Endoscopy Results
I'm done and I'm home. I'm whipped. Everyone was much surprised to find nothing bleeding, although I have some ulcerated spots that he sent for biopsy. I'm trying to figure out what Gastric Cardia means because the report he gave me has lot of pics titled Gastric Cardia, but it looks like the inside of a a pink and brown garden hose to me. That may be what he biopsied. I also have Reflux Esophagitis and a Schatzki Ring. I've never heard of a Schatzki Ring, but apparantly it is a ring that forms in the Esophagus from reflux and makes it hard to swallow and causes food to get stuck. How lovely is that? Doc wants to explore further down because we still haven't found the source of the bleed so a video capsule endoscopy is next. His report also said "There was evidence of a widely patent stoma in the jejunum." He knew I had gastric bypass and the stoma is at the jejunum where it is supposed to be. What I don't know is what "widely patent" means. My guess is that it's just there and not constricted, but I'll call my surgeon or Google to find out.
So this is good. No bleeding ulcers and I'm on a script to clear up the ulcers I do have. I'm sure the biopsy will be fine. Everything I google on Gastric Cadia has a link to cancer, but so far, I haven't found a solid definition of Gastric Cardia. Not sure what it does. Maybe my brother Ben can help.
Va - I did contact my surgeon to see if she could do this. She was booked, but they said that Dr. Wiss, who did the scope, works with a lot of wls patients and they were comfortable with him.
So this is good. No bleeding ulcers and I'm on a script to clear up the ulcers I do have. I'm sure the biopsy will be fine. Everything I google on Gastric Cadia has a link to cancer, but so far, I haven't found a solid definition of Gastric Cardia. Not sure what it does. Maybe my brother Ben can help.
Va - I did contact my surgeon to see if she could do this. She was booked, but they said that Dr. Wiss, who did the scope, works with a lot of wls patients and they were comfortable with him.
I'm with Reenie sounds like good news right?
Sometimes I''m more afriad aftr I google and read up on things. All that mumbo jumbo medical-ese is scarey!
I have read about symptoms I'm having and before you know it a simple headache has me believeing that i'm ready to pick out the pine box.
Are you still bleeding? is that why you are anemic? I guess all these tests will figure it out.
I wish you lived closer I would make you chicken soup and bring you magazines. We'd sit and talk. I bet ya we would have a lot of good laughs. I'd also make you an afghan in a pretty sage green verigated yarn. and I'd take your dogs out for a walk.
but since you live far away all I can do is pray.
Can we all exchange addresses for christmas cards? birthday too? I love getting and sending real cards in the old fashion postal service.
Sometimes I''m more afriad aftr I google and read up on things. All that mumbo jumbo medical-ese is scarey!
I have read about symptoms I'm having and before you know it a simple headache has me believeing that i'm ready to pick out the pine box.
Are you still bleeding? is that why you are anemic? I guess all these tests will figure it out.
I wish you lived closer I would make you chicken soup and bring you magazines. We'd sit and talk. I bet ya we would have a lot of good laughs. I'd also make you an afghan in a pretty sage green verigated yarn. and I'd take your dogs out for a walk.
but since you live far away all I can do is pray.
Can we all exchange addresses for christmas cards? birthday too? I love getting and sending real cards in the old fashion postal service.
Hey Pammie, whadami, chopped liva??? I live pretty darned close to you and I'll take a number for that afghan in pretty green verigated yarn!!! 
However, I'm the opposite extreme from you when it comes to needing to know... I feel much more comfortable when I am at the helm of knowing what's going on with my body. Not knowing is what scares me more than knowing... have a great day, sweetie. Maureen
However, I'm the opposite extreme from you when it comes to needing to know... I feel much more comfortable when I am at the helm of knowing what's going on with my body. Not knowing is what scares me more than knowing... have a great day, sweetie. Maureen
hahaah
Now Reenie when I'd make your afgan it would be in bright extravagant colors! Something that when you walked into the room you'd say O there is my afgan I need to wrap up in it!
I would do a pretty mauvey pink for Judy and marilyn would get a happy sunshiney yellow. Kim would have relaxing blues. Joy would be sparkly.
Of course this is how I would do it it might be that everyone else would think they were a diffrent color than I would pick.
Of course the colors would also depend on what was on sale in the amounts that I needed!
Now Reenie when I'd make your afgan it would be in bright extravagant colors! Something that when you walked into the room you'd say O there is my afgan I need to wrap up in it!
