Death Of Sherie???

Does any one know what the complications were after surgery that this lady died from? One of her posts I saw that she was sick the day of her surgery. I was just wondering if that may have caused her problems. Most Drs. wont do surgeries if you  are having surgery, do they?

This site has been such a great inspiration to me if I can only put all the negative out of my head!! I know I have to do whats best for my health, either way I am killing myself slowly!! Just death from the surgery scares the "willies" out of me. I know if Im not sure about this surgery and get in there the day of surgery I will completely flip out and my blood pressure will go out the roof!! I remember the day of my 2nd C-section I was totally flipping out, shaking so bad I "PEED" all over myself and blood pressure went up. My Dr. and family tried the nice talking but it didnt help so they had to get down right ugly with me and told me nicely "GET OVER IT"!!

There are several women on here that I see regularly with such great encouragement the names that stand out are Barbara, Annie, Darcie, Shauna, deb_m, kilmarlic, Sheila and Donna. You ladies are so dedicated to helping others along this journey. I may not talk to all of you guys but I do read your responses. Keep up all the good work and keep me in prayer as I continue through this journey. I have been approved just waiting on Voc. Rehab to get my final papers in. First Dr. Appt is Dec. 4th, but if Voc. gets papers turned in soon I can probably move my apointment up to October.

Thanks again for your support!!!

From the post I read she had RNY. There was a "leak" and they did not find it in time. Sounded like she had been sick since having the surgery and they could not find what was wrong until it was too late.

There are risk with any surgery as the physicians and staff will tell each of us. It is important to be educated and understand the pros and cons and risk whether it be RNY or lap band.

Tamara

Tamara where did you read that post at? Do the Drs. not do an Xray or something before you leave to make sure there are no leaks??

Just curious as to how you are doing with the lap band?  I'm in the process of getting all my paperwork together and just wanted to chat with someone who has been down this road already.

Hi!
The day after your surgery they will take you down to do whats called a *Leak Test* you get to stand up in front of a huge xray machine and drink disgusting barium LOL My hubby go to watch it and actually saw the barium travel down till it hit the pouch then they snap the photos to make sure you do not have a leak. He said it was the coolest thing he ever saw Im not sure who you are referring to that died but thats sad to hear, but like any kind of surgery anyone can have complications and that is fact we all had to accept. I wish you the best of luck along your journey.. nameless one

Darcie

 Interesting... I never had a leak test.  I'm doing great, but sure wouldn't have minded having that!

Hi Natt,

I have to tell you that I was absolutely terrified of surgery ... I remember when I had my gall bladder removed after I had my daughter, I cried all the way into the OR. Like you, I was still really afraid of the ultimate complication from WLS, but I looked at my reasons for doing it and when I was in a 'reasonable', logical state of mind, I knew that for me, the risk of not having the surgery was greater than the risk of the surgery itself... You can check my profile if you'd like to read more about my thoughts on that. What I did to manage my concerns was to list my reasons for doing this ... big and little and what could happen if had the surgery ... good and bad vs. would could happen if I didn't have the Surgery.

Re: Apparently SherieL suffered from a leak that wasn't discovered in time. When I had my surgery at Duke, they routinely did a barium swallow to assess the gastric system and determine if there was a leak. I believe that they have changed their protocol. My husband will be having his surgery through them and you can bet that we'll be having a discussion regarding the protocol and how they would know if there was a problem before it became life-threatening. I don't want un-necessary tests, but I want to be sure he's safe ... I guess what I'm saying is that you need to ask your surgeon what his protocol is. When you see things like some programs that ALWAYS use a Vena Cava Filter on every patient, or ALWAYS do a barium swallow test, etc... I start making a list of those procedures that are a part of some practices protocol and then I want to know if my Dr. does those things and their reason for doing them or not doing them. Once I get that information, then I do some more research and then ask the Dr more questions. I am not suggesting that I or you tell the Dr how to proceed, but I am suggesting that we go in asking questions and getting answers and ultimately that we end up feeling that the Dr and program that we have chosen provides the best possible outcome for us. That's the best we can do.

I feel your fear and can absolutely relate to it. It's normal for us to be afraid of dying, but for me I knew that I was slowly dying if I did nothing and I felt that I had a much better chance of living fully if I went forward.

Keep asking questions ... I think it will help as move through this process.

Barb

Natalie,  I also noticed that she said she was sick before her surgery.  From her profile:  "One more day until my surgery and if I can get rid of this cold I'd feel much better about everything!"  Another thing that stood out to me was all of the health issues she was battling:  "I have hypertension, high cholesterol, obstructive sleep apnea, degenerative disc disease, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, GERD, hiatal hernia, and Attention Deficit Disorder." 

Poor sweetheart.  My heart goes out to her husband, children, granddaughter, and doggies.  I know they must miss her so much.  She seems like she was a beautiful person who truly loved life and family.

I have to really work at keeping the negative out my head, Natalie, and I now realize that is completely normal and healthy.  If we didn't, we wouldn't be facing true reality and would be keeping ourselves in some form of denial, which is never healthy! 

It helps me a lot to keep the statistics in my mind.  The fact is:  I WILL live a miserable life only to die an early death without the gastric bypass and that FAR OUTWEIGHS the stats that show something bad COULD happen if I go through with the surgery. 

You are in my thoughts!!!  {{{Hugs!!!}}}

Goodmorning Natt,
I totally understand that fear you are talking about.
I knew in my heart and soul I did the right thing but I was still very scared of surgery.
I did find a peacefulness right before going into surgery and also with the help of the hospital chaplin.
The chaplin sat with me and my husband before they took me to surgery.
She was very comforting and held my hand the whole time.
I also requested from her two weeks before surgery if I could recieve communion from her.
I came to terms with myself that this was my last chance to help myself.
There are many days I would like to climb to the highest mountain top and shout to the world I HAD WLS and I am so happy I faced my fears and did it.
                                                                  Annie

Be upfront with your doc and ask him how many people he's lost. Also was their death preventable.
 
That was never on my list of things to ask - I tend to be overly focused onthe positive. Yes I knew death was a complication but I chose to dismiss it. I wanted to know about leaks and did he ever miss any of them. We talked for a long time about the leak test (OMG it's gross) he said he'd only had one instance where the test revealed a leak that he didn't already suspect. That upped my confidence level in his ability to relate to his patients.

My heart goes out to the family in dealing with their loss. My Daddy instilled in me the belief that when it's your time to go then it's your time -  regardless. Growing up, I always thought that it was a rather pat answer but now I too truly believe it.

- Iris