Removed after 2 weeks, infection ??

jc2008 · 01-24-2008, 08:32 AM

I was banded on Dec 18th. On the morning of Jan 1st i had a huge pain (ie worst i have ever felt) in my left side. It was so bad i had to rush to the bed and i could not physically get up again.

Hubby said 'gas pain' but I didnt quite think so. It got slowly better throughout the day, then happened again that afternoon. Was talking to my doc on the phone all day and he did suggest at one time that maybe i should go to the ER where he could see me, but i decided to wait until the next day (non-holiday).

On Jan 2nd i went into my doctors office and the doc that saw me thought it was my gallbladder since it was on my left side and my port and stuff was on the right side.

I went in and had xrays, ultrasounds and blood drawn, and then i guess they realized it was an infection in my stomach from my band.

So that nite my doc came in, told me it was an infection, and that we were going to surgery to remove the band in an hour. He said i would not be able to have another band.

I have tried to get clarification on what exactly happened to me, all my doc says is that my body rejected the lap band and gave me an infection.

They did not culture the band, i asked if they were going to, and before the surgery they said they were, then afterwards they said they didnt culture it..

My doc is offering to do a sleeve or bypass free of charge since the band failed, but I am just not up to having another surgery after that scare.

I am self pay, and i need to go in there next week and talk to him about all that happened. I am basically out 13.5k + the cost of the hospital stay of the removal.

I feel like to have an infection that was that big within 2 weeks of getting the band in could have been a result of germs during surgery or something besides the fact of my body rejecting the band..

Anyone else had this happen? I really am wondering if i have any legal grounds to try to recoup what i paid for surgery...

mary1094 · 01-24-2008, 10:11 AM

Wow that sucks. good luck my sister is a nurse I will ask her what she thinks...

mia31771 · 01-24-2008, 10:52 AM

I am a week post op and the thought of that happening mortifies me. I am SO sorry you have had to go through this. I would think just by him offering to do another MORE expensive surgery for free says something is fishy. Or either he is just the nicest dang dr. on earth. I would definately have a legal representative when we next spoke. Again, so sorry for all you've went through.

jc2008 · 01-25-2008, 10:21 AM

I go in to talk to him on the 31st. I just found out i had a severe herniated disc in my back which has a greater than 50% chance of requiring surgery, so i might be in for surgery on that (blah yuck). So i definitely wont be taking him up on the offer of a new surgery.

I just wonder how to ask: hey can i have my money back? and wonder what he will say..

My mother has lots of lawyer friends, and one will take up my case if the doctor doesnt give us a satisfactory resolution.

I mean, 14k for a band i only kept for 2 weeks + the bills of the surgery for removal is gonna be like another 4k or so...

FairyFacade · 01-25-2008, 03:37 PM

My band doc highly favors GB over the band. He had GB himself, and he said at his meeting, if his daughter needed WLS, he would want her to have GB. I raised my hand and asked why.. He said, because with the GB you don't have a foreign body inside you, which can be rejected at any point, for no reason. (I think staples are permanent too from the GB, which is confusing..) In any event, that was his argument. I also have a friend who said her friend got the LB and a month later had to have it removed, her body rejected it.
Our bodies work in mysterious ways really.. They do reject foreign bodies, they reject babies sometimes, and there's no rhyme or reason. If you want to persue finding out no one can tell you not to, but it really just might be 'one of those things'.

Have you asked your doc about the chances of your body rejecting the staples from GB or the tube for the sleeve? If they're related?

faithmd · 01-25-2008, 04:04 PM

I am so sorry you lost your band! And it seems sort of odd they didn't culture the band, but if you didn't have a fever or increased white blood cell count, or if the operative field didn't look suggestive of infection when they got in there, then perhaps that's why they didn't send anything for a culture? It is all supposition at this point.

You got you band on 12/18 and I noticed you posted this on 12/29:

Yeah, i knew i was gonna lose restriction before my first fill when i healed.
Just thought it ironic that i lost restriction the day i started the ibuprofen regime for my knee.
Later that same day:
I have been having problems with the side of my knee, finally went to the doctor yesterday and she told me to take 600mg of ibuprofen every 6-8 hours until i go see the orthopedic doctor on wednesday.
Now, since i started this regime, i havent felt full at ALL.. you think that all this ibuprofen to make the swelling in my leg go down has made my stomach swelling go back down to normal so i have like 0 restriction?

I was just wondering if your band surgeon was in approval of the ibuprofen therapy?
I was told that I was not EVER to take NSAIDS.

I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

holly369 · 01-25-2008, 05:55 PM

Wow, that is what happened to me as well.

I had the band on 12/28/07. First week, no problems, no gas, nothing. I thought I was home free.

Eighth day, I ate 2-3 bites of some creamy soup, and the pain started. At first in the center of the abdomen, then it seemed to move to the lower right of the abdomen. I waited that day until the next and ended up going to the emergency room. I did have some fever that went up and down too.

The hospital did a CT scan and could see the infection but didn't know at the time what it was. My doctor did laporascopic surgery to see what it was, and he told me if there was any infection on the Lap Band it would have to come out.Turns out, they cultured it and it was a strep infection in my abdomen. Well, he took it out.

My doctor said that the infection got in there during surgery. Like if a tiny bit of the needle went into the bowel and then into the abdomen as they are sewing the band in, that could have brought the infection in.

I was in the hospital for 9 days on major antibiotics and then developed pneumonia.

