Scared Beyond Words

 

Ok!  A good friend of mine whos husband died recently had Bypass Surgery 4 years ago.  He died of Lymphoma which was believed to come from the scaring of the intestines from the bypass.  When she heard I was considering it he went nuts on me and told me some of the horrors of bypass.  She insisted that I look into the lapband as a safer option.  Now she told me that for a year her husband would vomit everyday and that he missed so much work because of it.  Has anyone else had that kind of experience.  Made me not want to get it but rather look into lapband.  Thoughts anyone?

some surgeons are good; some not so much. research the hell out of them.

mine has a zero mortality rate. he does thousands of lapbands and bypass -- more lapbands than bypass. his office support staff may be lame, and there is no nutritionist or support group... both of which i can find easily on my own... but when he's rearranging the plumbing, he's the tops.

i researched surgeons and met with three before selecting my guy. i initially thought i was going to get the lapband because i wanted the lower risk, but after talking to the surgeons, they all recommended bypass for me because of my body mass index (bmi) and how much weight i had to lose, given the success rates, etc.

for me, i took into account the risks associated with bypass surgery, and the risks associated with losing and gaining from the lapband if i wasn't successful, and what that would do to my metabolism and heart. i went with the bypass* (edit). everyone's different. other than being huge and having recently been diagnosed with diabetes, i was extremely healthy going into surgery, and have had zero complications since. i haven't thrown up once or even so much as "dumped."

cancer sucks. period. my father died from non-hodgkins lymphoma -- no clue what caused it.

remember you need to make the decision for you, based on the input you get from qualified healthcare professionals.

Like Sal said, you really need to research your doctors. I know I really didn't. Ya know I guess I did. I talked to lots of people on the CT board asked opinions and then in the end I went with my gut. No pun intended. I went to his seminar and was sold on him. I knew he was the one. You best bet is to ask around cause doctors are not going to tell you the bad stuff. There is one doctor here in CT that I wouldn't let operate on my dog that has so many people complaining about botched jobs (that's coming from other WLS docs) and problems.

I will admit I have been sooooooooo sick this past 15 months. Some of it was from surgery (two strictures), some not related (I had a blockage in my esophagus), some was my own fault (I lost count how many times I was in the ER for dehydration), and some is still up for debate (I had my 6 month check up two weeks early to discuss my gall bladder coming out. My family has a history of gall bladder issues so I can't say it was from WLS. I also now have vasovagal syncope. That's when the blood pressure drops and ya pass out. One doctor says it's showing up in post-ops, another says it's not related. Just depends on the doctor.) Even with all of this, I would still do it over again in a heartbeat. There was good things that happened too. I am off all blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes meds. My A1c at my one year check up was 5.1. That's a little up from my 3 month of 4.6. Normal starts at 4.9 so I was low at 3 months and on the low end of normal at a year. All in all I am healthier than I was Jan 14, 2008.

EDIT: Forgot about the vomiting. I have a friend that vomits and is having that worked on. I still vomit once in a while now if I ignore the don't eat that feeling I get. The food has to come back up then. I know in the beginning I threw up A LOT. BUT... I feel it was part of the learning curve. What I can eat (grapes were a no-no for a while cause of the skins. Actually pulled a muscle trying to get the skin up.) and eating too much. Like I said, I hardly vomit now as long as I listen to my body and go with what it tells me.

Gee, what an interesting theory about what causes Lymphoma! But, does it really hold water scientifically, or is it just something to blame? Don't know of / haven't looked for/ any studies suggesting that intestinal surgery patients are more likely to get lymphoma....... I'm a Hospice nurse. People really want reasons why their loved one had to die. If they can find an action of the loved one to blame, it is easier sometimes than being angry at their God or whatever.

You must pick your own surgery and your own surgeon and it is great that you are giving it a really good think and lots of time. Part of that equation is what common risks, side effects and self-care protocols are you willing to cope with for life? What supplementation regime is acceptable for you? If you have only the worst average wt. loss (eg 60%) for your chosen surgery would that be freedom and joy, or unacceptable failure?  With preexisting Bipolar Disorder, is a malabsorptive surgery the right choice? You will need to keep up your vitamin and mineral regime consistently no matter what cycle you are in mentally or you will risk deficiencies which can do permanent nerve damage. Also, what medications would be impacted by the RNY proceedure? Does your psychiatric team know what modifications need to happen after bypass surgery.

There are horror stories about each and every surgery. Someday there will be an accumulation of horror stories about the sleeve, but it is newer. Research each surgery. Lapband is NOT risk and side effect free. There are lots of folk remarking on a 25% reoperation rate/ failure rate with the band. Folks who have a bad experience with it are vocal and you should easily be able to find them on this site. Also, lap band can be expensive because you have at least a copay with each fill.

Nean is right, about the lap band. I know someone on the CT board that never got restriction. On a personal note, My brother's friend had lap band. He did fantastic with it until it slipped. Now he is in a nursing home in a semi-vegitative state from the surgeon makeing a mistake when he tried to fix the band.

Surgery is scary.  And it should be - there are risks involved, and it's our job as potential patients to research the HELL out of every possible procedure.

I don't know if one surgery is more dangerous than the other, but my advice is to look at the pros and cons of lapband vs. bypass (vs. the others...) and make a decision on which is best for you.

For me, I believed that bypass was the best possible choice.  I believe that if I could sneak in the occasional milkshake, I would - I'd probably be having chocolate and anything else I could sneak past the band, too.  I'm not saying I lack willpower, but the bypass (in my mind) is a better choice for us sweet tooth types who want to make sure we have added incentive to avoid the sweets.

Just a thought.

And yes - research the doctor as much as the surgery.  The safest surgery in the world can be deadly when performed by a doofus.

Spmeone in my WLS support group almost died and had to have her lapband removed.  So any surgery can be problematic.
I also wanted to mention that there are more than 2 types of surgery.  It would be good to research all of them for your own peace of mind.  You can do that right on this OH board. I started out thinking I had to choose between lap band and bypass and I ended up doing something completely different!
I'm also pretty skeptical that lymphoma can be caused by having a bypass, but of course I don't have anything to back that up either way.
And yes, look at the surgeons as well.  I could have had surgery in my own area but when I went to see the doctor for the initial consult (for which I had to pay $400 out of pocket), I found out he had done '40 or so'.  I flew to Mexico to have it done by a Dr. who had done a couple thousand.  Made me feel a lot better.

people scared the **** out of me regarding surgery years ago!  Damn I wish I would have been banded years ago.  I love my band and lose about 1 to 2lbs a week. Slow but sure.

I know nothing about the rny except that you seem to lose quickly.  And the people on this board seem to be extremely happy with their choice.

There are good and bad with all things.  I just wanted the quality of life that I was missing!

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone *****sponded - a lot of information out there!!!  Have my first appointment next week so Ill let everyone know how it goes

Hi,

I am a lab tech and Lymphoma has nothing to do with scaring, its a blood disease,  I am 6 years post op and I now have scaring on my intestines from my RYN. I have been threw hell and back and survived.  I need one more surgery which I hope will be my last.  Would I do it again?? hell yes!

Best wishes,

Robin