tammygRN

Bobbyswife Thank you for checking in, I am actually doing pretty good. I still have a little Fluid on my lung but my body should absorb that. I am also still on the tube feedings but I have started being able to eat and drink a little bit, so hopefully I won't need the feedings too much longer. This has been such a long journey, I just pray that I am finally on the road to recovery. Thank you so much for your support and words of encouragement through this.

After begging my surgeon and making a pinkie promise that I would try very hard to keep drinking ( I have been so nauseated) I am home from the hospital. I am taking tube feedings through my G-tube, but I am home for the holiday.

Here's a new update. I went home from the hospital Friday, and over the weekend became very short of breath. Monday I was readmitted. I had a moderate amount of fluid in around my right lung which was compressing my lung causing a partial collapse. They also discovered that I have extra fluid in the the sack around my heart. Yesterday they drained my lung which gave me immediate relief with my breathing. Right now the cardiologist is just going to keep a close eye on my heart to ensure it doesn't worsen. All of this extra fluid is from when I went into septic shock, they had to resuscitate me with so much fluid it just collected everywhere. Also yesterday I found out that due to my nutritional status, I am in liver disease. Today we started tube feedings through my G-tube. Hopefully this will improve my nutrition until I get get it my oral intake up. You know...... It just seems statistically impossible that one person would have this many complications. I am over 5 months out from my initial surgery and still going through this. Everyone pray I get to go home tomorrow to celebrate thanksgiving with my family. God bless you all.

Had my rouxen-y conversionMonday the 10th. Unfortunately I am posting this 9 days later from my hospital bed. I had a very small undetected leak and the second night post op, I went into septic shock. I was rushed to surgery where they cleaned out all of the toxins that had leaked into my abdomen, but they were unable to locate the leak and I wasn't stable enough to continue with surgery. They stabilized me in the ICU and the next day was taken for an open laparotomy where the leak was found and fixed. I spent 6 days in ICU. I have 2 drains, one is for the infected abdominal cavity and the other is a G-tube which is just draining gastric bile. Once the output slows on the drainages we can take the JP out and the G tube can be used for nutritional support if needed. I am getting a little stronger each day through the grace of god .

After 20 weeks of suffering and being unable to keep myself hydrated, I have put my foot down and told my surgical team no more EGDs with dilation. We have been doing them every 1-2 weeks for the past 2 months with unsuccessful results. During the last one I aspirated during the procedure and developed pneumonia. I am constantly hospitalized for dehydration. So, Monday I will be going in for a rouxen-y conversion. This will bypass my stricture that formed after stent placement and hopefully give me resolution. I just want to start living my life, instead of just trying to survive. Hopefully the surgery goes well Monday, I will update next week.

Several surgeons across the country have been consults on my case due to the rarity of the complications and no one is 100% sure what caused it. But their best guess has been a combination of me being short 5'3 (short torso, short stomach, shorter sleeve) and my anatomy ( the curvature of my stomach and the way it empties. I have read studies that say short people tend to feel more restriction. Not so sure I could have prevented this one.

I agree with you bobbyswife and I definitely think my surgeon has learned a lot from all of my complications. And yes I had acid reflux prior to surgery, however when we did the preop EGD we discovered a fairly significant hiatal hernia which the dr associated with my acid reflux and so he felt I was still an ideal candidate for the sleeve. My husband however has acid reflux and was told he is not a candidate for the sleeve because of that. Not that he even still wanted the sleeve after all he has seen me go through. He is having the RNY next month.

Here's my latest update. I am 4 months post op. I just got my feeding tube removed last week. I had it for 3 months. I have a stricture in my sleeve. The doctor has been going in and dilating it every 2 weeks. I have had 3 dilations since the stent was removed. Unfortunately it still isn't opened up enough to eat and drink enough to stay hydrated yet. So I go in to the hospital and get IV hydration twice a week. My last dilation was Tuesday and During that dilation I aspirated and have been in the hospital since then because it caused pneumonia in my upper left lobe of my lung. This has been a long and frustrating journey for me and my family, but on the bright side I have lost 67 lbs in the past 4 months and I am only 23 lbs from my goal weight!

Just an update! Since my last update I have been hospitalized 2 more times and had approx 5 more corrective procedures. I had a stent that ran from my lower esophagus to my stomach for 3 weeks until it caused an occlusion and had to be removed a week early, I have also had 2 dilations to open up the sleeve. I am 2 and a half months post op and still off work sitting at home on tube feedings 20 hours per day. The stent shrunk my pouch that had formed and straightened out my stomach, it just caused a lot of inflammation. So I am just now being able to tolerate clear liquids in very small amounts. This has been a challenging journey for me and my whole family, but I am hoping and praying that I am finally on the road to recovery.

Was sleeved in June. Surgery went well, first 2 weeks post op I was feeling good. But at 3 weeks out of the blue I started nausea and vomiting daily. I was hospitalized for dehydration and had an upper GI study done (leak test). No leak, but discovered that a pouch had formed at the top of my sleeve and all my nutrition went straight to the pouch and then my horrible reflux pushed it straight back up my esophagus. I will be post op week 5 tomorrow. I have spent a total of 12 days in the hospital the past 2 weeks for fluids and I am now on TPN for nutrition. The only way to fix the problem is to do a sleeve to rouxen-y conversion. The moral of this story is if you have reflux prior to WLS, don't get the sleeve. I thought fixing my hiatal hernia would fix my reflux....wrong!

Hope all you June 23 sleevers are doing well. My journey has been anything but typical. I have been in the hospital 3 times since surgery for dehydration ( on day 4 of this hospital stay) I developed a rare complication that a whole team of surgeons can't agree on how to fix it. Due to post operative inflammation and some narrowing of my sleeve a pouch developed at the top of my sleeve and all my nourishment goes into this pouch and then the pouch pushes it back up my esophagus and I vomit. We did a dialation of the sleeve in hopes the pouch would push the liquid down, but no luck. One dr wants to stent me from my esophagus to small intestine. But thats just a temporary fix where the benefits may not outweigh the risks. My surgeon is talking about converting my sleeve to the routen-y. Which is another surgery but it may be the only thing that will work. I'm so exhausted. I sure didn't plan for this complication and expect to still be laid up in a hospital bed at post op week 5 that's for sure.

So I had my surgery june 23. I am too dehydrated to be send home today. I am not tolerating my liquids yet. Yesterday was such a bad day, I wasn't even sure this was worth it. With every sip of Gatorade I feel extremely full and nauseated. I'm just bummed out. I knew it would be hard but I didn't plan on being miserable. Boo!

Surgery in just a few days! I must say I am nervously-excited! Praying all goes well for me and all my other June 23rd sleevers! See ya'll on the losers bench

June 23 as well. Start liquids tomorrow! Blah! So excited for surgery day and most importantly life after!

I am scheduled for the sleeve on June 23. I start my 2 week pre-op liquid diet tomorrow. Will definitely be glad to get that over with but understand it's just part of the process. We are getting so close to surgery dat! Good luck!