Lap Band tube broke

[Guest guest]

Dear Lapbandsters and other friends,

Since early in March I have been having stabbing pains

in my side around my fifth rib. When I started out I

had very painful attaches that lasted around twenty to

thirty minutes. It was a stabbing pain like when you

try to run and you are out of shape. So say a Òstitch

in your sideÓ. It would just about take my breath

away. After this was not getting any better I went to

see my doctors for a series of tests. They did all

kinds of blood tests and chest X-Rays, rib X-Rays, and

a CT-scan. The report from the radiologist on the

CT-scan stated it appeared the tube from my port was

not connected to the tube from my lap band. My

doctorÕs office told me to contact my surgeon right

away. I spoke with Dr SinghÕs office but he was out

of town. I spoke with his backup and he said to come

in to see Dr Singh on Tuesday 4/3 when he returned to

his office. I should expect he would need to repair

the tube that next week. When I saw Dr Singh he

thought it was unlikely to be the cause of the pain.

He said we could do a fill under fluoroscope with

contrast to see if the tube is leaking or broke. He

said with the large number of lap bands he has done he

has never seen a broken tube. He apparently did not

to believe it was broken. Although I have been having

regular bowl movements he felt the cause of the pain

was in my colon and recommended I do the purge you do

before a colonenoscopy to restart the system. He

wanted to wait until 4/17 to do the fluoroscope. I

did not want to wait so long and he fit me in the next

morning. The next morning I went to the hospital for

the fluoroscope. As soon as he turn the equipment on

he said he did not need to do the fill with contrast

because he could see the tube was broken. He seamed

shocked. He pointed out a short section came down

from the port and a much longer section came from the

lap band. He still did not think this was the cause

of my pain and said we could schedule the repair for

next month. We set up a surgery date of 5/14.

I did the purge right away to see if that would

alleviate the pain. As it turned out the purge did

not help and the pains where getting worse and lasting

longer. It was even keeping me from sleeping. I also

started to get pain in my left shoulder. After a

particularly bad night of not being able to sleep due

to the pain I called Dr SinghÕs office and ask to

please have the surgery scheduled sooner. They moved

it up to Monday 4/16/07.

I had the surgery on Monday 4/16/07 at Albany Medical

Center. It turned out I had a lot of adhesions

around the fifth rib, which Dr Singh cleaned up. He

also used a special Inamed lap band repair kit to fix

the broken tube. So apparently Inamed has seen this

problem. I was in much less pain after the surgery

than prior. The stabbing pain is gone. I of course

am sore after the laparoscopic procedure. But I do

feel much better. I am so relieved the doctor

actually found a cause of my pain for which he was

able to do something. He said he also gave me a fill.

The first two days I felt good. Last night I had a

lot of acid reflux and trouble sleeping. I keep

burping up acid. I tried sleeping on a wedge to keep

my head elevated. By 5 AM I was able to get some

sleep. My throat is so sore I am staying on liquids.

I really have no desire to eat. I expect to stay out

of work until May 7, 2007. I see Dr Singh for the

post op visit on Tuesday 5/1/07.

Lack

Lap Band 2/05, Band slipped, revision 3/06, tube

repair 4/07

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