Here is my horror health story.

My daughter persuaded me to get a Lap Band inserted as she thought I was becoming too fat. I had gone through a lot of stress in the years before this and understood it was cortisol that had
made me store fat, but to keep the peace, I agreed.

It cost me $12000 to have the op in Cairns, plus I had to pay for visits to a dietician for several weeks, so I was considerably out of pocket.

Then I found the slightest thing made me vomit and it was hard to get enough food to keep me healthy. I could not drink water after eating and I became dehydrated. The surgeon eventually
loosened the band, but for seven years I vomited daily, several times.

My skin developed a horrible itchy rash and I had trouble sleeping. The surgeon left town under a cloud of suspicion.

I put up with this for seven years, by which time I was having embarrassing belches which smelled terrible. Something was wrong.

Eventually I went to Adelaide to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where the Professor was training doctors in similar procedures. He said the Lapband had slipped and folded over on itself, so a
second stomach or pouch had formed where food fermented. The Lapband would have to come out. So he booked me in for three months time and I returned to Adelaide when notified. When I emerged from the operation my belly looked strangely lopsided, like a huge chunk of fat had been sliced off. I hoped it would heal alright but it never really did, always looking an angry purple colour.

Two years later a lump began to develop just below the scar. I was a bit alarmed and went to see a local doctor, who sent me for an ultrasound at Hervey bay Hospital as I had moved down South.

It took a while to get my results, which was a Hernia had developed and I was referred to a surgeon. This appointment took a few more months to happen and by that time the lump was a
lot bigger.

The surgeon said it was too big to operate on and I would just have to keep an eye on it in case my intestines twisted and caused a huge problem.

These days, a year later I look like I am 8 months pregnant. Sometimes a pain shoots through the area, and its hard to get comfortable at night, lying down.

I don’t know what I can do about it. If we ever get Med Beds in Australia I would like to try and heal it. If you get one at Hippocrates, please let me know.

Susan Ascott-Evans