iggychic

Oh dear first I just want to say I'm so sorry! I too had a terrible experience but it did end. Your ongoing struggle is horrific. I can't say enough how sorry I am that you are in this boat! I can however offer some hope. I too did not have a timely repair so my leak was unable to be repaired with traditional methods (tissue was too damaged) so I received the new treatment they are proposing for you. The clip is actually called a claw and basically it takes the damaged tissue and bunches it up like a hair clip does and holds it together so that a)the leak will discontinue damaging the tissue further and in the hopes that bunch will seal together and form a solid bind, closing the leak for good. The claw is not 100% successful because they are dealing with extremes when they use it but I can report that for me it did save my stomach. My surgeons advised I baby that thing like crazy for the first six weeks (zero lifting, housework, etc) and for me only fluids but at the end of those six weeks I learned it had held and my drama was finally over! Even the day after it was installed I felt 100% better. It was amazing! It's been so long for you to have suffered like this. I was nearly gone after two months so to think of you dealing with this since sept boggles my mind! I hope the claw does for you what it did for me! Please keep us updated. I'd like to hear a happy ending soon!

Hun I don't have a posse. I am a 50 year old housewife and business owner from Alaska. . I bullied Kim Kudafard (unfortunate name) in the fourth grade and still feel guilt about it now. I don't and never will bully someone. Lets get over this sillyness and let the ops story alone. They have apparently suffered enough and should be left in peace. Op I hope your sisters life stabilizes and improves.

They say that age and size are the biggest factors. If you have less than 100lbs to lose you are less likely to have issues. If you are young, you again have less, and then the last factor is how long you've carried the weight. I am (gasp) nearly 50 but only had 70 to lose. I noticed a bit of lose skin under my chin as I lost weight in my face quickly and was worried I was going to have to resort to the Joan Rivers treatment, but my neck has firmed back up and it's fine. I don't notice issues with my arms aside from the fact that I need to exercise them more I was heavy for about 7 years if you count my pregnancy. I think that given you're on the cusp of the 100lb mark and you're young and the weight is recent...you will find you'll have pretty good luck firming back up in the next two years (which is how much time you should give it after the surgery).

Are you sure it' pepcid? Cheri covered the PPI issue (which is what most are prescribed). You could easily quit taking it and see if you really need something. If you do, prevacid is a better option as it does not interfere with mineral absorption. I'd chat with the doc. If you don't need it (quit and if you're fine you don't) than just be happy you can say goodbye to another medical bill LOL

This is a hard time to have such a major surgery with cold and flu season in full swing. It's hard to go back to full activity on so little food, and harder still if you have a bug. I think you'll find once you get over it you'll snap back pretty quickly. You're over the worst hurdles....ok most of them....just get rid of the sniffles! Take care

My son is younger than your kids (he was six) so I wrote him a "what if" letter that he thankfully never saw. I covered all of the bases...how to deal with dad, how to deal with grandma, how much I would be watching over him and loved him, and most importantly, that I had this surgery for ME with no mention of it being for him just incase I didn't make it. WHen I had complications I was very glad to have written that letter. But I will say it was damn painful to write. I advise all mom's or dad's to write those letters though. Say the things you want them to know at those special events, just in case, and then tuck it away and hope that they never ever see it. It is SO HARD to write but the weight off your shoulder when you do is worth the pain. That said, this is how I dealt with it. If he were 12 I probably would tell him more than I did (I told him I was having my tummy fixed...which he took to mean I was bringing home a baby LOL). But I still think you can't say everything...your fears, etc to kids your age. I think I'd keep it bright and hopeful and then just write those letters and tuck them away so you don't worry them, but feel your bases are covered. I wish you the best!

But what if a bear is chasing you

Frank, please, if you find me off then let me go hun. You joined this forum to complain about me for some odd reason. I have to admit that that was a bit "off" in my opinion, frankly a bit scary. Why would some guy who has no idea who I am join a forum just to post a rant about me? It made me uncomfortable and as such it stuck with me. I deal with uncomfortable situations with sarcasm. I did it when I was prom queen as well Listen, I would be happy to never see your name again attached to mine. Please, I will never mention the F word again if you'll take this obsession away and let me just live my life my way? You go on about yours as well and we'll both be fine. But please, leave me be? There is no reason for this stuff. If my sarcasm after your first nasty post bothered you, I'm sorry. Genuinely. But you are literally scaring me. Please, leave me alone?

The problem with this is that you actually can't remove the risks from the surgery. They're there and they will increase as we see more and more unprepared people move forward with it. I for one would do anything in my power to stop people from having this surgery as a preventative measure if they didn't have some dang good reasons for it. It's being used on models now to keep themselves stick thin....that's just not right. I don't think the general guidelines of having been heavy for x period of time and showing an effort to comply (ie six month diet) are a bad thing. I think they should be mandatory for all candidates. Now that won't make me popular will it LOL And who is F and why on earth does he follow me about? I think I rejected him in highschool heh heh

I agree with you (don't fall down dead with shock) I'm just saying, it's also possibly true. Let's just agree to disagree on that one ok? It could be that this story is something that they are posting on more than one VSG forum because they're passionate about people not having the surgery due to their family issues? Who knows...I don't, so I'll choose not to abuse them just for sharing their story.

