My Gastric Plication Weight Loss Surgery Nightmare/blessing

[Mary0110 1]

I found this site and have enjoyed reading everyone's stories, questions, etc. But after what happened to me I felt I should share my journey.
My surgery was on August 16, 2013 at OCC w/ Dr. Ortiz as self pay. This was not a quick decision for me, rather I scoured the internet for months. I finally decided on Plication because I was uncomfortable removing even part of a healthy organ, RNY/bypass was scary to me and everything I read talked about the practically non-existent post surgical problems with Plication. And everyone raved about Dr. Ortiz and the staff. To be honest, I never felt the love the rest others did, but that could be partially me. Once I made my decision it was a freight train.
Surgery went well, no real problems. When we left Mexico 3 days later I had a full day of flight to get home. It was exhausting but again, no real problems. Fast forward 3 months to the day. I have great restriction, am eating wisely and have lost about 45 lbs! I'm a happy woman! But then...
2 weeks ago today I'm having an "off" day, just not feeling quite right, i couldn't sleep and was having mild stomach pain. About 2:00 a.m I had horrible pain in my stomach/upper abdomen. I decided to try sleeping, went to bed and as soon as I lay down I had searing pain in my left arm, jumped out of bed, broke out in a cold sweat, got nauseous and was freezing cold- classic heart attack symptoms! Got my hub up and had him drive me to emergency which was about 1 hour from home.
To spare you the details of that night/morning, I had blown one stitch, my abdominal cavity was filling with air and the stomach contents had leaked into my abdominal cavity. Emergency surgery about 5 hours later saved my life. Once contents spill into the abdominal cavity there's a short time frame before your other organs go septic.So, 5 days in the hospital and 10 days recouping at home now I just wanted to let people considering this surgery know that even though the chances of problems from what I read are less than 1%, they do happen and with dire consequences!
I was nauseated every morning right after surgery for about 2 weeks, even with the Rx. One morning I felt a sharp pain while retching. I think that may be when it happened, but 3 months to finally blow? IDK, but I have a follow up with the surgeon in 3 days and will ask his opinion.
The up-side is that the hospital I went to was smart enough to not touch me and called in an experienced Bariatric Surgeon, who has agreed to be my doc form here forward even though his clinic doesn't do Gastric Plication.
I live in the middle of nowhere on a family farm and felt so confident that I would have no problems because of statistics this surgery had. Less than 1%- maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket [emoji4] Anyhoo...if you are considering WLS, this is my warning to not be as naive as I, thinking that'll never happen to me. Consider that it could happen to you and at the very least, have a Dr. in your area who will see you and a back-up plan!
Wishing you all the best on your individual journey

First of all thank you for sharing your experience. I wanted to ask you if your health insurance had a problem with you having this procedure in Mexico and having to repair it. Were you charged for everything they did to you? I am getting the Plication Thursday please let me know.