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I am 25 years old and had my gastric sleeve and was doing great with it even my doctor had thought I was doing wonderful with it. I was loosing weight perfectly no complications and was healthy as can be and was looking great.

The summer came and I was very excited my first summer not feeling embarrassed about my weight and I was excited to go to the beach.

Little did I know I caught a summer cold and it was a week before I was turning 25 so I go to the drs and figure everything will be ok.So my birthday comes and I go out with everyone to Celebrate and i still have this pretty bad cough that just wont go away I dont think anything of it at the time and enjoy my night. At the end of the night I walk back to our shore house with all my friends and were just relaxing outside and i get a sudden pain in my back like Water just moved around in my back and the pain go so bad that i started crying for hours until I fell asleep. The next morning came im still coughing and figure maybe i pulled a muscle thats why my back hurts which is common for me because at this time my shoulder had been bothering me for moths and it was just something that would happen because of the way I sleep.< /span>

My friends and boyfriend talk me into leaving the shore to go to the dr, after some thought i figure they are probably rite and i should do it. So i drive home with my friend and my boyfriend and my boyfriend came with me to the doctor and little do i know I had pneumonia!! I was so upset all I could do was cry. So i get put on medication and was told id be good to go in a week or so because im young and healthy! well little did the doctor know i would take a turn and become so unhealthy. Everything they were putting me on would keep me awake all night I couldnt breath everything I ate would make me sick and i went back to the doctor 2 times and on the 3rd time i told my mom I feel so sick i feel like i am dying so I get to the doctors and cant even sit up in the chair with out even taking me in he sent me to the hospital. I get there and they do tests and x-rays and find out im very malnourished from being so sick and i have very bad pneumonia. They admit me and tell me they need me on IV's to get better so i figure out this should take care of it now.BOY WAS I WRONG!! i just got sicker and sicker until they just had to go in and take the infection out in surgery. 3 hours later a huge scar down the side of my body half a lung now missing they finally took the pneumonia out which was 2 solid masses the size of softballs!So now i figure Im good a few days i can go home.NOPE WRONG AGAIN!! they had put chest tubes into me to drain the rest of the infection but the infection is draining to much more then what was left me so they figure something no is going wrong they do all tests and scans and they find nothing and now im getting very very sick again.

They did one last upper GI scan and from the chest tubes in my back i was uncomfortable so i moved on the table and there is was...A hole in my stomach, now they didnt know what to do because I had my gastric done in the city and this hospital doesnt even do gastric. They got in touch with my surgeon who requested I be sent to his hospital ASAP and that to tell me to get ready for surgery. So the doctors all come in and around to tell me the bad news and all I could do was cry and cry, how could this happen i had surgery over a year ago ive been fine.

I get to my surgeon whos waiting with me with my parents doctor who is the best of the best and rite then they start tests and scans then the next day they get me ready for surgery.My surgeon had not known what to do and he is one of the best doctors and one of the top gastric surgeons and all he did was to ask me to trust him and he will figure it out, so i did.

I wake up and hes standing there with a big smile on his face and says hey kid your going to be fine i fixed it!! the next few days im starting to feel better and im so happy and i have hope, because before they knew what was really going on they expected i would die and when i said to my mom im sick i feel like im dying well i was rite i was dying and the doctors had told me later on i only had about a week left to live(imagine being 25 and being told that) Now time goes by and im feeling great and im starting to get my health back little by little and they finally took the chest tubes out and guess what its time to finally go home after almost 2 months. I slowly started to get better and now 7 months later and im fully back to normal life!!!

Now you might ask what happened to my sleeve? My surgeon does not know, and said we may never know but be happy it was found. Now you might ask how did this girl not know she had this? Well i had zero signs and symptoms of this my body was able to hide what was going on very very well. I had this leak in my stomach for almost a year and no one knew or saw it. I even had my gall bladder taken out with this going on. The only sign i did have remember i said my shoulder had been hurting me? the infection was sitting on a nerve that went to my shoulder. So what exactly was going on with my stomach? The surgeon calls it a " blow out" for no reason to be found somehow my stomach blew it self out and formed a direct connection to my left lung, if they tried to re create what my body did they couldnt thats how complex this was. Can this be blamed on my gastric sleeve? I feel not it was just a freak accident that happened to me and im still very happy everyday that i had my sleeve done!!! The picture attached to this was taken the night i got sick. Could you tell by this picture that i was dying? I cant!!!

post-17669-13813662775822_thumb.jpg

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I think your story is important... Can you please change the pink color on the text. I'm old and can't see it that well sorry

Oh and I remember your one year out story and pics!

