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Port Infection

Aurelia

By Aurelia, in LAP-BAND Surgery Forums

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Aurelia    2

Aurelia
Posted

Weirdest thing, I was banded in March of 2009 and never had any issues and had great success with the band. I've lost over 100 pounds. About two months ago my port started getting tender it got progressively worse. I started running fevers and the pain was bad but not unbearable. I went to my band doctor and he said the band needed to come out. He put in the request for band removal surgery but my insurance denied it. He appealed and they finally approved it. It's started getting bruised and now I can't even tolerate the sensation of anything touching the area. Has anyone else experienced this?

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KateP    359

KateP
Posted

No but infection, swelling, tenderness around the port can be the only symptoms of band erosion. The infection set up as the band erodes into stomach tissue can be asymptomatic for a time but infection can be generated near the band and can travel along the tubing to the port. If your doctor wants to remove the band and not just the port, this may be what he suspects.

Removing the band allows the stomach to heal and the infection to be controlled,

But I am not a doctor! It may just be an infected port area!

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Aurelia    2

Aurelia
Posted

Weirdest thing, I was banded in March of 2009 and never had any issues and had great success with the band. I've lost over 100 pounds. About two months ago my port started getting tender it got progressively worse. I started running fevers and the pain was bad but not unbearable. I went to my band doctor and he said the band needed to come out. He put in the request for band removal surgery but my insurance denied it. He appealed and they finally approved it. It's started getting bruised and now I can't even tolerate the sensation of anything touching the area. Has anyone else experienced this?

Kate,

I'm having the band removed on thursday. I had an EGD and Catscan done. EGD showed no erosion or slippage but the CT Scan showed a lot of Fluid around the port. The swelling around it has worsened and its bruised. I just wanted to know if the port can spontaneously get infected without the band slipping etc. I'm interested so see what he finds when he goes in on thursday.

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KateP    359

KateP
Posted

@@Aurelia interesting. Sorry this has happened to you but glad there is no erosion. Should make healing much quicker. Why did he decide to remove the whole band and not just the port? Let us know how you get on, best wishes for a speedy recovery, do you plan to revise to another surgery type?

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Aurelia    2

Aurelia
Posted

He hates the band and is weary of all the complications he's been seeing lately. He's had to remove a lot lately. He's also concerned about this spontaneous infection and says that the band could be encouraging it. He says a film grows on the band and bacteria can grow on it. I've also been on 4 different antibiotics and none of them seem to be working. This is the first major issue I've had with it. I wanted a revision to sleeve but my insurance says my BMI of 20 doesn't qualify me for more bariatric surgery.

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KateP    359

KateP
Posted

@@Aurelia yes, I am afraid it is beyond doubt now that the number of serious complications with the band is far higher than people ever imagined even five years ago. A lot of doctors no longer implant them.

But mine is still fine after 9 years! I just am no longer confident it will be for life. I do everything I can to minimise risk - that's all any of us can do.

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Aurelia    2

Aurelia
Posted

@@Aurelia yes, I am afraid it is beyond doubt now that the number of serious complications with the band is far higher than people ever imagined even five years ago. A lot of doctors no longer implant them.

But mine is still fine after 9 years! I just am no longer confident it will be for life. I do everything I can to minimise risk - that's all any of us can do.

I'm so disappointed. I've had great success with the band and I'm so scared of gaining weight.

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    • Alisa_S

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

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