Erosion, The Real Facts

[DrPleatman 3]

I was not being flippant with my comments. If your band has eroded and been removed, you can't just sit there and sulk about it. Of course you are upset. You have had a loss. You are grieving, but self-pity gets you nowhere. My job as a bariatric surgeon is to help my patients lose weight. I have to guide them through the decision-making process. You picked the band because it was the safest simplest operation, with the lowest complication rate. But that complication rate is NOT ZERO. For you it was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. Now you have another decision to make. Now I have to help you (if you are my patient) decide what to do next. How important is it for you to lose weight? For some, they may believe that the risk of another operation is too high. Others re-start the thought process and decide that perhaps they are willing to have another operation, even though originally they would not have agreed to have the bypass. Remember, the great thing about the Band is that you don't burn any bridges with it. If it doesn't work, you can try something else.

For those afraid of the bypass, sleeve gastrectomy is a reasonable option. Nothing is bypassed, there are no Vitamin issues, and there is no rerouting. There's no dumping. In addition, there are still other options later, if you don't lose enough weight.

Trish... what don't I get? It's not like you're all moslems and I am asking you to accept Jesus. Is this some kind of religion here where "Once a bandster, always a bandster"?

Finally, I WOULD send a family member to Dr. Ortiz.

Mark Pleatman MD

www.laparoscopy.com/pleatman

[dawg 0]

Fascinating thread.

I guess I shall add my bit to stir the pot.

Fantastic PR. If my business was getting negative press I'd certainly be here defending it.

I would like to ask exactly how many erosions, or complications leading to band removal does Dr. Ortiz know of, performed by either himself or Dr. Lopez?

He offered facts. That's a nice start.

Dr. Pleatman - I am astounded that a physician would insult people and class them as obsessive. The steps it takes to decide on getting a band are monumental, and to loose it when so much progress has been made must be catastrophic.

I can clearly see you were upset / stressed when you typed this:

as well as other general surgeon, I was shocked to read the suggestion that the surgoen...

I'll ignore the fact that you seem to have difficulty with grammar and spelling.

People here are friends, they 'band' together. If you insult one, you insult them all. We are all here because we share something. We either have been banded, have a spouse who has been banded (which is my situation), and people deciding on whether they should get the band.

I appreciate both of you surgeons may be extremely skilled and have hundreds (if not thousands) of success stories. The concern about 'erosion' though is valid, and when there seems to be a large proportion of complications coming from one source, in this case <st1:country-region><st1>Mexico</st1></st1:country-region>, it grabs attention.

I think Dr. Ortiz did a splendid job of trying to settle the nerves of patients who have had no complications and live in fear. Dr. Pleatman I think should just be quiet and shrink back from whence he came.

[dawg 0]

Sulk... self-pity... Muslims???

I'm speechless.

Wait, no I'm not. Construct a sentence from the following words:

a

manner

screw

buy

new

me

and

to

compassion

fat

you

bedside

need

people

mercedes

10 virtual points to whoever gets it right. and you better not be a Muslim or Dr. Pleatman will attempt to tell you about Jesus.

[Penni60 45]

I was not being flippant with my comments. If your band has eroded and been removed, you can't just sit there and sulk about it. Of course you are upset. You have had a loss. You are grieving, but self-pity gets you nowhere. My job as a bariatric surgeon is to help my patients lose weight. I have to guide them through the decision-making process. You picked the band because it was the safest simplest operation, with the lowest complication rate. But that complication rate is NOT ZERO. For you it was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. Now you have another decision to make. Now I have to help you (if you are my patient) decide what to do next. How important is it for you to lose weight? For some, they may believe that the risk of another operation is too high. Others re-start the thought process and decide that perhaps they are willing to have another operation, even though originally they would not have agreed to have the bypass. Remember, the great thing about the Band is that you don't burn any bridges with it. If it doesn't work, you can try something else.

For those afraid of the bypass, sleeve gastrectomy is a reasonable option. Nothing is bypassed, there are no Vitamin issues, and there is no rerouting. There's no dumping. In addition, there are still other options later, if you don't lose enough weight.

Trish... what don't I get? It's not like you're all moslems and I am asking you to accept Jesus. Is this some kind of religion here where "Once a bandster, always a bandster"?

Finally, I WOULD send a family member to Dr. Ortiz.

Mark Pleatman MD

www.laparoscopy.com/pleatman

Let me get this straight. YOU have to help me make a decision about MY body. YOU have to help me see what MY options are. So instead of talking to me about diet and exercise and what those options are you automatically suggest a more radical surgery with even more complications than the band.

You comments to TRISH are uncalled for Dr. Pleatman.

You are a rather harsh fellow and I pity each of your patients, because you are an insensitive person. You do not take into consideration the feelings or emotional status of your patient before you speak. As an RN I would have called you on this on several occasions I am sure. I earned the respect of the patient by seeing them as a human being first and a patient second. Something I feel that you should learn.

[migbt 0]

Wow... I am stunned by the whole thread!

Big (((((hugs))))) to those who have suffered erosion. I haven't walked in your shoes and can't begin to know how that feels, but I do think you have a right to be angry and to voice your opinions. As does everyone else who comes here.

