What Would You Do?

[girliegirl 49]

okay so im a ex bandster. i had my band removed over 3 years ago. i saw a dr the other day for a consult for the sleeve. i liked him very much, but he told me he found out from reading my operative reports from my last surgery that i have a row of staples somewhere in my stomach. it seems the dr shot these staple to release the bottom part of the stomach that it stitched over the band. he said if he staples over staples when creating the sleeve it can cause a leak. he said he doesn't know where the staples are and won't be able to see them because the stomach tissue sometimes can grow over it and cover them up. he still seemed confident. what do you think? to risky? worth the risk? I'm confused?

[PdxMan 4,292]

Seems they should be able to do some kind of x-ray/sonagram/scan thingy to see exactly where the staples are in relation to where the VSG stitch line would be ... seems a prudent course to take. I would ask him if there was any way to scan externally to see where they were at.

Don't ever feel bad for questioning a Dr. They are still human and don't always think everything through. I could tell you stories ...

[Wheetsin 714]

Hmmm weird. Does your surgeons do lapbands? If not, you might want to have him talk with one who does. He can advise on the portion of stomach tissue that is sewn over the band. I've never asked, but I always thought the folded part came from the region that is removed (upper/fundal area, upper greater curvature).

As already mentioned, staples should also be visible through imagery. I would really think there'd be some way to at least really closely approximate their position. I mean, they don't have a hard time finding out exactly where bullets are, or shrapnel. I don't think...

You don't want scar tissue joined to scar tissue, that's correct. As a bandster, you will have adhesions. Generally part of the revision is to address the adhesions. Whether the staples were removed or not, you'd still have adhesions there, so to my not-a-surgeon logic, is makes sense that the staples should make it easier, if anything (because they can be more readily seen/located). It's not like pulling the staples out is what will cause your scar tissue (at least not the vast majority of it) - it's already there.

Might want to call your band surgeon and ask why those staples were never removed if it was going to create such an unknown down the road, as well.

I think more questions all-around are warranted.