Question:
what does jejunostomy mean?

I had pre-op testing thursday,surgery is monday. I asked the dr. if he was doing proximal or distal and he said distal there is no proximal. He has recommended the following-open gastric bypass with reuy-en-y gastro jejunostomy. Does that simply mean open rny-distal?    — Cindy B. (posted on October 6, 2000)

October 6, 2000
The small intestine is designated by doctors in three parts. The first part, closest to the stomach outlet, is the duodenum, the middle of the small intestine is the jejunum, and the last part is the ileum. The gastro jejunostomy is where the stomach (gastro) is directly attached to the jejunum, and a hole is made (ostomy) for food to pass through. So, the answer is yes, your doctor is talking about the RnY gastric bypass. The answer to the other part is "maybe". Every surgeon has his own idea about the terms proximal and distal. Proximal means close, distal means far. It's up to the surgeon's interpretation how far is far enough to consider distal.
   — Lynn K.

October 6, 2000
Proximal and Distal are just terms that some doctor made up to put into "words" the things that we as non doctors don't understand. It seems to me that all rny's should be considered distal, my doctor bypasses 200 centimeters for his patients, I asked him one time about those terms and he said he didn't even use them.
   — christine L.

October 6, 2000
See if you can wring out of your doc some numbers. Either what he bypasses, or the length of common channel he leaves. MOST done in this country are proximal, some are so proximal as to be a little joke. I am VERY distal, tiny common channel, lots bypassed. I lost ALL mt wt, take lots of supplements. Good, it's exactly what I want. There are advantages & disadvantges to each one. As long as you are clear on what they are, then you are making an informed choice and will be successful.
   — vitalady