Anybody want to talk aqbout their complications?

Hello everyone, my mother was on this site about 1 yeAR AGO BECAUSE SHE was trying to find a good dr. to go through eith the bariatric surgery, and everyone was very nice and helpful. Her date was 1-19-04 at Temple U. in Philly, I took her to ALL of her pre surgey testing, she was about 430 or so. Well, she had her surgery, she has multiple health problems also, diabetes-thyroid-heart desease, etc. I mean you name it..... but any way, 3 days after her surgery, her pouch was leaking, and her stitches broke open, her blood pressure was droping rapidly , it wsn't good. Ok, so now they brought her to the or for emergencies surgey, and they said, they seen that her colin has been ROTTING inside of her for the past 4 years! Inevidably, they removed 75% of her colin, has to wear colostomy bags for the next 2 years, but that isn't all. The dr.'s said that from a surgery she had 4 years ago, due to a very pro-longed hernia, and sists on her overies, they moved organs around and that blocked off circulation to her colin. Since then, the infection in her stomache almost killed her, she has had 6 sugeries in 30 days! she has been in the hospital for about 45 days, and now beggining to come off life support. They estimate her to be in there another 4 weeks, and than to a rehabilitatoin facility for another 4 weeks. The other night there was a special on 48 hours, and since than i wonder if what the dr.'s are saying if the truth. she is doing 70 times better though, with is great, but this is too much for some one to go through for something that claims to be totally different. thank you, write back [email protected]

oh honey how my heart goes out to you and your mother. it sounds like this is a very tuff time for you. i hope that she is through the worst of it and is on her way to getting better now. will say a prayer for you both tonight.

Uh oh My Birthday is August 25th too...you guys are scaring me! In all seriousness, though, thank you all for sharing all your stories...as a pre op this is very important for me to see. Dawn

I'm very glad to see people who post their complications. I am still pre op at this time. I am about to finish all my appointments to hopefully satisfy the insurance company so they will ok me on the first go around. I am a nurse and am familar with what can and some times does happen after any surgery be it minor or major. Even though I am a nurse it still does not lessen the fear. But there is a greater fear of not living if I dont have the surgery. I am glad to see what others have gone through though. Thank you and best wishes for those who have gone through and those who are still waiting. One more thing...I wish to encourage everyone to write their local and state representives about your experiences. After 1/1/05 BCBS of FL will no longer cover anything dealing with the surgery or the surgery itself. It concerns me because they are willing to pay for all the complications that comes along with beinging over weight but not something that will help with weight loss including medications. If you feel this surgery has helped you or even if it hasent please write! Once it happens here in FL who know how long it will be before your insurance company or even your state will stop covering? Thanks for reading/listening, Alicia

I had the complication of a wound infection after my surgery. My local surgeon (not the bariatric surgeon) took me back to surgery, removed all my staples (my wound was 9 1/2 inches long, 3 inches wide and 3 inches deep) and packed me open. That was October 9 (my surgery was October 2). About three weeks ago my incision finally closed. I had to be packed twice a day every day. At first it was really difficult because it was so painful but it got better. To date I have lost 126 pounds and I would do it every bit again without hesitation. The ends do justify the means. I knew going in that there were risks involved but I also realized the risk I was taking every day walking around with 338 pounds on me. I would never want to run away a preop but I also think they need to be well informed as to the possible complications. This has definitely been a life-saving and a life-giving procedure for me and one I am so grateful I had. Thank God we have each other to discuss these issues with because if someone has never been there, they just don't know. Thanks.

Hi,

This is almost exactly what happened to me.  Back in '93 there was precious little support post-op and I was basically sent home with a little pamphlet and that's it.  My post-op appointments were not with my original surgeon but the one who saved my life following the leak.  I never saw my original surgeon again.  I hate to say it, but I think he really screwed up as I lost my spleen as well.

No, I didn't sue.  Elective surgery and I felt completely beaten physically and emotionally.  Add to the mix that my marriage was basically over (for other reasons).

Now I want to put things in order.  Either go with the surgery and start again with the gastric surgery eating plan or go for a reversal, which scares me to death.

I can go for the pureed and soft foods (baby foods, cereals) and take supplements.  I just don't know where to start.  Are there food guides for immediate post op people?

Thanks!

