Hi everyone. I am hoping someone can please help me. I have been experiencing so many complications and I am in so much despair. I apologize in advance for this long posting. I was banded nine weeks ago. I am a self-pay and paid $15,000. After 5 weeks and my first fill, I had major pain on my left side near my diaphragm where the band is located. My LB doctor told me there was nothing he could do in his office (no testing equipment) and if I felt that much pain, I should go to the ER. After 8 hrs in the ER and a battery of tests, and an $8,500 bill, I was told they can’t find anything wrong. I was given a prescription for pain killers and sent home. Upon follow up with my lap band doctor, he said that it is just one of those things. The pain finally went away two weeks later and I hoped that it was in the past. About two weeks later, at 8 weeks post-op, I went in for my second fill. That same evening, the port area began bruising and I assumed this was normal, like when getting a shot. After one week, the bruising turned into a dark red and itchy rash about 5 inches in diameter. I became increasingly concerned and had my LB doctor look at it. He prescribed some oral antibiotics and told me to keep an eye on it. Four days later, the red rash turned into a full blown, ugly infection. It was directly over the port incision (which had already healed and closed over the previous 8 weeks). Today, the infection looked nasty. It was bubbling along the area where the port incision is, about 4 inches long. My doctor had me come in immediately this afternoon. He had me lay down and I thought he was squeezing the blistering area to drain the fluid. It was incredibly PAINFUL and I begged him to stop. I then looked down and was horrified to see a hole that was almost twice the size of a silver dollar right into my abdomen. He wasn’t “draining” it but scraping/digging out the infection/dead skin tissue. I thought I was going to pass out right there. Most of what he told me was only half understood because I was in a state of shock and disbelief. He stuffed a big wad of gauze in me, covered it up and told me to come back tomorrow morning to see “how I respond to the treatment”. He said he will have to schedule me for a "scope" (whatever that is) to see if I have any band erosion and possibly schedule me for emergency surgery to remove everything. Of course I'm still trying to get over the hole in my stomach. I can’t help but think that I will be disfigured forever, not to mention broke. And for 8 weeks the only fills I had were 2CC each and have had zero restriction. I feel like I’m the poster child for everything that can go wrong with the Lap Band. I wonder if my initial pain has something to do with this and my doctor was not vigilant enough. It seems like this infection was festering even before the rash began.

Edited October 29, 200817 yr by TJWOOD

Dear TJ... I am so happy to hear you are recovering well now.. You have been thru HELL and then some. Best wishes for a healthy and happy future...

I'm not sure if anyone follows this thread any longer, but here is an update.

It is August '09 and I am almost 3 months post-op from my second surgery. In 2 weeks, it will be a year since my Lap Band surgery. In May, fevers returned, more abscesses formed and Ct scans showed that the mycobacterium infection had returned with a vengeance. Apparently, the first hospital and former doctor (my Lap Band surgeon) did not treat this infection thoroughly. I should have been on antibiotics (mainly IV) for many months. Instead, they had be on AB's for 2 weeks. In May, my new surgeon at the Mayo Clinic had to perform another exploratory laparotomy. They had to open me up again to "debride" or cut away all the infected tissues. Another hole developed on my stomach and fortunately that was closed with staples. No feeding tube this time. I did have more drains put in though. I was in the hospital for a week and then sent home with a PICC line for IV antibiotics. After a month, the PICC line was removed and I switched over to oral AB's. I will need to be on these for 6 months. Unfortunately these AB's cost $200/month (after my copay). The infectious disease department at the Mayo Clinic concluded that the particular species of the mycobacterium infection I had was extremely rare. So rare that there has only been one other case recorded in medical literature. It is suspected that this infection came from unsterile surgical equipment. Regardless, I wish my lap band doctor would have taken me seriously early on. His lack of cultures and tests allowed the infection to spread. The blood tests early on (from last September's ER visit) showed an alarming white blood count. The doctor missed this, as well. The total hospital bills/medical costs to-date are almost $400,000! Luckily the insurance company picked up most of it. I have paid about $45,000 out of pocket including the initial Lap Band surgery.

I do believe I am finally on the road to recovery. I feel great and all my wounds have closed up. No more bandages for the first time in many months. Scars are numerous and will take years to heal, but I can handle that. From the multiple surgeries, I lost all nerve sensation in the majority of my abdomen. Some of that may return, but not likely. I gained a few lbs back, but for the most part I am staying on track. In conclusion, the lesson I learned is that risks of weight loss surgeries really need to be considered and weighed (no pun intended) against the risk of not doing the surgery. I truly believe weight loss surgeries should be the last resort. In my particular case, I was very overweight at 290#, but otherwise healthy. I should have been more vigilant in diet and exercise before resorting to the Lap Band. I hope my story helps.

Edited August 5, 200917 yr by TJWOOD

Yes T.J., I have been following your posts... You certainly are a brave one!

Will you be able to sue the Lapband doctor who messed up your case so badly? $400,000 is a ton of money... thank goodness for your insurance. But I'd be wanting to get my $45,000 back from the Lapband Dr.!!!

All bitterness aside, I am very glad you are on the road to recovery...

HUGS, Peaches

I am so glad you have updated us. I was wondering whatever happened. I am glad you are healing.... although slowly. Please keep us posted on how you are doing.

After reading some of the posts here I thought I would post what has just happened with my whole LB experience.

I was banded on 10/16/2009; had a non eventful recovery and although the band was empty still had enough restriction from the swelling that I continued to loose weight and all was going well with one exception, the gas. It was horrible, didn't matter what I ate, how slow or how much I chewed I would have such painful gas that I began to truly think something was wrong. GasX helped a little as did walking around stretching but it never really went away.

My first fill occurred 11/13/2009; it too was uneventful, seemed to have gone right until a few days later I noticed I wasn't really hungry at all in the mornings and that I had this dull ache that ran from just below my left rib cage diagonally downward across my abdomen to just under my right rib cage. First thought was that the cold meds I took had irritated my stomach. Then on Saturday 11/21 I woke up, wasn't hungry again but felt "sick." Then at 10:30 A.M. the most agonizing pain hit my abdomen and nearly took me to the floor, it knocked the wind out of me and within minutes I was on my way to emergency.

In emergency they contacted my surgeon and he ordered that the band be deflated, upon doing that I had almost complete reliefe of the pain minus the cramping and spasms I was having with position changes. They started me on IV Antibiotics as they were concerned there was possibly infection at the band site. I was kept in the hospital until the following Tuesday 11/24 when they released me on oral antibiotics -I had been able to drink fluids and eat very soft foods without problems. Despite feeling better I had this sensation that there was something between my breast bones that felt like it had a "hold" of me, Im sure it was the band but it wasnt too bad and seemed to fade with movement.

By Wednesday morning I was back in Emergency with the exact same pain that had started it all and elevated temps of 101-103. This time they wasted no time and took me to surgury and found several different things:

1. Contaminated stitching used in original surgery -recovered and sent off for testing.

2. Large abcess that had filled abdomen with pus and then somehow found its way into the bloodstream, blood cultures later revealed I was septic from the infection.

The band was removed and also sent off for testing and examination.

I am home now, still on pretty powerful antibiotics to deal with the sepsis, I have two jackson-pratt drains from my abdomen which are still draining pus and other tissue from my abdomen.

With the band out I feel 100% better despite the other complications I am dealing with, I'm just glad it is out and I am on my way to recovery.