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Life changing gastric sleeve to misery..... help



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My best friend went in for a sleeve on the 8th last month, walked into the hospital, with all her hopes and dreams. After the surgery, she stayed two days and went home with the usual supplies and instructions, they did the swallow test before she left the hospital and everything was good she was told. The nurses at the hospital told her it was surgery and she should be expecting pain, that even with pain meds she would hurt. So over the weekend she hurt, more and more, the liquid pain meds eventually did not help and she returned to the hospital on the 12th, having difficulty taking deep breaths. They looked around and and said that her stomach opened up, and was leaking... decided to put her on complete gut rest, even though she was severely dehydrated. Then attempted to put a stent in on the 14th, during this procedure her heart stopped and they had to use CPR and meds to start it again. She has had 5 more surgeries, is still on a vent, in a coma, and doesn't seem to be waking up, this is breaking my heart, she is 39, has little boys.... anyone ever experience anything like this and have a positive outcome?

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In the interest of anything is possibly........ If there is any truth to this then I sympathize for you and your friend.....

In the interest of what is more likely probable.........I don't buy it ..............

Just another online made up BS story by a sick twisted mind....... :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

Just enough details to make it sound like credible information.....and then throw in every possibly worst case scenario that can go wrong to try to scare the hell out of people reading.......even make the person a young mom with two little kids.

To what purpose......

Online depravity....Trying to shock those personally invested and vulnerable.......Or some other twisted agenda.....who knows.

Don't buy into it............ It didn't happen. The person in the story is made up. It is meant to be one of those stories you read and can't un-read.

Ask yourself.....How did this person find this forum and.....who is the friend?? Is the friend a BP member?? Who? Where are the details about the OP. - the hospital? the surgeon? the husband? No pre-op anything.... Nothing personal at all......Just enough generic details to sway you to believe it's a real person.

If they really did want answers from members with similar issues......then why not in the "Complications section of the forum. That is supposedly the ones your seeking answers from. Not that anyone would be able to provide assurances to someone else's complications anyway......makes no sense.

Again it was purposely meant to lure everyone unsuspecting into the story and then scare the hell out of them.... Don't let it... Be upset for what it is. Made up farce. :angry:

I could go on and on..........and to those of you that believe I'm wrong.....I'm sorry, but I refuse to be naive to this type of anonymous online scourge. :angry:

Attention Admin: In closing, I make a suggestion. To the Admin of this site. In the interest of free speech, I don't advocate removing this Thread, but at least move it to the "Complications" section so others will be aware of the content beforehand.

Edited by Recycled

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Yes, "RJ" who is a veteran poster here had massive complications and was in a coma for a long time. Others here have had tough times and come back.

So yes, there are recoveries from events like this.

I hope your friend finds her way back to health.

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An acquaintance of mine had something similar happen as a result of bypass. It's been over 6 months, she is alive and home but still recovering. It's been really bad.

Complications can happen, it's sad and scary. Weight loss surgery is statistically much safer than obesity but if you are the one with life threatening complications, stats don't matter much. Sorry for your friend and prayers for her recovery.

I feel blessed to have had no complications and be maintaining a huge loss with the help of my sleeve.

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As I read the post I saw myself except the part of no little children to take care of. These things can happen but for me the outcome is good. I have bounced back to almost 100%. It is no guarantee that every ones surgery will go well. I know my surgeon asked me what the worst thing that could happen to me was....I said death. Well I really think that what I went through and still going through might be worse then death. But I do not regret any of it and would lay down on that table again and do it all for what and who I have become...

Be a positive influence on the person that suffers from complications and be there for them. Help her get to the goal that was so very important to her to take her to this point.

No one should go through these types of surgery without knowing the risks and if this person is real or not it is good to know that there are others who struggle to get there, to stay there and still fight the complications. But would not do anything different because of the results...

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I am sorry if my story sounds made up, ito not. I was just online trying to see if there is something the doctors were over looking, I am a nurse. A LPN, definetly way out of my scope of practice, I take care of hospice patients, and I came across this forum, sometimes people with simular experiences have different more experienced better prepared doctors so I posted hoping not just for a story or two that would give me hope that she will indeed recover, because when I look at her I see one of my patients.. I see her urine turning black- kidneys failing, I see the numbers on the vent going up, and I notice she is no longer even opening her eyes when I touch her... As for details her name is Stephanie, she had the surgery at hamot hospital in erie pa, a dr hamid I think was his name, but I have only spoken to him once....

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Oh, my name is my my actual name, I am on Facebook, feel free to look me up... I hide nothing... Also her husband and her are seperately and the family doesn't want to tell him, although I have a feeling the bills in the mail might be a huge indication something's up

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I am sorry if my story sounds made up, ito not. I was just online trying to see if there is something the doctors were over looking, I am a nurse. A LPN, definetly way out of my scope of practice, I take care of hospice patients, and I came across this forum, sometimes people with simular experiences have different more experienced better prepared doctors so I posted hoping not just for a story or two that would give me hope that she will indeed recover, because when I look at her I see one of my patients.. I see her urine turning black- kidneys failing, I see the numbers on the vent going up, and I notice she is no longer even opening her eyes when I touch her... As for details her name is Stephanie, she had the surgery at hamot hospital in erie pa, a dr hamid I think was his name, but I have only spoken to him once....

Talk to the doctor ask him if there is another plan. What is going to happen next and what can they do to help her have hope. This sounds serious. I was one of those that suffered too. PM me and I will help you as much as I can using what I know about my own experience.

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Just a positive update thank the lord! My friend was moved from icu to a regular hospital room this week, she still is on a vent, and feeding tube with 3 drains for the infection, but took 10 steps with therapy today and a few sips of Apple juice! I even washed her hair and gave her a awful haircut! Her hair had knotted up to an extreme that wouldn't allow combing or brushing... I am see a miracle, right before my eyes! Thank you to everyone that was kind enough to send me such encouraging messages and prayers!

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Ok for those that have asked, I had a long conversation. Neither the doctor that did her original surgery yesterday. His response was that she is in the one percent where things happen. They dont know exactly why but thinks probably that the part of the stomach that was cut away didn't have enough blood flow left to allow it to to heal, so the stitches that were placed during surgery didn't hold and her stomach completely had opened... We may never really know! But yesterday she had a speaking valve on her trache so she could talk, drank some ensure, and did some exercises with therapy which included walking! We are praying she will be home with her kids by Christmas!

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I pray that all is well with your friend!

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      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.
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      1. LeighaTR

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    • 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

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        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💪
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