[Edit]

THANK YOU

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Wow I'm glad you are okay now! Thanks for sharing. I will keep your story in mind if anything similar starts happening to me.

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Holy ****! Wow. I'm so happy your ok!

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I believe, other than skilled hands, your amazing outlook is what keeps you healing and doing so well.

(Thanks for adjusting the font) your story is important for others.

Thank you for sharing with us. :) glad you're doing well.

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Changed the color lol and i still get very very nervous if i have any symptoms but my doctor had not heard of anyone else as far along as i was with this issue.

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Thanks everyone!

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They are not sure if it started there because it was there and under it also

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No side effects from the stomach. just breathing from the damage that was done to my lung and for missing some of it, but my stomach has been fine so far, I did get to my goal after being sick but now im up 30 lbs : ( so now my goal is to get that off

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Oh my god I'm so sorry you had to go through this! But so happy you are doing better!

And thank you for coming back here and telling about your ordeal!

And with such a positive attitude too!

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Wow... So glad your survived. How awful for not only you, but your family :-/

This posts helps to remind us that no matter when our surgery was, its important to pay attention.

Jane... We're the attending drs always aware of your vsg?

Again.. So glad you're better, and looking hot to boot, too! :-)

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What an incredible story, thank you for sharing it. I'm happy you have a wonderful prognosis!

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XOXO- was it a constant shoulder pain, or randomly bothered you? Did you have ever since you had surgery?

I ask because I've had shoulder pain and my surgeon said he's never heard of shoulder pain. Mine is not constant, but when I start to get full when eating or if I've ate too much.

I'm glad to see you are back to being healthy & thank you for sharing your story!

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    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Doughgurl

      Hey everyone. I'm new here so I thought I should introduce myself. I am 53y/o and am scheduled for Gastric Bypass on June 25th, 2025. I'm located in San Antonio, Texas. I will be having my surgery in Tiajuana Mexico. I've wanted this for years, but I always had insurance where bariatric procedures were excluded. Finally I am able to afford to pay out of pocket.  I can't wait to get started, and I hope I'm prepared for the initial period of "hell". I know what I have signed up for, but I'm sure the good to come will out way the temporary period of discomfort and feelings of regret. I'd love to find people to talk to who have been through the same procedure or experience before. So I look forward to meeting you all. Hope you have a great week!
      · 2 replies
      1. Selina333

        I'm so happy for you! You are about to change your life. I was so glad to get the sleeve done in Dec. I didn't have feelings of regret overall. And I'm down almost 60 lbs. I do feel a little sad at restaurants. I can barely eat half a kid's meal. I get adults meals often because kid ones don't have the same offerings at times. Then I feel obligated to eat on that until it's gone and that can be days. So the restaurant thing isn't great for me. All the rest is fine by me! I love feeling full with very little. I do wish I could drink when eating. And will sip at the end. Just a strong habit to stop. But I'm working on it! You will do fine! Just keep focused on your desire to be different. Not better or worse. But different. I am happy both ways but my low back doesn't like me that heavy. So I listened (also my feet!). LOL! Update us on your journey! I'm not far from you. I'm in Houston. Good luck and I hope it all goes smoothly! Would love to see pics of the town you go to for this. I've never been there. Neat you will be traveling for this! Enjoy the journey. Take it one day at a time. Sometimes a few hours at a time. Follow all recommendations as best you can. 💗

      2. Doughgurl

        Thank you so much for your well wishes. I am hoping that everything goes easy for me as well. We don't eat out much as it is, so it wont be too bad in that department. Thankfully. Also, I hear you regarding your back and feet!! I'd like to add knees to the list. Killing me as we speak! I'm only 5' so the weight has to go. Too short to carry all this weight. Menopause really did a doosey on me. (😶lol) My daughter also lives in Houston. with her Husband and my 5 grand-littles. I grew up in Beaumont, so I know Houston well, I will be sure to keep in touch and update you on my journey. I may need some advice in the future, or just motivation. Thank You so much for reaching out, I was hoping to connect with someone in the community. I really appreciate it. 💜

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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