Ok I had the band repaired in May 2000 after it slipped and spent 3 nights in Hospital and was then transported home by ambulance,  to ease the pain of the rough roads I would feel sitting down. I was operated on a Tuesday and went home on the Friday all was well,  healing great,  till on the Sunday night when I rolled over in bed without thinking and broke 2 stitches - I was in extreme pain, I called my local doctors office at 2 am and they called an ambulance to take me to hospital - once there they looked at the wound and cleaned it up and 10 hours later was sent home again.
 

Two days later,  the wound began to break down and started weeping, I had picked up an infection and the Nurse that was coming everyday to check on my dressing called my Specialist, who said to get me to the hospital once again and have the wound treated,  and get me onto antibiotics which they did.  18 hours later I was once again back home, wound was still infected but now it was being flushed out and they did this for 11 weeks till the wound had healed up .

Thank goodness it did as that was then late July and I was off to the USA on an organised trip that I had created and was guiding on September 2nd. 

 

This was my first trip post-op so was a big learning curve,  finding what I could and couldn't eat in the USA.   See Food For Thought

6 weeks in the USA went well  in the most part, no band problems at all, but did end up in hospital with Kidney stones in Milwaukee. Time went fast there and before long that 6 weeks was over with no problems with the band in the USA. Lost 20 pounds in that time !!

 

OK had a rough time once back home,  kidney stones visited me again just 2 weeks after arriving home - 2 weeks in hospital -- now that was hard trying to teach them what foods I could and couldn't eat, HOSPITAL FOOD YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

still no band problems

 

Now 2001 whole year NO PROBLEMS - YEA................

 

January 2002 -- Had just returned from a funeral several hours away,  was hot so had a shower and bent over to wash feet and felt sharp pain in my tummy,  about the spot the port is. The pain was there for days,  so I went to see my specialist and they X-rayed me and the port had broken away and was floating around inside and they were unable to adjust it.

I was fine apart from that,  band still working and pain went away, they booked me in to have it fixed -- but not right away,  yep that favorite month of mine May -- had the repair done. Another one day operation and went home that night. It healed well went back to normal and everything was going great,  till about 5 weeks later,  when I felt that same sharp pain and this time I had a tight feeling on my tummy,  the port had once again broken free and this time the tube got twisted and compressed the saline into the band tightening it on my tummy,  NO FOOD or Liquid would go down at all. Went to the Hospital,  where I was operated on and they did tests and tried to remove the fluid,  but couldn't -- another emergency operation to fix it, in 2 nights as they had to postpone the op due to a car accident getting theater first over me -- that was fine,  got operated on late during the second day and then kept in just for observation,  and let out next day.

Went home,  doing fine and wound healing great but had a tight wound and felt like I had a fluid build up but not sore at all. This lasted a few days and I had asked the doctor,  he said I was bruised badly inside and it would pass.

Well it wasn't bruising,  my body had rejected the port and was building up fluids around it and one night it just all came out on my bed I had yuck from this wound everywhere, well back into the hospital............ and yep they opened me up,  cleaned it out , and removed the port and set the band with 1.5 mls of fluid in it.

Wound healing slowly,  had to get a minor repair on it done and by this time was late July and I was flying out to be with Jayne in the US on the 16th of August and didn't want an open wound -- well I was almost healed but still a small sore.

 

Anyway - the outcome was,  that all my loose skin was what had caused the problems,  with the port breaking away,  so now waiting for my Tummy tuck,  after which the port will be replaced and I will get an adjustment of 0.2 mls taking me up to 1.7 mls and start loosing weight once again.

I haven't lost any real amount since my return from the USA in September 2002 when I lost 16 pounds in those 26 days there.

 

Please DON'T think that this happens to everyone I am and have always been a bad healer and since I have had several reactions to some medications they try and allow the body to fight most of my infections alone