Sunnyway

I had RNY to RNY revision surgery on 12/21/21. I thought I was fine, slowly recovering, until 10 days later when I started coughing up blood. I was airlifted back to the surgical hospital with a perforated jejunum at the anastomosis and SEPSIS. I had emergency surgery and was close to death for several days. I was in the hospital for 7 weeks and in a rehab facility for 3 weeks. I was discharged with a 15 cm long open surgical wound which is still not entirely healed 3 months later (but getting close). I resumed normal activities after returning home and have no pain from the open surgical wound. I have volunteer nurses who come to my home to do dressing changes, now every other day.
Because of three necessary endoscopic procedures looking for leaks or abscesses my anastomosis is stretched and I have no more restriction than I had before the revision surgery. I had lost 70 lbs prior to surgery by cutting out all sugar, flour, rice, white potatoes, processed food. I've lost 25 more since the revision.
I've been told to get 90 mg Protein daily and to limit my calories to 800--which is VERY difficult. To add insult to injury I'm starting to lose my hair, too. I'm really struggling with cravings in the afternoon and night. We are now considering a prescription for Contrave.
Do I have regrets for having the revision surgery? Of course! I wish I had left it alone. I wish my surgeon had aborted the revision when he found I had dense adhesions. However, I'm well now and am approaching a 100 lb weight loss.

I'm only a week out, but I was taken off all my diabetes and blood pressure meds the day I had my surgery, and I have to check both twice a day now to watch for any indication I need them back. As of today, literally 20 minutes ago, my blood sugar is 119 and my blood pressure is 128/76!!!!!!!!! So it looks like I'm holding steady completely off those 3 meds!!!!! Massive happy dance going on here I have been on blood pressure meds since 2010 and diabetes meds since 2009. This is AMAZING!!!!!

Yesterday, I had to go get a medical test and was filling out the forms. When I got to the weight part, I wrote "385" and was going to move on to the next section, before my brain synapses fired and I realized I wrote the wrong number and needed to change that 3 to a 2! I've written that 3 in front of my weight for so long, it just became a habit... one I need to break because the 300s were 15 lbs ago. It was very satisfying to scribble out the 3 and make it a 2. 🙂

it's pretty easy to hide in clothes. I've since had mine removed, but before I did, I stuck to 3/4 length (or longer) sleeves, jeans or "tummy control" leggings, and slightly oversized, long-ish tops. No one knew it was there except me and my husband (well, and my doctor). I'm in my 60s and lost over 200 lbs, so yea, I had a lot of it. Here's a picture of me BEFORE I had all the excess skin removed:

Unfortunately, you can’t prevent loose skin & you can’t control how much you end up with. You can’t even predict how much you end up with. If you’re young & still have lots of elastin in your skin it will bounce back some. If you only carried the bulk of your excess weight for a short period of time you may not have as much. If you’re blessed with good genes you may not have as much either. Where you carry your weight can affect what you end up with too - more in your abdominal region then you will have more loose skin there.
The only way to get rid of it is through surgery. I don’t have much (more than a pinch but less than a handful) & decided it wasn’t worth surgery. I can hide it very successfully under clothes even in fitted body con dresses without need of any support garments. I feel I’ve earned the loose skin after working so hard to lose my weight. Rather have some loose skin that may flap a bit than my fat body.

I've had a number of them over the years, and haven't had any such problems; typically, one might have a bit of a sore throat for a while (can happen anytime they stick things down there, whether endoscopy, intubation, etc.) The jaw sounds like they may have been a bit ham-fisted with moving things around to get the scope in. Most of the time, I have had a plug that I bite on (like a baby's pacifier) with a hole in it that they pass the endoscope through, and they strap the jaw closed around it (so it doesn't move when you're under anesthesia).
The bloating seems a bit odd - they do inflate the stomach to see around in there (same with the colon in a colonoscopy) but that usually comes out quickly with a bit of belching, if I have noticed at all. When they do the actual surgery, they do inflate your abdomen to give them working space, and that can take a couple of days to work out as there is no direct vent to the outside world as there is in your GI tract.

