My wife, Julie, is still in the hospital.

My wife, Julie, is still in the hospital. She is doing better, but her doctor hasn't allowed her to eat or drink or take any oral meds yet. This past Sunday June 19, 2006 Julie was having some pain in her lower abdomen. After having some lunch at her parents house the pain starting getting worse. It became excruciating. We called Dr. Lin who performed Julie's revision surgery from a VBG to a RNY in April 2005. Then, we took Julie to the Emory Crawford Long Emergency Room since she had her revision surgery there. On the way to the emergency room, Julie was sweating profusely and dry heaving and in horrible pain. We arrived at the emergency room a little after 1:00 PM. In the emergency waiting room, the pain kept getting worse. Julie stopped sweating. When they finally got Julie into a room, she went into shock and began trembling as her body temperature dropped to 95 degrees. They finally got her some morphine, but it barely phased the pain. Julie felt like she was dying and I was scared to death she was right. Eventually they took her for xrays. The xrays showed a some enlarged intestines. Julie then had to drink a couple of glasses of that barium stuff and then wait another hour for a CAT scan. The CAT scan showed a very enlarged intestine attached to smaller intestines. We were told a surgical team was coming to do exploratory surgery. One of Dr. Lin's associates, a Dr. French I think, came in to prep Julie for the surgery. I wondered if Dr. Lin would be doing the surgery or his associates. I knew if he had confidence in them that I should too, but I was hoping for Dr. Lin. At 9:15 PM, as they wheeled Julie into the operating room, the nurse told me Dr. Lin would be coming out later to give us a status. I was very happy and relieved to hear Dr. Lin would be doing the surgery. At about 11:15 PM a nurse called from the emergency room to tell me everything had gone well. They were finishing up the surgery and would be taking Julie to a recovery room within an hour. At about 12 Midnight Dr. Lin came out to talk to us. He said scar tissue had formed an adhesion and caused a kink in bowel where the two legs of the intestines were joined from the RNY. This had caused a blockage. They had begun the exploratory surgery laparascopically, but when he saw how severe the problem was he had to open her up for her own safety. The blocked part of the intestine had swollen to the size of a boa constricter while the intestine past the blockage was the size of a garden snake. He also said it was very fortunate we got Julie to the hospital when we did because her intestine had begun to die. When he removed the adhesion and unkinked the bowel, he saw that everything started flowing again and the intestine began to turn pink as blood began flowing through it again. Dr. Lin said, "Please tell me this didn't just start today." He could tell the problem had been developing for some time and was concerned that we had had no warning before it got so bad. Well, we had had some warnings and we ignored them. Julie would occasionally have very bad pains in her lower abdomen that reminded her of the pain before she had her gall bladder removed. She wondered if maybe it was kidney stones. Before she would get around to calling the doctor, the pain would go away so we thought maybe it was just something she had eaten or drank although we could hardly ever think of anything she had done that may have caused it. This past week she was in Austin, Texas on a business trip and on Tuesday she had very paid stomach pain that lasted all day. By the time she got home, the pain had gone away. There were a number of other warnings before that. We don't know yet when Julie will get out of the hospital. She hasn't even been allowed to eat or drink anything yet. All of the people at Emory Crawford Long have been very caring and helpful and kind. It is a great hospital. Hindsight is 20/20, but Julie and I both realize we should have called Dr. Lin much sooner about the pains she was having. It is my understanding that adhesions and scars can cause these kind of complications even a long time after any abdominal surgery, not just weight loss surgery. We are very fortunate to have a great surgeon like Dr. Lin. He's not only an awesome surgeon, he is an extremely nice man. Please, if you have any unusual pains, call your surgeon. Your doctor would want you to call. Best Wishes, Curtis Green Cell: 404-358-2352 Lap RNY - Aug. 11, 2003 Dr. John Daly 404-252-0433 @ Northside Hospital -180 lbs ... Ventral Hernia Repair (Pre-RNY Hernia at least 10 years old) Nov. 1, 2005 @ Northside Hospital Dr. Daly 404-252-0433 ... AND ... Lower Body Lift & more Nov. 1, 2005 @ Northside Hospital Dr. Sheldon Lincenberg 770-730-8222 http://gaplasticsurg.com/index.html

Curtis, your wife and you are both in my prayers, i hope things are going to turn out well for her. Tammy

Curtis & Julie, I do feel for you and what has happened with Julie. I, too, had a partially blocked bowel obstruction back on 4/11/06. Mind you, mine was not as severe as Julie's, but even with what I had...I experienced very sharp pains at my belly button site that continued for 5-6 hours before I decided to call my surgeon. My experience at the hospital was very similar to Julie's, but I did not have my exploratory laproscopically surgery until the next afternoon. Please obesityhelp members listen to your body...as you can see from Curtis's post, Julie had been experiencing pain over a period of time, but the pain would subside. Mine never did subside...if anything, it got worse during the day. The pain was so severe that it got very difficult to breathe. I am so thankful that I decided to listen to my body, and seek medical attention. Curtis and Julie please know that you are in my prayers and I do hope that she will be released as soon as possible and get back on that road to recovery. Norma

Wow Curtis, THank you for such eye opening information and I certainly do pray for Julie's health and your peace of mind. I hope she recovers very quickly and you guys can get your world back to normal! God Bless. Tami

Thanks for posting this Curtis.I hate that your wife had to go through this and I hope she is home and doing well soon.I'll be praying. Tonya King

Curtis: Thanks for sharing about Julie. I will keep ya'll in my thoughts and prayers. I hope she has a quick and healthy recovery. I had a bowel obstruction last Sept and Drs. Lin and French are the ones who did my surgery. I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Lin he is a very good and caring doctor. I am glad he is taking care of Julie. Keep us posted on her progress and thanks for the reminder, we all need to hear. Hugs, Kelly S

You guys are in my thoughts and prayers.

Hoping things work out for her and that she recovers quickly.

Curtis, Please know you and Julie are in my prayers. I am so glad you got to Dr. Lin when you did. Please keep us posted on her recovery. Lorie Brown