Update: Roux-en-Y gone very bad.

Just to let everyone know, my son-in-law is breathing on his own now. He was on a vent for 10 days, the surgeon pulled that and placed a trach in. That was about a week ago. The doc's are saying that he may be able to get off the trach this week!! We are finally hopeful that he will make it through this. I also wanted to let everyone know that this surgery may not be the best way to lose your excess weight. I was about 60 pounds overweight when I joined Medical Weight Loss online. That was back in March and, to date, I have lost 11 pounds on it. I know it's hard and very, very slow, but I really don't want anyone else to face what my family has faced the past few weeks. Please consider all other options for weight loss before you resort to such drastic measures. I would also like to thank all the members here who have said prayers and kept us in their thoughts. I honestly believe that all of it helped. I will post more as soon as we know what the status of his infection is. Sue

I'm sorry you and your family have gone through all this pain. I read your profile and saw your daughter was considering WLS too. I hope your son in law makes a full recovery and enjoys the success that many of us have had. Unfortunately sometimes people don't do well for whatever reason and there can be many. The risks of WLS are great and all of us who have had it understand that as I'm sure your son in law did. It was being as informed as I could that got me to this position in life. Many of us including me tried and exhausted all of our options before we had WLS. I weighed my risks to the fact that I was going to die anyway but I made sure I had everything in order from surgeon to support system afterward. I found the winning combination and today I am healthier than I've ever been and enjoying my life and watching my family grow up. I wouldn't have been able to do that the way I was. In fact, I should be dead now. I am living on 7 months bonus time right now. I hope they find the cause of your SIL's problem and it is corrected and precautions are taken before your daughter has her WLS. For me Roux en Y was the best decision of my life. I would do it again every year if I had to not only for me but for my family. kp

Hi Susan, I am sorry for all that your son in law and your family have gone through. Most of us are very well informed of the risks that are involved with this surgery. We all know that there is a risk of dying from this procedure small as that may be. Most of us have tried for many years to lose weight, only to gain it back plus more. This surgery has been a God send for me. Not only did it save my life, but it gave my life back to me. No diet has ever done for me what this surgery has. Surgery is a last resort for most people. Without it many of us could very well be another static of how morbid obesity has taken another life. Instead we are living examples of how this surgery has changed our lives for the better. It's not always pretty. People have complications, but we know that and accept it as being worth the risks, because without the surgery many of us were well on our way to dying anyhow. I have lost a total of 200 pounds because of this surgery. I highely recommend it to anyone who has not been able to lose weight and keep it off using the conventional methods of dieting. Did you know that only 3% of all dieters lose their excess weight and are able to keep it off for a year? That means that 97% of all dieters don't lose their weight and/or keep it off for a year~that's a lot of failed diet attempts. Once a person reaches a certian weight, the chanches of that person losing the weight and keeping it off are next to none. I do not regret my surgery, and would do it over and over again if I had to for these kind of results. The good news is I don't have to do it over and over again~one time is enough. I will continue to keep your son-in-law and your family in my prayers. May God bless you always, Annette

I'm so glad to hear that your SIL is doing better. I'm sure it has not been easy to endure. My father died from complications following heart surgery. He was not overweight and did not have WLS (nor did he smoke or drink). At 55, he had a torn aorta. The surgery required to fix it was very complicated. While the repairs to his heart were fine and the surgery was a success, he ended up with fluid in both lungs and his organs began shutting down. He lived a week after the surgery. ALL surgeries carry risk and everyone's body reacts differently. We were hopeful, as one of the surgical nurses had had the same surgery with phenomenal outcomes. Ten years later, we still question if we did the correct thing or if anything else could've been done. With all of that being said, I did not go into WLS with my eyes closed. I was very well aware of the risks, as should all people facing WLS or any surgery. In my case, at 35 years old and at 335 pounds, I decided to have WLS in order to save my life. I did not have any co-morbidities and was relatively healthy for my weight. Or at least I thought. I have lost 130 pounds and have never felt better in my life. I went to WLS as a last resort. I tried SO many other diets before WLS, to include Medical Weight Loss. On MWLC, in 2002, I lost 95 pounds in 9 months. I got pregnant and had to go off the diet...their policy. I then had a miscarriage and was able to maintain my loss for about a year. Then I started gaining. By the time I began looking into surgery, I had put back on about 85 of the pounds I lost. By the time I had surgery a few months later, I was 2 pounds shy of my highest weight when I started MWLC. I knew I was heading down a dangerous road, regardless of which path I chose....keep gaining weight or have surgery. Hopefully, anyone considering this surgery is aware of all the risks and complications possibly involved. Educating oneself does not deem you impervious to risk or complication, but at the very least you are prepared for what lies ahead. I pray that everything turns out well for your son in law. Nobody deserves to go through what you've had to endure. Stay positive. Tina

I completely agree with Kevin about this. I had tried everything else and while i could lose 100lbs without surgery, i never could keep it off and my weight kept rising until the point where i knew without the surgery, I WOULD die. I knew that the surgery might very kill me and with my cir****tances i was pretty certain it would, but it was my only shot. And thankfully it worked out and now i'm considered a healthy person with a reasonable shot at living a long life. I truly believe everyone should exhaust all other efforts at losing and keeping off their excess weight before attempting WLS. I hope for your son-in-law's recovery as soon as possible. Hopefully something good will come out of all this fear and sadness. Best of luck to you and your family.