My sleeve is twisted...no for real

Hello fellow maintainers,

I had been having some episodes where I couldn't swallow water, then days when I could eat with no restriction and other days I could barely eat anything. I am 5 years out, so I know the "ups and downs" but the water not going down was a little scary. I also had an excruciating pain in my sternum when I would eat. I thought my gallbladder was the problem, so I went to the hospital. Turns out my GB is fine, but my sleeve has twisted, like a balloon and now is shaped kinda like an hourglass with a twist in the middle. Some days are worse than others. 

My surgeon, who is excellent, says that he suspects that when I had my abdominoplasty and they sewed my muscles together, it caused an intense pressure and my stomach moved and then my fascia healed in such a way as to twist it, so basically it is scar tissue holding my stomach in that position. This is plausable, because with the abdominoplasty, they did close a 9cm gap in my ab muscles right at the sternum.

So now I am in a bit of a "situation", my surgeons have only seen this ever happen twice. They want to manage it with medications and diet (basically slider foods that can make through the narrow twist). I feel strongly that I want to be resleeved. IE release the scar tissue and then remake my sleeve tighter as I know now from the films that I have a stretched out fundus above my "twist". 

Have any of you ever experienced this, or know anyone who has? I wish I had access to Dr. Cirangle, but alas I am 3,000 miles away from him.

Heather

Have not heard of this but I hope you improve and am sorry you are going through this. It must be scary.

this sounds very difficult and i am sorry for you. i have not heard of this.   you could probably send your films to dr. cirangle and pay him for a telephone consult to see what he recommends even if you can't go see him for the surgery.  if anybody can fix it, he could and it might be worth the trip.  let us know how this goes.   diane

The only time I have heard of this is when the initial sleeve is made in the shape of an hour-glass instead of a banana. That person had to revise to RnY unfortunately.

I second what Diane said about having Dr. Cirangle consult at least--that's a great idea. He has done SO many VSGs and has worked on so many people post surgery, both his patients and others, that I bet he has seen something similar. I'm sorry you are going through this and I agree that fixing and tightening the sleeve is the way to go! After my vsg (done at LapSF by Dr's Cirangle's then partner, Dr. Jossart), I developed a bad hiatal hernia. Dr. Jossart operated a year after my vsg but it didn't work and so Dr. Cirangle tried again about a year ago. He had to insert a large piece of dissolving mesh to fix it. Anyway, he did take a few stitches in my sleeve at the time to tighten it (though I can't tell any difference, honestly, because it wasn't very stretched). He basically did a plication rather than a resleeve, which is much safer. Anyway, I hope you are able to get this resolved soon!

Lizanne

Oh my, sending good  thoughts your way.  

Please get things straightened out.  Keep us updated.  You are a healthy person who makes good decisions and I always get something great from your posts.  

Please take care!