I had an endoscopy and don't remember any gassiness or bloating. My throat was a little sore afterwards (understandable) but beyond that nothing. And I was half awake during most of it...!

odd. I had one last year an endoscopy and colonoscopy. yea they pump you full of air but that only lasted for me a couple hours after. I had to fart and burp to get it out lol but no jaw issues

I knew it was coming and yet it still bothers me. Now that my weight hasn't gone down (and I actually gained a pound) in the last 2 days, I'm going to not weigh myself for at least a week. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, keep exercising, keep watching what I eat, and try not to think about it too much. It's not easy, because of course it bothers me that my progress is stopping, but I can't let it get my anxiety going. So....fun times....

Your hormones are out of whack post surgery. Things should begin to feel more normal again soon. If the depression is too much to deal with, you may consider reaching out to your teams therapist. 17 pounds in 6 weeks is a pretty good loss. That’s almost 3 pounds a week.

I was on Effexor 7e XR twice a day for many many years for IBS and depression. Post RNY my depression worsened in cycles. Like every other month. December my primary switched me to Wellbutrin XL 150 1x a day but it made my head feel awkward. After 3 weeks I was switched to 300 XL. Now Im on Contrave to control appetite and cravings and it has Wellbutrin and naltrexone. I take it 2 pills 2x a day so its 360mg of wellbutrin a day now. So Im off strictly Wellbutrin due to the dosage in the contrave. Wellbutrin has helped me so much more and my depression has decreased significantly...only popping up occasionally due to recent added stress and anxiety.

I was hospitalized for three days with my RNY, and I spent every one of those 72 hours being profoundly grateful for my nurses. I don't even want to think about how horrendous those days would have been without their help.

Are you close to the hospital? Will you have someone to care for you? My surgeon does an overnight stay but advised he would keep me for two days as I lived alone - he wanted to make sure I was stable, had pain under control, able to swallow, sipping, moving easily, etc. ended up staying three days as my back went into spasm on day 2.
Are they willing to let you stay overnight if you want to? Will your insurance cover it? Would you feel more comfortable with an overnight stay?

ooof. I would never want to be released same day. That first day right after surgery was rough, very rough. I am glad i was in a hospital where i was monitored overnight. Also they give you fluids until you are discharged the next day which was great because drinking right after surgery first was not allowed for a few hours then you can only take tiny sips.

I had RNY in 1990. Back then RNY surgery involved stapling between pouch and stomach, not separation. It was open surgery and I was in the hospital for 7 days. I had no pre-op or post-op nutritional guidance. I was handed a 1-page low-cal diet and told not to throw up. Two follow visits post-surgery were to check the incision and I was then left to my own devices. I learned on my own to take Vitamin and mineral supplements; no one told me. I lost about 75 lbs from a high weight of 319, stopped losing after about six months, but kept the weight off for about five years before starting to gain it all back again.
For the past 20 years, I've yoyo-ed with countless diets and food plans but always return to that same high setpoint. I'm now 73 years old and am going to give it another shot. My knees and hips are shot, I've got a pacemaker, and I figure I'll die within a few years if I can't lose all this excess weight.
I first learned about revision surgery about a year ago, just before COVID hit. This spring I followed up with a hospital bariatric clinic about 2 hours from my home. I've been on a liver-reducing diet for three months. I had a barium swallow a couple of weeks ago that revealed that the staples had given way and there was a fistula between the pouch and stomach, which explains why I stopped losing weight from the RNY. I had an endoscopy today and had a conversation with the surgeon who told me that the leak occurred because of peristalsis of my stomach, not (as I thought) because I ruined it due to up-chucking too often. The new surgical methods are much improved and there is extensive pre-op and post-op guidance and follow-up.
I will have my psych evaluation in two weeks. I'm within 2 pounds of my prescribed pre-op diet, but don't have a surgery date yet for the revision.
I do not want to fail again, so I will probably seek therapy for food addiction even if it is not recommended during the psych evaluation.

Yep. Too much sugar will get me every time (esp if its on an empty stomach).
My first dump was about 2-2.5 months post op with like a couple sips of a sugary soju/sake drink. It might have been like 1/8 cup in total. Kicked in about 20 mins later and it felt like death (heart palpitations, nausea, extreme lethargy, over-heating and eventually barfing). Oh it was not pleasant.

