Sleeve To Bypass after only 10 weeks. Surgery Date 9/5/2019

[ThreeOhThree 76]

😕So during my sleeve surgery 6/27/2019 my doctor found a small tumor. It was cancerous and very active. It did not show up on any pre op work, he was literally in the right place at the right time. These past few weeks on top of healing from surgery I have been seeing an oncologist. My doctors worked together with me and decided that going to a gastric bypass and bypassing the part of my pouch that is cancerous is safer than putting me on powerful cancer targeting medicine that I would have to take for the next 3 years, Gleevec. The oncologist told me that my case was about 1 in 1000. Normally people come to him with a huge tumor that is beginning to spread cancer and at that point they have a gastrectomy. My surgeon has also never experienced this where a tumor did not show up on preop but he is against messing with the sleeve at all and would just rather cut all that part out if that makes sense. He said he has seen where making the sleeve smaller leads to more complications vs doing a sleeve to bypass. I flat out asked him if I was being punked.

I have not had any major complications from my sleeve, I did have to go to the ER almost at the 6 week mark for sharp pains (turns out I ate tuna too fast). They did a barium swallow and everything looked great with the sleeve no leaks or anything.

I regretted my surgery in the first week and I am a little nervous about having surgery again but I’m also glad they found this. If I had chickened out before having the surgery or dropped out of my doctors program like I had done in the past, I would never have known about this tumor growing. I’m feeling a bit meh and blah about it all just thinking about the liquid diet I will have to do all over again 😂 but I’m also trying to remain positive. This site helps a lot so thank you all for your updates, the t.m.i. (Looking at you poop threads,we all need you) , the highs and lows etc. My surgery date is 9/5/2019.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

Aw man! ((hugs)) I'm so sorry to hear this, but so glad that God worked in mysterious ways to find it early!! Follow in faith. Do what the doc advises and now this time you know the ropes and can take measures to make recovery easier! I bet you won't have to do the pre-op liquid diet again? And you can get through the liquid post op phase quickly. Mine only lasted 2 weeks!

Gosh sayin prayers!!!

[Lynda486 783]

Wow, that's awful and I am sorry you are going thru it. What option do you have if not the Bypass? You have endured a lot, I hope you are feeling better quickly. Hugs!

[ThreeOhThree 76]

33 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Aw man! ((hugs)) I'm so sorry to hear this, but so glad that God worked in mysterious ways to find it early!! Follow in faith. Do what the doc advises and now this time you know the ropes and can take measures to make recovery easier! I bet you won't have to do the pr-op liquid diet again? And you can get through the liquid post op phase quickly. Mine only lasted 2 weeks!

Gosh sayin prayers!!!

Thanks Fluffy! It’s def a fresh start .

@Lynda it’s either this or take Gleevec. It’s not a chemo drug but a step before chemo. My doctor was concerned about me possibly having a hard time conceiving because it is so powerful or even birth defects in a baby. My tubes are tied but he was still weary because I’m “young”. There are also other symptoms like Water retention, this medicine would possibly cause me to have to issues I currently don’t have aside from attacking cancer.

[mommy_vsg 15]

Oh wow i am sorry to hear this. It was definitely nothing but the grace of God that they were able to see the tumor during your surgery and catch it early. Definitely praying for you! ❤️

[RickM 1,747]

I am another 1 in a 1000 case - found a cancerous polyp in the stomach 3+ years ago with a routine EGD. Fortunately it was confined to the polyp so no spread to underlying tissues or lymphatic system (T1a tumor) so all has been handled endoscopically and no funny drugs or radiation needed. RNY conversion was suggested, as well as a total gastrectomy as the overkill option, but no real consensus when consulting other onco surgeons or oncologists. Wait and see with monitoring seemed the best approach at this time for my circumstances. (That's one of the problems with being a rare case like this - US medicine doesn't really know what to do with you; in Japan or Korea where they screen for it, they are more experienced with early stage treatment.)

If we had gone the RNY route, they would have not left any remnant stomach behind, as that can't be monitored endoscopically - and that should be done to ensure nothing else develops later. Is that the approach they are taking with you (I assume so)?

Lots of worries then as tests were being done and things being defined, much less now that there has been a few years of history and tracking behind it. Hopefully you get through these first few months of them fiddling around with your insides and things settle down to a sane routine and you can forget about it after a couple years.

