Lap Band is out... Lost part of my liver

Amey

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My lap band was removed on the 25th of September. I'm still tired easily...didn't realize this surgery be be so much harder than when I had it put in.

It was just day surgery. My surgery was at 10 am and I was home by 7 pm. I slept in the recliner and didn't do much but sleep and eat popsicles for 2 days. I have 5 small laproscopic holes and an incision that is about 6 inches where my port was.... That one is still not healed and part of it keeps breaking open and bleeding...and talk about itch OMG!!

Surgery was one and a half hours. I am attaching my sugical report if I can... Sometimes I can't upload from my phone. It says my band was stuck to my liver and that part of my liver had to be removed. And that my tubing had actually gone THROUGH my liver. It would have been too much of my liver to remove so she had to cut the tubing to pull it out of my liver. No wonder I felt like shit!! I literally had silicone in my liver.... Scary!!

When I went for my post-op appt the surgeon said she had removed 100's of bands but had never seen one that had gone through the liver before. And she said my stomach was 'emacerated' but did not show erosion. Also, that if we had planned to do the revision at the same time she would have had to pull out and not done it due to all the damage with my stomach and liver.

So the soonest can have the DS is January. My blood levels have to get back to normal and the hole in my liver has to be 100 percent healed. I have decided that if I can't get my insurance to pay then I will private pay. The total cost of private pay for everything would be 19K....and I could get financing for it. My surgeon... Dr Lisa Medvetz....has never done a DS but she is very skilled and has an amazing bedside manner. When a surgeon says 'Yup your incision is pissed off' and talks like a real person then I know she is my people lol.

So the plan for the DS is that she will have 6 patients in January and will do 2 surgeries each day that week. Her mentor from Pennsylvania, Dr Fred Bonnani, will fly in to proctor the surgeries.

I am feeling better already. The sharp pain in my back that I thought had nothing to do with my band is gone. My GERD is not noticeable. I can eat RAW carrots and artichokes and beef jerky! And I haven't thrown up once since surgery.

So that's the plan... And I'm ok with it :)
 

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So glad you got that nasty thing out. (I am shocked that some docs still put them in people.) Scary to think what would have happened if you had not decided to remove it. Hope you continue to heal and feel better.
 
My lap band was removed on the 25th of September. I'm still tired easily...didn't realize this surgery be be so much harder than when I had it put in.

It was just day surgery. My surgery was at 10 am and I was home by 7 pm. I slept in the recliner and didn't do much but sleep and eat popsicles for 2 days. I have 5 small laproscopic holes and an incision that is about 6 inches where my port was.... That one is still not healed and part of it keeps breaking open and bleeding...and talk about itch OMG!!

Surgery was one and a half hours. I am attaching my sugical report if I can... Sometimes I can't upload from my phone. It says my band was stuck to my liver and that part of my liver had to be removed. And that my tubing had actually gone THROUGH my liver. It would have been too much of my liver to remove so she had to cut the tubing to pull it out of my liver. No wonder I felt like shit!! I literally had silicone in my liver.... Scary!!

When I went for my post-op appt the surgeon said she had removed 100's of bands but had never seen one that had gone through the liver before. And she said my stomach was 'emacerated' but did not show erosion. Also, that if we had planned to do the revision at the same time she would have had to pull out and not done it due to all the damage with my stomach and liver.

So the soonest can have the DS is January. My blood levels have to get back to normal and the hole in my liver has to be 100 percent healed. I have decided that if I can't get my insurance to pay then I will private pay. The total cost of private pay for everything would be 19K....and I could get financing for it. My surgeon... Dr Lisa Medvetz....has never done a DS but she is very skilled and has an amazing bedside manner. When a surgeon says 'Yup your incision is pissed off' and talks like a real person then I know she is my people lol.

So the plan for the DS is that she will have 6 patients in January and will do 2 surgeries each day that week. Her mentor from Pennsylvania, Dr Fred Bonnani, will fly in to proctor the surgeries.

I am feeling better already. The sharp pain in my back that I thought had nothing to do with my band is gone. My GERD is not noticeable. I can eat RAW carrots and artichokes and beef jerky! And I haven't thrown up once since surgery.

So that's the plan... And I'm ok with it :)
Congrats on getting that monstrosity out of your body @Amey! Hope you continue to feel better each day. BTW, Dr. Bonanni is my surgeon and he is wonderful. I would take comfort in knowing that he will be there for yours.
 
Oh God Amey! That sounds horrible. Mine was nothing like that but it sure gave me hell for most of the 14 years I had it. Glad it could be resolved during the surgery and that you are able to get the DS in January.
 
Omg girl them crap bands doing what they want. Had two ladies at gym who work for Mayo but went out of state to get crap cause Mayo no longer does them here DUHHHHHHHH
 
wow Amey, that sounds like a mess! my lapband was grown to my liver, but not through! I am glad you have decided to have the DS in the future. I would caution you not to use a surgeon that has never ever done a DS. Especially since you have had several abdominal surgeries already. There will be adhesions to zap. I know someone has to be first, but does it have to be you? I will be thinking of you.
 
Very sorry to hear about your issues. That is crazy.

Now I have to say, are you seriously even considering a revision with a surgeon who has never done a DS and paying her $19K? Sorry, but no way in the world would I allow somebody who has never performed a DS operate on me no matter how nice or well intentioned they are. Would you let a person who never cooked say Indian food cater a wedding for dear Indian friends? I think not, so why in the world would you let somebody who has never performed a DS carry out such a complicated surgery as a revision on you and pay her $19K out of pocket. Dr K is about the same amount of money or Esquerra in mexicali is $11K. Dr K has done over 2,000 DS procedures and 500 revisions. 2,000 vs 0. It is your life hon and I know you want this, but please think long and hard before making this decision.
 
@Amey, you are fortunate that the band was removed before it killed you. The liver is one of those organs that can bleed like stink. How the tubing grew through the liver, I don't know. I can easily envision the tubing being stuck to the outside of the liver, but through it? That's a new one.

I'm going to disagree , respectfully, with the posters above and say that I think your plan is ok. If Dr. Bonnani weren't coming out to work with your surgeon, it would NOT be ok, esp with you being a revision, but he's a very experienced DS surgeon with a good reputation. I'm sure if Dr M runs into anything weird or challenging he'll be ready to help with it and not just proctor. So this is really the equivalent of having a very experienced DS surgeon with a new DS surgeon combined. And the new DS surgeon does have lots of bariatric surgery experience, which is how most DS surgeons start out. So I think this plan is ok, and it's great that you can stay close to home.
If Dr. Bonnani weren't coming, I would tell you to get on a plane, train, boat, pony express, whatever to get yourself to an experienced DS surgeon. But instead, the experienced surgeon is coming to you.
 
He couldn't have read my post first because I came along after he posted.
 
Amey, so glad you've got that *thing* out of you and are on to healing. Wishing you the best! :)
 

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