Question:
2 1/2 YEARS OUT AND HOLE IN POUCH WHY?

A UPPER GI SHOWED I HAVE A OPENING FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE POUCH INTO THE NATIVE STOMACH. WHO FAULT IS THIS MY OR THE SURGEON? I HAVE COMPAINED ALL ALONG TO THE DOCTORS. I WAS PUT IN THE HOSPITAL FOR STOMACH PAIN IM APRIL, AND THE ENDO SHOWED A UCLER AT THE OPENING FOUND ON THE UPPER GI. MY START WT. WAS 234 LOST DOWN TO 185. THE WT LOST WAS VERY SLOW AND DISAPPOINTING. NOW I AM AT 210. HAS ANYONE HAD A CASE LIKE THIS. WHO PAYS IN THE END? ME OR THE DOC?    — J S. (posted on June 4, 2005)

June 4, 2005
It is not a case for judgement on either yourself or your surgeon. I have withnessed hundreds of obesity surgical procedures and I have come to the conclusion that the surgeon can do 100 operations of the same type on 100 different people and get 100 different results. These procedures were done as dilgently as possible. The conclusion I came to is that every body is different, and not all follow the after care requirements the same. So follow your surgeon's advice and await your outcome with feelings of blame to eiher yourself or him.
   — Lise K.

June 5, 2005
When you stomach is not transected the staples that are in there are only to hold the sides of your stomach together to form the pouch. You stomach never 'grows' together. Over time sometimes the staples become loose or disloged due to many factors. It could be because you tested your limits causing the staples to come loose and detach or because you body simply didn't like them there and rejected them. You can not really place blame in these kinds of situations.<br><br>That being said, at one year post op I had to have my pouch's staples refired because, due to an ulcer, my gastroenterologist poked a hole thru them just to see what was on the other side. I didn't know this until after the fact when my surgeon became irate while reading the op report. As a result of 'hole' in my pouch stomach acid constantly spilled over into the pouch side and aggrivated the h*ll out of my ulcer. Surgical correction was the only option for me at that point. My WLS surgeon went back in, removed the ulcer, and corrected the SLD. At the time I had an exclusion in my policy with UHC and still had the procedure done. Because they were correcting the ulcer and not the WLS, I did not even require notification, let alone approval. All cost were paid. If you decide to have this situation corrected, my best advice is to demand you get transected, that is my only regret. Good luck to you.
   — RebeccaP

June 5, 2005
There may be a lot of reasons why you have an opening to the old stomach but I think the best solution to your problem is simply to go to your surgeon with the results of the Upper GI and ask him what are your options for getting this fixed and what is his experience with your insurance company in this type of situation. Do not go in there accusatory, I don't really think it had anything to do with his surgical technique. This is not something new or rare, I am sure he will have answers for you. And when you get all fixed up your weight loss will resume. Be super committed to eat exact portions (I am sure you did very well before). If you look under the Q&A for staple line disruption you will see how many people have had this problem. Good Luck.
   — pammatria

June 5, 2005
A staple line disruption is way too common. Unfortunately, it just is. It's not you, not your surgeon. It's just the way your surgery was done. Mine was the same in 1994, and I had SLD at 5 yrs out. It's possible you disrupted early on or that you didn't have enough bypass to reach your desired wt. I don't know your program or what you did/didn't do with foods & such. But WE cannot SLD ourselves. You might want to pop onto the Grad list, where there are lots of us SLD's who've been revised. The link is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Graduate-OSSG
   — vitalady

June 6, 2005
Wow . . I am not sure but I was wondering what your systems are? I am 2 years out today and my stomach has started to hurt and burn . . . I thought it was coffee so i started taking Nexiumm but it still hurts. I wish you good luck . . . thanks, Michele :)
   — Michele D.

June 6, 2005
Wow . . I am not sure but I was wondering what your systems are? I am 2 years out today and my stomach has started to hurt and burn . . . I thought it was coffee so i started taking Nexiumm but it still hurts. I wish you good luck . . . thanks, Michele :)
   — Michele D.