Port Infection/lapband Infection/band Removal

[greeneyezgottiii 0]

Banded 9/21/10 total weight loss 123lbs

I wanted to start this thread because there may be someone out there looking for answers or comparison. January of this year I was given the unfortunate news my port had become infected. My surgeon tried to salvage it by route of oral antibiotics, after cultures were obtain an the nasty bug pseudomonas grew out. Three weeks in an no improvement, I scheduled for an in office port removal 2/15/12. Much to my dismay, complications landed me in an ambulance from my surgeons official to the ER! Went home and was told I'd be sore for about a week, after a week of fevers an unrelenting pain I landed myself in the ER again on 2/27/12, suspicious the infection had created an abscess or invaded a near by cavity! After two CT scans negative for infection spread but positive for pleurisy and pleural effusion. ? Correlation from port removal? No one knows. Sent home yet again on the same antibiotics and now antiinflammatories. After another week of terrible pain, fevers, and my newly acquired breathing difficulties I was admitted for iv antibiotic therapy, thoracentesis and emergent removal of my lapband on 3/8/12. After four days in the hospital I was advised that my band tubing had also cultured for infection I was discharged with two weeks more of iv antibiotics which means dripping them in myself every 8 hours and home health care! Moral of my story? Don't play with a port infection. Remove it immediately! The band is a tool, its foreign to our bodies, and a perfect housing device for infections to colonize on and keep on infecting us. I'm only 30, a single mom, full time student and full time employed. If I could just go back and take out the port to begin with I would, the nightmare has triggered every emotion including fear of death. I'll never have the band replaced, never even if someone paid me a monthly salary this has opened my eyes to the bigger picture

[#MagicWithinme 173]

gosh, that's scary good to hear you are ok, but you didn't know it was infected or was it painful/tender and didn't go to md to get it checked. It would be good to know what we should look out for. .

I repeat over and over there is so much about the lapband that a person doesn't find out until we actually get it.

[lito 11]

that is scary i hope your ok

[sleeve_sister 110]

Oh my...my prayers are with you!! Question for you...did you have any redness where your port is? Cough? Shortness of Breath? I was banded 3/10 and am currently in a work up for a revision to a sleeve. However, I have been short of breath and had a cough to two months now and just a few weeks ago I began getting nauseas everytime I ate and after not having restriction for over a year all the sudden had restriction. So, my surgeon ordered a CT and yesterday I had a EGD. EGD results were that I have an ulcer where the band is and one of the sutures used to hold the band down has punctured my stomach leaving a hole, he also mentioned that my band was placed too high (this is a different surgeon than who did my band) and that is why I have restriction all the sudden due to that and the ulcer. I grabbed the CT report even though he hasn't contacted me regarding it, it says that I have alveolitis or pneumonitis in my left lung. Today, I woke up and I have about 4 in diameter redness on my skin surrounding my port. I, like you am pretty much a single mom right now, my husband works in another state, so going to the ER is out of the question. Haha they have to figure out a plan before I can go anywhere. Anyway, I was just wondering if you had any of those symptoms??

[missjoli 0]

THis is so scary. I would love to hear updates on how you guys are doing. I have some tenderness in my port area and possibly swelling. Going to doc tomorrow. I'm so nervous.

[Tracyj75 0]

I'm going through almost the same thing right now. I was banded on 5-22-12. My port site started oozing last Tuesday 6-5-12. I was told that it was normal and the color was normal but they told me what to look out for. Everything was fine until Thursday night when I stopped oozing. I began experiencing horrible pain. It hurt to move or do anything. I saw the surgeon on Friday and he removed a couple syringes of Fluid to ease the pain. The color of the fluid was still normal. He put me on an antibiotic. I went the weekend and was still in pain. Monday morning I started oozing a lot of "murky" colored fluid. I went to the surgeons office and sure enough, I had gotten an infection. I am now on a stronger antibiotic and have to change the packing in my wound twice a day. I go back on Friday and I am so hoping these antibiotics work and I don't have to have this port removed. If they don't work, the port will have to be removed, then I have to wait a month to heal, and then go back in and have the port put back in.

[eggzy82 4]

I am going through this as well

Bad really bad pain.

Can't lay down and feel so sick and weak

Had port removed two weeks ago today

Spent a week in hospital on morphine.

Now I am home and the same pain is coming back

I think the lap band has to cone out I have been on antibiotics for three weeks now and nothing

[Tracyj75 0]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Hope your feeling better soon!

[Baba Wawa 543]

Pan infection in or around your port is one of the signs of band erosion. The band perforated the stomach wall, an infection ensues and travels along the port tubing to near the surface where your port is located. This is most likely to resolve only by having the band removed. It's very serious and should not be ignored. A person can go septic in very little time. Don't want to scare anybody, but a port infection is usually much, much more.

[wenpel 0]

Wow, my story is almost exactly like Tracy J's! The dates are off by a day or two and I ended up having emergency surgery 6/15 to remove my port. After Mega doses of antibiotics I was able to be released from hospital today.

[Tracyj75 0]

Wenpel, sorry to hear you had to have your port removed. Hope your feeling better soon. So far I still have my port. The antibiotics seem to be clearing up the infection. I take my last dose tomorrow and I am also seeing my surgeon tomorrow so we'll see what he says.

