Hi, I'm Casey and I underwent the Gastric Sleeve on 12/28/12. I was so excited for this new chapter in my life. But honestly, I feel lost now - because although my surgery was what my surgeon called " a wonderful text book surgery" I have experienced nothing but problems since. I have not been able to hold anything down in my stomach that is not soup. And it takes forever for me to eat 1/2 a cup. Since my surgery, I have thrown up everything I have eaten. I was in the hospital for most of January. NOTHING is wrong with my sleeve. I have undergone endoscopy and my surgeon is the Director of a well known Metabolic Center in Boston. He says that my stomach and esophagus need time to heal after the constant vomiting I have undergone. I can't tolerate any of the protein drinks (I've tried them all). I wish that in the support groups that I attended prior to surgery, they had had people who had spoken about complications and resolutions that they have gone through so that I could have had a realistic expectation of what *might* happen. I am now have been on a PIC line for nutrition at night while the swelling in my stomach and esophagus heals. My surgeon has told me that it WILL get better, but honestly - I am feeling claustrophobic in my own body. I would love to hear from others who have experienced this AND GOTTEN better. Please don't share any horror stories with me because I'm freaked out as it is. I just want to hear from people who have gone through a similar experience and have gotten through it. Thank you!

I am so sorry for your situation. I hope as time goes by it gets easier for you. My heart goes out to everyone who has had issues.

I haven't had any complications. I did dislike my Protein drinks I enjoyed before surgery. I have come to like powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury unflavored. It works better with crystal lite, something I wouldn't normally have. At 2 months I was struggling with the protein. I still have moments where a sip of Water feels uncomfortable. I know we're all different and I really don't think any of us could really know what would and wouldn't work for us until we had the surgery. Hopefully you can find a Protein Drink you can tolerate soon.

Good luck

Oh Casey I just want to send you a hug.

I too had complications (and highly don't recommend a stint by the way) and had the PIC line, feeding tube, blah blah blah....I did it all while they tried to repair my damaged body. I'm left with a smaller stomach because of the damage done to the tissue sadly. This is fine now while I try to lose weight, but my current doctor is concerned about my long term ability to get proper nourishment. He feels that I likely won't be able to ever consume a cup of food in a sitting. The reality of that concerns me as I was hoping not to have to rely on Protein drinks for the rest of my life...it's why I didn't have the "Big" surgery you are hoping to avoid.

Food wasn't a crutch for me so I didn't go through some of the psychological issues you are facing, but I do remember well the long period of time without ANY Fluid or foods...gad wiping your mouth off with a sponge is not a great way to live! The first sip of tepid tea I took was like nectar of the gods LOL

I was telling Sannah (another complication survivor) that towards the end of my torture I found enough hope to look forward. That was hard to find at my worst. I wasn't sure I was going to live let alone eat again, so moving beyond that fear into the world of a solution was a huge step. It might not feel that way now, but you obviously do have a handle on what the problem is (first step!) and you've made some decisions on how to move forward (PIC etc). Sure those aren't easy and I'm sure you feel like you are so far back you'll never catch up, but you are taking steps forward which is the right way to travel dear.

I was down for over two months, unable to care for my child, or even myself. It was slow coming back but today (four and a half months later) my life is relatively normal (if under 800 cals a day and less than half a cup at a time is "normal" LOL). I have only that long term worry to consider dealing with in the future, but worst case, it's something I can deal with (our son has a feeding disorder and we've been supplementing calories for years so I know how). I eat out, have dinner at friends, enjoy a glass of champagne on occasion and wine on more occasions. I'm slimmer but still me. You are going to get there, it's just a very slow road sadly. I'm sure that not only are you suffering from the complication, but your heart and mind are suffering as well. It's hard HARD to deal with medical procedures on a daily basis. It's physically and mentally draining. The pain never seems to leave and that beats you down, coupled with not enough nutrition and you are fighting to survive every second. It's hard to not wonder if this is forever....it's not darling. It seems like it!!!! But it's not.

Baby steps hun. And if it helps to write down your worries and anger and whatever you need to share....do it here. The people here were instrumental to my success. I told them all of the stuff I didn't want to worry my family with. Cried with them, laughed, the whole drill and it did help.

Hugs!!!!!

