Leaking band - Through neglect!

Signs and symptoms
1

Hi all,

I had my band fitted October privately last year, had no problems up until now.

Had my band filled last month as normal. When I got home I had made chicken in a sauce for dinner. After a mouthful of the sauce which was very smooth, it would get stuck and I would bring it back up. I had some water later that night and after a sip the same happened. I went to bed and forgot about it in the morning and had some water, the same thing happened!

I spoke to my consultant and he said if I could get to a particular NHS hospital which was almost 2 hours away, he would ask his colleague he works with on the NHS to remove a little fluid and all would be fine.

I turned up to the hospital and saw a man, I could tell he wasn't sure what he was doing as he tried to fill my band while I was sitting upright!!

After a few 'stabs!' I told him that I usually lie flat and have to raise my legs to make the port Pop to the surface with the muscle, he tried this but was trying to do this in the wrong place. After non stop of the above, an ultrasound was used and he carried on in the wrong place. He reverted to calling the consultant out on his day off, who came along after an hour or so and got it first time and the fluid was removed, secretly looking horrified at the visible attempts across my stomach!!

I then went back to see the consultants colleague who usually does my band fills, 4 days after this happened to have more liquid put back in, he could see the obvious bruises near my largest scar and commented that there was no way he would of found it there!

I went for my usual 4 week fill today with the usual man, he asked how everything was and I told him that I had no restriction and told him that something wasn't right and it felt strange where the larger scar was.

He then wanted to see how much fluid was in the band to check his suspicions, there should of been 5.5ml in and there was just under 2.

The man that couldn't find the port had only punctured through the tube that connects the port to the band!!!!!

Now got to have another operation to repair this!!!

Any advice? I think compensation may be due! I'm so upset as I really struggle with general anaesthetics and more time off work isn't good timing!!

Has anyone else had a leaking band?! X

2

Hi Rebecca,

Have you spoken to the company that fitted your band originally? If not, please make sure that you do ASAP so that they can talk you through your options.

After 18 months my band also leaked which I later found out required port replacement. I went for this op yesterday and although I'm tender, the operation and recovery times were a lot shorter than the original op.

3

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Yes it was the original people that said it probably was leaking and will let me know when they will repair it!

May I ask if there was anything in particular that made yours leak?

Glad your not in too much pain, how long did it take for them to do?

When will you return to normal duties/work?

Thanks for your help, I'm so cross with the man that did this!!

4

Hopefully you hear back from them very soon, if not make sure you chase them - I know I had to chase quite a lot to get mine sorted.

I was unfortunately the unlucky 'one in one hundred' that band leakage just happens to. And even more unfortunately for me, I was outside of the surgical aftercare so have had to fork out again.

I left my room, recovered and back to my room within the hour so it wasn't long at all.

I'm hoping to return to work on Monday, but I'm not going to push it if I don't feel up to it. My throat is so sore from the tube to help me breathe, I don't remember that being sore from the original op but maybe I've just forgotten over time.

I bet you are, sounds like he didn't have a clue!

5

Morning!

Thank you for your message, that's so unfortunate about being out of the care package time.

How is your tummy today? Hope your throat is better too. No point going back to work too soon if your not ready :-)

No he really didn't have a clue, I had massive bruises in completely the wrong area of my stomach! The man I usually see looked horrified when I saw him a few days later! All because the consultant had the day off but ended up coming out to me anyway because the man who punctured it couldn't find it - clearly!! lol

6

Morning smile I'm still feeling pretty tender, I always sleep on my tummy but haven't been able to since the op so I feel like I'm missing out! Lol

Bless you, that sounds horrible. Not something that you should have to go through after having your op either sad

Are you back to being able to eat as much as you want or is the 2ml enough to keep you on track?

I've had 3 small mouthfuls of my porridge this morning - this weight better start shifting ASAP smile x

7

Feels like I don't even have a band in :-( could eat everything if I let myself! Trying to be so good! It's hard though!

Hopefully you got some rest though!

How much weight have you lost so far? :-)