I have a jejunal diverticulum,
Hello Nancy,
I am in the process of figuring out this "Jejunal Diverticulum" which is what I have been diagnosed with from Dr. Alexander as well. I know that
he is very skilled in revision surgery, however I am having a hard time finding individuals who have posted about their "post-op" experience from this surgery.
I had gastric bypass surgery March 2007 weighing 220lbs, went down to 125lbs (95lb loss). Since my initial surgery I have always had abdominal pain with and without eating. I have regained about 55lbs. Currently, I am 5'4 weighing 180lbs, so about the panic has definitely set in. In Dec. 2013 I was hospitalized due to severe Anemia for 3 days. They could not determine why my red blood cell count was so low so they wanted to do an EGD to determine if I had internal bleeding, however stupidly I decline to allow the EGD due to I did not want to be put under anesthesia. Now here I am nearly 2 1/2 years later having concerns so I went to Dr. Alexander and recently had the EGD done and found out on 03/23/2016 I have Jejunal Diverticulum and I am trying to find out "ALL" I can before electing for surgery.
I was told this surgery is more aggressive than gastric bypass. I am schedule to meet with Dr. Alexander tomorrow to answer my many questions on tomorrow and I am hoping that he ease my concerns. Malnutrition is a huge concern for me. Did he tell you anything about malnutrition? How much weight do you need to lose? Please help.
I know you are scheduled for your surgery this Friday April 1st 2016. Be very blessed and stay very strong!! I know having surgery is "never" an easy decision. I am going through it as well.
Please give me "Any" feedback you can.
Sincerely,
Rhon07
Hello Rhon07,
How bizarre! I too have an appointment with Dr. Alexander today (3/29)!!!! My appointment is scheduled for 2:00 pm. I asked for an additional appointment with the doctor prior to Friday because I too have some unanswered questions.
I had gastric bypass in August of 2009. I'm 5'6" and weighed 255. After the bypass I weighed 140. I stayed at that weight until the summer of 2014. As my boyfriend pointed out to me, "it's like you literally ballooned out in 3 months". I went up to 220 but have managed to get back to about 205 I believe. I can't say that this surgery is more aggressive because it all depends on what they fiind when they get inside of you.
All I know is that I suddenly found myself anemic, diabetic II, I can't eat or drink anything and my belly blows up and I literally look 9 months pregnant and it is miserable. I hurt inside my entire abdominal cavity. I can't leave the bathroom (it literally comes out like water - sorry didn't mean to be gross) and I have very little time to get to the bathroom or I find myself in a very embarassing situation. I started with my original doctor who performed the bypass. He blew me off, said all my tests came back negative and that there was nothing they could do for me. They were convinced that I was "Cheating" on the bariatric diet plan - which I was not. Thus ensued a 2 year search for what is wrong with me. It has continually gotten worse over the time period. Now if I eat I feel nausua, there are times I have to throw up but have to make sure I'm in the bathroom at the same time, sometimes my food feels like it gets stuck in my throat. I was told that only 1%-3% of all patients that have had the bypass will encounter this problem. Leave it to me to be the one...
If you are at the doctor today around 2:00 pm please say hi, my name is Nancy. I have long red hair and the rest I've already told you. My questions pertain to whether or not this surgery will fix the problems that I have. The doctor I went to before Dr. Alexander told me "after reviewing your test and talking with you I'm pretty sure I know what your problem is however, there are only 2 doctor's in the greater Dallas area that will perform this surgery and Dr. Alexander is the best one." So that is how I ended up here.
If I don't see you today, I will send another message when I get home and we can compare notes to see if he told both of us the same thing. Stay positive but also know that you have to take care of your health because if you don't, it seems as if nothing else matters. Talk to you later.
Nancy
OMG...Yes Nancy, I was at Dr. Alexander's office on 3/29/16!! My appointment wasn't until 4:15pm, so we more than likely missed each other.
I am 46 Nancy. How young :-) are you?
He did clear up my concerns. I was concerned that the revision surgery he would be doing on me was the DS (Duodenal Switch) which I did not want due to all I have read about that and I don't need to lose but 55lb. I also wanted to know more about having my gall bladder removed, which I think I am going to do that. Do you still have your gall bladder? If yes, did you elect to have it removed in your current surgery?
You did excellent with your initial surgery as well. Like you it seem like my weight gain just hit me. In the last 6 months I have gained 35 of the 55lbs.....that is huge to me. I am hoping the surgery is not more aggressive than the gastric, you are right....it will more than likely depend on they find during surgery.
I have most of the complications you mentioned with the exception of the diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea something people were saying they have with the DS surgery along with malnutrition...this is why I didn't want the DS surgery and needed to meet with him to better understand the procedure he would perform on me. But he cleared that up for me......no DS surgery.
Very disappointed though because I was told my insurance had approved my surgery 8 day ago only to find out yesterday 3/30/16 that it has not been approved. When I called my insurance they did not even have anything in the system! So I called Dr. Alexander's office and they called my insurance, so it will be another 7-10 days before I actually KNOW if my insurance will approve.
I know today is your surgery day...yeah for you :-), so take care of yourself and respond when you're feeling up to it!! I look so forward to hearing from you!
How long will your recovery time be?
TTYL,
Rhon07
Hi Again!
I'm 50 years old - however I'm often told I don't even look close to that so whether they are lying or telling the truth I really don't care! LOL!
I would never want the DS either. I would have to find something else but not that. My gall bladder has been gone since about 2003 because I had gall stones and it made me really sick. I have never had any issues with anything health related due to no gall bladder. I've been told that it's better to get rid of it before you have issues so I don't regret having it removed.
The surgery itself really isn't any more aggressive than the initial bypass. However, I'm so thankful for Dr Alexander. He found several problems once he went in for the initial Jujenal diverticulum. Just to make a long story short, my original bypass surgeon left body parts inside and they were growing back together with my stomach, I had another hiatal hernia, and I had a leak in my upper intestine so he said my entire abdominal cavity was filling with food from my leak and was literally "gluing" everything together. My original 3 hour surgery turned into over 5 hours for all the repairs he had to do and unused parts he had to remove.
Getting around after surgery was not that bad. I was up from the hospital bed by myself on my first night. The pain isn't that bad really. The post surgery fluid retention was the worse for me. My feet and legs looked like elephant legs. I gained 12 pounds just from the surgery. I've now lost the surgery weight gain plus an additional 4 pounds. I feel really pretty good right now. The thing that is killing me is the 3 weeks of only eating things that have the consistency of water!!!! Food!!! I want food!!!! LOL! This week he let me add protein drinks and I've never been so excited in my life. LOL!!!!
if you need any advice or assistance with your insurance let me know I've been doing benefits administration for years and have helped several people get approvals. One thing I would do if I were you is call my insurance provider every single day and ask for an update on your doctors request for approval. It sounds terrible but the squeaky wheel gets the oil and you can shorten the waiting time some because they will get tired of hearing from you. I do it all the time. Just make sure you act like you're not sure specifically what he asked for because I know they try not to code it as a Bariatric revision because of the insurance push back. I think they code it as surgery for Jujenal diverticulum.
So have you done all the pre-required testing and stuff like the sleep test and the stress test? Stuff like that? I know if you have to do those things and you've completed them that will help expedite the surgery date too.
Anyway I've talked your ear off now. If you would like to email me directly my email address is [email protected].
Keep me posted on your status. I'm excited for you. I know I feel so much better having my inside parts put back together correctly and the pain gone whenever I ate anything.
Looking forward to hearing from you again.
