Lap Banding - Is It Worth The Pain?

February 29, 2008 | Filed Under Health and Fitness 

In December 1983 My friend Pam had an inner Gastric Banding procedure done by a Professor S from Macquarie St, Sydney.
The operation was performed at St Lukes of Kings Cross Sydney. Prior to this she had only met the Professor only once before the operation just to be weighed. He showed her the banding then booked her in.

After the operation she only saw him twice.
Pam was aware that you could only eat very small quantities of food but there was never any discussion about the ramifications of this and within 18 months had lost the weight but gained it all back and had severe reflux.
Pam started to realise that this procedure had more side effects than she could have imagined and was not warned about any of the bigger problems or the long-term side effects.

When presenting any of these problems to GP’s, either they knew nothing about Gastric Bandings or had the attitude that she was foolish in the first place to have it done so it was her problem. Pam was actually told by one specialist that she couldn’t even go back to the original doctor because her financial situation had changed. So she felt she just had to live with it and had no other choice as no one wanted to help or advise her.

Not long after that Pam moved to the Central coast and as time went on things progressively got worse.
Pam started to have problems with her bowel and had terrible sharp pains on her left hand side. The doctor assumed it was her ovaries so she had a total hysterectomy except he left in 1 ovary. Of course this killed any chances of ever Pam having children, which depressed her greatly..
After that I she was told everything was fine and to just get on with her life, but the original pain was still ,there. At this stage she was working at Wriggleys Asquith as a cook. Part of the package working there was getting private health cover through the company, which was fantastic, and the boss was very understanding.

At times Pam was so ill that the company car took her home on numerous occasions or to the doctors as she was in absolute agony.
Pam was sent to a specialist who performed a barium enema, colonoscopy and endoscopy. He told her she had mild diverticular and to get on with it and that the banding was her problem and that he didn’t want to do anything about it. She left the surgery in tears.

Again Pam returned to work to find the pain was becoming even more severe. She was then referred to another Specialist Dr M who felt it a good idea to remove the banding and after further investigation also said she had mild diverticular and if the banding was removed then the bowel would work properly. Meanwhile Pam was having abscesses burst inside her and having frequent visits to Gosford hospital. The pain was indescribable.
Pam was popping numerous pain killers to ease the constant pain and using water bottles and standing under hot showers almost scalding herself in the process just to get some relief.

Pam went into hospital in1999 to have the banding removed. In Dr M’s opinion it was to be a relatively easy procedure. But when he opened her up he found it to be totally covered in adhesions and split in two and he had to leave part of inside her, as he couldn’t remove it all.
It was about this time with all this negative feedback from both doctors that really affected Pam emotionally and mentally. She was questioning her own stability to the point of wondering if it were her, was she a hypochondriac.

With her history of going to doctors and her strong constitution. Pam could put up with most things but enough was enough.
Pam came home from hospital and Dr M had said that he looked at the bowl and again said it was mild diverticular and just to start eating normally and everything would be fine. she did as he said and after a few days woke to find she was passing faeces vaginally. she freaked over this and the pain was excruciating.

Pam then contacted Dr M and he reassured her that it was mild but he may have to operate and that there could be a slim chance that she may need to have a colostomy.
So she then took it upon herself to contact the colostomy sister at Gosford Hospital to educate and prepare herself for the inevitable.
Pam was admitted into Brisbane Waters Private hospital again and just before surgery she mentioned the colostomy to Dr M who laughed and said there was little chance of me needing one.
she questioned him numerous times about the original pain and again he laughed and fobbed her off.

When she awoke from the operation she had a colostomy bag and Dr M told her that the bowel had fallen apart in his hands.
Pam received no antibiotics and within days of receiving the colostomy, Dr M told her that she should feel like a million dollars now that the diseased bits of the bowel had been removed. Again she let herself believe him.

Pam came home and within days had massive infection and sinus tunnels throughout the scar line. So not only was she trying to adjust to the colostomy, she was packing gauze into the huge holes herself. Though she did have to call a district nurse in to help her she ended up in Gosford Hospital yet again and this time was put on antibiotics for a severe infection.

After these started to clear up, Pam returned to work through Dr M’s advice.
I was looking forward to going back as I enjoyed my time there and people were lovely.
But I progressively became worse and went back to Dr M as she was at her wits end. He laughed at her yet again and said. No Pam, every thing’s great. she told him it felt like there was an Alien inside her, and felt like she was going to die. He scoffed at her yet again and said everything was fine and to wait 6 months for the bowel to rest and heal.

Pam went home and spent the next several months on painkillers and standing under a hot shower. Her colostomy was something she had to endure, but it used to pop off on occasion with manic diarrhea and as hard as she tried to believe what Dr M said about normality the pain told me otherwise.
With the added pain of a piece of faces left inside her going rotten didn’t help either.
Six months later she was admitted to have the colostomy bag removed.
Pam actually asked Dr M for a pen to draw where the original pain was coming from and he laughed at her.

