AnaBanana

hey.

i do have a contained leak. but i'm not sure if this is at all related. sometimes when i sleep i end up on my left side and wake up with the most horrific shoulder and upper abdominal/back/side pain. i still have some morphine from the hospital and while it seems to lessen the pain i can still feel a sharp pain under my left rib, right close to my sternum.

like i said i'm not sure this is from the leak. if i were leaking into my body then i could imagine the pain would be harsh, but since the leak is contained it shouldn't really be painful i'd think. because it's not irritating other organs.

i had this happen a couple of times before surgery woke up like someone stabbed me in my side. i went to the ER and they could not find anything wrong.

could this all be muscular/diaphragm pain? when i burp it hurts my shoulder and that spot right under my rib.

anyone have this strange occurance?

I agree with anabanana. I did end up with an abcess. You just have to listen to yourself and your body when it is telling you that something is not right. You will know when something is wrong. Thicvik I am so sorry that you have lost someone to thus surgery. I cannot begin to imagine what that feels like. You just need to do what you feel is right.

everyone thought i was being a baby here at home. i know i ate too fast which caused me to vomit a lot. i wonder sometimes if vomitting caused the leak. like it was still healing and the extreme heaves i had popped a staple. i'll never know. but yeah, every time i had a new type of 'pain' i had never experienced i'd go to the hospital. they would take me in right away, one time i went and had a bowel impaction, another time it was just bad gas. then the leak thing. so there was always a reason and once i figured out what it was if i had that pain again i would be like 'okay i need to get on some gasx like right now' or 'i need to get a suppository and laxative'.

that's awful thicvik. i'm so sorry.

don't be afraid to get your own surgery. you just gotta be really aware of how you feel after surgery. if you get any fever or fast pulse or weird new pains go to the hospital and get a scan immediately. even if you feel something isn't 'right'.

like i mentioned, my leak was 'contained'. so i was very very lucky not to have developed sepsis or abcesses. still, i was never quite right after surgery. i had pain and i had a seriously hard time keeping food down and threw up a lot. my leak was found by accident. amazingly. i am not sure if it was on it's way to getting worse, or slowly healing. i just thank god that i didn't get mega sick. i am home now. and on a tube feed with a tube in my nose down to my jejunum for the next six weeks. it's uncomfortable and i have to consume 1900 calories a day to heal this sucker (makes me feel kinda sad cuz i probably won't lose weight but who knows, i'd rather heal than lose 10 lbs). and you never know. i'm getting straight nutrition in my tube so i might not gain anything at all.

i had a really difficult time trying to get my doctor in my hometown to listen to my mexican doctors advice. five weeks ago when this leak was found the mexican doctor suggested a NJ tube and when i saw the doc here he pretty much ignored that advice. did the glue. the glue takes six weeks to work, yes it causes me to form a scar over the leak, not plug it. he finally got a hold of another bariatric surgeon here in canada who said the same thing as my surgeon in Mexico. nj tube for six weeks. so i started this four weeks too late. now i have to wait till the end of january to get this taken out. so my doctor in mexico knew what he was talking about. i'm pissed off at the disrespect he recieved from my hometown doctors. i won't complain though. im glad i got the tube because i trust my original surgeon.

thank you for thinking of me. its been a whirlwind of emotions. some days i feel like i regret this, some days i worry i won't heal, some days i want to rip this tube out and pretend nothing is wrong. i feel really light headed and im filled with major anxiety. they took me off all my anxiety pills cold turkey in the hospital and i'm just back on them so i'm having a hard time readjusting.

i'll keep you all updated. hopefully this will be a happy ending.

Sorry for the last post. Havent used the site on my phone so I quoted and hit reply before I could answer.

Ive been in the hospital the last two weeks. IV fluids, cipro and flagyll anti biotics. Three days with an NG tube to suction all my stomach secretions (interesting colors coming out that tube) and now I'm on a nasal jejunum or NJ tube for the next six weeks. Ill catch up more when I get home from the hospital.

Triple post

Triple post

ahh, sorry i thought they found it right after your surgery (i misread the extra days in the hospital as time you had to stay after surgery). isn't it weird how our bodies do things to protect our organs? like abcesses and capsules. i remember my doctor feeling my stomach to see if he could feel any bulges or hard spots, it must have been for an abcess. luckily i didn't have one. i have a feeling the leak drains back into the stomach because it has no where else to go, as it's not draining into anything. i wanted a follow up upper gi, but my family doctor said do what the surgeon says he doesn't want to upset anything prematurely. you healed in a decent amount of time. your team really knew what they were doing. i hope mine does. i got my surgery in Mexico, the specialist my GP hooked me up with is supposed to be really good. he has horrible 'bedside manner'. but i'm trusting him. Im in canada, in a place where they don't really do vsg's for WLS but, they do partial gastrectomies and whatnot so i guess that's the same really.

