though he said it would be temporary and most likely "reject" like the first one. It was my option, but he said a new temporary port would allow me to get filled enough to lose more weight.

December 2004, Lopez cut me up, removed a bunch of inflammatory tissue, replaced the port through the same wound, then closed me up and sent me home. A few days later, my new port was infected. I was finally convinced to suck it up and find a US surgeon anywhere and just accept the fact that I might be left with enormous medical bills, so I went to Ventura and saw Dr. Billy. Billy filled in all the blanks by first saying Kuri should never have left the tube so close to the surface of my skin when he removed my first port. The tube by the open wound prevented the wound from closing, which caused bacteria to grow, ergo infection. Kuri should have (standard operating procedure) stored the tube in my abdominal cavity to allow the wound to close - that was 8 months of unnecessary hell.

Billy said there's no documented literature on "band rejection." He also said Lopez should never have closed a wound where he left a gaping hole after removing a large amount of inflamed tissue. Open wounds (like a bullet wound) need to drain and need to be left open to heal from the inside out. Again, standard operating procedure. I wasn't rejecting anything, I simply had an infection.

January 2005 Billy did an edoscopy, a laproscopy and removed my 2nd brand new port. He removed a bunch of infected tissue and he found SEVEN loose surgical staples just floating around the area that had no reason being there. He wasn't able to close the wound because of the hole left in me, so he packed it with gauze and trained my friend, Penni, how to change the packing daily since I nearly fainted when he made me look at the hole in me.

So Penni packed it for a couple days, then sent me home to Vegas. I'm lucky to have a friend nearby who adores gross medical junk, so she was happy to pack the wound every single day after Penni explained step-by-step instructions. Mary did this a few months, and it was very exciting seeing her use a little less gauze each day. I celebrated the day the wound finally sealed shut, leaving me with an ugly indented purple scar.

Billy said I had to be clean a full 6 months before he'd even consider giving me a new port. But lately my band/belly has felt "different" than it used to, so I suspected erosion. All the port infections out of Mexico that I am personally aware of have eroded, so I was quite sure. It took a long time to get the endoscopy since I don't have a local doctor, but I convinced my primary doctor to refer me. At first they'd only give me an Upper GI that I had a couple weeks ago. It came back clean, so I had to practically beg this gastro guy to get me an endoscopy.

I finally had the endoscopy this week, which revealed erosion. Now I'm working out details on having the band removed.

That's it in a nutshell. There's lots more details, but I'm already guilty of having 5000 posts here, so hopefully someone else gets the award for longest post!

And NO, I will not ever consider another weight loss surgery. It wasn't meant to be (for me.)

Lisa -

I hope you find a resolution to your Quest to lose weight. I know you started this journey with only that in mind.

Thank God you are OK and I will be praying for you to find a way to battle the weight that works for you.

It makes me sad for you.....I know what it is like to struggle and still be knocked down.

Take care - nancy

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<img border="0" src="<A href='http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/t/wjbyzgW/weight.png">http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/t/wjbyzgW/weight.png"></a>

Just a thought for those of you who have suffered band erosion... and please don't flame me! Once you have had an erosion, the anatomy in that area is distorted, and placement of a new band won't be easy. For this reason I recommend lap gastric bypass for patients who want something done. I do it 6 months after removal of the eroded band. It will be more reliably successful than another attempt at a band. That's just my opinion.

Mark Pleatman MD

www.laparoscopy.com/pleatman

That is what I am going to do. I am applying through Kaiser for a bypass since I had to have a removal due to an erosion. Didn't really want a bypass, but the ersoion caused gastroparesis so a sleeve is put of the question.

I miss my band!!!!

That is what I am going to do. I am applying through Kaiser for a bypass since I had to have a removal due to an erosion. Didn't really want a bypass, but the ersoion caused gastroparesis so a sleeve is put of the question.

I miss my band!!!!

KayleighsMommy;

Are you in Nor Cal or So Cal? or somewhere else? I am curious, because you have Kaiser, and I'd like to refer you to a particular surgeon who would be just perfect for your situation.

S.