Iggy - thank you so much for your post. Are you still on a pic line? How did you get past feeling like there was something stuck in your throat? I don't have a stricture or anything - my sleeve is probably too tight. I did undergo an endoscopy. There was swelling in my esophagus from throwing up so much and swelling in my stomach from the surgery. No leaks, no stricture, etc. What you have said above is exactly how I have been feeling. I can only eat like 1/2 a cup of soup. I can't even THINK of doing liquids too. HOW did you get past this? What did they do? If you are off the pic line how are you able to survive? You are the only person who seems to have gone thru what I'm going thru. I too am a single mom ( my 19 year marriage didn't make it past breast cancer - even though I caught it early AND I have been cancer free for 3 years). How are you eating? What are you eating? This is so not how I thought it would be. I literally drop my kids off at school in the morning, go to work, come home from work and have to hook up to a 10 hour overnight pic line to get my nutrients and then have to start the day all over again. Not the way I expected to live. :/ Thank you so much for taking time to write out your experience above. It helps knowing that someone else (unfortunately) has gone thru this too... Hugz back.

Iggy - thank you so much for your post. Are you still on a pic line? How did you get past feeling like there was something stuck in your throat? I don't have a stricture or anything - my sleeve is probably too tight. I did undergo an endoscopy. There was swelling in my esophagus from throwing up so much and swelling in my stomach from the surgery. No leaks' date=' no stricture, etc. What you have said above is exactly how I have been feeling. I can only eat like 1/2 a cup of soup. I can't even THINK of doing liquids too. HOW did you get past this? What did they do? If you are off the pic line how are you able to survive? You are the only person who seems to have gone thru what I'm going thru. I too am a single mom ( my 19 year marriage didn't make it past breast cancer - even though I caught it early AND I have been cancer free for 3 years). How are you eating? What are you eating? This is so not how I thought it would be. I literally drop my kids off at school in the morning, go to work, come home from work and have to hook up to a 10 hour overnight pic line to get my nutrients and then have to start the day all over again. Not the way I expected to live. :/ Thank you so much for taking time to write out your experience above. It helps knowing that someone else (unfortunately) has gone thru this too... Hugz back. [/quote']

No I have left all the pic and jtubes and all that yuckyness behind I'm in fact having a slice of whole wheat toast with a piece of canadian bacon and a soft boiled egg YOU WILL GET HERE!!!! I actually did better on the PIC than I did on the feeding tube. I rejected that...or made them remove it LOL after 48 straight hours of gagging on stomach bile...just vomit after vomit after...well you KNOW! My only issue with the pic was that I got a blood clot. You want to keep an eye on the insertion point and if it gets hot, red or hard, you need to have it scanned pronto! Mine wasn't a huge deal but we removed the pic because of it before it caused more.

My stomach is rather short, and then you add in the swelling as well as tissue lost due to the leak and I ended up having a tiny tummy. I still do much better with liquids than I do solid food. The meal I'm having now is HUGE in my little world LOL That feeling of tightness or stuck in your throat...it took me a while to get rid of it and I still get it if I eat one bite more than I should. It's gone from being constant to just reminding me when I am eating out that enough is enough I think when your swelling goes down you'll see the same relief from it. But I do remember the days of resenting it! I couldn't take but a tiny sip of anything (like a new sleever would feel...but I was out three months!). I didn't actually eat anything much for the first two months because I was so sick but I came out of hospital only able to eat 1/4 cup of soup and that took so long. Now I can actually have more soup than anything else. My stomach, just like yours, is too tight, then you add in the swelling...I can see how the swelling would put you in the position you're in. Some people just react different to surgery than others and obviously you like to swell up I'm glad they looked for stricture and leaks.

Are they telling you how long they expect the swelling to remain? Are you a week out, two? months? I hope not!!!! One thing I did do is add like half a scoop or even a quarter of either the unjury chicken Protein or the unflavored to my Soups. It helped me get in the protein. The other thing I did was to have oveltine in non fat milk. That was my nightly protein push (it's like 8 g's for a cup). But it's hard to get it in at this point in your healing. The doc said not to sweat that too hard. But if you haven't tried that keep it in mind for when you're ready.

Aside from the fact that I eat very little (which means I have to have small and frequent meals) I'm pretty much back to normal. I can't yet have much in the way of fruits and vegies because of the damage to my stomach, so that will have to wait for my six month anniversary. When the blood clot formed we debated me going back on another PIC but they were worried they would have to surgically (I don't know how) put it in because my veins were so badly damaged from all of the other stuff that happened to me. The doc asked me if I wanted to try the feeding tube again or another PIC and I had to beg him to give me a chance to do it on my own. That's how I ended up doing the unjury in soup etc. I started with a protein goal of like 20g's the first week, then up to 30, then up slowly and he said if I ended up in the hospital for dehydration he'd put me back in permanently on a pic again, so I had good motivation! I just did it one sip at a time and it was so freaking HARD! I think you're ahead of me actually there

How old are your kids? It sounds like you really have your hands full just trying to be a mom and survive It's got to be hard to "keep your chin up" with all of that to worry about! Find a way though...this will end! I left the hospital in October and have had a slow road back to health, but I"m there now You'll be there too soon!!!!