I am so sorry to hear u are going thru this. Although i know u are scared, it sounds like the docs have a good handle on it. I will definitely keep u in my prayers! I do have a couple questions for u, if u dont mind me asking. I am just over three months out and i also have been feeling pretty good overall. However, ive had nausea along with pain on my left side almost this whole time. Been taking meds for acid reflux and nausea to keep under control. No fever. No vomiting. Feel pretty good. But the pain on my left side is worrying me. Its not getting better. Its under my ribcage. Is this where yours hurt? It hurts almost all the time and hurts worse when i eat. I actually had appt w surgeon today and he is sending me for EGD and CT scan monday. If its a leak, would it show on a ct scan? Or would i need to have a upper GI? Sorry to bombard u with questions. I am praying u will feel better real soon and the fear would be lifted.

i had pain too, but mostly when i slept on that side. that's why i can't really figure out if it was a leak symptom or muscular. i don't have the pain anymore though. so who knows. a ct scan will see a leak yes, they gave me one to check for abcesses and saw it in that. i'm not saying you have a leak but it's really great you are checking it out just in case. i would have really never known i had a leak if i had not had the test. this is a picture of the leak, it's at the esophagus/stomach junction and you can see it spreading out a couple of cm. i am not sure how it's 'encased' so that it's not leaking into my body, but hoping that in the next few weeks while waiting to see the specialist the glue heals it.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=30uel8k&s=5#.UqJQTNJUf-s

Kraney wow you have been thru lots. so glad they found your leak right after surgery. i was expecting the same sort of treatment, and was suprised with the glue thing. i guess because they didn't need to drain it. it makes me wonder where a contained leak really goes. it's contained but it doesn't get bigger? you would think it would balloon out. it's very confusing. glad you are better.

I can't even imagine how stressed out you must be. I'm so sorry this is happening to you. It sounds like as far as leaks go you have the absolute best kind and you will be ok. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

thank you. i emailed my surgeon last night and was really anxious and they assured me i will be okay. i saw my GP today too and he told me that i would have probably never known i had a leak if i had not have gotten that upper gi. he called it a pandora's box situation. sometimes overdiagnosing is more of a hassle than the actual issue.

wow i didn't think i'd get responses so fast!

cowgirljane - i know right? this is a strange leak. at first the surgeon thought the radiologist read it wrong but i sent him the film and he confirmed it. i don't know how long i've had it. could have been since the beginning but since it didn't form any sort of abcesses or leak directly into my body causing infection and making me sick, i guess it explains why some people don't find their leaks for a long time.

thank you for your kind words, i'm sure i will be okay, i just fear the 'unknown' you know? i gotta stop reading about other leaks because no two are really alike.

rj's/beginning - i check my temp like 8x a day, i'm gonna wear out the battery! lol. i'm really trying to keep an eye on things like that. same with my pulse, which is regularly pretty high, but i would probably notice a higher pulse with difficulty breathing if things got bad. thank you for the advice, at least i know i'm doing something proactive!

lipsticklady - aww that's really nice of you to say that. keeping a positive attitude is so important. i need to reread the things you write when i'm feeling down or scared...

southernsoul - thanks, i will keep you all updated. i see my GP tomorrow and will get some copies of exactly what they did and then double check with my vsg surgeon and get his opinion. i just want to feel i made the best decision (they gave me three choices: do nothing, glue, or stent..) i went with the glue because i heard the stent was a bad experience, i didn't want to do 'nothing', and the glue was kind of the happy medium. the doctor who did it said it was an 'uncommon treatment but proven'. so i will trust him, my GP set me up with him immedietly and asked me to trust him.

hi,

i'm almost 4 months out from vsg surgery and i had a rough time the first six weeks with getting in food and Water, but i started to feel much better over time. i did get the slimies a lot and vomitted quite a few times but i learned i was just eating too fast for my own good. at my three month checkup i had a upper gi series done and they found a 2cm contained leak. i couldn't believe it as i was feeling pretty good, no fever, or any other real symptoms. i have had pain on my left side and shoulder but i'm thinking it was muscular.

so i spent five days in the hospital. they gave me a ct scan to check for abcesses, there were none, i didn't have an infection. i suppose my body just built protection around the leak. i got an endoscope done and they decided to GLUE the leak. the next day i had a horrific time with this, they shoved that black tube down my throat and glued that sucker up. i had a sore throat and esophagus for days after. it's been a week now since they glued me. i don't know if it's going to work or not. i'm still able to eat and drink. the surgeon who did my vsg wanted me to get a tube down to my jejunum and not eat anything for 4-6 weeks, but the specialist here had different ideas.

