Yowzer! The story unfolds.

The past few weeks have just been a whirlwind of activity so brace yourself. For the last couple of months I have been having a horrible burning sensation and sometimes a stabbing pain at my port site and after eating I would sometimes have to rush to the bathroom to get sick. If I ran my hand over the port site, I could feel it without even pressing. None of this is normal, especially for having the band for two years now.I contacted the facility that put in my lapband and after a couple attempts, I finally got to speak to someone and all they wanted to know was "What did I do?" They said they wanted to see me but it would cost me $100 and we'd go from there. Ken suggested I try our healthcare provider and see where that takes me. I promptly got an appointment to see my PC physician and once I explained to her my symptoms, she put in a referral to the bariatric department and another to radiology for an upper GI. I received a call later that day from Karen, one of the Kaiser Care Managers, wanting more information in regards to my band. After I told her what I had been experiencing, she told me to get into radiology as soon as I could and she would put a rush on my referral to bariatrics. The next day was Friday, November 30th, and boy is that the day that tried to kick my ass. I was already tired from having problems sleeping and Aidan had been having half days at school all week, and anyone who is a stay at home mom knows that those extra couple of hours everyday can be a lifesaver. Well, I was getting Emmett ready to go in the car to pick Aidan up and I went to let Newkie in from the backyard when I saw him eating something on the ground. I had put snail bait out the night before after catching the little bastards all over my sweet pepper plants, and here was Newkie eating them as a snack! I quickly put him in the office and rushed to go get Aidan. While waiting for his class to be excused I googled snail bait ingestion and found that it's fatal, especially for small dogs. As soon as I got home, I grabbed Newkie and took him to the vet. They induced vomiting then made him ingest charcoal to help absorb any left over poison. They wanted to keep him over night to monitor him so I left without my dog and $374 dollars poorer. I went home with the feeling of guilt because I was the one who put the bait out in the first place. Later that day I found out my father-in-law had had a heart attack. I knew my husband didn't know and I didn't want him to find out the same way I did, via Facebook, so I called him. If you know my husband then you know the love and respect he has for his father so you would also know that this news was like being hit by a freight truck. I just wished I didn't have to tell him over the phone. I was still worried about Newkie come late afternoon so I called to check on him and got the good news that the doctor had given the ok to pick him up!!!! He wasn't allowed any food and he was pissed about that, but he was home where he belonged. The hubby came home and as we were sitting talking about the day, my phone rang. It was the bariatric department. They had a cancelation for Saturday and wanted to know if I was available? HELL YEAH I AM!! I had expected to have to wait at least 3 weeks to see a specialist so I was pleasantly surprised to be seen so quickly. The appointment was for a Kaiser almost two hours away, but that was the only hospital that does bariatric surgery so I didn't have a choice on location unless I wanted to go back to TJ, and I didn't. So I saw the doctor and he confirmed that my port had indeed turned and it was surrounded by fluid. Right then and there he scheduled me for Jan 10th to have the band removed and the sleeve put in its place. On the way home my husband got to talk to his dad and that gave him some peace of mind that if his dad was well enough to call him, he would be ok. That night my brother started moving into our office and Aidan got sick.....I mean SICK!!! He was throwing up everywhere and every time he would calm down and relax, it would start all over again. By Sunday night he was back to his normal, hyper self. On Tuesday I got a call to schedule my upper GI for the following Thursday. I had assumed I was just supposed to go so I was surprised to get a call to make an appointment. That day, I dropped Aidan at school and headed down to meet my mom. She was more than thrilled to have the baby all to herself and couldn't wait to do some Christmas shopping with him. I got my upper GI done and they couldn't find anything wrong with the pouch, the band, the port, or the connecting tube, but since they didn't know the initial placement of the port, they couldn't determine if it had moved. By the time I was done with my appointment I saw I had missed a call from the bariatric department up north. They had an opening for an earlier date, Dec 20th, and wanted to know if I wanted it??? I knew I wanted to get the surgery over with but 5 days before Christmas???? I took it. So to recap- In a matter of 7 days I went from having a lapband that wasn't working and it was causing pain on a daily basis to having the thing pulled out and my stomach will be stapled to the size and shape of a banana, my dog got poisoned, my father in-law had a heart attack, Aidan vomited on every surface in his room, and my brother moved in with us. Can't say my life is boring for sure. Oh, and Emmett is now 6 months old, has two teeth that just came through this past week, and he weighs almost 18lbs. It's time for a nap.