I joined for my husband and hope he will start using this site.

My husband had surgery last yr on his back. He had the lower part of his spine fused.

He can't really do much and his doctor thinks the Lap band is the way to go cause if he loses

Weight his back would feel much better. So her are my questions.

1. What is a port and why do u need one.

2. Does the lap band ever come out??

3. How long does this surgery take??

Well that's all my questions for now.

Thanks,

Spuds wife

It is good to see a supportive spouse.

In answer to your questions.

1. A port is the part of the lapband through which fills are done. It sits under the skin somewhere in your stomach area. It is attached via tubing to the band . The Dr fills it with saline to increase the pressure within your band which then helps to make you eat less and remain satisfied for longer.

2. It is designed to stay in for life and will only be removed if there are problems.

3. I think the actual surgery takes about 45min but as I wasn't awake at the time I'm not really sure.

I think you should visit www.lapband.com as that has lots of info and also read some of the threads on this site. You may also want to go into youtube and look for videos of how the band works.

Doing all this will raise more questions which is fine we are happy to answer them. At this stage you probably have no idea what there is that you don't know.

Elcee answered right on your questions so do some investigation on the internet and read up on it. If your husband had a spinal fusion believe me having a band fitted will seem like a walk in the park

I hope all works out well for you both !