scary complication all of a sudden!

Hello,

I am 4 1/2 years out and last month had a scary problem! I had dinner one night and all was fine, and about an hour later I started to feel ill.  At first I thought it was dumping - except I hadn't eaten anything bad.  By the end of the hour I knew something was really wrong - horrible stomach pain and constant dry heaving.  Hubby took me to ER where they did a bunch of tests - CAT scan revealed an intestinal blockage so I was transferred by ambulance to the hospital of my original bypass surgeon.  I was in surgery right away.  Turns out I had scar tissue that had closed off my intestine completely, which blocked off the bile drainage from the remnant stomach.  The fluid was building up and distending everything.  Dr. said it would have ruptured from all the pressure within hours.  So he had to reattach it with a larger opening.  8 days in the hospital and over a month of recovery and still not 100%!  Still sicky whenever I eat and some site pain.  The scary thing is that I had NO symptoms of a problem.  Nothing.  I am so glad that I was not out of town and was able to get back to my original surgeon.  I hate to think what would have happened if a general surgeon had tried to fix this issue.  Yikes.  Just wanted to share.   My Dr. has done over 2000 surgeries and I am the 3rd to have this prob.  and the other 2 were within the first 3 months after the bypass - he does not know why this happened!

Has anyone had or heard of this problem ?

Thanks,

Bekki

Have not heard of it or had it, but I think you are another person who is an example that we have to conscious of potential health risks from our choice to have surgery for the rest of our lives. Many people think that once the first year is over - they are "in the clear" and I am seeing more and more examples (including myself) that is not true.

i.... sounds like something that happened to a co worker ( within another deparment had)  he just had the operation done a month ago...  he could not get anything down at all.. and was sick (vomitting )  tuens out he had a blockage and scar tissure there in the intestines... and is  doing better now... thank god.  

Yes. Small bowel obstruction can occur any time. Actually i had one after my first baby, and he was normal delivery. Still he had managed to kick a kink into my bowel and it took a couple weeks before it flipped (like a garden hose, just bent then it flips) and closed off.

SBO in us is now well documented. Signs, which kinds to look for, where, all based on the exact symptoms and how your surgery was done.

While other than that one I had 40 yrs ago, I've not had one, no one is ever out of the woods on that one.

At least you had a full obstruction. Ppl with a partial SBO could suffer for 2 yrs from first twinge to surgery. It comes and goes, and is hard to test. The bowel is open when no food is in play, but jams up when food passes. Sorta like something heavy on the garden hose, but not like a car, so maybe your lawn chair. Pinches the hose only a little, so you can still dribble on plants but when you need to hose the bird doo off your car, there's no pressure and the hose might flip and kink.

As to whether I've heard of it, yes. Even at 15 yrs, it remains sort of the last complication that might get us.

BUT like I said, it's not exclusive to WLS, just the actual location is specific to us.