RNY Revision Procedures

I went for my pre-op appt with my surgeon today and found out that he's not going to divide my stomach into two parts. He's just going to staple all the way across and the do the re-routing. He said that he does this because he doesn't want to risk leaking. I guess what I'm most concerned about is the fact that I've already had stomach stapling with my gastroplasty, and it failed when the staples came undone. I just don't want that to happen again. Plus I talked to him about the Proximal vs. Distal thing, and he said he goes down 80+ cm, but he won't go any further than 90, and it depends on the patient and how large he/she is. His reasons are because he doesn't want his patients ending up malnourished. I'm still going through with it, and I do trust my doctor emmensley, but I guess I wish I would have preferred to know all this up front. I guess it's my fault for waiting so long to ask all the questions. I suppose I will just have to be extremely careful after surgery to make it successful.

Good luck. I understand your concerns, I would not have the stapling done for that reason as well. I hope everything works out for you!

Hi Becky, My name is Shanetta Rollins, I am going to have my gastroplasty revised to the RNY as well. I would be lying if I said I am not scared to death. I am having so many complications with the gastroplasty that I feel the revision is the only way to go. Can you please elaborate a litte more on the splitting of the stomach and this leaking thing. My doctor told me because of the previous surgery that I would have higher risk for leaking and bleeding. I want to weigh all my options befoire taking this step. I have two kids to think about and want to be around for them. Any suggestions would help. Thanks

When the normal RNY is done, they staple the stomach across, then cut the stomach into two parts. The bottom part of the stomach stays in your body. What they do is bypass the duodenum (sp?), but it gets attached further down the intestine so your digestive juices from your lower stomach can still help digest your food. Some doctors will then also suture across where they staple as an extra precaution to prevent leaks. When I say leaks, I mean that sometimes where it is cut, if it doesn't heal properly, a leak of stomach acid into your abdomen can occur. It can set up infection. But don't worry, because most doctors will check for leaks while you're in the hospital before they even take the NG tube out. My doctor felt that since the staples came loose on my VBG, he didn't want to risk that happening with this one. But . . . (I also answered your other post), after thinking it over a very long time, I have decided that I'm okay with the way he did it. He ended up keeping my stomach in tact and just stapling across. It relieved my worries about the leaking. Although leaking could still occur around the stoma (the opening between the pouch and the intestine), but I think I'm pretty much past that problem. And I've noticed that the difference between this surgery and the VBG is that I don't vomit. My doc said it is because the stoma is larger than what they allow with the band of the VBG. The band of the VBG is generally about the size of a pencil eraser. I was always getting stuff stuck, no matter how much I chewed. With this procedure, I haven't vomited once, and I do get satisfied. I hope I explained it well. You can see a picture of the RNY on this forum. Just go to the RNY forum, and click on the link that says "About the RNY."

Becky, You sumed that up very well.  I had RNY done 3 yrs ago, and I am scheduled for a revision 10/27.  My doctor has given me alot of information, but I think they forget who they are talking to, because I asked him if he had to adjust my pouch how will it be done, and he stated to me that he would shaved the pouch, and of course resect the intestine.  I do understand about the resecting of the intestine, but I am not quite understanding what and how the pouch is going to look.  My surgeon has alot of patience and he will answer any questions.  I have an appt on Monday and I will shoot him some questions, or I can email him.  I was just trying to see if you are familiar with this and is the Dr. going to touch your pouch.  I