I was supposed to have a laprascopic surgery. I woke up to a huge surgery scar going from just below my breast bone all the way down to about an inch before my belly buttton. I also have 4 scars from the trocars because they started the surgery as laprascopic and changed during the procedure. I have no idea why he changed the type of precedure or why he told my friends and family that my scar was much smaller than it is. I hope I start feeling better about this because I can't change it now. I am feeling very angry that this happened and I don't understant why.

Hi Naomi! I would be on that phone tomorrow as soon as his office opens demanding a call back from your surgeon as to why he had to do the open surgery rather than the laparoscopic. If it was medically necessary then at least you can rest assured that he acted in your best interest, and put your mind at ease. As soon as you can apply anything to your scar I would start using the Mederma scar ointment. I haven't had my surgery yet, but I did buy some because I had a umbilical hernia repair in 2007 and this stuff greatly reduced the appearance of my scar. Congratulations on your new journey, and may you see much success!

Oh my I am so sorry that happened to you!! Just a suggestion, request your medical records if he won't speak on what happened. It has been my experience after requesting records I found out a lot about my emergency cesarean that the doctor did not disclose to me.

Also, maybe to the surgeon the scar is not that big a deal to someone who sees them routinely but for the patient and family, waking up after surgery with a huge scar can be devastating! I would demand answers!!

Hope everything moving forward goes smoothly for you! Sending prayers!

I plan on requesting the records as soon as I can. I read surgery reports for a living as a coder and I know there had to be something bad to change in the middle.

Have you had other abdominal surgeries,? Sometimes there is scar tissue that require then to convert to open.

So help me to understand "you made a huge mistake" because you now have a larger than expected scar? What's done is done.........move forward and reap all the wonderful benefits of weight loss surgery; when you reach your goal weight you will probably need plastic surgery anyway and the scar can be removed!!

Hi Naomi -

I am in no way defending what your surgeon did but am just telling you what my surgeon told me before my surgery. When I went for my pre-surgery appointment with him, he told me that I had to do a 2-week pre-op diet before my surgery. The purpose of it was to shrink the liver since it is right next to where they do the surgery. He explained that if I didn't do a good job on the diet to lose weight, there was a strong possibility that he would have to do an open incision like you had in order to get to all the organs involved. He also mentioned that if he came across any large amounts of scar tissue from a prior gall bladder removal, he might also have to do an open incision. When I signed my consent form at the hospital, it was stated right on the form under procedure "Laparascopic Roux-en-Y - Possibly Open."

I'm sorry that this happened to you and hope that you will feel better once you talk to your surgeon.

Lisa

My guess would be that your liver was too large and they did not have enough room to work once they got in there. Did you have to do the 10-day liver reduction diet prior to surgery? Did you not see the surgeon before you were discharged, so you could have asked? My surgeon stopped in every single day to see how I was going.

I was told that it may be necessary to have an laparoscopic to open abdominal surgery if necessary. I was ok with it because I was more concerned about my overall health. I would rather the Doctor safely do a open RNY instead of a sloppy laparoscopic RNY. Also, in the day of interrogation of personal medical records I think there is a thin line. The trust relationship between patient and Doctor may be damaged and who knows what the future holds. I don't wonder anymore about the shortage of medical professionals at times. The liability in this day and age is incredible.

The pain is getting better and I am much more mobile than I was a few days ago. I was told I had less then a 1% chance of having an open surgery. My friend that the doctor talked to after the surgery said he did 90% laprascopicly but the last 10% he was uncomfortable doing closed. I don't know if it was my liver or not because he told her it had to do with my unique anatomy. I see him tomorrow and I will find out the details of why he went to open and exactly what it was about my anatomy that made him change the surgery. I did the presurgery diet and followed directions to a T before my surgery. We shall see what he says tomorrow.