Surgery

I went through surgery on the 16th of June. I had open. I am just now getting back to work. Between the throwing up, Dry heaves, and double vision which led to bariatric berri berri. I am very glad to be alive again. The worst part was that the surgeon didn't want anything to do with me after the surgery and I was sent from Dr. to Dr. My own Dr. couldn't fit me into her schedule and she works very close with the surgeon. After the other Dr that was seeing me sent me to a neurologist I finally got better. I was wheel chair bound for 3 weeks and couldn't even get downstairs to my own bed. I have finally just started to be able to walk some without the wheelchair. I can honestly say I will never go through this again. I however have some friends that are going through this and think thats great. I will encourage anyone to do this. I just recommend that if you have problems after surgery you check with someone that may have had the same problems so you can get a cure faster. It took them 3 weeks to diagnose what my sister an RN had diagnosed 3 weeks earlier. I am very thankful for my sister as she has been my angel through the troubles I have had since surgery. Without her I may not be here now to write this.

Deborah, I am so sorry to hear that you had so many problems. I thought I had problems. I had my lap done on 6/23 and have been back to my doctor many many times. He has been great. I too vomited day and night. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Dr. Ganta finally did a scope on me and found that my stoma was closing up. And because of the very narrow opening of the stoma, any food I was able to get down (very little) would just sit in my pouch. This caused an ulcer for form in my pouch. Now I have to have a upper GI done this Friday to see if anything else is wrong. I was lucky I was able to come back to work a week after surgery. It was tough, but I have an office job and am able to sit at a desk. I have missed several days because of the vomiting but nothing like you. Also, I had a terrible pain in my left side for a month and a half. The doctor figured out that he had caught a nerve when he stitched me on the inside. So I had to have 8 shots in my stomach - which hurt like hell, but did fix the problem. I just keep waiting for the next thing to go wrong. On the good side I have lost 60 pounds, going from 244 to 184. But I don't know if I would do it again or advise anyone to do it. It is a very personal choice. I will just tell them what I went through and let them make the decision. I hope things start looking up for you now. Good luck. Char

Deb: I am sorry to hear about your problems. I also had some post op problems, but nothing compared to you. It was not until about a week ago that I was able to honestly say I would consider doing this again. I am still not 100% convinced that I would, but the weight is not gone yet either and I am sure once that happens I will be more sure of my decision. I had fevers for the first 2 weeks, along with excessive drainage from the sites where the drain tubes were removed. Then just after the fevers ended, the lower part of my incision broke open and started to drain. Finally the doctor put me on antiboitics and after that things started to smooth out. I also had a feeding tube and did not eat/drink anything by mouth for the first 10 days. Now I am on the soft diet and starting Friday I can start to introduce meats and real food. I am glad that you are doing better and hope that as you continue this journy things will start to look up for you. If you have any questions, please ask, I will answer them if I can. Take Care.

I'm sorry about all your problems. I'm still contemplating the surgery and will probably still have it because I feel it is my last option. I have a question for you though. Why did you have the open procedure as opposed to the laparoscopic procedure? Thanks, Shelley