Just kidding.

Having open gastric sleeve surgery very soon. This is after an aborted attempt at laparoscopic robot sleeve in 2022.

Why you may ask? It's complicated- more accurately, *I* seem to be complicated. I have a lot of scar tissue from previous surgeries over the last two decades stemming from an accident and this scar tissue has been an encumbrance to a number of things, including a smooth surgery. Upon entry in the previous sleeve surgery they saw what a mess was in there which included stomach and intestinal adhesions - video of doctor during surgery:

This surgery attempt resulted in a fluid leaking wound infection that took about 3 months to fully close/heal. Like I said, I tend to be complicated, haha!

So going in for round two. The plan is to do open belly incision, address the adhesions and a gastric sleeve. Just a little nervous because in the back of my mind I have to wonder how I can complicate this one. Not my first time having a laparotomy but they were when I was younger and stronger (like bull.) These days I am older and dumb like ox.

Anyone else just complicated?

Edited June 18, 20233 yr by gustatio

I had open Gastric Bypass, mostly because I had 500+ excess pounds at the time. It does give the Docs a good view of the field, easier to get into difficult places. Even then, for me, they had some problems getting everywhere they wanted to.

It does make the early recovery a bit more painful. Quite a bit more. I had about 30 staples from just below my sternum to about my waist, along with a drain. It's less fun than it sounds.

While the first 3 weeks were horrible, once the staples got removed (ouch), things improved quickly.

Even so, I never regretted my choice for an instant. It was the second best decision my life, my spouse being the best.

Good luck,

Tek