Inform Me About Leaks, Please?

[meyouus 415]

It's been suggested to me to have the VSG. I'm researching it and reading all of your post's.

Question about leaks. -

How do you know you have one?

Are you hospitalized right away to fix it?

[mkardh 52]

I would like to add to this question....How long before I can stop worrying about leaks? Every twinge or burp I think LEAK!!! I am 8 weeks post op

[mkardh 52]

pkb, I so know what you're talking about, because you have been on a liquid diet everything you eat for the first while will exit pretty fast. It does get better

[meyouus 415]

mkardh,

I am only Banded right now. I'm seriously looking into being sleeved, but haven't been sleeved yet. I'm trying to learn about leaks, because that is a big concern of mine and don't know if it needs to be.

Someone help?

pkb, I so know what you're talking about, because you have been on a liquid diet everything you eat for the first while will exit pretty fast. It does get better

[mkardh 52]

oops omg blonde moment, meant this as a reply to something else lmao

[Futureskinnyperson 29]

As far as I know your stomach is completely healed and won't leak after 4 weeks.

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

What I was told by my surgeon is that they believe most leaks happen very early out, and the ones discovered months down the road where probably always there, but undiagnosed (very small leak, masked by the swelling). We have seen people on the forum who discovered a leak a few months post op. The symptoms vary, but bottom line they don't feel well, don't have a normal recovery.

I was told that the sutures are healed by 4 weeks, but, my doctor had me do the food progression longer then that - just extra conservative with revisions. I was asked to not do heavy lifting or horseback riding for 6 weeks post op, I am assuming again just to be extra sure.

The leak rate for "virgin" sleevers is published to be in the 1-2% range. I am not sure there is a published rate for revisions. My doc guessed it was probably at least twice the risk as a virgin sleever - certainly single digits, but not insignificant. Interesting thing is they do alot of revisions, and at least at that time, they had ZERO leaks on revision patients. Stats are stats, worth asking about your individual surgeons results. Of course, some surgeons take on riskier cases, so I wouldn't rule one out just because he had a leak with a patient.

There are several people who had leaks, recovered and went on to do fabulously that post on the forums. It sounds like a freaking miserable experience though. Depending on the nature of the leak and the surgeon's protocol it might mean another surgery, might mean wait and see if it fixes itself. It often means months of various treatments, PIC lines, hospital stays etc. Big deal situation, but, seems like people do recover. It is scary.

My logic on this is that without the surgery I had 100% chance of heading down the same fatpath I have been on, with the ever growing health and lifestyle issues that went with it. I decided to toss the dice, pick a great surgeon and pray for the best - my odds of not getting a leak were pretty good so I thought it was worth the gamble. I made peace with my decision once I decided to let the leak issue be my surgeon's responsibility since there wasn't much I could do about it except trust him and follow his protocol as close to perfect as i could.

[Wheetsin 714]

See my responses below in blue.

It's been suggested to me to have the VSG. I'm researching it and reading all of your post's.

Question about leaks. -

How do you know you have one? Sometimes you don't. They can be caught through testing before anything else, hopefully. If not caught before, symptoms usually include high fever, increasing abdominal pain (usually it's severe), feeling eneral malaise -- you just don't feel quite right, rapid heartbeat, chills... I've heard it described as "like having the flu, and someone stabbed me in the side."

Are you hospitalized right away to fix it? Not always. Sometimes leaks are treated with "observation" (esp. if you still have a drain in place). If repair is needed there are different courses that can be taken. This is definitely a question to ask your surgeon.

I would like to add to this question....How long before I can stop worrying about leaks? Every twinge or burp I think LEAK!!! I am 8 weeks post op Leaks usually occur fairly soonafter surgery as the swelling from the initial procedure starts to go down. The "danger zone" I'd guess is 0 - 4 weeks out. "Fairly safe zone" 4 - 6 weeks out. "Pretty safe zone" 6 - 8 weeks out. A leak after 8 weeks would be pretty unusual, though it happens. I've heard of leaks 3 - 8 months out, but really -- that almost has to be a leak that was just undetected for a while. (Ok, it doesn't have to be, but that's about the only thing that makes sense.)

HTH

[meyouus 415]

Thank you CowgirlJane and Wheetsin,

Based on just the information you have given me, I am very close to not opting for this revision.

The reason I ask about leaks is because I have two knee replacements. KR's are funny, if you get an infection in your body, it goes straight to the prosthesis'. Antibiotics help if the infection is caught early. But since leaks can go unnoticed for so long, it could mean that the knee would have to be taken back out and redone. Recovery from a knee replacement is bad, but recovering from a revision is worse.

These leaks sound like they're brutal on the system! Why would anyone go for this revision when the possibility of leaks are so real? For my health, and for longer usage of my new knees, I have to lose over 150 pounds, the sooner the better. Now I'm not sure what to do.

