Question:
Will a fistula in belly button be reason for ins to cover TT?

I have a fistula in my betty button. Even though it is too soon to look into plastis surgery I am wondering if this will help in getting ins to approve.    — Tawnda C. (posted on February 9, 2003)

February 8, 2003
Hi, I am very interested in fistulas because they are supposedly very rare but I am beginning to wonder as I have seen many people have them. How did your doc diagnose this fistula? Did he see it in an upper GI? What is it going to? Is it the same as scar tissue? Please give us more information. Some people don't realize that fistulas can actually "undo" our surgeries and if they come from the pouch and connect to the old stomach, food can go through them. I think we need a lot more information on fistulas. They seem to be something nobody talks about. I know a lady in Charleston, WV who this happened to and the only part of the surgery she has left is the small pouch. She absorbs everything she eats. She has to lose on sheer willpower alone. Not saying this is going to happen to you as this is a bellybutton fistula you have. Hers is a fistula from the pouch to the old stomach. Not sure is this would help to get a TT but wouldn't your problem be similar to hernia repair? That does help us to get approval for a TT or at least helps defray some of the cost for a TT because they do cover the hernia repair.
   — Mylou52

February 9, 2003
what is a fistula?
   — rhonda2u

February 9, 2003
Rhonda, A fistula is connective tissue that grows sometimes when we have trauma to our internal organs. It is similar to scar tissue (in my understanding) and is living tissue with blood supply, etc. I am not an expert in explaining this but I will try. Sometimes the body tries to compensate for anything that it sees as foreign and grows scar tissue, connective tissue and tries to "heal" itself. This is called hypertrophy and according to my surgeon, it does occur over time. It even happens in our still intact intestines. They grow more villi, little fingerlike stems that gather nutrients and absorb it into our intestines. These villi grow in order to compensate for our bypassed intestines. Same thing with fistulas. How do we keep our surgeries from becoming ineffective and our bodies for "overcompensating" and trying to "heal"? By tricking our bodies into thinking nothing has happened to us! How? By supplementation and taking our vitamins daily. Then the body doesn't see a need to "heal" as we are getting our nutrients and it doesn't realize we have a deficiency that it needs to fix. I am getting off the subject a little but fistulas do occur in our pouches. Most times a small amount of food could possibly pass through and it is pretty rare (I have heard) to have the surgery become void from it. BUT it does happen and we need to be aware of it. Just my 2 cents worth....
   — Mylou52