As A Revision Patient, The Risk Of Gastric Sleeve Leaks Is In The Back Of My Mind

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

I know that at 2 weeks post op I am moving further away from the highest risk period. I start pureed foods on Wednesday, and resolve to continue being careful. My surgeon told me that they think most leaks actually happen in the first two weeks, but we all know that many are discovered weeks later. I have an optimistic view, I feel like I am recovering fine, but there is this little niggling worry since revision patients have a much higher risk of leak.

Just curious if any of my fellow revision patients were told anything in particular about this - what to watch for, when they can consider themselves "out of the woods" for a leak.

[gettingthere 11]

Hi CowGirlJane, I am new to the forum and my op was mid-Dec. I am also worried about leaks. My surgeon told me that leaks can be found months later (he showed me an article that described 2 cases of leaks folowing LSG, one at 6 months and another at 9 months after surgery. He said that was why I had to follow the feeding instructions and the no alcohol and smoking for a full year..... yes, he managed to scare me! He told me that a sudden spike in temperature, abdominal pain and feeling unwell would be the sign that I needed to ring him asap.

I saw there was a whole section on this forum about complications but I don't dare go and have a look!

[thebionicbroad 127]

I'm following the rules scrupulously, because this surgery, unlike my band, is no joke. My doctor told me that he wouldn't do the sleeve if my stomach looked "iffy" in texture. After he removed the Band, he did the sleeve, and told me later how good everything looked. I refuse to live in fear. (Brave words, but last night, I dreamt I was bald. Go figure.)

[kimmr 5]

Huh..."refuse to live in fear." How does one get to that point? I'm a long ways from that!

[thebionicbroad 127]

Kimmr,

I trust my surgeon's opinion and competence, and I'm holding up my part of the bargain by following the rules. If a leak does develop, I'll know that it wasn't due to something I did wrong. I'll deal with it if it happens. I know my body, and I don't ignore warning signs. The sleeve is one of the safest bariatric procedures out there. I researched thoroughly before I had the sleeve. I never would have agreed to something that I thought would take me away from my DH and family. I'm more afraid of losing my hair than developing a leak.

[kimmr 5]

Ms Broad....I applaud you. I wish I could be so confident. I know I'm scared because my band failed, and I don't want to do another failure. I think it would also make a difference if I was back up at my higher weight - I was banded at 241, now I'm at 173 or so, but that's up 20 lbs from my lowest with the band. I would be more willing to make what I feel is a very drastic decision. But at the same time, why should I wait until I've gained (cause I know it's going to happen...)? Isn't that what everyone says - that they wished they had done it sooner?

Why can't I be normal and not need WLS in the first place?

I'm setting up some counseling next week. I'm having a really hard time dealing with these feelings of, "I hate being me." Such feelings are totally new to me....I have a beautiful family who supports me 100%, even considering this revision. I don't know, this band failure thing has really changed me into a person I don't recognize.

Can you feel my pain?

[thebionicbroad 127]

Kimmr,

Heck, yes, I can feel your pain. I felt shame for years after my Band failure. People would look at me and sneer. "YOU have a Band?" I had gained all my weight back plus some, and couldn't eat anything but what kept my weight up - greasy, fatty, slippery.

My surgeon told me that no matter how disciplined the patient, whenever the Band was removed, the patient gained weight. Every. Patient.

A Lap-band failure doesn't mean that we are failures. The Band is not what it was touted to be. It causes slips, and scarring, and esophageal dilation, and erosion, and GERD, and hernias. The blasted thing should be pulled from the market. My surgeon lost someone who came in with a black, gangrenous stomach pouch. Those of us lucky enough to survive the thing to have a revision to a sleeve are the lucky ones.

Obesity is one of the most complicated health issues on the planet. It's NOT just pushing away from the table. It is NOT a character flaw or weakness. It is a genetic, hormonal, and behavioral problem. Can you imagine a diabetic hating himself because he has to take insulin? Or a cancer patient despising herself because she's in chemo? But we chunkies love to hate ourselves. It ain't all us.

Something, somewhere, at the cellular level, something went wrong. It doesn't mean that we are terrible people. It means that we need medical intervention. The Band was a flawed solution. The by-pass was out because the malabsorptive issue. The sleeve was my choice and my surgeon's recommendation. So far, I'm very pleased.

I just don't want to see you blame yourself for a Band failure. Sounds like you did as well as anyone could. You deserve a better solution, my friend.

Pat

[kimmr 5]

This makes me cry, I read it in the bathroom on my cell phone! I'll respond from home where I can cry openly.

Kimmr,

Heck, yes, I can feel your pain. I felt shame for years after my Band failure. People would look at me and sneer. "YOU have a Band?" I had gained all my weight back plus some, and couldn't eat anything but what kept my weight up - greasy, fatty, slippery.

My surgeon told me that no matter how disciplined the patient, whenever the Band was removed, the patient gained weight. Every. Patient.

A Lap-band failure doesn't mean that we are failures. The Band is not what it was touted to be. It causes slips, and scarring, and esophageal dilation, and erosion, and GERD, and hernias. The blasted thing should be pulled from the market. My surgeon lost someone who came in with a black, gangrenous stomach pouch. Those of us lucky enough to survive the thing to have a revision to a sleeve are the lucky ones.

Obesity is one of the most complicated health issues on the planet. It's NOT just pushing away from the table. It is NOT a character flaw or weakness. It is a genetic, hormonal, and behavioral problem. Can you imagine a diabetic hating himself because he has to take insulin? Or a cancer patient despising herself because she's in chemo? But we chunkies love to hate ourselves. It ain't all us.

