OK I got banded March 20th in Tj. Had a wonderful Dr and Staff to meet all my needs, but now I'm going through a depression so I'll tell you the story. While in Tj, my son was kidnapped, beaten, stripped of his clothes, had knife held to his throat. druggies took all his cash, debit card, emptied our bank account, took cell phone, thankfully after several hours the head druggie let him go with his jeans and shoes. I was in a panic when he did not return as scheduled. So this is the warning part, don't go shopping by yourself even if its only a few blocks from the hospital. We flew home which was hell on me. 6 days post-op I had a seroma that popped open and is still draining. 2 trips to the PCP 1 trip to ER, lots of antibiotics to make sure there is no chance of infection starting. Due to this I'm unable to do much. Can't bend over, stand up for any amount of time due to pain at port site seroma. I'm dropping on average 1 lb a day (which I should be pleased) but the depression of not being able to care for my family the way I think I should is killing me. As I've said before I have always been kind of a clean freak and kind of, some may say "super mom". What can I do to get out of this rut I'm in. I think some of this is just that it has all hit me the fact of almost losing my son, eating differently, and today taking to big a bite of chicken and not chewing enough and having the horrible pain and wanting to vomit but not, I finally burped a huge burp and then it felt like a golf ball went down my throat but no more pain. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes and wondering if I'm the only one who has had this feeling. Please tell me this will pass.

Didn't your doctor tell you that you had to be on a liquid diet for a few weeks after getting banded? Your band has to heal on your stomach and I have never heard of anyone eating chicken this soon after banding............

My Dr's instructions say full liquids 5 days post-op then mushies 5 days on to solid food. I'm 18 days out and had no problem until today. I'm back to liquids for a few days.

That's the first I have heard of that. Dr. Ortiz in Mexico makes his patients stay on liquids for 3 weeks. then 2 weeks of mushies. My dr. made me stay on liquids for 4 weeks, then 2 weeks of mushies. But I cheated on that last week of liquids and had mushies a few times.

I am really sorry to hear about your son. That had to have been really scary

I'm so sorry to hear that happened to your son but I'm so glad he made it through and is still with you. I would probably try and get some counseling for the both of you. You've probably got post tramatic stress. Hang in there!

Thank you so very much for your kindness. As for the police, They do nothing but give you a piece of paper that said thy talked to you. We were told they are paid by the druggies and it seems to be true. The only reason my son was let go was because the rest of the gang had left to empty our bank account and had left the head druggie in charge of watching my son, after the others left he told my son that this is not the way we work, so he untied him gave his pants and shoes, offered to let him have some meth to recoup some of the money lost even told him to take it to police they would buy it, (like that would happen) took him out the back door and told him to go and not look back. my son flagged the first taxi he could find to get to the hospital, of course the driver spoke no English so my son told him the name of a hotel next to the hospital which the driver understood. I just thank the lord everyday my son is home and safe. I blame myself for this happening due to I have raised my children in a small town and they are to trusting. Never talk to strangers when in TJ, even when your 21 yrs old. I wondered if it would do any good to contact the American Embassy.

April,

I would contact everyone you can think of. The worst thing they can say is "no, we can't do anything for you". Best case, they'll come up with something.

You should also call your bank. There are rules about fraudulent charges and whatnot...

The depression will pass, and I think you'll start to feel better as you and your son heal.