Question:
What are the chances of death during/ after surgery?

I have been excited and anxious about having my gastric sleeve surgery this Thurs Mar 25th, 2010. All of a sudden today I haven been getting nervous. I have a wonderful husband and 3 sons. What are the chances of dying during surgery? Is it really 2%... gosh that may even be too high?! gosh... am I getting cold feet? is that normal?    — Heathersf (posted on March 22, 2010)

March 22, 2010
I am not familiar with the gastric sleeve. I had R-N-Y. I think cold feet is normal. It is still surgery, if you were having your tonsils out you would still be nervous. Usually, you make a lot of changes after surgery and change is scary. You are changing your eating, you are changing your appearance and some people have some personality changes as they gain self-confidence. Just look at the big picture of what your life would be like in another year if you did not have the surgery. Would you have more health issues is you stayed overweight? Sometimes things in life are a leap of faith and you make the best decision based on the information you have.
   — rachaelp

March 22, 2010
omg- yes... thank you so much!!! ahhh, I will feel better in a couple weeks... I just need to get past Thursday:) thanks for your time
   — Heathersf

March 22, 2010
You will be fine! It is normal to be nervous we are nervous with all surgerys!My Dr told me the mortality rate for RNY was 1% .What I thought about was me being so overweight I could die of a heart attack that was the scariest thought for me.I do know that you must get up and walk as much as possible after surgery to prevent blood clots from setting up and it is also to prevent you from getting pneumonia.The people that things happen to are the one's that do not take care of them selfs.
   — davonjack

March 22, 2010
You will have a far greater chance of dying if you do not have the surgery, than having it. Does that make any sense? This surgery will give you the fighting chance to prevent from having any further health problems & will improve your health to lessen the chance of death. My RNY is on the 31st. Good luck & keep us posted.
   — SPIRIT2002

March 22, 2010
EVERYONE GETS COLD FEET THATS JUST NATURAL . THEY TAKE SO MANY PRECAUTIONS NOW THIS SURGERY IS EXTREMELY SAFE . IF I'M NOT MISTAKING THER'S LESS THAN A 1% CHANCE OF DYING FROM SURGERY .THE WORST THING I EXPERIENCSED AFTER RNY SURGERY WAS A SORE THROAT AND A VERY DRY MOUTH . YOU'LL BE FINE JUST THINK OF HOW GREAT YOUR LIFE IS GONNA BE . YOUR HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, LOOK AT ALL THE POSITIVES AND FORGET ALL THE NEGATIVES . THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE'LL BE READING HOW GREAT YOU LOOK AND HOW GOOD YOU FEEL . GOOD LUCK ............ROGER
   — ROGER COTE

March 22, 2010
i think its normal and healthy to have second or even third thoughts. You are making a life change and one that is not easy to come to terms with. But your quality of life will be greatly improved if you compare 1 yr out of surgery to 1 year later without it. For those of us who have had the surgery, we would have done it all again, or even sooner if we could have. But fear of the unknown is human nature. prayer is a good source of strength in any situation. And I am a firm believer in "when its your time its your time, no matter what" so with or without surgery, if your number is up, you have no choice. The surgery is just a blame if the unthinkable happens. But the number of deaths from surgery has decreased over the years as the medical field has gained great insight into the ways to perform the surgery and get the best results for the patient. Good luck to you and congrats on your decision to get healthy! hugs n God Bless, Kim
   — gpcmist

March 23, 2010
Cold feet are totally normal. You will be fine! My dad is a surgeon and he says less than 1/10th of 1 percent of all surgeries result in death during surgery. There have been many studies done, the biggest one related to complications including death in bariatric surgery patients states that there is a 2.6% complication rate, that can be anything from dehydration to death. Death is more likely to occur if you are a male, but still the rates are very low. You will be fine, nerves are normal, I was scared to death the night before, I wrote letters to my kids and hid them in my desk in case something happened to me. A few months later I found the letters and actually gave them to my kids (both adults), they were touched but both laughed at me for being so "dramatic". You are much more likely to die of complication of obesity than you are from surgery. Good luck and God bless you and your family!
   — brindledanes

March 26, 2010
I know exactly how you feel. I felt the same way when I had my surgery seven years ago. I was not one of the people that looked forward to the surgery, I was petrified. I also wrote letters to my kids and updated my will. I was more worried about dying from complications after the surgery than dying on the table. But someone told me something that helped. It was this: If God is ready to take you, He will do it even if you don't have the surgery. If He is ready for you, you could die walking down the street (or whatever, you understand what I am saying). So surgery or no surgery, you will die when God is ready for you to die. But we have free will that allows us to make decisions, including the decision to take care of our health so that we can live longer, happier, healthier lives. As long as you follow the doctor's instructions and do as you are supposed to do (walk, walk, walk immediately after the surgery to prevent blood clots, etc), there is every reason to believe that you will be fine. Prayers and best wishes to you.
   — Libby S.