Recent Posts
Sounds like you had some of the same symptoms though.
Thanks for the information :)
So, I have had issues non stop with ulcers since surgery and basically what happened was I was still having pain after the ulcers were healed. So, the surgeon went in to see if this limb was collecting food or something of the like. Turns out I had a perforated ulcer AND needed to have the limb shortened. So, he did both....I felt great afterward. I still have recurring ulcers but have had not further pain from the "limb."
Hope this helps
RNY 8/21/07
Starting weight 348
Current weight 188
Super Momma to:
Aidan 2/14/02 and
Aimee 2/06/04
First Post-op baby due 9/10!
If so, would you mind sharing your experience or any information you have?
Thanks
So sorry to hear you were back in the hospital Patricia. How did they diagnose the current problem with your pouch? thru CT scan?? I have been wondering how Renee was doing too. Hopefully she got thru her surgery without too much difficulty and is home recuperating and on the road to wellness. I am doing a bit better on a new medication called Levbid and I have made up my mind I am going back to work tomorrow and not let this run my life. I am a little scared after being out of work for almost 3 months but I just can't sit home another day. I have to get back to some semblance of a normal life and focus on something besides when is the nausea going to hit? am I going to have double you over abdominal pain today? I am also determined to not let this define who I am. After all I had this surgery so I could live a healthy life not one filled with running back and forth to the doctors; multiple tests; all sorts of medications that don't help the situation. I saw my doc on Thursday and she basically said this is how things are going to be and there is no quick fix. Will work to try to manage the symptoms medically or I can have the GT put back in but there isn't a surgical solution to improve the symptoms. The GT was a very difficult for me so I am not going that route unless the symptoms get so bad again that I can't eat/drink. For now I will try to drink/eat when I can and do my best to manage the symptoms when they occur. My biggest fear is when I get the severe abdominal pain now I just try to ride it out at home because every time I go to the ER the scans don't show anything serious. I do worry though when it persists for hours on end is there something awful going on and I am ignoring it because I think it's the usual abdominal pain? Well take care for now and try to keep your spirits up despite these difficult challenges we are facing!
I am 23 months out and after a week of daily IV iron with no difference in my labs I had my first blood transfusion today because of anemia and no iron. My feritin levels was below 1. And I am not absorbing iron at all. I was wondering if anyone knows if this something I am going to have to battle forever or if once my levels get back to normal will they stay that way for how long, the nurse today said my levels may come up a couple points and I will feel a little better but it wouldn't last long...
. I am to the point where I cannot function to work. My Hemo Dr say part of the anemia may be due to an inherited genetic disorder that he will confront after he gets my levels back to a safe normal range.
My question is are there any out there 5,10,15 yrs out dealing with this and does any one know about possibly getting social security disability from this? I work a high stress sales job and as long as I meet my monthly goals I get to keep my wonderful job and medical insurance. I have a gut feeling this is going to be an ongoing problem because I have this genetic anamia that is really aggravated now because I don't absorb iron sence having wls. If I can't work they won't keep me and there goes the insurance. I am almost out of sick days.
I am home now recovering from the multiple surgeries that I had. First, let me tell you my medical history.
* April 27, 2001--an open gastric bypass surgery; weighed 415lbs and lost 160lbs.
*February 1, 2002--gall bladder removed due to multiple gallstones.
*August 5, 2004--c-section to deliver my daughter.
*October 23, 2006--hernia repair operation
*August 24, 2008--c-section (birth of my son), hernia repair and bowel obstruction.
After my hernia surgery in 2006, I went to my gasterologist, who also did my gastric bypass surgery, and told him that I had two lumps in my lower abdomen. He told me not to worry about them because they were only scar tissues. So, I didn't worry, but as time went on those lumps were getting bigger and at times were giving me pain.
In 2007, I became pregnant and during the ultrasound, it was discovered that I had another hernia. In the beginning of this year, I was rushed to the emergency room because the hernia was giving a lot of pain and they were worried about the baby. I went to my gynecologist on a Friday to get a note to go back to work and that Sunday morning, I started vomiting bile and had to be rushed back to the hospital. This time I stayed in there for a week. I took the risk (due to radiation) by having a CT scan while I was six months pregnant. I prayed to God to let his will be done on the birth of this baby. I needed to know what was wrong inside my abdomen and this test would be able to do so. Also, I was refusing a MRI test because of my pain and panic attacks going in that machine. The test was going to take 45 minutes and I refused to do it. So, the doctors suggest a cat scan, but warned me of the risk of 4% radiation to the baby.
The test discovered that I had a bowel obstruction. They took another ultrasound and could see that my bowels were back up and slowly passing through the hernia. After 5 days, I went home. About 1am on a Saturday morning, I was once again in severe pain. I had shortness of breath, cold sweats and contractions. When I arrived to the maternity triage, I was hollering so loud due to the pain that they had to put me in another room because I was frightening the other pregnant women. They wanted to push the hernia back in and send me home because it was too early for the baby to be born. He wasn't due until September 28th and I had him on August 24th. I was in too much pain to have the doctor push the hernia back in.
In the same incision, they did the c-section then repair the hernia and then the bowel obstruction. I stayed in the hospital a week and had a wound vac to drain the fluids from my wound. The doctor said that I had too much pus and scar tissues for stitches. My surgeon said that I would have developed infections. I would recommend the wound vac to close up your wound. It was a little painful at times, but it did its job. My wound healed from the inside-out and I didn't get a keloid; just a thin pencil line down my abdomen.
I did gain weight after weight loss surgery. My weight was 348lbs in June while pregnant. I lost 60lbs by October. After the surgeries, I constantly had diarrhea and still having them. No matter what I eat, a half an hour later, I'm in the bathroom. I happy that I'm at 290lbs and still losing, but I'm sore from all the bowel movements. And, on the last visit with my surgeon, I asked him, "When are the diarrheas going to stop?" He said, "You have to heal from the inside-out. You were all messed up inside with scar tissues and pus. You had a lot done." I said, "I understand that, but I'm tired of pooping." He said, "Well, that is going to happen, but it will ease up; it will get better." I hope it's soon. My maternity leave expires in February '09, and I hope to be completely healed because I don't want to be in the bathroom longer and more often than I am at my desk.
Although, my son's lungs were not fully developed at birth, with some medicines in the intensive care unit, he is doing fine and screaming at the top of his lungs.
I noticed above, in my medical history, that every two years, I'm having surgery. What's up with that?!
As I suspected, I have been in some pretty good stomach pain and now it has become more painful when I eat!! I can't figure that part out at all.
I was going to call the Dr. today, but decided I would just try to wait it out until my appt. on Thursday. DH and I are hoping that it just might be taking more time to get that remnant to behave properly.
Stress is not good for us, that is for sure. My symptoms always increase when I have stress.
Please stay in touch. If you want, I can PM my e-mail addy to you.
Julie
I have recently attempted to initiate liquids and some soft food such as puddings and cream of wheat. Unfortunately when I eat some thicker consistencies I develop a reflux and vomit. I had an upper GI series just today which confirmed a stricture or narrowing of the intestine. So I will follow-up with my surgeon to see if it is just swelling that needs further time to heal or if the narrowing needs to be stretched through an endoscopy or if a revision of my surgery is needed.
It has helped me greatly to hear that others have had similar experiences so that we know we are not alone. I wish you all lots of luck and good health.
