VSG PostOp Bad Experience

[_Chonk_ 28]

Yikes @Foxbins!! You have really been through it. I am having a small hiatal hernia repaired with my VSG too. Can I ask if they had to go back in to place the drain, or if it was placed during the initial operation? These kind of complications scare me! 😰 thank you for sharing what happened

[Foxbins 625]

@_Chonk_, the drain was placed during the operation. Please, don't worry. I had my sleeve nine years ago and everything went perfectly. I lost 100 lbs, stabilized at 137, and kept it off. Complications are rare.

[colormehappy 124]

2 hours ago, _Chonk_ said:

@colormehappy, did you have a leak? Do you know what caused the bleeding, and how did they find it? Was your surgery in the US or Mexico?

I didn’t have a leak, just a GI bleed. They never found out where I was bleeding from because it had stopped by the time they got me into emergency surgery. I did have a full liter of blood in my abdominal cavity that had to be suctioned out, however. I received 2 bags of blood as well and felt much better.

My biggest symptom was blacking out when moving from a chair to bed, walking to the bathroom, etc. My blood pressure was very low and my heart rate was around 140 lying in bed. I was very short of breath when lying down too. It felt like my lungs couldn’t expand fully. The doctor immediately ordered a CT which showed all the blood where it was not supposed to be.

It all came on fairly quickly. I was drinking fluids and walking a ton immediately post-op. I felt great. Then when I got up to go to the bathroom in the evening I fainted. I was sleeved in the US. My doctor said his bleed rate is about .02 percent, so extremely rare.

Edited July 11, 2020 by colormehappy

[_Chonk_ 28]

holy cow, @colormehappy. I wonder if they knicked something while they were doing the sleeve...so glad you are ok, and they caught it in time. 😟 thanks for letting us know what to look out for...hope you are getting better now 🤗

[myspeakgeek 2]

--- Update 7/11/2020 ---

They placed the chest tube this afternoon. I have to say that I am not a fan. This thing hurts a lot. It's like someone constantly applying pressure to me in the back with a dull point. Hoping this is the last painful thing they are going to do to me before I go home. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can go home on Monday

[LunaSea679 15]

Just checking in to see how you are feeling [emoji846]. I hope much better

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[myspeakgeek 2]

---Update 7/30/2020---
Thank you for checking in on me. I was released from the hospital on 7/17, six days after they placed the chest tube. I spent four of those days with the tube in my chest.

They went through a process of putting two different liquid drugs, one at a time, through the tube back into my chest. They let them sit for an hour each and then drained them back out. They did this round the clock on three hour intervals. From what I understand they drained the free flowing liquid from my chest at first, then they found this thicker gunk remained behind. They went through this process of backfilling the medicines into my chest to liquify the the thick stuff so it could drain out.

I never got an answer as to what the stuff was or how it got there. The best WebMD answer I could ever find was that a pleural effusion can be caused by a pulmonary embolism, like the ones that I had.

I was released on 7/17 and have been at home recovering ever since. I will be on blood thinners for a couple of months due to the blood clots that I had. I have slowly gotten better each day. The only lingering pain that I have at this point is on the skin in my stomach area . I don't know if this is common or not. My incisions look great but for whatever reason the skin within a few inches of two of them remains extremely sensitive. Sometimes I feel a pinch and burn sensation beneath the skin if I move a certain way. The skin itself is very sensitive, even having my shirt rub against the area causes an unpleasant feeling. The only thing that I can think of is maybe some nerve damage?

Regarding the internal bleeding that I originally experienced. The surgeon believes that he may have cut a paraumbilical vein with the incision near my belly button. Since they didn't investigate the cause of the bleeding while it was happening, they will never know for sure.

Looking on the bright side, I have lost 50 lbs since the middle of June. My BMI has gone from 41 to 34 in about 6 weeks. I still have 50 more to lose to reach my goal. However I hope to do it a little slower now. I feel like I lost a lot of muscle with the first 50 lbs.

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[catwoman7 10,981]

4 minutes ago, myspeakgeek said:

---USometimes I feel a pinch and burn sensation beneath the skin if I move a certain way. The skin itself is very sensitive, even having my shirt rub against the area causes an unpleasant feeling. The only thing that I can think of is maybe some nerve damage?

when I had nerve damage (to the peroneal nerve in my left leg - due to a fall), my leg from the knee down was completely numb. So it doesn't sound like you have nerve damage, but then, I'm not a medical person, so I don't know for sure.

[IWantTheDream 179]

On 07/30/2020 at 07:47, myspeakgeek said:

---Update 7/30/2020---
Thank you for checking in on me. I was released from the hospital on 7/17, six days after they placed the chest tube. I spent four of those days with the tube in my chest.

They went through a process of putting two different liquid drugs, one at a time, through the tube back into my chest. They let them sit for an hour each and then drained them back out. They did this round the clock on three hour intervals. From what I understand they drained the free flowing liquid from my chest at first, then they found this thicker gunk remained behind. They went through this process of backfilling the medicines into my chest to liquify the the thick stuff so it could drain out.

I never got an answer as to what the stuff was or how it got there. The best WebMD answer I could ever find was that a pleural effusion can be caused by a pulmonary embolism, like the ones that I had.

I was released on 7/17 and have been at home recovering ever since. I will be on blood thinners for a couple of months due to the blood clots that I had. I have slowly gotten better each day. The only lingering pain that I have at this point is on the skin in my stomach area . I don't know if this is common or not. My incisions look great but for whatever reason the skin within a few inches of two of them remains extremely sensitive. Sometimes I feel a pinch and burn sensation beneath the skin if I move a certain way. The skin itself is very sensitive, even having my shirt rub against the area causes an unpleasant feeling. The only thing that I can think of is maybe some nerve damage?

Regarding the internal bleeding that I originally experienced. The surgeon believes that he may have cut a paraumbilical vein with the incision near my belly button. Since they didn't investigate the cause of the bleeding while it was happening, they will never know for sure.

Looking on the bright side, I have lost 50 lbs since the middle of June. My BMI has gone from 41 to 34 in about 6 weeks. I still have 50 more to lose to reach my goal. However I hope to do it a little slower now. I feel like I lost a lot of muscle with the first 50 lbs.

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I have the same pinching n burning under one of my incisions and the sensitivity and some numbness my surgeon said it was the internal stitches they use to hold everything together so you don’t get an incision hernia. He said they will eventually dissolve. But they do hurt.

[LunaSea679 15]

It sounds like a terrible ordeal you had to suffer through but I'm glad to hear the happy ending. My port incisions are also a little sensitive and sore sometimes. I think its part of the healing process though.

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