I would do a pretty mauvey pink for Judy and marilyn would get a happy sunshiney yellow. Kim would have relaxing blues. Joy would be sparkly.
Of course this is how I would do it it might be that everyone else would think they were a diffrent color than I would pick.
Of course the colors would also depend on what was on sale in the amounts that I needed!
Connie...this sounds like good news....Ill keep thinking of you and praying your on the road to recovery and feeling better. Stay strong girl, if anyone can I know its you!
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe" ----"Anatole France"
"Joyously grasp the ties that bind you, for they lead straight to the heart"---"Wm."
Kimberly...
This is good news in that I don't have a bleeding ulcer, but not so good in that it doesn't explain where the anemia is coming from. The average body is 7% blood and has has 14 to 18 pints of blood and 12 is considered anemic. According to my doc, in April, I had 14 pints of blood. Today I have 10. If not from a bleeding ulcer, then where? I was hoping it was a bleeding ulcer because that's easy to fix. OK, maybe not for the person with the ulcer, but at least we'd know where the blood loss was coming from. I had a CT scan of the brain a couple of weeks ago so it's not an aneurysm of the brain. Again, good news.
I saw my pcp today and he told me that the scope showed my stoma to be wide open, no restriction at all. He thought it was a good thing. Not so much. I explained that it meant my food was sailing through the stoma and while I was absorbing the calories, I was still starving after eating. I love my doctor, but he's sometimes clueless when it comes to wls. I'll deal with that one later.
During the scope, my ekg showed an abnormality so that was another thing I talked with the doctor about. Again, he thinks it's tied to the anemia. Anemia can cause a bizillion things to go wrong with the body so before he tackles anything else, he wants to get the anemia under control and see what clears up as a consequence.
It looks like back surgery is probably out of the picture for a while. You lose 2 pints of blood during back surgery and even if I had a transfusion of 2 pints before surgery, I'd still be starting at the low end of the scale.
So more blood work tomorrow. We'll bump up my iron, but doc doesn't think this is an iron deficiency. He told me that iron is stored in the body and if he never got another molecule of iron, it would take at least 5 years for his blood work to show him as anemic. Not only that, I'm still low 2 to 4 pints of blood and an iron deficiency doesn't account for the low hemoglobin and hematocrit levels that he's seeing.
I asked my brother what the Gastric Cardia was and what it did and he sent me a link to Google. Remind me to kick his butt.
I saw my pcp today and he told me that the scope showed my stoma to be wide open, no restriction at all. He thought it was a good thing. Not so much. I explained that it meant my food was sailing through the stoma and while I was absorbing the calories, I was still starving after eating. I love my doctor, but he's sometimes clueless when it comes to wls. I'll deal with that one later.
During the scope, my ekg showed an abnormality so that was another thing I talked with the doctor about. Again, he thinks it's tied to the anemia. Anemia can cause a bizillion things to go wrong with the body so before he tackles anything else, he wants to get the anemia under control and see what clears up as a consequence.
It looks like back surgery is probably out of the picture for a while. You lose 2 pints of blood during back surgery and even if I had a transfusion of 2 pints before surgery, I'd still be starting at the low end of the scale.
So more blood work tomorrow. We'll bump up my iron, but doc doesn't think this is an iron deficiency. He told me that iron is stored in the body and if he never got another molecule of iron, it would take at least 5 years for his blood work to show him as anemic. Not only that, I'm still low 2 to 4 pints of blood and an iron deficiency doesn't account for the low hemoglobin and hematocrit levels that he's seeing.
I asked my brother what the Gastric Cardia was and what it did and he sent me a link to Google. Remind me to kick his butt.
So, what's next in terms of trying to find out the source of the leak??? Your post reminds me that this WLS replumbing is a lot like how our cars works; if we don't put gas in, they don't go; if we don't replace the oil, the car gets 'sick' - it's not a matter of blaming everything on the surgery, it's a matter of understanding that when the body isn't getting what it needs, it's going to start getting sick, shutting down... if blood results are showing a lack of anything that we need to properly function in a healthy way, then it stands to reason that the body is going to respond accordingly. Malabsorption is a certfied absolute consequence of this surgery. What is a mystery to me is why (for some of us) we cannot absorb the necessary elements when we are vigilent about daily vitamins, caloric intake, protein, etc., etc. I can understand this being the case for people who are not doing what they are supposed to, but why are we still not absorbing that which we are taking in??? if our bodies have been deficient for more than 5 years, doesn't it make sense that they will start getting sick??? I was never anemic in my life before this surgery - I am now; why??? Why are you??? Here's a thought: I was scoped 2 years ago and my stoma was very dilated - the food was going right through, like yours. Common sense tells me, then, that I'm not absorbing a thing in nutrients! I would reconsider getting this looked at, Connie, because getting the stoma closed up again might be the very anwer to your health ailments! What do you think? What about anyone else?? Be well, Connie. M.
