Grace Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 And to be frank it scared the s___ out of me. Of course it didn't help that it was the day after thanksgiving and we were in the middle of no where on top of a mountain with family. Oh yeah, our truck had a flat tire too. My poor husband was almost in tears he was so scared. He has a lively imagination... After the little bit of food I had eaten for breakfast came up I think I dry heaved for a good 5 hours before I got scared enough to want to call down to the clinic and talk to the doctor. So I pulled out my card saying that I had a lap band, making the assumtion the phone number would be on it. Not! Lucky for me, I had my lap top and I was able to acess my email to get the number. Lesson one, put the obesity center phone number in cell phone as well as Dr. Ortez's phone number. I'm not sure which of the sweet docs I spoke with (sorry I'm old) but he quickly reasured me and said "It's ok, you will be fine and this does not mean your band has slipped and you will live." He told me to go get some motion sickness pills for the nausa. lesson number two- always carrie those pills. hmmmm I need to go buy some more, cause I can't think of where they are! I went for my first fill about a week after that and everything was fine. Except for the fact that the doc said" hmm been eating and drinking at the same time haven't you?" That has been a real hard lesson for me. I have fixed that by moving any fluid off the table I'm at. So in conclusion everyone, I suggest putting those phone numbers in your cell phones (or phone books) and making sure you always have some nausa pills. Happy New Life everyone! marcy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clynn Posted January 1, 2008 Report Share Posted January 1, 2008 Good lesson. I asked my primary care physician for some anti-nausea meds and there were $10 with insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FurEllie Posted January 1, 2008 Report Share Posted January 1, 2008 This happened to me also over Tday weekend (must not have been a good weekend for bandsters!). I was sick for 24 hours before my family finally dragged me to the hospital. I wasn't responding to any of the anti nausea meds and it wasn't until Wed AM (24 hours after I got to the hospital) when a general surgeon took my fill out. At that point apparently my vomiting had doubled my stomach over and 50% of it had "died". I had to get the 50% removed and the band Now with 50% of my stomach gone and no band, I can eat like crazy. I'm SO ticked off they didn't contact the bariactric doctors at the hospital. I spoke with one later who said they are considered the red headed step children there. I watched an episode of Big Medicine where the doctor's daughter/sister had the same issue and she flew from Ohio to TX because the docs in Ohio didn't know that all she needed was an unfill. Needless to say I'm NOT a happy camper and I'm having an attorney go over my medical records. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clynn Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 This happened to me also over Tday weekend (must not have been a good weekend for bandsters!). I was sick for 24 hours before my family finally dragged me to the hospital. I wasn't responding to any of the anti nausea meds and it wasn't until Wed AM (24 hours after I got to the hospital) when a general surgeon took my fill out. At that point apparently my vomiting had doubled my stomach over and 50% of it had "died". I had to get the 50% removed and the band Now with 50% of my stomach gone and no band, I can eat like crazy. I'm SO ticked off they didn't contact the bariactric doctors at the hospital. I spoke with one later who said they are considered the red headed step children there. I watched an episode of Big Medicine where the doctor's daughter/sister had the same issue and she flew from Ohio to TX because the docs in Ohio didn't know that all she needed was an unfill. Needless to say I'm NOT a happy camper and I'm having an attorney go over my medical records. Forgive my nosiness but I'm a little confused. 50% of your stomach was removed, as in taken out and your stomach is now half what it used to be? Or was it the 50% that was swollen and now you're back to normal? Hope it's the latter and you're feeling better now. Whatever happened, it sounds like you owe your family big since they may have saved your life by getting you to the hospital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FurEllie Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 Forgive my nosiness but I'm a little confused. 50% of your stomach was removed, as in taken out and your stomach is now half what it used to be? Or was it the 50% that was swollen and now you're back to normal? Hope it's the latter and you're feeling better now. Whatever happened, it sounds like you owe your family big since they may have saved your life by getting you to the hospital. Half has been completely removed. When you look at how big the stomach is, it's really not that much that they took. The band holds such a TINY amount and when they do "official" stomach stapling, they staple off 85% so 50% isn't any sort of restriction at all Yep, my family not only talked me into going to the hospital, but they drove an hour and a half just to get me. I'm still ticked they didn't take the fill out immediately. I think that would have solved most if not all the issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Posted January 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 Half has been completely removed. When you look at how big the stomach is, it's really not that much that they took. The band holds such a TINY amount and when they do "official" stomach stapling, they staple off 85% so 50% isn't any sort of restriction at all Yep, my family not only talked me into going to the hospital, but they drove an hour and a half just to get me. I'm still ticked they didn't take the fill out immediately. I think that would have solved most if not all the issues. :angry:T I'm certainly glad your ok, what I would like to figure out and hopefully we can get some input from other banders... when does one decide to head for the hospital and find a doctor who will do a unfill? To add a bit to my experience, I dry heaved about 5 hours before I called the clinic. Their attitude was, yes you can have the flu with the lapband and be ok. I was so relieved I decided I would try another form of anti-nausa cure durring the time my husband was driving to the store for the pills. It involved a very small pipe..... that immediatly stopped all feelings of nausa. Soooo should we all find a doctor after a certain length of time? Or should it be based on horrible feelings of pain which would be different then flu symtoms? I am new in the area I live in and have a primary doctor (he looks like he is 16) who knows I have a band. I sent him Dr. Ortiz's book and told him I would be counting on him to connect me with a surguon here if a unfill was neccessary. The closest Barriatric surgoun is a 6 hour drive away near Sacremento who I think will do fills, unfills for us who are Dr. Ortiz's patients, the clinic is a 6 hour flight due to flight connections. Ok people! Let's here some more experiences and solutions! marcy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FurEllie Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 In hindsight, I should have gone to the hospital a LOT sooner (I'm good at thinking things will just "go away") and I also should have demanded they unfill me as soon as I got there. They didn't do the unfill until Wed morning (the general surgeon did it, hit the port on the first try and pulled out exactly the amount I was told was in there) but by then, the damage had been done I would STRONGLY, STRONGLY, STRONGLY suggest that if you are sick for more than 6 hours, get somewhere ASAP for a complete unfill. 2cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now