Home from Hospital after Revision surgery

Hi everyone. I haven't ventured over to this board for awhile. I had a bad few months. I found out in November that I had a big marginal ulcer on my anastomosis (connection between pouch and small bowel). It was a stubborn sucker and wouldn't heal so I had to have a revision of my bypass on this past Tuesday. Doc cut out the ulcer and a bit more of intestine. He said the stomach and intestine around the ulcer had hardened. No wonder I couldn't eat anything anymore. So here I am 9 months post op, with a new pouch and new connection. I spent 5 days in the hospital. Turns out my potassium was very low, and I was severely dehydrated. I was on IV drip all that time, and bp was very very low. I gained 17 lbs of fluid this week. ACK! That freaked me out, but I'm sure that it will go away. Hopefully this doesn't mean that I will be suseptable to these types of ulcers. This surgery and recoup feels much worse than the first one, but I think my body was a bit run down this time. Hope everyone has a great new year...and keep up the good work! Eileen

Eileen , I'm so sorry to hear about your revision but hope you are doing much better now and things will be smooth sailing from here on out. Good luck and I hope you have a great year. Deborah W.

Thanks Deborah. I'm feeling a bit better each day.

Eileen, healing prayers sent for a quick recovery. I can't even imagine having a revision. So, are you supposed to lose at the same rate you did originally again? Do you have to do the post op diet again? I wish you well!! Stacey

I'm doing the new pouch diet again. I've been on full liquids since I was discharged on Saturday. I'm assuming that after my check up on Thursday I can have pureed. I am also assuming that this would not affect my loss rate. I was still losing 2-3 lbs a week. I was very disappointed after being down 145 lbs. I was 5 lbs from goal, and then poof, there's another 17 lbs packed on. I'm not weighing until a few days from now, I already feel some of the bloat going away. This was just a bump in the road. I just hope it doesn't happen again, it was terrible. Not so much the surgery, but the ulcer part, very uncomfortable and I was very weak from not being able to eat so much. Thanks for the well wishes. Eileen

Eileen, Thanks for posting. I'm trying to get an ulceration on "the suture line to my pouch" healed. It's apparently been ccentered around an 'errant suture', been there since just after my RNY last March, and it's not getting better. In December, my surgeon did an endoscopy to check on it, and it's grown larger. I'm to have another scope done in about 3 more weeks, and if there's been no healing, the surgeon said we'd have to try "alternative methods" ... no further explanation. It's been in the back of my head that I might be facing a revisional surgery to fix this, but until I read your post I've not really wanted to let myself think about that. Does this mean you're having to start over from scratch with eating methods? Did your surgeon have any suggestions as to why it might have occurred? I'm so glad I saw your post today, because I see my surgeon on Thursday, and I'll be better prepared with questions. Hope you feel better soon!! And thanks again for posting. -Myra

Myra, Sounds like a marginal ulcer to me. Did your doctor put you on meds as well? I was taking Carafate 4x a day and Nexium. Mine did not heal even with the meds. My surgeon said some don't because these ulcers are not caused by the same thing normal ulcers are. HE said smoking increases chances of these ulcers, but I don't smoke, and he said sometimes it is just poor blood supply in the connection made with the small bowel and our new pouch. Have you been eating? That was a big problem with me. I just had a meal of chicken with salad on Monday evening and it was the first thing I have chewed since October. I was only able to eat pudding and soft cheeses (cottage cheese, ricotta) because any solid meat or protein would cause me tremendous pain. By the time I made it in for my surgery my ulcer was pretty substancial, and I was very dehydrated and somewhat malnourished. That kept me in there a few more days then expected as I had to recieve magnesium and potassium as well. I did have to start over as far as eating methods, and follow new pouch rules. I had One week of liquids, 2 weeks of puree, and was just cleared last Friday to begin eating again. I was terrified, but so overjoyed when I ate the chicken the other night and it felt ok. Hope you feel better. Let me know what your surgeon says on Thursday. or if you have any more questions....ask away. Eileen

Thanks for the response, Eileen ... sorry I didn't get back on here to answer sooner. I did go to my doctor's appointment and he showed me the last scope photos, pointing out the embedded cranky suture, all the ulceration around it and a stray end of the suture that was just trailing off down into my intestine (he cut that away and removed as much as he could during the procedure, but he said it wanted to bleed alot, so he wasn't able to get it really resolved****rtainly better understand (after some hasty drawings on his part) exactly where this is, and how it's affecting things. His answer for me yesterday was we'd continue the Nexium therapy and rescope in two more weeks, with an esophageal biopsy at that time, too. In meantime, I get to have gallbladder studies done for some GERD-like symptoms I'm having (Oh joy!! LOL). Thus far, I'm able to eat. I've noticed denser foods make me feel uncomfortable, so I've been keeping things pretty soft, and warm food (not hot) feels better than cold, go figure on that one LOL. Like you I'm not a smoker, and my BS seems to want to blame this entirely on this balled up mass of suture. (He's not my original surgeon, I had my surgery in St. Louis and switched to this doctor three weeks post-op). Thanks so much for all the information you've given me... I appreciate your help! Myra