Blockages and Banding

I thought I would type a blog about what happens with a blockage... it's the big negative side effect I find to banding.

So on Monday I got a routine adjustment for my band.  I was told I had 7.5mls in a 10ml capacity band. So because I hadn't had restriction to eating like I wanted I thought go for a big fill of 0.5ml

Tuesday - Thursday I followed my usual liquid only diet followed by mush. I was feeling pretty happy.

Then Friday I went to work. My morning coffee didn't go down too well but first thing of a morning your band can be a bit tighter than normal. Didn't think much. I finished work at 2pm so while on break I had my usual salad with chicken. After 3 mouthfuls I felt full but also found my 3rd bite wasn't going down too well. That's not a first and I've experienced what's called blockages many times. You just got to unfortunately purge it up or wait for it to pass through the band.

Driving home to pick up the kids was torture. I had to pull over to vomit up "slime" what your body produces when trying to pass food down the oesophagus.

I finally got rid of the blockage at 3pm and thought I was OK... but the pain continued and the purging continued. By 6pm I was still able to sip on water but it was a painful process. I was still getting that horrible slime in my mouth.

I was home alone as Alan was working back so I couldn't do a thing and normally my blockages eventually pass. I pop the kids to bed and myself too since I was working the next day.

An hour later at about 8:30ish I woke in bed to saliva build up in the mouth and horrific oesophagus pain. This is the point I realise I'm too tight. I struggle through the purging and bringing up slime and saliva. I'm thirsty but now I can't drink! Alan finally gets home and off to ED I go.

This is also the next problem with banding - in cases when this happens where do we go? Normal public hospitals aren't equipped or have the know how of ports and removing fluid. But Casey ED tried their hardest. Amd xray was done and found the band had slipped slightly... not a good thing.  They were great and the surgeon on duty while new at this, tried to remove fluid. Unfortunately with little success he stopped trying as he didn't want to cause more pain. My options were Monash and wait for a superior surgeon or Alfred where they have a bariatric section. It was 3:30am at this stage. I was tired and in pain. I opted to go to Alfred in the morning as Alan was heading to Altona with the kids for their rugby match.

At 4am I get home and attempt to sleep sitting up.
I got 2 hours before we packed up the kids and headed off to Alfred on the way to Altona.

Alfred were amazing - got I'm straight away and I felt I was finally going to get somewhere. Trying to find a vein was tricky, I have horrible veins and was also dehydrated. But we finally got there. At this stage I was vomiting bile and saliva and in heaps of pain. I was moved to Short Stay where I was to wait for the surgeon.

Finally at midday my hero arrived. Within minutes I was on my back, needle in and fluid out... all of it.
Now here's the worse part. Remember how I said I thought I had 7.5mls in. She removed 9mls of fluid! That's way too much for a 10ml band. There would be no give and I was in the red zone to the point I could've ended up in emergency surgery.

I'm very lucky that no damage had been done but I am now on strict liquid for a week. My band had not created a pouch (a stomach above the band which is an extemely bad thing to have) and considering the vomiting the band had not moved too much to warrant surgery.

But I'm a bit pissed my reports state 7.5ml and 9ml was removed... questions are going to be asked.

Weightloss Surgery, while many would say is the "easy" way out. But considering what I just went through I would hope many people may change their mind.

I couldn't;
Swallow, drink, eat, sleep, lay down for close to 24 hours.
I was in pain that I couldn't have medication for - morphine would be useless as saliva is still going to build.
When your surgeon goes home on a Friday you're limited to where you can go in these cases.
These incidences can cause severe damage to your stomach and lining. I'm very lucky this hasn't happened.

I hope this gives you a little insight into what I went through in 24 hours.
I've added a photo to show the amount of pressure my stomach area took while looking for this port.