Pam came out of theater, no antibiotics were given and was in the most indescribable pain. A friend went for help but no one would listen to her. Eventually someone came to check on the epidural they had given her and said it was fine. Twenty-four hours later Dr M checked it and said it hadn’t been inserted properly. The pain she had felt in the last 24 hours had her begging for death. Still no antibiotics.
At some point Dr M woke her up and said. I’m sorry Pam but I left a loop of diseased bowel from the previous operation inside you and it had connected to the pelvic region causing the abscesses to grow and burst in the pelvic cavity.
To think She had suffered all this time and he’d told her there was nothing wrong with her..
Pam left the hospital and again ended up with massive infection. I dealt with this through my local GP Dr K, community nurses and Gosford Hospital. She was so sick of being sick.

Pam went back to Dr M for the 6 week post op check and told him she still had the original pain and he became annoyed and told her to give it time to settle down. she left the surgery in tears, swearing she’d never go back to him or any other specialist again.
At that stage she didn’t realise there was not going to be an end to this constant agony.
Again she tried to return to work but found it impossible because she was exhausted from lack of sleep and had no bowel control. So on the advice of Dr K she had to give up work for a while and go on sickness benefits.

After a while Pam started a part time job in a pizza shop and was able to work between pain and suffering at odd times because the owner and herself became close friends.
When the shop closed she knew any chance of pursuing more employment and getting a job in her condition was limited and a waste of time.
Also having a relationship was fruitless also as because of all the infections and damage from the surgeries her libido was non-existent and sex was so painful she couldn’t bear having it any longer.
It was then she had to apply for a Disability Pension. Her only outlet was when she’d push herself to volunteer for the kids at the local school canteen.

Her days consist of waking early from sleepless nights full of nausea and unbelievable pressure in the bowel for 24 hours a day. She has no recollection of normality in her life.
she tried to present this case for legal action but the Professor who originally did the lap banding had destroyed all his paper work from 80’s so there was no proof of him ever seeing Pam as a patient. To this day he is still advertising the lap banding procedure and is also online.

Pam’s biggest fear is having to expose herself again to the constant barrage of undignified, emotional, exhaustive turmoil that seems to overwhelm and suffocate her constantly. She strongly believes that her link to any help was her local GP Dr K as he was her support and lifeline. Her one wish is not to alienate him as he was the only help she got when it came to medications when the pain was intolerable.

On several occasions Pam had presented at the surgery when her bowel had become spastic and Dr K has not been at the surgery and when she asked other doctors for pain relief they have told her they didn’t believe in painkillers and to go and have a colonoscopy done. For this reason she is terrified at losing him as her GP as she has so much trust in him. Dr K realises how difficult my situation is and allows her to phone ahead for prescriptions and doesn’t put her through the added stress of waiting around, as he knows nothing can be done for her.

Pam have since sought help with another specialist Dr D. When she went for the appointment she found the visit extremely hard and so overwhelming to the point of sobbing like a baby. Everything that she had gone through just washed over her and she felt so tired and exhausted by it all.
Dr D was a extremely sympathetic and convinced Pam to have another colonoscopy and endoscopy to give her another opinion and has told her that there is nothing that can be done for her. So Pam have to accept my fate and live off welfare and be a constant drain on society when it was a simple matter of the doctors being open and more up front with her.

This has not been an easy decision as she is a fighter and expected and hoped to return to work one day. But now she must stop being the victim.
At no time ever did the original doctor who did the banding give her any indication of the long-term side effects of the Gastric Banding. Nor did Dr M at any time indicate to her that he could not manage her medical problems. Nor did he listen or treat her with any respect or dignity as a human being.
During both procedures she was covered by health insurance but that didn’t get her the help she needed or reasonable attention.

In conclusion, Professor S didn’t point out the chances of destroying her metabolism and the devastating effect it has had on her bowel and gut.
It takes years for these problems to surface, you feel unwell and Doctors tell you, you look fine even though your teeth are falling out from all the acid reflux and your coughing up blood from constant vomiting.

Pam is unable to eat till late afternoon because the pain is increased by eating so she avoids it.. Yet the weight had climbed to 120kg.
It’s a viscous circle as she don’t get proper nourishment and exercise is out of the question because everything she does aggravates it.
It has also restricted her social life, because she cannot go anywhere and is virtually housebound and if she does go anywhere she doesn’t eat the day before so her bowel will be empty so she has to take anti nausea pills as she dry reaches all the time.

The above article was written in 2003. Below is an update

These days Pam has since lost over 55kg as her metabolism has literally run amok as she now has an under active thyroid which is out of control. Her pain levels are even worse than before and has since changed GP’s as Dr K has left which was devastating in the interim till she found a lady Dr who was also willing to help her.
She is still being treated by Dr D who has given her stronger pain killers. How agonizing is it when what she has can’t be placed into any category. If you have MS, cancer or Aids it’s known as a high level disease so there is great support from the health industry and medications are cheaper. Alas Pam doesn’t fit into any little box so has been fobbed off and cast aside to deal with it alone and bear the brunt and cost.

If Pam can prevent one person from not having a Gastric bi pass or lap banding or even researching it thoroughly before even contemplating having it done, then she will one day die knowing that she has not suffered all this in vain.

Written by Kerry Kandelas

Web site for money making biz bits and magnets

http://www.moneymakingbizbitsandmagnets.com

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