Something, somewhere, at the cellular level, something went wrong. It doesn't mean that we are terrible people. It means that we need medical intervention. The Band was a flawed solution. The by-pass was out because the malabsorptive issue. The sleeve was my choice and my surgeon's recommendation. So far, I'm very pleased.

I just don't want to see you blame yourself for a Band failure. Sounds like you did as well as anyone could. You deserve a better solution, my friend.

Pat

[kimmr 5]

So thank you, Pat, for your honest words. I don't know why I beat myself up about this. I know you're right. I've got something in my genes that makes us fat. My mom died of a cancer that was very hard to detect because she was significantly overweight. She's been gone 19 years now, she died when I was 12. Her mom has had breast cancer, but survived. My dad's mom has diabetes. All of my (literally, all of them) aunts and uncles on my dads side are obese. They get new knees like normal people get new cars. My dad is the smallest at maybe 5'5", 225 lbs.

I did the band because I didn't want to leave my own girls without a mom. I did something 'once and for all.' Now I come to find out that I made a mistake, or what seems like a mistake, and I just don't want to be doing this again in 5 years.

What's funny is that my husband has been saying the exact same thing...."It's not your fault, there's nothing you can do about your genes, we can figure out how to pay for it, we want you to be healthy..." but for some reason, it's totally different coming from a person that has been in my shoes. He understands my pain, but he's never lived it, so it's just not quite the same.

I also know I'm being unreasonable about this because we've had all sorts of tragedies in our lives over the last year. This just adds to it, and makes me feel like I'll never again get to a happy point in my life. I hate living like this, truly. This is why I'm going back to counseling.

[thebionicbroad 127]

Counseling sounds like a good idea. I've gone several times in the course of my years, and it's helped. My alcoholic and diabetic family is prone to depression. And I don't think that you're being unreasonable. You're looking for answers.

Pat

[Amanda131 214]

Kimmr,

Heck, yes, I can feel your pain. I felt shame for years after my Band failure. People would look at me and sneer. "YOU have a Band?" I had gained all my weight back plus some, and couldn't eat anything but what kept my weight up - greasy, fatty, slippery.

My surgeon told me that no matter how disciplined the patient, whenever the Band was removed, the patient gained weight. Every. Patient.

A Lap-band failure doesn't mean that we are failures. The Band is not what it was touted to be. It causes slips, and scarring, and esophageal dilation, and erosion, and GERD, and hernias. The blasted thing should be pulled from the market. My surgeon lost someone who came in with a black, gangrenous stomach pouch. Those of us lucky enough to survive the thing to have a revision to a sleeve are the lucky ones.

Obesity is one of the most complicated health issues on the planet. It's NOT just pushing away from the table. It is NOT a character flaw or weakness. It is a genetic, hormonal, and behavioral problem. Can you imagine a diabetic hating himself because he has to take insulin? Or a cancer patient despising herself because she's in chemo? But we chunkies love to hate ourselves. It ain't all us.

Something, somewhere, at the cellular level, something went wrong. It doesn't mean that we are terrible people. It means that we need medical intervention. The Band was a flawed solution. The by-pass was out because the malabsorptive issue. The sleeve was my choice and my surgeon's recommendation. So far, I'm very pleased.

I just don't want to see you blame yourself for a Band failure. Sounds like you did as well as anyone could. You deserve a better solution, my friend.

Pat

Bionic-

This is truly one of the best posts I've read in a long time. I really appreciated the insight and I'm not even a revision patient.

Amanda

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

Pat, that was a very insightful and terrific post.

I guess alot of us "failed" with the band, or it failed us, or some combination thereof.

I think to be fully honest, i could have done better with the band if I had been able to continuously muster the strength to not eat even though i felt hunger. If i had better aftercare. Maybe if I had better access to support. But reality of the situation was that it was so hard to live with.

I lost about 30 pounds on the liquid diet (full month!) and then over the next year lost an additional 40 pounds.... by dieting and exercising. I got nowhere near goal and really just couldn't sustain it better then any other diet. Then the reflux and all started hitting....

But what i also know is that even if i had done "better" it is still a very flawed solution. I keep saying this over and over again - but back in 2001, in Europe where I was banded, the brochure they gave me indicated that it should NOT be considered permanent and would most likely need to be removed. I didn't really understand it at the time - I saw that as a feature, easily reversible - but that isn't what it meant at all! It meant that most everyone will need to get rid of the damn thing sooner or later.

I am trying to learn from my mistakes, hoping like mad the sleeve really is a better solution (2 weeks post sleeve so it is a little early to tell) and making the best of it. No use wasting energy over the past - all there is left is the here and know and what tomorrow brings.

[thebionicbroad 127]

It's ironic that, if I hadn't have had the Band with all of its complications, my insurance wouldn't have paid for the revision. I'm 16 days post-op, on mushies, and able to eat cooked egg, something I couldn't do with the Band. I am a very Happy Camper. All of you, have a wonderful New Year! My black-eyed peas are already in the pantry, waiting to be pureed.

[kimmr 5]

^{Bionic, can you explain your insurance coverage? The would cover a revision but not a virgin sleeve?}

[thebionicbroad 127]

Happy New Year, kimmr!

My insurance, Kaiser, didn't do the Band back in '05, so I was a self-pay. Now that Kaiser does the sleeve, I didn't qualify because of having a lower BMI (36) with no co-morbidities. No high BP, no diabetes, no sleep apnea. I qualified for the sleeve because of all the complications I was having with the Band. 28 pounds in 28 days is all I can say.