Serious stories on after care,risks of death

Wow that is a horrible story. But the benefit to me out weighs the risk. i am already at risk for diabetes, heart attack and sleep apnea. Just to name a few. In a way if it is because she lifted up her child..it is kind of common sense, no heavy lifting after any surgery for at least 4-6 weeks. I wish her the best of luck either way.

Leaks are the largest possibility. And, karlij had the classic signs to watch out for (high fever, abdominal pain, also irregular blood pressure can be a sign). All surgeries carry risks.

Why did it leak? We dont know. Every surgeon will have leaks, its a part of the procedure. And, its how the surgeon deals with the leaks that makes them a good surgeon. Sometimes, it is caused by something the patient did (like eat food too early), othertimes, it could be just a quirk of the person.

(BTW, since you said Alvarez, he has had two leaks, and while you would be responsible for getting back to San Antonio, he would cover any issues if you are there. Most leaks will happen quickly, and if you do get septic there will not be a chance to get back to Mexico, so it is a worry. I worried about it, and im just a three hour drive away )

The "average" leak rate in the "literature" is 1%. I have not seen any VSG deaths outside of the medical literature.

Thanks Amanda for the stats.

If you go into my profile and look at my friends and click on michele67 you can read a story of how there were 3 of us going into this together (weight loss surgery) and 1 of us died of sepsis before leaving the hospital. My surgery went fine, however, there are risks with every surgery and everyone needs to be aware of them no matter how minimal they are.

Oh my goodness, I read Michelle's blog and I am so sorry to hear of her terrible ordeal with her mother's surgery.  Did I read the blog right?  It sounds as though her mother never did have the weight loss surgery, but her doctor "cleaned up" some existing adhesions in her abdomen and ended up nicking her bowel which caused the sepsis.  So tragic -- I am so sorry.

OK gang, I follwed my surgeon's post-op directions to the letter and did NOT lift up my child during that 2 week period.  You can do everything exactly right and still have complications!  Yes, leaks are thankfully very rare with VSG - but they do happen, and most of the time it is not the patient's fault.   I was my surgeon's first leak, after 200 VSG's.  In recent studies he shared with me, the leak rate for most surgeons is 1/200.  We are not 100% sure why I had my leak or why it took 2 weeks to show itself, but he thinks that the tissue in my esophagus was nicked during surgery and didn't heal properly, because it is very delicate tissue.  Having your surgeon accidently nick your liver, esophagus, etc. can happen to anyone during lap abdominal surgery - it is usually listed on the risk consent form you have to sign. I shared my story on OH because I wanted to help other pre-ops understand that this is a real surgery with real risks and it's not necessarily all sunshine and roses.  Lately it seems that when some people hear my story, they want to believe that I had a leak because of something *I* did wrong, so they can feel that it won't happen to them.  The scary fact is that this can happen to anyone -- I know, since it happened to me. Roxanne - *hugs* I am so, so sorry for your loss.  Your story is heartbreaking.

Karlij, I just read your blog and I am so very sorry you had to go through all that!  How unbelievably scary!  I am glad you are home and recovering and I will look to see how you are progressing in the next few months.  Hang in there with us -- we need to hear stories like yours!

You are absolutely right, it can happen to anyone.  Thankfully you're okay.  I'm glad you came back and clarified that it wasn't something you 'did' or 'didn't do'.... it is too easy sometimes for people to look for the easy answers rather than the real answers.   There is a good reason they send us home with instructions on how to eat and what the signs of a leak are so we can hopefully catch them and get them dealt with early, before the situation turns septic. Thanks for sharing your story... it is important to understand that their are risks, even though the percentage is small.... we still need to prepare to deal problems if they arise.

http://www.whyweight.com/SurgicalProcedures/gastric_sleeve.aspx Scroll down and click on the link for the ASMBS statement on VSG.  The statement includes data from several studies that should ease your mind a bit.  Complications from surgery are much more likely to occur in those with very high BMIs. The reason  you don't hear about leaks and sepsis much on this board is because they're very rare.  I think you need to look at the actual data and the minimal complication rate and not let one or two anecdotes -- as scary as they may be --  weigh too much in your decision.  That said, VSG is major surgery that comes with many of the same risks as any major surgery.

I didn't read the story.  I don't remember of hearing about leaks, but my memory is not very good.  I knew there were risks going into my surgery and that there hadn't been enough time for hardly any long term research.  I also knew where I presently was and what direction i was going into, and decided with my husband that I wud take that chance.  I was already taking a chance every day with my high blood pressure, sleep apnea, etc.  Just my personal experience:  I didn't have any complications.  The normal bad gas pains in the beginning and hurting or being sore from a surgery, but everything has gone just fine for me.  Just putting in my 2 cents.  Pain-wise, I'd rather have another VSG before getting my tonsils out again.  My child was 8 yrs. old when i had the surgery so i didn't have any issues with having to pick him up.