I totally have a problem with any doctor that would try to influence banster opinions by signing on to their (our) website... the place where we go to comfort eachother, to voice our feelings..... It is not right. It is just not right!

[DeLarla 22]

"WOW! you saw all that and still went there."

Uh, no Dog. You did all your research yet YOU still went there. I had my procedures done in other facilities.

Looks like someone who did their research only got the skinny on the positives and forgot to ask about the negatives.

[PhotoNut 7]

I'm sitting here shaking my head at this guy. Youre a real work of art mister. What's wrong, did someone point out that your buddy Oritz might not be so almighty great as you thought? Perhaps your feeling insecure about the fact that you were trained by someone who's facing questions you dont like to see.

Dont sullk? Dont have self pity? Who are you to talk to these people that way? You just stepped into this dicussion. You dont know these great people who have sat with wound vacs sucking out the gaping holes in their stomachs. You dont know the families that have suffered with them, seeing them in pain and loss. What a jackass you are to come here and act like this. WHERE IS YOUR PROFESSIONALISM??

And you were flippant. You know you were. You are taking this personally. Why dont YOU get over it and be a doctor, not a male with a wounded ego?

And, coming from someone who tosses out 'go get a bypass' (which has a mortality rate of 1 in 200!!) I wouldnt take your advice on ANY alternative route, let alone your referal or recommendation of a surgeon who holds MY life in his hands.

I do hope lots of people from your area that are considering any kind of weight loss surgery are on this board seeing your lack of care and compassion.

[one gone dog 0]

Have you had any major complications thus far? I don't consider fills a major complication. I pray that you don't have any either. You might find out how good the aftercare really is.

My wife has had major problems (in may of 04) and i had some minor problems pretty soon after mine was put in.

we have a fill doctor up here that we use for fills. he did fill my wife when i had my band put in.

[Penni60 45]

Hurray Dr. Pleatman! The unfortunate eroded band is not life ending. The extra surgeries, the pain, the cost..that must really suck. But get real, its not like you lost a child or a husband or your parents. Every surgery has its risks, its complications, be thankful you didn't die.

Cristan in Olympia

You are correct we did not lose a husband or a child or our parents, but for me the pain was all the same. I went through a grieving process that some may snap out of and some may linger.

Until you experience the loss you just don't understand the pain. I cried for a day then went numb and withdrew. Everyone handles grief differently. You trivialize my pain. THat is cruel.

Yes I didn't die, and yet you praise Dr. Pleatman who suggests I consider a bypass where the chances of me dying is a real possibility.

[one gone dog 0]

"WOW! you saw all that and still went there."

Uh, no Dog. You did all your research yet YOU still went there. I had my procedures done in other facilities.

Looks like someone who did their research only got the skinny on the positives and forgot to ask about the negatives.

im impressed, you know how to make your words real big.

[Penni60 45]

Lisa was quoting what someone else said Cristan.

[Aimze 0]

Hurray Dr. Pleatman! The unfortunate eroded band is not life ending. The extra surgeries, the pain, the cost..that must really suck. But get real, its not like you lost a child or a husband or your parents. Every surgery has its risks, its complications, be thankful you didn't die.

Cristan in Olympia

WOW! No one said losing their band was like losing a loved one.

And i would imagine that unless you have lost your band after working so hard to get it. and pay out of pocket for it. You know nothing about what it feels like. I myself am lucky enough to still have my band. As well as my compasion for those that have had to lose theirs/

Did you mother never teach you the golden rule. If you do not have anything nice to say, say nothing at all. Try it we all might like it!.

[PhotoNut 7]

Christan - be thankful we didnt die???

Good lord. You should send Pleatman a resume. Sounds like you would fit right in with his office as a staff member.

These folks didnt start out by slaming and insulting anyone as you and Pleatman have done. They were simply expressing concerns about their own personal experiences with their own bodies. This is a message board designed for that. We have the right to share our failures, fears and victories without people like you coming here and starting your first post with your red thumbs down and insults to those of us who are friends.

Did you show up to start trouble, or are you looking for a group of friends who share the same struggles and are really here for one another? If you came for the first.. well, you're little more than a fart in the wind. You'll go away soon. And if you came for the latter, you've got some serious attitude changes to make before you'll fit it with this great group of considerate and caring people.

[dawg 0]

The Dr never recommended surgery in Mexico. He recommended

DR ORTIZ!.............

C in O

Well no kidding Sherlock? You'd think Ortiz trained the man or something...

[Penni60 45]

I lost both my parents by the time I was 30. I buried my father @ 52 an Army COL with complications from Vietnam. I buried my mother @ 62 after 3 tough years fighting breat cancer that spread into her bones..If we hugged her, bones would break...now thats pain, do you really think its the same sort of thing?

I had cervical cancer and they removed my uterus and I couldn't have any more kids...I didn't grieve for my cervix.

I am not trying to trivialize your grief and pain. I am just trying to put some perspective to it.

Cristan

C in O

I am sorry for your pain and grief. I can sympathize and understand that kind of pain. I lost my father to cancer at the age of 52. I lost my uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes at the age of 27 after my last child. We all have different kinds of pain that we each go through. Not one person can say their pain is worse than anyone elses. Your pain is just as important as mine. I am truly sorry for your losses. I would expect the same respect from you on my losses.