Gastric Bypass revision due to unresolved stricture

This is the first time that I have seen the type of revision your surgeon wants to perform.

I would be very concerned about having any type of revision with the way your body is developing scar tissue so quickly. If the stretching of the stricture was unsuccessful and then the stents having to be placed and removed did not solve the issue either it is a very good possibility that you will continue to have problems even after the revision.

Getting a second or third opinion is not a bad idea. It would be awful if you had the revision and ended up in worse shape than you already are in. On very rare occasions I have seen folks who have had to have a complete reversal of their bypass due to complications that could not be corrected.

Best of luck to you.

A second opinion is a wise move when considering ANY major surgery. I didn't suggest it to be unsupportive.

http://columbiasurgery.org/second-opinion/second-opinion-faq s

It sounds like a revision is no worse an idea than continuing along the same path of stints that you've been on. I'd jot down the questions folks are asking you and take them to your surgeon. I'm sure he's thought through the same concerns and he'll have some helpful insight to offer you as to why and how the revision will improve your situation.

How has your weight loss been over the past two years? It seems like folks who have the most issues often seem to be challenged to lose weight possibly from the calories that can be slipped in with a liquid diet?

Aside from the restrictions on foods, are you able to be somewhat active? It's amazing how much just walking can help the gut system get back into it's natural rhythm which in turn helps reduce the inflammation that can lead to scar tissue. Years ago I volunteered at a equine center that specialized in working with people who had spinal cord damage. The physical motion involved in sitting on a horse while it walked help them with their gut activity. Riding (usually braced or strapped into a modified saddle) three times a week made a big difference in their day to day digestive health. I always think about that after surgery, it's one of the main reasons hospitals want all patients to get up and walk after major surgery. Now hospitals are even "waking" patients in intensive care units and getting them up to walk if at all possible.

I'm not saying you can walk away a stricture (of course you can't) but adding in walking before and after the revision surgery might help you recover and maintain the fix long term.

Just my thoughts!

Good luck! It sounds like you're in trusted hands :)

Huh?? call me crazy- but I thought the trend in encouring movement after surgery was mainly to avoid blood clots. Not to say there aren't other benefits, but I've not heard overall digestive health being one of the benefits.

And comparing the equine therapy of a spinal cord injury patients to a WLS patient is comparing apples to oranges IMO.

It's called peristalsis. It's contraction of the smooth intestinal muscle (this muscle is not under conscious control) that "moves along" a bolus of food/material in the intestinal tract. It's cued by gravity and by movement.

Not comparing patients, comparing human but systems in mobile vs non mobile patients.

Hi, I am back again.

NOt meaning to be scary, but have you ever been to a rheumatologist? Part of my esophageal motility issues had to do with the fact that I had sjogrens and lupus. But when I went to Johns Hopkins for a clinical trial, they thought I might have CREST which is a limited form of Scleroderma.

Sometime connective tissue disease can cause strictures. For example, Sjogrens causes systemic dryness of all organs but particurlarly eyes, mouth digestive tract. Sometime I couldn't swallow at all and threw up frequently. Just wondering if your doctors might consider there is another cause of the strictures?

http://www.scleroderma.org

Worth checking out.

I am an achalasian after RNY, I had cancer a year after RNY and after months of trying to get calories in decided **** it and decided my weight would be what it is. MY weight went back to what it was pre op and stayed constant and i made peace with that. Then last year had pneumonia after pneumonia. After Resp had worked me up got sent to GI I had Achalasia. I am post op POEM procedure and that wasn't successful so I am basically on a full liquid to soft diet.

I only let myself weigh every 2 weeks because I am stressing out about the weight loss occurring without trying. I have not had a doctor suggest your surgery and would be concerned about it because of the increased chance for reflux that an RNY basically protects you from.

However if you trust your surgeon and have a second opinion I would go forth because there aren't that many of us around so no surgery is 100 percent on any of us yet.

I get scared about losing weight without trying so I can not imagine being at a weight below your goal is really scarey. have you looked a feeding tube to stabilize yourself until surgery. that might put you in the best shape you could be in until surgery. I am so sorry you're going through this crap, achalasia sucks big time!