Hi Evelyn: I too had many complications. I had my surgery on May 21, 2003 and ended up having 5 surgeris and 7 endoscopies before it was all over.!!! I came through the surgery fine, and that night it was discovered that I had a leak. Bad news!! I was in so much pain that I started screaming for help. I thought that a Mack truck had landed on my shoulder some how, it was horrible. They put me on pain killers right away and the next morning I was wheeled down for what was to be the first of my 15 upper GI's!! Sure enough, I had a leak, a pretty bad one. And I was immediately taken off ice chips. I was only allowed to have my lips dampened, nothing else. That was only the beginning of my problems. I was having a terrible time breathing, so I was put on oxygen and a breathing machine at night on top of that, and I didn't even have apnea. On the ninth day after surgery, I begged to go home and promised that I would be fine and they set up for me to have home-nursing care, so I went home, for 12 hours!! My lungs collapsed and I was rushed into Med/Surg ICU, and was there for almost 7 weeks. I had a chest tube inserted, and another stomach drain to drain the fluid off my lungs and the infection out of my stomach. They could not get my fever to come down so they packed me in ice, and I'm a person that is always cold anyway!! Anyway, I could go on and on, now that I look back, I can't even believe that I made it through all of what I went through. My doctors and family are quite amazed. It was a long, rocky road to recovery, but I made it, and that's what counts, right? Email me if you'd like to discuss anything, or just chat. Christy Shepard Fort Wayne Indiana

I'm pre-op 3 weeks on Monday, I had a good operation and was out of the Hospital in 4 days, lost 18 lbs in 12 days. The only problem I'm having is that I feel like there is some type of small block or inflamation where my throat meets my chest, is just bothers me but I have no problem eating,swallowing or breathing, I'm taking anti-gas medicine. Any Ideas Julio Romero

I had my surgery on April 14th , 2004 I looked at my scar which I knew what I had Open RNY I felt a hardning area on the first scar marks which I was told this is wear our pancrease and liver sits. I couldn't drink water, nor get anythign down pass my throat without coming back up. Deep down I know something didn't feel right so I draged my husbandand daughter to the ER I was not aadmited unitl 7 in the morning. Fortuanatley there was a dr. who came to talk to me. He scared me really bad because he says We tipically don't take patients that had surgery done in a nother country.I had no options.But he did do a cat scan on me and found out that liquid and bile were not being moved through properly to my intestines and theier was some blockage. Till this day I have had no poop, not a hard one at all. Why did it have to be us? I have some otheres that were done with their surgery and already abusing thier tool that was given to them and yet honeky dory.Im staring at my g-j tube right now watching the bile go down this pouch. I at the phase that many of you journeyed where things just don't go right, this is tourchure

Like many of the rest of you here, I'm one of those few individuals that had extreme complications. I had Lap RNY 08/03. Two days later I was rushed to emergency surgery. I had an intestine rupture and was septic, with peritonitis. I was opened up, and after about a 9 hour surgery that removed my spleen, re-attached my semi-digested intestine / colon pieces and consisted of a lot of washing out of my insides, I woke in the ICU where I had been for over a week on heavy morphine. I had made it through the few nights where my chances had not been so good of making it. I had a g/j tube and a large open wound (about 12"x10") that had to heal "from the inside out." After about three weeks I was sent home with the feeding tube, with the wound that had to be repacked 3x a day. 24 hr a day feeding pump. Two weeks later I was back in the hospital to have an internal infection drained. There were complications with that procedure, so another week in the hospital. 4 months later, still on the feeding tube, but by then I was eating the dairy, eggs, soup and even adding chicken. But the wound was just not closing at any rate. So, I go back into the hospital during Thanksgiving to have a skin graft to cover the opening (Ouch that donor site) and to have the G tube removed. The skin was taken from my leg. After another week in the hospital, I'm back at home. Because my abdomen area has no muscle tissue behind it, just a VERY THIN layer of skin, (like an eyelid) I still must wear an abdominal binder, and will be in one until I have the surgery to restore my stomach muscles in place and remove my excess skin. I've gone from Approx.370lbs 08/03 to 222lbs 06/04. I'm walking about 3 miles every other day and have started working out with weights 3 days a week. I never had the hair loss issues that some have and I am following the diet information from my Dr. religiously. Even with all of the complications, that won't end until next summer when I plan to have my skin restored, -I would do all again in a second. I'll be far healthier in my mid-50's, than I ever was in my 30's. That's my story in a nutshell. Thanks for all of your encouragement on the site. Dx