…..but my WORST dumping episode ever was about a month later when i had maybe 1/8 - 1/4 cup of a dairy-based fruit salad my mom made. That time i think i may have actually died. I had the same symptoms as the drink from earlier, but much more intense and long lasting. And i was spewing “stuff” from BOTH ends. Yikes.
Mr. had to pick me up off the bathroom floor and carry me upstairs to bed, where I promptly fell asleep (passed out?) for a couple hours.
Ugh. Not Pretty.
P.S. The bright side of the story here is that this was the first time in forever that Mr. was able to pick me up without struggling nor breaking his back! 😂

dumping is when you eat too much sugar or fat in one sitting and your system goes into overdrive trying to deal with it. Vitamins wouldn't do that. Also, dumping isn't very common with sleeve - it's much more common in bypass patients (about 30% of whom dump). So I wouldn't worry about that...

Well said, Arabesque. If we continue eating the foods and Snacks we used to eat or look for Keto snacks (which are heavily processed foods), we are very likely to regain all that has been lost.
Even though "bariatric/keto snacks" and "protein bars" are sold on some bariatric sites does not mean that they are appropriate or good for us. Instead, look to whole foods, healthy foods, while avoiding those that lure us into eating more--sugar, flour, rice, Pasta, processed foods. Read nutrition and ingredients labels like a boss!
Lest you think I'm preaching, I can only tell you that I speak from experience. I've done all these wrong things in the past and paid the price--and I'm still tempted by them.

What is your question?

Here's the Weight Loss Magic Soup I've been making. It's delicious, filling, and has only 57 calories per cup:
32 oz chicken stock
3 cups V-8 juice (you can use low-sodium V8 or even Tomato juice, homemade or store bought)
2 cans Italian diced tomatoes
1 small onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 package sliced mushrooms
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
2 cups fresh or frozen green beans
1 can kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
3-4 cups shredded cabbage
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper, to taste
In a large frying pan sprayed with cooking spray, sauté garlic, onions, carrots, and mushrooms for about 5 minutes.

In a large crockpot, combine sautéed garlic and vegetables with the remaining ingredients. Cook on high for 2-3 hours, or until vegetables are cooked. (I have made this in a large stock pot on the stove instead of in a crock pot.)

This makes a large batch of Soup. If you would like to freeze portions of it to use later, undercook the vegetables just a little. Pour the soup into freezer Ziplock bags and let as much air out as you can. Lay the bags flat on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once the soup is frozen flat, it is easy to layer in your freezer and won't take up much room. To thaw, place the bag in the fridge for 24 hours and then reheat.
https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/weight-loss-magic-soup/

You’re allowed coffee but not tea? That sounds strange as it’s the caffeine that aggregates stomach ulcers - increases stomach acid production. I believe decaffeinated does the same thing.
I found this link which advises what foods & drinks to avoid with an ulcer. It includes many of the things I reduced or avoided in my diet after it was discovered many years ago I over produced acid & had a couple of (thankfully very small) ulcers. May be worth a chat with your & dietician for alternatives (temporarily going plant based may be a solution??). You don’t want to consume anything which may exacerbate your ulcer & prolong its healing.
https://www.drugs.com/cg/diet-for-stomach-ulcers-and-gastritis.html
All the best.

I believe they meant Tore revision. I think autocorrect got them, lol.
It's a revision for gastric bypass that is performed endoscopically. They make the pouch smaller by plicating and stapling a smaller pouch.

If you eat a well balanced diet and take the prescribed Vitamins and minerals you should have no deficiency as you age. My plan calls for 1500 mg calcium citrate which protects from bone loss. It is important to take Calcium citrate, not other forms of calcium.
I had my RNY 30 years ago, and while it was not entirely successful (so I'm leading up to revision at age 73), the surgery had no long term negative effects on me. Indeed, I credit it for avoiding Type II Diabetes, which many of my overweight friends now have.

Baritastic. It tracks everything from exercise to the number of times a day you poop. I use the journaling part extensively, recording my mood, what I feel after I've eaten something I shouldn't have, non-scale victories, gratitude comments, etc. The Baritastic app also includes recipes and allows you to add your own and gives you the nutrition data. You can set goals, track your Vitamins, time your chewing, etc.

I encourage you to learn how to cook using bariatric recipes and eat according to their food plans. Fries and Sandwiches are not on the plan, although someday you may be able to eat them IN MODERATION. Not now.
There are many bariatric cookbooks available on Amazon and else where, including air fryer and instant pot recipes. Here are a few of those I have obtained. There are many more available.