j

 It has been awhile since I have been on here.  Alot going on the last 4 months.  I had gastric bypass in April 2011.  Jan 17 2012 I started having pains in my stomach and told my husband something was wrong.  He rushed me to the hospital and within hours I was having emergency exploritory surgery.  My bowels had ruptured and they had to remove 12 inches of my large intestine.  I was in the hospital for 9 days.  I had to have a colostomy.  I was lucky to have survived.  3 weeks ago, I had a colostomy takedown. I was in the hospital for 6 days this time.  I was lucky.  Everything went fine and I will be returning to work next week.  My problem is this.  I have really got off track on my eating the last few months.  Not getting all the protein I need and not getting enough veggies.  Hardly any veggies!  Not getting all my vitamins in everyday either.  I just need to get back on track.  I have lost 90 lbs since surgery and am very happy at where I am.  I now weigh 160.  I just need some encouragement to get back on track.  I used to live on this website.  I think I need to get back on it.  It saved my life a year ago.  Everyone here was so supportive!  Thanks for being here.  

wow, I am so sorry you went through this - I know, I went through something very similar back in Oct. 2010 through Feb. 2011.  You are lucky you got though it really well and you were only in the hospital for a short period of time.  I do know having the bag is torture - I had an illiostomy, not a colostomy - so I guess they are a litte different.  I can't believe your bowels actually ruptured = that is scary that it could happen that fast.

A brief history of my experience - I was severely constipated after 4 days of no BM's so I finally went and got Milk of magnesia, dulcolax suppositories and a fleet enema.  First the MOM and nothing, then the dulcolax - again nothing - then the enema - only the water that went in came back out.  I was in terrible pain but didnt dawn on me that it was an emergency so, it was the weekend and figured I would wait until Monday.  So, on Monday morning - after 6 days and terrible pain I called my gastro doctor and went right in - he sent me for an emergency CT scan.  Within the hour, I got a call that I needed to get to my surgeon in NYC an hour away for emergency surgery.  I couldn't get an ambulance because it wasnt local.  I finally found a neighbor whose daughter is a nurse and she took me.  I went into surgery and stayed in the hospital for 7 days and went to rehab - I dont remember any of it.  After 5 days of rehab, things went south - a friend came to visit me and she saw me sleeping or she thought I was so she left.  Her husband was a patient so she came back 3 hours later and I was in the exact position.  She got nervous and tried to wake me and couldn't.  I was unconscious and no one knows for how long.  She ran to the nurses screaming and they finally came and they transfered me to the local hospital for testing.  It turns out I was unconscious, septic and had a perforated colon - everything spilled into my abdomen and I was a mess.  The local hospital said they couldn't save me and they called my hospital in NYC and transfered me and told them they were sending me there and they needed to save my life, they couldn't.  I was hours from death.

They did a partial surgery - due to my sepsis, there was so much they could due safely.  They cleaned out the infection, got me stable and had to remove a large part of my right colon - about 18 inches = it was no only impacted and totally twisted but it was also dead.  They had to put me in ICU and leave me unconscious with my abdomen open until I was stable enough to finish the surgery.  3 days later, they were able to finish(putting in an Illiostomy)  but they still had to leave the belly open to heal from the inside out - I had to have a wound vac which was horrible - my incision is from my pubic area to right below the bra line and at the beginning it was 1 inch wide at the top and bottom and 3 inches wide or more in the middle.  It was gross. It had to be packed every day.  I was in the hospital for 2 months and they had to reteach me to walk and use my limbs - I literally couldnt move my arms or legs in the bed - If I wanted to move, I had to ask a nurse to move me - it wasnt fun.  Finally after 2 weeks, I got up and walked a few feet with a walker and I was so excited.  It was such a great feeling.  Finally after 2 months, I was strong enough to go home and then I had nurses, PT and aides come to my house to help me changing the dressings = took a few months for the incision to change and also had to learn to empty and change the illiostomy - really gross and painful.  I cried at night when it was draining.  It burned my skin so bad.  The PT worked with getting me stronger so I could walk around without the walker and the aides helped me with cleaning, cooking, shopping and laudry - it was nice.

after being at home for 2 months, I finally got my strength back enough and I was  healed enough to go back in for my next surgery to reverse the illostomy.  I thought it would be a simple surgery - go home in 1 week and be done with it.  Well, I had the surgery - they finally closed the incision with staples, I got rid of the illiostomy but my  pain was unbearable and for a long time.  WHile in the hospital I had to stop the pain box but I  couldn't handle just the pills, so they gave me IV pain meds for a few days and then switched me to pills but very high dose equivalent to the IV and they sent me home on those doses.  It was unbearable for about 9 months, I couldnt believe it.  I couldnt wear pants that closed or with an elastic waist.  I still cant wear the elastic but I can close my jeans most of the time except for my jeans,

I am now a little over a year and that pain is mostly gone but I do have an incisional hernia which does hurt and needs surgery but that causes pain but I cant go through another  surgery right  now and they dont want to operate on me either.

Overall, though I feel so much better though.

I wish you the best and hope you feel better soon.

 Wow.  I am so glad everything had finally worked out f or you.  I can't even imagine going thru all that.  I just thought I had it bad.  I am still sore but am able to wear my pants.  I am sure it is because it has only been 3 weeks and it is still healing.  I had an incision from my pubic area  and up to my bra also.  Then the stoma was on the left side so the second surgery they went thru the original scar and I thought might hurt worse the 2nd time but it didn't.  They stapled it back up again, which made the scare wider the 2nd time around.  They also stapled where the stoma was.  It is going the other way about 5 inches long.  I got the staples out last week.  I will be thinking about you and hoping for the best for you.  Good luck.  keep me updated

Am I understanding that a bowel rupture is due to constipation or can other things cause this too? And, did this happen because of the RNY or could it happen to anyone?  I've only read about it on OH.

 I'm wondering the same things. I have a friend back home, and this just happened to her. She is more than 5 years out from her WLS. She is still in ICU so I don't know many of the details.not makes me a little nervous!

 Mine was due to constipation.  I have never gone daily .  Usually only 2 maybe 3 times a week.  I thought that was normal.  It was for me.  Surgeon said it is never normal.  You should go daily.  While they were in there, he checked the gastric bypass surgery and said it looked great.  It had no bearing on what had happened. The same thing happened to my sister. (No gastric bypass).  We also lost my Grandma years ago due to a ruptured colon.  While I was in surgery, my family took a survey and most of them don't go daily.  You know I am passing out  the stool softners to everyone :)
Now I make sure I get plenty of liquids, eat 2 softners a day and drink a cup of warm prune juice about every other day.  I am just glad to be alive.  I honestly believe that if I hadn't had gastric bypass and lost 90 lbs, I might not be here today.  My health was so much better than it was a year ago, I think that helped my recovery.

Praise God you are alive and doing well.