Question:
How do you know if your staple line ripped?

I had surgery on 9-10-01 and chewed my food REALLY well, I had pain while going down and felt really full after a very small amount at first. Now (10-15-01) I can eat SO much more before I begin to feel full. I can eat way more than 4 tablespoons at one setting. And if I do get fullo sooner, I am hungrier sooner. I was a self pay and I am deathly afraid that my staple line no longer exists or that I have somehow stretched it out. Is there a procedure that can be done to see if my staple line (4 rows) are still intact?    — Jennifer F. (posted on October 15, 2001)

October 15, 2001
You could have a staple line disruption and not feel a thing. If you felt anything, it might be the return of acid into the pouch. When my SLD, I felt the acid, but could not eat appreciably more. I just had a lot of nausea and discomfort from the free flowing acid. The most direct route would be endoscopy. Upper GI will not always show SLD, but it is easily visible via EGD, as long as the doc knows you are "special" in advance. I know it is very frightening, because I did not know if the ins we had at the time would cover me or not. It did, but I was prepared to refi my house or whatever it took to put me back together again.
   — vitalady