Jump to content
Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Bad News


spec4 e4

Recommended Posts

I been here a few times to check in. After the first fill, I was told that I got an infection in the main cut. So I was put on med and still have it. Now they are talking to remove the port and/or the whole band. But we agree to 14 days of more meds. It has slow up alot on the leaking.

 

It's $13,000 to have it removed but I have came up with an better ideal and have to run it pass the doctor. Will keep you update in a few weeks.

 

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That sucks, Rob. There is always a risk with things like that. Do you have health insurance? Taking it out because of the infection might be covered. And, with O care the way it's written, if you don't have insurance, you can get insurance at the next pick event (whenever that is) and then be covered for it, from my understanding of how it works. Might check on that before getting ready to write a check.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FC, the port area is infected and they don't know if the port can be replace because my wife and I had the band installed in Mexico.

Found out the port can be reinstalled if they remove it and let me heal. But the surgeon want to remove the whole band because he think the ports are not inner changeable. But the doctor in Mexico can replace the port.

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob don't know if it would work but might be worth a try. Do as the illegal aliens do and go to an emergency room. In the Phoenix area they go to the hospital operated by the county. Patients are billed for the services but to my knowledge the county does little or nothing to collect. From what I've read and heard about the county has spent some big bucks keeping people alive after Mexican sex change operations have gone bad. One incident I read about the patient was complaining that he'd have to use catheters for the rest of his life. The county refused to continue with the sex change surgery started in Mexico. Best I recall the county did the best they could with his urinary path and got rid of the infection. With what Doc Hess said, possibly your county hospital will fix it, bill Obama Care and they might and might not try to collect the co-pay and deductible from you. .

 

Years ago while I was doing chemo the hospital installed a port. I got a nasty infection in the area but was fortunate that it wasn't one of the feared antibiotic resistant infections that occasionally show up at hospitals. I don't recall the name of the antibiotic but it did a good job. The swelling was gone in 24 hours but they kept the IV hooked up for about a week. The scary part was the patient in the room next to mine died from a port infection. Take that infection serious and do what ever to get the problem resolved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Az. I am hoping that the infection clear up and just need the port to turn. but only time will tell. My wife and I made up our minds and this is what we are going to do. if the infection does not clear up, we will have the port removed and in March return to Mexico for an replacement. I just got my A1C back on Friday afternoon. Without meds it was 6.8. I lost over 20 lbs. and my back is not hurting like it used to be, so I really like get this band working right.

 

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are sending my records to me with band model number, serial number and all the other records in English. They are doing it because this can turn bad really fast. Just have to wait a few days to get the recorders and forward them to my after care provider. After the operation, things went ok but one thing.

 

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't blame the Mexicans for this, Karl. These things can happen in any medical setting. While an infected appliance is not good, and is cured by taking it out, it is thankfully not as bad as if it were a port like Az had, which would be a central venous line port. This port is technically not connected to the rest of the body, just to the band around his stomach. An isolated system. How it managed to get infected is anyone's guess. It could have been a stray bug when it was put in, an infection at the surgical site afterwards (post-op infection) or an infection from the "filling" process where a syringe full of saline is injected through the skin into the port, which then pressurizes the band. Even the saline itself (sourced in the US) could have been the source. So, the failure points are many, and mostly on this side of the border.

 

These types of complications are why I try to discourage people from getting surgical procedures done for weight loss. While the band thing is reversible and not that big of a deal, some of the things they do to people I just can't believe. Like "stomach bypass" surgery. That's a surgery that you do to save someone's life if that part of their gut is destroyed by cancer or a bullet or something. Doing it for weight loss puts them at a huge risk for the complications.

 

Rob, if this thing needs to come out, take this as a lesson: The only way to lose weight is to burn up more than you eat. Eat less and you'll lose weight. The band only controls your hunger and ability to choke down 3x the food you need to get by. People who fast (no food, water only) say that the first 2-3 days is pretty rough, then after that, it is no big deal at all. A couple weeks without eating is not hard for them. They have switched over to burning fat.