I really am disappointed because while the Lap Band was doing okay, I was doing great. Plus I am a self-pay, so it's like throwing $15 grand in the trash.

My doctor said I could get another Lap Band. I would get a second opinion on what your doctor said. I don't believe your doctor wanted the liability of admitting that an infection can get in during any kind of surgery. It is not uncommon for that to happen.

hope this helps.

Crazy4MyK9 · 01-25-2008, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyFacade

My band doc highly favors GB over the band. He had GB himself, and he said at his meeting, if his daughter needed WLS, he would want her to have GB. I raised my hand and asked why.. He said, because with the GB you don't have a foreign body inside you, which can be rejected at any point, for no reason. (I think staples are permanent too from the GB, which is confusing..) In any event, that was his argument. I also have a friend who said her friend got the LB and a month later had to have it removed, her body rejected it.
Our bodies work in mysterious ways really.. They do reject foreign bodies, they reject babies sometimes, and there's no rhyme or reason. If you want to persue finding out no one can tell you not to, but it really just might be 'one of those things'.

Have you asked your doc about the chances of your body rejecting the staples from GB or the tube for the sleeve? If they're related?

Hi Laura,

I like your "Shrinking Violet" title. If you don't mind me asking, why did you need a port revision?

To those who had to have their bands removed... I am so sorry to hear about this. I can't even imagine what you're going through. I was self-pay as well. If you have any doubts, I would definitely seek legal advice.

The one major thing I didn't like about gastric bypass is that it seems that a number of patients regain weight. I know a woman who turned to her old habits and regained over 50 lbs. During my surgeon's seminar, he described it like this. The Lap Band is hardware, and hardware doesn't stretch. The stomach left after gastric bypass is going to stretch, and has the potential to stretch significantly.

~Anne

laurieu · 01-26-2008, 09:25 PM

I had basically the samething happen to me but the band did not have to be removed just the port. Two weeks after I was banded ( Nov 16th) I was on a business trip across the country and wound up in the E.R. had a major staph infection at the port site. One week in the hospital and a month and a half of daily visits to the wound care center because they had to leave this huge hole in my stomach where the port had been so it would heal from the inside out. I finally get to go back to work on Monday. I have had 2 scopes since the removal of the port and luckely the band is fine. I will not be able to have another port put in for about 4-6 months as my body needs time to rest and heal. I had my surgery in Mexico so I found a local Dr. here in Phoenix that has been willing to do all the aftercare as I have decided the idea of going back to Mexico after all this is too scary.

Crazy4MyK9 · 01-26-2008, 09:44 PM

Dear God. It sounds like you're doing better now. Is the hole at the port site now closed? So, do you have a band with no additional restriction until you have the new port? I wish you the best of luck with the new port surgery.

restrict2008 · 01-28-2008, 08:40 PM

My understanding is that a doctor can only be legally accountable if he did not adhere to the standard of care or give you "informed consent" including all the risks involved with surgery including rejection and infection which I believe are well known. I am sure he had you sign consent. I am self pay too so I feel your pain- I would be devastated in your position, just devastated!! Just reading these posts makes me paranoid about pains that I have. I wish you the best of luck and my heart goes out to you. I dont think NSAIDS would cause rejection- more likely they would cause erosion since they inhibit prostagladins and irritate the gastric mucosa. I hope your doc can help make things right.

Fanny Adams · 01-28-2008, 09:12 PM

This seems odd to me: "My doc is offering to do a sleeve or bypass free of charge since the band failed, but I am just not up to having another surgery after that scare.", followed by: "the bills of the surgery for removal is gonna be like another 4k or so".

If the doc is willing to do surgery for free, why wouldn't he just offer to not charge for the removal, rather than try for another type of WLS?

Julie1 · 01-29-2008, 08:09 AM

I feel your pain!
I was banded in Oct 07 back in the hospital Nov 07 and then again in Dec. I was on antibiotics for months and they never would culture my port site infection. Then after having the port and tubing removed I got another infection for the hospital. This time I begged for a culture...antibiotic resistant staph - MRSA. I had a visiting nurse service over a weekend and then did all the wound care myself, packing and unpacking daily. I went to work everyday... I work at a hospital but not often around patients... anyways...
I now still have the band and a catheter left inside. And speaking of "left" that's where I have my pain still... every two weeks or so the catheter dislodges and I can't even breathe without horrible pain.
I'm thinking about having the band taken out. I'm not self pay but I have NO confidence in my surgeons as they tried to keep the infection from me and even treated me with the wrong antibiotics even after they knew it was wrong.
I ended up going to my own infectious disease dr. - still going. I'm just so frustrated and scared actually... the infection could still be deep in my belly hibernating ... and also I could have band erosion and I'm not even getting any benefit from it!!!!

Anyone else?

jc2008 · 01-29-2008, 10:10 AM

Yeah im wondering if the ibuprofen might have messed me up. But the nurse practioner KNEW i was going to take it for my knee after my one week appointment.. She should have said something if it could cause a hole..

Anyways, going to talk to the doctor on thurs to see if he can help get some of the removal surgery bills taken care of. He is a part owner in the surgery suite where i had the operation and removal done at, so i know he can, just need him to help a bit so i dont have 4-5k of new bills to deal with...

FurEllie · 01-29-2008, 02:30 PM

We were administered Toradol when I had my band and that's an NSAID. I don't think the ibuprofen had anything to do with your band, IMHO.