The next step is to do that swallow the capsule thing to look at my small intestine. The most pressing issue is to find out why I had 14 pints of blood in April and now I only have 10. I just did some iron labs and the results of that should be back next week. If I am severely deficit in iron, probably ferrous transfusions are up next. Doc doesn't think an iron deficiency is causing all this, but who knows. After the capsule and iron labs, I'm not sure what the next steps are. After that, I don't know. My back surgery is canceled because of this. At first I was bummed, but I think postponing surgery is wise. I understand that you can't even wipe your own butt after this back surgery and I'm so tired wiping is a chore now, I can't imagine after being sliced and diced.
You're right about taking vitamins and supplements and still having issues. I am a zealot about taking my vitamins. It sounds crazy, but every morning I take 4 gummy vitamins and I take 4 more at night. On the weekends, I throw in 4 more during the day. I also take a women's multi with extra iron in the morning. Add in 2000 ui of Vitamin D, and 1000mg of Acai for good measure. I also take a 25000 mg B-12 every day. Surgeon said once a week was fine, but I noticed that I felt better if I take it every day. It's water soluble so you can't really get too much. At least I don't think you can. I probably take enough vitamins to sustain 4 normal people. What I don't take often is calcium. I know that's going to come back and bite me in the ass, but I don't want to add more kidney stones to the mix.
Still.... All the resulting health issues aside, I'm still glad I had the surgery. I thought about that the other day. My back didn't get better, I'm anemic as hell, I haven't had a soda in 6 years, I can't take the NSAIDS that would probably give me a lot of pain relief. I'm still glad I did it. I have to believe that my back would be a 100 time worse if I was carrying round another 130 pounds. I like not sleeping with a CPAP machine (hated that thing). I like shopping for clothes in regular sizes. I like the fact that what would have been one meal will now feed me for 3 or 4. The good definitely outweighs the bad.
What was the benefit of closing up your stoma? Do you think it's made a difference? How did it help? Addressing the stoma issue is on my long list of things to take care of:
Resolve the anemia
Back surgery
Close the stoma
Cure the common cold
World peace
Universal Health care
Figure out why baseball is the only sport where managers wear a uniform instead of a suit
Lots to do. So little time.
You're right about taking vitamins and supplements and still having issues. I am a zealot about taking my vitamins. It sounds crazy, but every morning I take 4 gummy vitamins and I take 4 more at night. On the weekends, I throw in 4 more during the day. I also take a women's multi with extra iron in the morning. Add in 2000 ui of Vitamin D, and 1000mg of Acai for good measure. I also take a 25000 mg B-12 every day. Surgeon said once a week was fine, but I noticed that I felt better if I take it every day. It's water soluble so you can't really get too much. At least I don't think you can. I probably take enough vitamins to sustain 4 normal people. What I don't take often is calcium. I know that's going to come back and bite me in the ass, but I don't want to add more kidney stones to the mix.
Still.... All the resulting health issues aside, I'm still glad I had the surgery. I thought about that the other day. My back didn't get better, I'm anemic as hell, I haven't had a soda in 6 years, I can't take the NSAIDS that would probably give me a lot of pain relief. I'm still glad I did it. I have to believe that my back would be a 100 time worse if I was carrying round another 130 pounds. I like not sleeping with a CPAP machine (hated that thing). I like shopping for clothes in regular sizes. I like the fact that what would have been one meal will now feed me for 3 or 4. The good definitely outweighs the bad.
What was the benefit of closing up your stoma? Do you think it's made a difference? How did it help? Addressing the stoma issue is on my long list of things to take care of:
Resolve the anemia
Back surgery
Close the stoma
Cure the common cold
World peace
Universal Health care
Figure out why baseball is the only sport where managers wear a uniform instead of a suit
Lots to do. So little time.
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