 

Anyway, make sure you stay on the antibiotics they give you. And if it needs to come out, it is no longer an elective procedure, like plastic surgery, that you pay for out of pocket, but now it becomes a necessary procedure which is covered by insurance, from my understanding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FC, I tried every diet and nothing. I got the band to help lost weight and help control my diabetes better. Because if I need the shots, I'm out if a job. My wife is doing great with it. And driving team it's hard to get out if this truck. I really hate driving since 2010. Wife can not found an job locally that she is happy with, but driving this old truck is killing me slowly and told her that.

 

The "Doctor" which we found out is an nurse. Never told or seen by the surgeon. And they want to take the band out because it's not their band. That's what the nurse keep saying so it's fishy to me. But they did give me 14 days of SMZ/TMP DS 800-160 and this is my 2nd round.

 

Wife just got tired of the vs and made us an appointment with another doctor.

 

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Diets don't work. Cutting down on the food does. Now, you've been cutting down by being forced to by this band. Even if it comes out, you should now know how much you should be eating. What percentage of food quantity are you and your wife eating now, compared to before? 50%? Just simply cutting down is how you do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dr. Hess, easier said then done. It's not just the food, it's the quality of food and how much exercise you get. You go to those travel plaza and you will find fast food. Unless it's a T/A or Flying J then they have an restaurant in them but still not good for you.

 

As for the exercise, their is very little. When You Go To TGE truck parking area in a travel plaza it smell like puss because it's piss. Driver piss by their truck because they are to damn lazy to walk to the bathroom. So drivers don't get out and walk, that's my reason why I don't walk around the parking lot.

 

Alot of places is stop letting truck park in there lot because of this and the crap they leave behind. Being a driver, I am a shame because of what they do

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had a lot of patients, and known people who've had gastric bypasses. It is a radical surgery, but it can help people lose weight, if they are desperate. I'd read, read, read on the procedures, and read what people who've had the procedures say about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm talking what is referred to by non-medical people as "stomach bypass surgery." Surgeons call it a Roux-en-Y. Oh, they lose weight, alright. A lot of weight. Until they get to the point that they are emaciated and can't get enough food to stay alive. Now, maybe I only saw the disasters, but that's what I saw. Like admit them to the hospital, put a central line in and pump total parental nutrition into them at $1000/day, or put another tube in them and pump Ensure down them all day and all night long.

 

I even have a friend that underwent that. I told her not to. I told her to cut down on what she was eating instead. Just Eat Less. Nope, she went for that. Last I heard her hair was falling out because she could not get enough protean or process protean. They don't talk to us anymore and I wonder if it's because I told her not to do it. Dunno.

 

JUST EAT LESS, Rob. That's all you have to do. Yeah, on the road food is not healthy. Yeah, all restaurant food is not healthy. Eat less, walk around some, try to come up with a plan to cook your own food. I mean, hey, bring a little camp stove. Rice takes 15 minutes to cook on the camp stove, for example.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My experience was different, and a mix. I've known at least several people who had gastric bypass surgery (one relative). One is thin, except for her legs, one eats all the time and lost a lot of weight, then gained part of it back, one lost quite a bit of weight and kept it off. Some of the post-operative patients I took care of thought they could pig out. They had no self control. They just ate and ate, so the surgery was pointless. Some were motivated. Only a couple of times did we get somebody readmitted with complications, such as infection. I took care of many, many patients after surgery, but I never saw those people after discharge. The people I do know that had it seemed to be doing fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob about 20 years ago I lost apx 35 pounds took about 5 or 6 months. I did it by drinking Slim Fast or Instant Breakfast with non-fat milk followed by at least one bottle of water but more often drank two. I was eating one meal a day starting out with a large bowl of sugar free Jello and ate things like Green Giant veggie burgers or prepared frozen low cal- low fat meals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...