[4ALongerLife 329]

I had a leak... one of my staples was rejected by my body. It was severe pain in my lower left flank (lower back) as my body took the leaking items and put it into my diaphragm and the pain ended up radiating into my shoulder. It's called an abscess then as it's your body's way of protecting itself (putting all of the leaked items into one area). I was a few weeks out from surgery and... I would do gastric sleeve again. I chose this surgery over lap band and bypass. I would still do it again.

[Lissa 2,631]

PKB, Use the search function in the upper right corner of the homepage and look for leaks. I believe that Tiffykins had a revision and a leak, yet she has done fabulously with her sleeve. She's pregnant now with her second post-VSG baby and rocking her sleeve still!

You should definitely discuss your concerns with your surgeon, but the leak risk rate is still very low. What are the chances that you'll have to have a knee replacement again if you stay at the weight you're at now? If that happens, you'll be in the same place as you would be post-revision with an infection. It "might" be worth the risk, but that's a decision only you can make.

[meyouus 415]

PKB, Use the search function in the upper right corner of the homepage and look for leaks. I believe that Tiffykins had a revision and a leak, yet she has done fabulously with her sleeve. She's pregnant now with her second post-VSG baby and rocking her sleeve still!

You should definitely discuss your concerns with your surgeon, but the leak risk rate is still very low. What are the chances that you'll have to have a knee replacement again if you stay at the weight you're at now? If that happens, you'll be in the same place as you would be post-revision with an infection. It "might" be worth the risk, but that's a decision only you can make.

Lissa, I must not be searching right, I came up with my own post's. I searched "Tiffykins", found nothing on leaks, but sure enjoyed the photo's of her family! WOW, what beautiful people! She does sound very happy.

I have an appt with my WLClinic next week, I will definately be bringing up the sleeve. I've read almost every post in the Band to Sleeve section here. The journey sounds very difficult and unpleasant, but people nevertheless are pleased with their Sleeve.

The longevity of my knee's is greatly reduced by the wear and tear I put on them with my weight alone. Part of why the Sleeve piques my interest. My surgeon said they should last 20 yrs under the best circumstances. I'm hoping for 10-15 yrs.

You mentioned..."If that happens, you'll be in the same place as you would be post-revision with an infection." - I'm not sure what you mean? Knee revision or Sleeve revision?

Lissa, thanks SO much for trying to help me out here! I was hoping I'd find some help!

[Lissa 2,631]

PKB said: You mentioned..."If that happens, you'll be in the same place as you would be post-revision with an infection." - I'm not sure what you mean? Knee revision or Sleeve revision?

What I meant by that is that if you don't have any kind of WLS, you will probably not lose a significant amount of weight, which would lead to another knee replacement in the future. I read your OP as you being worried that an infection from a leak would lead to a knee replacement, so I wondered whether you'd end up having to do the knee replacement whether you had WLS/sleeve or not.

My point is that your weight is damaging the knees anyway, so it might be worth the risk to have the sleeve, especially if it helps you take off the weight and allows you to keep the current knee replacements longer than normal.

As for finding Tiffykins' leak story, I believe she has parts of it posted in her profile and I know that she has posted extensively about her journey. To use the search function, you need to go to the forums home page, then do the search so that you can search for her posts. There are other band to sleeve revisions who have had some complications, but Tiffykins is the one whose name came to mind first for me.

As I said, you definitely want to discuss this risk with your surgeon and your medical posse (stole that term from Eggface, y'all!) to see if the risk/benefit ratio is acceptable to you!

Good luck whatever you decide!

[meyouus 415]

Lissa, I now understand what you meant. You are 100% right.

I just have to wait until I see my posse ( ) to ask more questions. I can't wait until next week!

Thanks a heap for your ever lovin care!

Polly

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

I am not trying to talk you into anything, but I don't agree that it is "very difficult and unpleasant". I think you get a skewed view because people tend to post asking for help at their lowest moments and then shouting for joy at the victories. Yes, some people do have complications. Yes, some people have a real struggle adjusting to eating less (the mental side of it). Some people need somewhere to vent and so they come here to whine. I have seen more then one post titled "I am going to die" or "worst decision of my life" and then a few weeks (or days) later that person is happy and fine. I think that going through this process can trigger a little high drama for some folks. I am not discounting that people do sometimes have serious complications, but honestly, that is few people.

Reality of it is most days are just somewhere in between and you don't hear about it! I love being free from the drive to eat. That felt like a prison the same way the excess weight did.

My personal experience - it is a lot easier then the band. The band was both difficult, unpleasant and I didn't have great losses and still just wanted to eat all the time. With the sleeve, I don't have any of the negatives other then being really pretty tired the first month or two. of course, you do have to give up overeating.... so that can be hard. Not only that, you really do need to eat the RIGHT foods and follow the rules.

I guess it just depends on the alternatives available to you. I couldn't lose weight any other way anymore (tried em all!) and I am so happy that losing 100# in 7 months has given me my life back.

I have an appt with my WLClinic next week, I will definately be bringing up the sleeve. I've read almost every post in the Band to Sleeve section here. The journey sounds very difficult and unpleasant, but people nevertheless are pleased with their Sleeve.