[SeanM 1]

I was banded 1 Dec and had my port removed on the 19th of June.

I will post a detail evolution of what happened for now have a look at this slideshow,

First of all I want to thank everyone thats treating me specialy my doctor, very caring to the point he quickly replies to my emails and takes calls, something I am very gratefull for in times of stress like the present, I am extreemly happy I chose him, and the infection was probably due to a fill that had nothing to do with him,

-I was banded on the 1 dec, operation went well healing was fast I had restiction for about 4 weeks, then I had a fill towards end of Jan, 7 or 8 week( ill have to check the exact dates)

-1st fill was 2cc from empty Not much restriction if any

-2nd about 15 March, fill was not with my regular doc, 2cc, the other new doc said there was only 1cc in I think he said that 1 was for the tubing, and 1 in the band, so ended with 3 or 4 cc, sort of confused me but I left with adequate restriction.

-Soon afterwards I developed a redness underneath the port area, after taking two rounds of Antibiotics after a month it was gone

- 3rd and last fill 1cc begining of April taking me to 4-5 cc

all was fine for about a month, and I got this little sore bump on the port site, the sorenes diminished mut the whole area started geting hard, but no redness

- Begining of june noticed a redness again

- put on Amox Clav for 7 days changed to Levoflaxocine 500 twise a day 10 days,

-abscess cut open to allow drainage

- Gastroscospyy showed band was quite tight and there was a bit inflamated,

-Port removed all lquid removed 19th June

I may have got some dates and fills wrong but its more or less the story, Ill add more detail and update the slideshow

Im hoping someone who has had the same problem can give advice on how to efectivly heal the hole left on my belly.

the hole its getting changed/packed daily with Aquacel Ag or mesch the guazed get changed 3 times a day, im getting clonflicting ideas on how best to treat this, any advice would be much apretiated.

I want repack the hole/wound 2 times a day but some say the Aquacel Ag needs to be in there at least 24hours, its still quite damp needing to change the guazes at least every 8 hours.

Thanks in advance for your help

[pennreporter 12]

The complications of banding is why so many drs love gastric tony (sleeve). It doesn't have downsides of band or bypass. My dr thinks at some point it will be the primary surgery. Little scary but I think for some folks a necessity. My neighbor had one and has done wonderful. So sorry about your complications. It is a foreign body and some bodies want to reject anything. I had mine removed and later replaced but my stomach had adhesed to spleen and they had to remove band because again a foreign body would hinder healing process of staples. Good luck on your healing process

[elcee 3,343]

Hi Penn. Long time since we have seen you here. Sorry that you have had so many issues. Just a note though ,adhesions are a common result of any surgery - they are not a sign that your body is rejecting a foreign body.

[BamaGirl36303 1]

I was banded on February 2, 2012. Surgery went fine. Went and saw my surgeon 1 week later and he said everything looked fine. Had another follow up scheduled for March 7th. My incision was covered with steri-stitch, so it looked like a long icky black stick. about 2 weeks later a part of my incision turned yellow and would never heal. I kept it covered thinking it would heal itself. It never did. At work the day before my scheduled appointment I was downing Lortab like crazy due to the pain. My back hurt, my stomach hurt. I just kept saying to myself "I'll wait till my appointment tomorrow." Went to the appointment which was supposed to be my first fill and the look on the nurses face was indescribable. She ran and got the doctor who looked at my incision and said "Yep, its an infection, gotta remove the port." I cried and I cried and 2 days later I was having an emergency port removal. The day after my surgery I went to take a shower and removed the bandage and cried even more. I was left with a hole in my stomach that was about 3 inches long, 2 inches wide and had to be at least 3 inches deep. It was packed with gauze and covered with more gauze. I had to cut a piece of gauze and soak it in a clear liquid. Then I had to "stuff" the gauze into the hole and cover with the square gauze and tape it down. It took over 2 1/2 months for the hole to heal. That's 2 1/2 months of stuffing the hole, covering with gauze and tape...lots of tape. Tape that tore my stomach UP...sores, sores and more sores. I tried re positioning the gauze, using double to cover the sores from the tape which gave me more sores. ANYWAY....After finally getting it healed I had my 3rd surgery on June 19th (last week). My sugery also included and EGD to make sure there was no infection in my stomach and to make sure the band wasn't infected. Doc said everything looked great. Band was still in position and looked good, my stomach pouch was the same as the first surgery (which I was worried about since after the port was removed I returned to my old eating habits which included 4-5 sodas a day) He did a fill of 5cc which doesn't really feel any differently than before. I really don't have any restrictions when it comes to eating but I do start to feel full alot faster. Anyway, went to my 1st followup after this last surgery today. Incision looks great except for one small little hole....that is leaking...clear red fluid....CONTINUOUSLY. Has anyone had that?????? Doc is worried that an infection could set in, said I had a "sarcoma??" That is what is leaking and as long as it doesn't turn into a puss like consistency and color and as long as my incision area doesn't get red and start hurting then I'm fine. Please send some prayers that this does not turn into an infection. If it does, that is the end for me and my lab band journey.