I don't know how big your company is, so I don't know if this helps. First, we are self insured, which means we pick and choose within federal and state guidelines, what our employees have covered. We don't do this to provide the least coverage, but instead to offer the best as a competitive advantage. So with that in mind, we listen to our team when they say we are missing the boat on things like this. So if your company is slightly manageable (less than 1000 people) don't talk to HR, talk to the owners and ask them to consider adding this coverage as a benefit for their staff. And then there's the situation you're in....I will tell you that the HR dept can't add coverage we haven't chosen. We also can't just add it willy nilly...we have to be in a period in which we can make changes unless we've been shown we are violating state or federal law. We also can't cover something for one person and not cover it for all, so there is no appealing a non-covered item. No appeal will make that happen because we have to be fair to all of our people. I only share this because I don't want some uniformed HR person to get your hopes up when there isn't hope at this point The only way you can appeal a denial is if it's a covered item you were denied for whatever reason (providing compensating information to offset the denial). I wish you the best. If I were your employer I'd want to know how you feel about this.

Judy I think the stats show that it is a good preventative measure. Yes you can regain and many do, but they tend not to regain at the same level. To do so you have to be a)kinda stupid and really work at it! Mind you there are plenty of people who do that But they aren't in the majority. (Thank god)

You won't find a doctor who advises it before two months. At 12 days you are still healing and need to stay away from it. If you can't go a couple of months without it, you probably should look to other issues you're having Many docs say avoid it for the first year because it's high in useless calories. I account for every glass on MFP to be sure it does not take me over any limits carb or calorie wise. I also wouldn't have it if my doc didn't advise me it was ok.

I'l give you the short version Starting BMI of barely 35. No comorbidities, no complicating factors (I'd had anesthesia and knew it wasn't an issue, just an allergy to morphine which of course isn't rare). High pain tolerance, healthy for a fat chick No family history to worry about, The anesthesiologist and doc were joking about a tennis date the week after surgery with me. I was supposed to be their poster child for an easy recovery and weight loss Didn't turn out that way. Massive bleed during surgery, they didn't transfer me to a hospital though, kept me at the surgery center all night and the next day (I don't know how long, over 24 hours is all I know) where I experienced constant seizures due to blood loss and the mass of blood in my gut. Likely that either masked the leak or caused it but who knows. Finally taken to a hospital and left two days later only to return off and on, much as you read about this case, while the docs blamed it on the blood and didn't feel a leak test was necessary. I had ALL the symptoms, but no one would do the test. So finally my plural sac was crushing my lungs due to the Fluid build up from the infection due to the leak...that no one would detect, and my lungs became the focus not the leak because they couldn't keep them drained. Multiple procedures to drain the lungs finally allowed for discovery of the leak, which was then so far gone (damaged tissue) that they couldn't repair with traditional methods. In the mean time the PICC caused blood clots, the drains caused issues with my lungs....you are a nurse, you probably know how it all snowballs Aprox five weeks after my first surgery I had my second to install an experimental treatment called a claw. It has a high failure rate, but when your tissue is badly damaged it's the best option so they installed that. I was lucky and it held. But I faced the loss of my stomach if it didn't because once that tissue is damaged, it's tough to put it back together. I was bedridden about 60 days. In hospital three weeks or so, give or take. Several ER visits, half a million bucks ya da ya da. So this story does not sound far fetched to me. Had I stayed with my original doc and local hospital I might have been in the same boat. They tried to send me home too. It's hard to be an advocate when you are near death. Even a nurse must understand that there are times when a patient just can't be their best advocate (not speaking of you but of the other nursing commenting). You have to see folks who are normally rational human beings who get so beat down they just can't think or communicate their needs don't you? It's easy to say you'd be tough...but only if you haven't been there. I have lost weight But it wasn't worth the risk and what it did to my family. This story sounds believable because I lived it to some degree. I feel bad this person was so beat up they never came back to post again. They might have seen that there is some good to this surgery if they hadn't been so beaten up. Do I recommend it? NOt often! But I can see where it makes sense.

When I was home from surgery I slept with two dogs and three cats. They loved my forced bedrest and even with all that exposure...I was not infected LOL Your washcloth probably is dirtier than your dog on a regular basis. The only thing I could see is if your dog is very large and tends to lay on you...that might be an issue, but otherwise, your nut is kind of ummm nutty LOL

I'm sorry you're going through that Cyg. I did this surgery for myself and no one else. You have done the same. But that does not mean that other people whom we love aren't involved in the process does it? I hope things level out for you and your wife!

I was speaking to someone else I quoted but to suppose that someone who professes horror and suffering is just having a jealous fit...that's kind of below the belt don't you think? There is having an opinion, and being cruel. If your opinion is wrong than that's a pretty horrific statement to have made when instead you could just move on by.

Just a thought...this person had a different experience and is sharing it, much as others on this forum do and I'm reading from your comment you feel that should be allowed right? She didn't come back...sheesh would you when you are attacked with such vigor? If you are in doubt, that's ok of course, but wouldn't it be better, just in case you are wrong, to keep that to yourself and just move along to the next thread verses beating up someone who felt the need to share their story? You might be wrong, which then makes your comments extremely dismissive and hurtful to the person who posted their story. If others could do the same than this type of story would not incite such animosity. Much of the frustration expressed is at those who said such hurtful things to someone who potentially was suffering. I don't think you want to be that kind of person do you?