i'm very nervous and scared now. i feel 'okay'. i'm not foaming or throwing up anymore actually, but my nerves are shot. i'm worried the leak isn't going to heal or it will get bigger or something bad is going to happen. i'm kind of like that, a worry wart. i read all these leak stories and people suffer so badly and i don't really think 'physically' i'm suffering but i think i should be. it's a leak after all.

do you think glue would really work? the surgeon's office told me if i had not had the upper gi series the leak would probably have eventually healed on it's own. i wonder if the vomitting i experienced tore something. the leak was at the esophageal/stomach junction, i believe that's the most popular place for leaks. i feel kind of pissed off i self paid for this surgery and ended up a statistic.

i'm sorry i had to vent. i really need support. i don't have a lot of people to talk to about this and those who i do have, i don't want to burden them.

well thank goodness your doctors can care for you! hope this is all over soon.

i was thinking of having a vsg, but after reading this, lol, i think i'm gonna try to lose my weight naturally. i couldn't handle a complication. thank you for telling the truth about how awful this surgery is!

i wrote this almost two years ago, i ended up having surgery and now i have a leak too!

I too decided on Dr. Aceves and I am scheduled for April 10th for the vsg. I have all sorts of pre-jitters, but none in concerns to the Dr. I chose. I am worried about how I will handle drinking all the time, i am worried about my hair falling out along with my weight and looking sickly. i also wonder if my expectations of feeling overall better within a month or two of the surgery are fantasy or will come to fruition. this weight has me feeling sluggish, tired all the time. i read in some posts how tired people still are afterwards, but others seem to feel physically (not just emotionally because they look better) more energetic. i hope the weight loss will help me feel better and inspire me to work out.

you might feel like crap at first while you are healing from surgery but in the long run you will feel so much better. this is the trend i see with people who have had surgery.

i'm having surgery with dr. aceves in june hopefully. he is the only one i feel 100% confident about.

i can also imagine the first 10 days you were really taking it a lot easier and now you are starting to be a bit more active because you have recovered from the actual surgery, which might start moving things around inside (muscles etc) and it's gonna ache a bit till it heals completely. hope you are 100% soon! and grats!

yeah i would think complications of band to sleeve would depend on indiviual scar tissue/damage results etc. so each case is different.

i really think strictures and most leaks are not the patients fault but the doctor's technique, IMO. surgical complications like blood clots could be higher if you have clotting issues, infections are kind of a toss up between sterile conditions and luck to me. although i think you take antibiotics after which is good. if you have gerd you need to get on it before and after surgery especially... if you have a hernia hopefully it will get repaired, as i know that can cause GERD etc to be worse before and after surgery, same with gall bladder problems.

if you can get off the tums/rolaids type of stuff, those are notorious for causing rebound reflux. try some eater's digest tea or something with peppermint or licorice in it for the meantime till your meds kick in.

i get sciatic pain and i found this exercise that REALLLLY helps! almost instantly. try it!

yes it's good you are documenting.

I wish I could give some words of wisdom, offer suggestions on the perfect drink for you, tell you how to feel better but I feel I can't help. You've posted for a long time with alot of different ailments and I've tried to help but feel it doesn't matter what i have to offer, you have already tried it..hate it. I'll just keep praying that you get over this fast.

i suppose that's all you can do. you seem to be a very caring helpful type person. all we can do really is listen and have empathy for the person who is going through the problem. iirc jasleeve doesn't have a lot of outside support so is practically living on here, telling her story as it happens and it is probably very therapeutic.

Try these for Protein. They are much better than the shakes. I can't drink shakes either. All you need to drink is one bottle a day. Each bottle has 40gms of Protein. Get it good and cold. Sip on half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. So what if it takes all day to finish it. At least you are getting in your require protein to stay healthy and they don't taste half bad.

http://www.gnc.com/p...clickid=prod_cs

yeah those are the ones i'm talkin bout.

do you have those Isopure Protein drinks? the clear ones? that might help ya with hydration and Protein. sorry if they make you sick already just suggesting too.

thank you for the play by play action of a leak. it's freaky for sure. but good for reference for future sleevers and i know you will get over this and feel better soon. keep venting!

if her medical team is not working with her, malpractice

you mean in the US you can tell them what to do, even though you have no medical experience and are going off something someone said off a message board, sue them if they think it's not a good idea, calling it " not working with you"? and call it malpractice?

holy crap i just realized that i am subscribed to your youtube channel. you should make an update video. i would freak out with a stent. how did they put it in you?

every time i read your updates you look so happy in your picture it's hard to imagine you are going through a hard time with that big smile on your face. ironic hey?

well thank goodness your doctors can care for you! hope this is all over soon.

i was thinking of having a vsg, but after reading this, lol, i think i'm gonna try to lose my weight naturally. i couldn't handle a complication. thank you for telling the truth about how awful this surgery is!