Question:
What happens if I dont get a Staple Line Failure taken care of?

After reading all these post I think that has been my problem for the last year. I have had every one of these symptoms. I had an Endoscopy and I do not have Ulcers and he recommended I have the CT Scan and Barium Swallow. If I do have failure and I dont have it taken care of what will happen? Here are my reasons. 1) Im scared to have another surgery for the fear of complications and 2) My husband and I are trying to get pregnant and I simply do not want to wait the year after surgery to get pregnant. Im 33 years old and do not want to be much older when I get pregnant. So If I dont have the breakdown taken care of what can happen? I just wont lose? or something serious???    — margaret B. (posted on January 27, 2004)


January 27, 2004
You didn't really mention what your symptoms are. However, if you had a staple line disruption it could potentially be serious. Your bowel and/or stomach contents would leak into your abdominal cavity and you would have a serious infection develop. I had that 1 week after surgery. If you think this is what you have, contact your doctor immediately.
   — Checker B.

January 27, 2004
Hi. I don't want to scare you but this is serious. You should get it taken care of as soon as possible. You cannot wait a year. If you have a staple line failure and a leak you could die. Many people die early post op from leaks. Please just see what it is so you know...
   — AmyWollet

January 27, 2004
OK, you mean a staple line disruption, not a leak, right? If you have SLD, you can regain 100+% of your wt, just like pre-op. If you are at a wt that you can safely have a child, it might be wise to do it before you have revision. A LEAK is deadly, but SLD is not, except for the regain and return of comorbs. I have been revised, but I'm old. I was somebody's gramma when I did it.
   — vitalady

January 27, 2004
you will gain all your weight back and more too.
   — Delores S.

January 27, 2004
There is a difference between SLD and leaks. Leaks will occur if you are transected and the food spills into your abdominal cavity. It will cause sepsis and if not taken care of, death. However, there is no such thing as walking around for a long time with a leak. The infections a leak would cause are pretty painful and obvious. <p> A SLD can occur when you only have staples separating the pouch from the old stomach. These can occur with non-transected RNYs and the VBG surgery. Basically the food you eat will flow from the pouch, thru the SLD into your old, larger stomach allowing you to eat much more volume. Some people have some pain if there is acid reflux. A SLD is not life threatening, except in the way that you will eventually gain back your weight and re-develop any co-morbids you had. <p> I can understand the desire to wait to repair the SLD until after you have a baby, but realize that if you have weight related fertility problems, those can come back and it might take years and fertility meds to become pregnant. If you do have a SLD, and have it repaired before you gain the weight back, you should only have to wait until you are healed from that surgery to try to become pregnant because there will be no period of rapid weight loss. If you have already gained back a significant portion of your weight, then yes you would have to wait until the loss stabilized. There are a lot of variables here, good luck!
   — Ali M

January 28, 2004
Please don't flame me but I'm going to be blunt here: how great of a mom can you be to your child if you don't get the SLD taken care of, have the baby and then regain your weight and co-morbs? I'm certainly not saying that MO women are bad mothers, I'm just bringing up the possiblity that if you don't have the SLD problem taken care of and you regain, you may not be able to fully participate in a lifetime of activities with your child. We all know that being MO can limit our mobility and the enjoyment of being active with our kids, not to mention being detrimental to our health. Get the tests you need, discuss with your surgeon the ways to fix whatever is wrong, get a second opinion and then make an informed decision.
   — lizinPA

January 28, 2004
There are a lot of factors that you haven't discussed, so it's hard to give you an informed opinion. Obviously your doctors--both surgeon and obstetrician--should be consulted. But my own initial reaction is different from several of the posters. If you've lost a substantial amount of weight and can use the malabsorption, good habits you've put into practice, and will power to keep from regaining a lot of weight in spite of the SLD, then I'd suggest having the baby first. I don't think moderate obesity causes fertility problems or pregnancy complications in most cases, and if you're down substantially in weight and you're in good health it's probably safe to put off the surgery. Age *does* cause a decline in fertility, as you know, so I tend to agree with your instinct to have the baby now. Good luck, whatever you decide.
   — Celia A.

January 28, 2004
Thank You for all the replys that I have gotten. They were all very informative. My symptoms are burning and pains (both occasional) right above my belly button and to the side. The main thing is the weight loss has stopped and Ive gained 10 lbs. This has been happening on and off for a year so I dont think it is a leak. Ive never been sick, persay. I called my Dr today and told the PA of my fears so they are going to schedule me for the appropriate testing. I will see what the results are and ask my questions about pregnancy from there. It seems like this is a catch 22. I do want to be thin so that I can play with my child and properly take care of him/her and live healthy. I dont want to wait, first of all, the amount of time it will take to get approved (if I even do) for the surgery then the 1 year my Dr recommends after surgery. Im looking at maybe being almost 36-37 to even start trying. And who is to say that I will get pregnant right away. We have been trying for 8 months so far and Im right in the middle of fertility treatments. So there is more time of trying to become pregnant. Obviously I will do what is best for my health. But when it comes down to it. Im scared to have another risky and very hard surgery. Im scared of complications that I did not and was lucky enough to not have initially (ie, scoping, vomiting, diarreah and yeah even death) Well, anyway. Thanks for hearing me out. Ive gotten a lot of good advice, I hope this reply was easy to understand :)
   — margaret B.

January 28, 2004
Oh BTW what is Transected and Non Transected RNY ?? I had RGBP/VBG I know what RNY is but what does the Transected mean? Sorry to sound stupid, Im still trying to learn all the terms everyone uses LOL
   — margaret B.

January 28, 2004
Glad you are getting in to see your doctor. Very good idea. <BR><BR> Transected means that after they have created the new pouch with stapling, that they have literally cut it apart from the larger pouch (stomach). Some surgeon transect during the RNY, others do not. My surgeon does numerous lines of staples but does not cut/transect.
   — [Deactivated Member]




Click Here to Return
×