Been a month exactly since my surgery. I've lost a lot of weight (see below). All good so far, so I go in for first fill...

I knew going in that the plan was for a nurse to do it, not the doctor. I wasn't too happy about that already, but whatever their procedure is, right?

So I'm on the table, and she's feeling around for the port. She is feeling way higher than where I thought the port was, but I assume she knows better than me. Wrong! Stab, OUCH, hmmm... no port there. Oops, that's just scar tissue from one of the other incisions... Strike One!

Oh, HERE'S the port... Hang on... Stab, OUCH, just... can't... get it... Nope, not in. Strike two...

Gee, it seems deep. Let me try again, and move it around alot, and make it hurt like shit! OUCH!!! Nope, no dice... Strike three!

Gee, sir, you sure bitch a lot. Want some lydocaine? Yes, please. She puts some topical on. Why didn't we start with that??? Stab, small ouch, wriggle around, test it, no dice. Strike four???

As she goes to get the fifth needle, I tell her to go to hell. She says that the doctor can do it, and he can give a lydocaine injection. Why are we just now suggesting that????

So I wait an hour, doc gives me real lydocaine (tiny pain, compared to Nurse Ratchet), get's into the port (zero pain, but it took him a few seconds too, but nothing like the nurse)...

Go into the barium room... he puts in 3 cc's - too much. Pulls out 1, better. We decide to pull out another .5, as I am out of the country for two weeks starting Monday, and better safe than sorry. Plus, I've lost a ton already, on no fill.

Morale of the story is... nurses are for bedpans... Sorry if I offend any nurses here, but I am beyond pissed right now...

Hey,

I hope it's OK that I ducked into the men's room. LOL I noticed your post on most recent page.

Anyway, I asked for fluro for my first 3 fills for fear of going through just what you did. Only on my 4th was I brave enough to do it in the office, and even then I insisted on the doc.

I guess it goes without saying that you'll do the same. My daughter is a NICU nurse and a darn good one and they would never allow a patient to be stuck that many times without calling for backup. In her case, she is the back up, but the peds nurses call her after 2 tries and before their patients are traumatized. Bad nurse, bad!

Sorry for spamming this in two areas, but I was mad enough that I felt justified. I don't post much, and when I do it's here in the Men's Room. But I wanted everyone to learn from my experience.

And another thing...

The nurse was planning to put 3 cc's into me. I do not know if she was then planning to use the fluoroscope thing to observe a barium swallow.

If she was not (and I don't think she was), I would have been screwed! 3cc's was clearly too much.

Maybe her ineptitude was a blessing in (a really good) disguise?

Who knows... All good now... My traumitization is diminishing...

On with the weight loss!

Edited July 18, 200818 yr by gigem

Well, I hate to hear that gigem. My doc never has any problems hitting the bullseye (I've never had to have any topical anesthetic or injected lidocaine). I can palpate my port very easily, though. Do you have any difficulty locating your own port?

Never had a problem getting to the port either - no anesthetic or flouroscopy either. And its done by my doctors nurse - who is very good !

That is just awful! Nothing like being a human pin cushion!!!! My first fill was on the 15th and it was so easy I was shocked. I hope next time the doc just does it for you.

I hope this is one of those stories you can laugh about one day. Maybe not!

Hearing stories like this makes me nervous about getting surgery. May your next fill go much smoothly with only one try.

This sounds completely rediculous! With Dr. Spiegel we have to get this x-ray done just before the fill -- drink a barium drink that tastes like chalk first; they saw the location of the port exactly and put it right in, first stick, first time, done by doctor. Twinged a tiny bit, stung, but nothing big. It felt tight and so he put me back in front of the xray machine and no, it was done perfectly. I soon got used to it. I had to drink 16 ounces of water before leaving to be sure it was not too tight and was able to do that easily. I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience! What is wrong with those people? It should never be a hunt and peck method to finding your port hole!

My husband started blood pressure medicine and there went our love life. He recently lost about 30 lbs due to a stomach ulcer but he has been able to keep it off. My question is How much weight do you have to lose before your blood pressure goes down enough that you can get off the medicine? He is a typical male (no offense) and refuses to go back to the doctor until his prescription runs out. Our doctor won't discuss it with me. I want my love life back!!!!:thumbup: I am starting to feel like this just might be an excuse and he just isn't interested any more. Feed back please!!

I would ask a pharmacist at Walgreens or my own doctor for a general idea of how much weight loss would reduce the need for blood pressure medicine. It probably varies hugely. Ask him to tell his doctor, or you tell his doctors nurse to give the doctor the heads up about this and see if another medication does not have this side effect. Use www.webmd.com to read all the potential side effects of your husbands medication and see if lack of drive is a side effect. You could also make an appointment and get information without discussing your husband specifically, then relay the information back to him. Good luck!

My husband started blood pressure medicine and there went our love life. He recently lost about 30 lbs due to a stomach ulcer but he has been able to keep it off. My question is How much weight do you have to lose before your blood pressure goes down enough that you can get off the medicine? He is a typical male (no offense) and refuses to go back to the doctor until his prescription runs out. Our doctor won't discuss it with me. I want my love life back!!!! I am starting to feel like this just might be an excuse and he just isn't interested any more. Feed back please!!:drool:

Its gonna vary from person to person. Typically, they cut your BP med dose in half after surgery. I was completely off about a month after banding.

My husband started blood pressure medicine and there went our love life. He recently lost about 30 lbs due to a stomach ulcer but he has been able to keep it off. My question is How much weight do you have to lose before your blood pressure goes down enough that you can get off the medicine? He is a typical male (no offense) and refuses to go back to the doctor until his prescription runs out. Our doctor won't discuss it with me. I want my love life back!!!!:biggrin: I am starting to feel like this just might be an excuse and he just isn't interested any more. Feed back please!!:smile:

People vary waaaaaaay too much to even be able to approximate this answer....It'd kinda be like asking "how much weight do people lose with lapband" (responses from very little to a ton). There are very thin people that are maxed out on BP medicine.

On his "interest"....the way most BP meds work is by dilating all the blood vessels in the body (even the penis). Bottom line, erections can be very difficult to get or maintain on certain BP meds. Good news is, they make pills for that sort of thing :scared2:

You should come to my nurse she always numbs ya first. I can't believe that that wouldn't holy cow that would suck. I had a new nurse once and she did'nt wait long enough for the numb and it hurt like HECK! So I have felt your pain hang in there and just ask for the numb stuff first. Oh yea way to go on your lose!

Thanks for the info! I feel better!