Good luck with it all!

[New&Improved 1,780]

SURGERY LITERALLY SAVED YOUR LIFE 😀😀😀

[ThreeOhThree 76]

6 hours ago, RickM said:

I am another 1 in a 1000 case - found a cancerous polyp in the stomach 3+ years ago with a routine EGD. Fortunately it was confined to the polyp so no spread to underlying tissues or lymphatic system (T1a tumor) so all has been handled endoscopically and no funny drugs or radiation needed. RNY conversion was suggested, as well as a total gastrectomy as the overkill option, but no real consensus when consulting other onco surgeons or oncologists. Wait and see with monitoring seemed the best approach at this time for my circumstances. (That's one of the problems with being a rare case like this - US medicine doesn't really know what to do with you; in Japan or Korea where they screen for it, they are more experienced with early stage treatment.)

If we had gone the RNY route, they would have not left any remnant stomach behind, as that can't be monitored endoscopically - and that should be done to ensure nothing else develops later. Is that the approach they are taking with you (I assume so)?

Lots of worries then as tests were being done and things being defined, much less now that there has been a few years of history and tracking behind it. Hopefully you get through these first few months of them fiddling around with your insides and things settle down to a sane routine and you can forget about it after a couple years.

Good luck with it all!

Whew you just gave me hope. My EGD showed nothing but it was a few months before my surgery. I did have to do the radiation testing unfortunately.

[ThreeOhThree 76]

4 hours ago, Mikeyy said:

SURGERY LITERALLY SAVED YOUR LIFE 😀😀😀

Literally. It’s like almost being hit by a bus but just barely being scraped. I feel blessed.

[Deedee12 1,859]

Literally. It’s like almost being hit by a bus but just barely being scraped. I feel blessed.

Honestly!!! Congratulations!!

Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

[Lynda486 783]

19 hours ago, ThreeOhThree said:

Thanks Fluffy! It’s def a fresh start .

@Lynda it’s either this or take Gleevec. It’s not a chemo drug but a step before chemo. My doctor was concerned about me possibly having a hard time conceiving because it is so powerful or even birth defects in a baby. My tubes are tied but he was still weary because I’m “young”. There are also other symptoms like Water retention, this medicine would possibly cause me to have to issues I currently don’t have aside from attacking cancer.

I agree with the DR on this one. That medication sounds horrible! Cancer sucks and I am so glad they found it!

Hugs!

[mousecat88 2,279]

So they are leaving the tumor in there? I am confused. Can't it still spread? Could they have called in an emergency surgeon while you were under and removed it?

[Losingit2018 1,170]

On 8/23/2019 at 2:06 PM, mousecat88 said:

So they are leaving the tumor in there? I am confused. Can't it still spread? Could they have called in an emergency surgeon while you were under and removed it?

I am wondering about these same questions.

I too am revising on 9/12 due to gerd. One of the things that I do worry about is that section of stomach that can no longer be accessed. Anything happens in there and it would likely be awhile before it was found.

I am so sorry that you are going through this but so glad that the cancer was found early.

I too am dreading the darn liquid diet all over again. We have to remember that it is temporary though.

I am going to follow your journey and wish you well.

[ThreeOhThree 76]

On 8/23/2019 at 2:06 PM, mousecat88 said:

So they are leaving the tumor in there? I am confused. Can't it still spread? Could they have called in an emergency surgeon while you were under and removed it?

So during my sleeve surgery most of tumor was removed BUT there was still a “positive margin” around the tumor. There was no way for them to know right then at that moment that it was cancerous so they removed most of it and waited for the pathology reports. Yes he consulted with 2 other surgeons during my gastric sleeve procedure. This area tested very active and aggressive. He told me this at my 1 week post op and sent me to oncologist who has been doing additional testing before recommending any treatments. Basically they wanted me to see an oncologist before making the decision to convert me to a full gastric bypass.

What if they had converted me to a full gastric bypass and the tumor wasn’t cancerous? So many possibilities and scenarios and not many of them have been published in medical studies which is why I have been poked and prodded. This thing was so new that it didn’t show up in pre op testing 2 weeks before surgery but so aggressive that this “positive margin” around it warrants cancer targeting therapy or surgery to stop it from spreading to other organs.

[New&Improved 1,780]

Why not just get the bypass to be safe if that's going to rid of any possible tumor