Old school stomach stapling to RNY??
Hey all.. I am very early on in the process to get surgery. I live in Alberta and in 1996 I got my stomach stapled (those were the days they opened you right up) in Cardston, Alberta. In 1998 I had the surgery reversed. I am considering weight loss surgery again and it is terrifying because when my stomach was stapled nothing would stay down. I threw up every meal. I had no support and no idea what or how I was supposed to use this tool. Eventually I ended up only eating food that liquefied. I felt like a failure and after I had it reversed the first thing I said to the surgeon when I came to was "what was wrong". The surgeon told me that the small hole that was supposed to have been there was super small. Anyway, 22 years later I am consider RNY and wonder if anyone else has had this surgery after having the old school stomach stapling. I am concerned about not being able to get the surgery due to scar tissue and a staple line still existing in the stomach. Any information would be so appreciated. I would love to know what I might be facing.
I was told in class that the scar tissue can create a complication. I had a band removed two years before my RNY (I did not know this is also called Revision surgery). The surgery did take twice as long and the surgeon told my husband that there was a complication due to the scar tissue from where the band was sewn on to my stomach.
Have you found a surgeon who will take you? One woman came from Mississippi to Missouri because Dr. De la Torre was the only surgeon she could find who would take her revision case.
There are definitely concerns, but your stoma should not be too small for food to pass through.
Good luck as you continue the journey.
Hey, Neighbor!
Yeah, that information just didn't cross my cranium until the very last class prior to my surgery. We are lucky to have access to one of the top dogs in the field! Even though I never saw him a single time and his staff entirely ignored me about the pain meds I could tolerate, at least the surgery went well. MU is a stellar hospital and Dan is the best nurse ever.
But my husband spent more time with De La Torre than I did (while awake, anyway).
All the best for your upcoming transformation!
It's so funny you say that! He started coming to the DOS educational class for that very reason. I laughed bc I never met him till that day & I had surgery in 2011. My surgeon left a month after my surgery, so I didn't see him all that much either... I figure as long as we are being taken care of - idc! Lol
I too had the old school stomach stapling back in 1979. I was the first of 100 patients in the US to have this done. I too had severe problems with eating. Couldn't eat more than a bite for the first year. I dropped over 100 pounds in 3 months. Finally I was told if I didn't start eating they were going to take it down. They told me to eat 10 to 12 small meals a day which consisted of about 10 to 12 bites per day. I finally stretched the pouch out enough that over the next 10 years the staple line broke down and I had to go in for a revision to RNY Gastric Bypass. That was in 1990. The revision worked great for me I lost 100 pounds that I had gained and maintained my weight fairly well for the next 20 years. However, in 2009 I ended up having a ERNY to increase some weight loss.
Hope your Revision goes well.
Janie R
