Dear VSGers,

I am in needof your help and guidance. I was sleeved yesterday around noon and everythingseemed to have gone well. I walked from the postoperative care room to my ownroom and proceeded to have a pleasant evening. After the first hour, I walkedfive laps around the surgery area. Then I relaxed a bit, flirted with my hotnurse, and walked ten laps a few hours later. The whole night I felt prettydecent alternating between sleeping, flirting with my hot waitress, and walking.

Now we come to where I need your guidance. I wokeup this morning and went to get my upper GI tracked. After the two sips ofbarium and I felt super nauseous. The GI study shows that the liquids are travellingway to slow from my stomach to my bowel. My Dr said I could have two ounces ofwater (and man have I been thirsty); but I couldn’t finish more than two sips.So they go get me another GI study (extremely uncommon from what I heard) andmy doctor comes with its still traveling super slow to my bowel because ofsleepy bowel. He also said the scar tissue around my stomach is causing a lotof swelling.

Is this common? Am I one of the small percentageswho are going to have trouble eating and drinking for the rest of my life? I’mfreaking out and haven’t even seen my surgeon yet post surgery… help please

Hi Brownbear,

Well unfortunately I've not heard of this before. I hope someone can chime in with some info to help ease your mind.

I hope everything turns out ok, and that it's actually not a big deal...

Hugs to you!

I don't know about the study, but I do know that swelling right after surgery is very, very common. I had a hard time getting down my liquids at first, too. Try not to freak out until you talk to your surgeon. It might be that this is the normal swelling that does often occur. Also, make sure your nurses are hydrating you via your drip if you aren't able to drink much yet. Please don't stress too much yet!!!

Everything traveled super slow for me too early out. But, it did improve. It should resolve as soon as the bowels fully wake up, and the scar tissue around your stomach isn't there yet so I'm not sure what your surgeon is talking about there unless you had previous stomach surgery. I would think checking your stomach with gastrographin might be a better option since barium is so thick.

It sounds like you have a lot of swelling and irritation which the barium could be contributing to that irritation issue. Most surgeons do not use barium because it's so dense and not Water soluble compared to the gastrographin liquid.

I'm sorry you are experiencing this, but hang in there, and keep us posted on your progress.

Like Tiffykins said, sounds like you need to give it time to let the swelling go down. Taking anything by mouth was hard for me as well until yesturday. Now I can drink 2-3 oz at a time with no issues. Just keep an eye on your IV fluids, and flood the DR with qustions. That's what you are paying ofr, so make sure he does a good job.

Best wishes.

Well, I agree with the others, try not to freak out, and I have heard of that "sleepy" syndrome with different organs following any type of surgery (not just VSG) so I am thinking you are very swollen and that it will get better with time. Hang in there!