Hi all

I just wanted to check in and say hi, and to say goodbye to my band! I had my band done in March and I did very well for a few months and then the troubles started. I have been in a constant state of pain for 2 weeks now and they finally figured out that I had torn the port away from the wall. So I'm headed back to Tijuana to have the revision. I did actually look into just having the band repaired but it would be the same amount of money so sleeve here I come!!! I'm actually getting excited about all of this now.

Wish me luck!!

Bernadette

Good luck and I will have you in my prayers. p:wink1:

Sending you good vibes and cheer.... finally, your sleeve day is here! :thumbup:

Cheering you on from afar!

We all have progressed to the other side. I got done on the 29th and Fab and thinasiwant got done yesterday. All are well, I am at the recovery house now enjoying some gatorade. The girls are still at the hospital, should be getting Water and ice right about now. Day 2 sucked, I had a headache from hell and didn't want to walk at all. Day 3 has rocked. I got down the blue juice and the barium, no leaks!!! Now hitting the gatorade, looking forward to some broth later. Dr. Almanza and his staff have so far taken great care of us all and we are doing fine.

Wing

We all have progressed to the other side. I got done on the 29th and Fab and thinasiwant got done yesterday. All are well, I am at the recovery house now enjoying some gatorade. The girls are still at the hospital, should be getting Water and ice right about now. Day 2 sucked, I had a headache from hell and didn't want to walk at all. Day 3 has rocked. I got down the blue juice and the barium, no leaks!!! Now hitting the gatorade, looking forward to some broth later. Dr. Almanza and his staff have so far taken great care of us all and we are doing fine.

Wing

Good to hear from you Bill, we were wondering how you were doing...remember how you felt when you booked your date? I bet you are saying it was a good experience after all. And your dad, is he liking the Mexican hospitality? Did you all get in the new hospital? or is it still Emmanuel location?

Talk to you later...

Donna

Happy New Year!

Hey Stoongal

Dad didn't make the trip. He wound up having some heart issues and the doctor wouldn't clear him for the trip. My girlfriend came with me and stayed till Wednesday morning so she was here during my surgery at least. We were not at the new Jerusaleum Hospital, they say it will be operational next Monday. We weren't at Emmanuel either, we were at Hospital Vida. It was small, only 8 rooms, but had all of the equipment needed to do the surgery and the xray equipment was also there so we did not have to travel anywhere to get the final leak test done. I am at the recovery house now, the girls should be here later today and it will be a full house. I go home tomorrow.

Bll

Hi Wingrider! Hi Stoongal! Everything has been great so far! I just got my IV out and I am feeling great. Tests today and then to the house. I have taken alot of pictures and am excited to share them. So far, very happy with the experience overall. Fab and Clarissa here also!

Well I'm home!!

I have to tell you that I'm so glad that this is over and behind me, it was a VERY hard surgery and I have had many. Well instead of just an easy band out sleeve in turned into 4 hours of surgery to repair the damage from the band! Can you say PAIN! The day of and the day after the surgery were pure hell I did not think a person could have so much pain.

The good part of all of this is that I made 3 new friends! WingRider, Thinasiwant from this forum and another lady from Obesityhelp. It truly did make it easier, thanks guys for watching out for me!

The new recovery house for Dr. Almanza was GREAT!! very very nice, and comfy. They make sure that your needs are taken care, and it is just so much better than any hospital is!

Well Kira and Bill I hope you made it home safely! Thanks for your support and friendship, it means alot. Post when you can, Bernadette

glad you all made it through safe and sound! :thumbup::001_smile:

Fab... can i ask what they told you about your band and the damage? initially, back in march 09, i went to be revised from band to sleeve (my band sprung a leak and was non-functional)... but when they got inside there i was so badly eroded, they wouldn't do the sleeve, they had to cut the band off of my stomach in the three places it was so eroded, and fix all of those issues...

i was a bit sad that i didn't get my sleeve at the time, but now i'm glad that i didn't (i will soon)... it would have been too much for me (sounds very painful).

i'm so glad to hear you are doing ok. i'm just wondering what your docs said, because i knew before going in to surgery something was seriously wrong with my band (besides it leaking), but was rather surprised at how much damage that little piece of plastic (or POS) did to my body...

here's to your sleeve! :thumbup:

Hi youknowit!

Thanks for your post! First of all Before they did the surgery I never did get a clear explanation of what was wrong with the band. Well when the got in there the stomach had grown around the band, I'm not sure if the band slipped and that allowed it or what. My others organs had gotton pushed int a corner so ther were growing together. When it came time to take the band out the could not get at it in whole, so they had to cut little pieces out at a time. Then the went in and cleaned up the scar tissue. What a mess!!! My surgery should have been about an hour but it ended up taking 4 hours. I have had 15 surgeries and this is the absolute worst one I have had. So happy your band is out, and you will just have the sleeve surgery. There were two other women that had the sleeve the same day as I did and they bounced right back, so you will do GREAT!

So when are you scheduled?

Thanks for your post and keep me posted, Bernadette

Don't you wish they would outlaw the band? So many things go wrong and sounds like yours was extreme! So sorry you suffered all that pain. Reminds me of my two knee replacements surgeries I went through in 2008! Thank God for morphine! Even so, was a bugger! I hope by now you are doing better and that the pain is diminished a LOT! and that you are losing weight and happy with the small amounts you can take in. (It does get better I promise)

Nice to be home I bet! Welcome to the loser's bench!

Stoongal

YES I wish they would outlaw it, what it did to my stomach more than likely would have killed me if I had not gotten help. The Dr. said that it had been going on for a long time, I have a high pain tolerance so I guess I just passed it off as normal pains. Yes my pain level after the surgery was thru the roof, I have had MANY surgeries and never had so much pain. I'm glad that it is under control now. I probably won't need anymore pills.

I just wanted to say a little hi, and say that I appreciate your posts. They are no nonsence and no bull!! You give a lot of good comforting tips, thanks and keep up the good work!

Bernadette

Edited January 3, 201016 yr by FabBy50

Bernadette -

Wow - what a terrible experience. I'm glad you got your band out before something worse happened. I am so thankful I found this site before I got the band and got sleeved instead. Initially, the band sounded much less invasive. Long term, I'm certain the sleeve is the least invasive.

I'm glad you are feeling better. Have a speedy recovery - sip, walk, sip, walk. :thumbup:

Hi Linda

Yes in retrospect I wish I would have done the sleeve in the first place. I did do research but just took the sleeve out, I thought for some dumb reason it was designed for severly morbidly obese! Don't know why I had thought that, if I would have know what a great tool it is I could have saved myself many days of being sick, and many dollars!!!!!!!

Bernadette

Bernadette -

I was right there with you - dead set on getting the band. I was a walking, talking LapBand commercial. I went to Dr. Nick's seminar and something about Grehlin caught my interest when he talked about the sleeve. I went home, found this site and learned so MUCH more about the sleeve and the complications of the band. Whew! I have so many people here to thank for a narrow escape.

Take care girl.