First I don't want anyone to think I'm knocking weight loss surgery - I would have my surgery again in an instant. This is merely a warning about a possible risk that I had never heard of until I ended up having to deal with it.
I had my WLS - Roux en Y - on December 6, 2007. I was 294 pounds the morning of surgery of size 26/28 (tight). As of December 6, 2008 I was at 184 pounds and a size 16. Before my body started doing weird things due to pregnancy I was 144 pounds, and a size 10.
As far as my post op life, I think I had a pretty easy ride. I can count on one hand the number of times since surgery that I have suffered dumping. I've been told a lot of that is the fact that I followed the rules exactly as they were laid out by my surgeon for the first year, and even today I am very careful about what goes into my pouch.
For those who are curious since I mentioned I'm pregnant (18 weeks now) - my periods returned about 3 months post op, and weren't exactly regular for the first six, and then started coming like clock work. Hubby and I used two forms of birth control, some type of spermacide for me and a condom for him for the first year, and then just a condom after that. We were not planning on starting TTC until I hit the 18 month out point which would be now. I had started temping and using OPK's just to figure out if I was ovulating and figure out my cycles - neither showed that I was ovulating at all. Apparently I was because on February 14, 2009 hubby and I conceived (even with condoms in the picture). We are due on November 7, 2009.
Now - as to the risk no one mentioned. Hubby and I had a great day on May 25th - went out and did a lot of things. Came home that night and had a great dinner or pork chops. I had made a chocolate silk pie the day before and had a very very thin slice of that for dessert about two hours later. About twenty minutes after I ate the pie I started feeling really sick to my stomach and ended up running to the bathroom and violently throwing up every last bit of the pie that I had ate. I can honestly say I don't ever remember my stomach hurting that badly from throwing up, or ever having throwing up feel quite that way - almost like it wasn't going all the way down to my stomach but getting stuck somewhere. I just figured I hadn't thrown up in a long time this badly so I had no clue what it was supposed to feel like.
When I woke up on Tuesday the 26th my stomach hurt like it hadn't hurt since I recovered from my actual WLS itself. I just assumed that the muscles in my stomach were really sore from having throwing up so violently. At the same time I had absolutely no desire to eat, and the mere thought of eating turned my stomach. I did nibble on a piece or ravioli - but it just didn't feel right to me, and I couldn't force myself to eat more, even telling myself I needed to eat for the baby. Drinking had the same turn off effect for me - except I could feel the liquid going through and the liquid actually felt really good as I felt it going through my system. I still couldn't force myself to drink much though.
As the day went on the pain in my stomach just got worse and worse, but I still kept assuming it was just from throwing up. About one in the afternoon the pain started getting even worse. I actually started getting worried maybe something else was going on. I made up my mind if I wasn't feeling better come morning I would be getting seen as soon as possible. By the time I went to bed that night I was in so much pain I couldn't do anything except lay on my right side in the fetal position.
At about 3am I finally realized that if I were anyone asking my opinion it would be go into the ER get checked out, if for no other reason than to make sure the baby is okay. So I woke up hubby, who had been up about every hour asking if I was okay, and to the ER we went.
I'm not going to go into the ER trip other than to say that it was a HUGE let down - and I've already wrote a letter to the hospital about how upsetting the visit was. Lets just say that all that they did was take my vitals, two vials of blood, a urine sample, say nothing showed as emergent and they couldn't do anything for me. I take pain medication on a daily basis due to back problems - and that was the other thing I was already on pain medication so they couldn't help the pain. I was told that most OB's like to treat their own patients so to go see my OB when they open in the morning. My stomach was never given even a feel over.
So I was released from the ER at 730am - four hours after showing up with having nothing done. Then headed to my OB. Thank goodness my OB's office is huge, they had me speak to the head nurse, who had me in a room to lay down in minutes, and had a doctor in to check on me in another five minutes.
This doctor, Dr. Edwards, asked a few questions about the pain (mostly to my husband as I was in tears and barely able to speak), then about my weight loss surgery, then apologized and had me lay on my back to feel my stomach. He said he immediately felt a hard spot right where the center of my pain was in my stomach - and knew something wasn't right. He was worried it was an obstruction from my WLS called the local hospital, and had me admitted, and a surgeon set up to check up on me as soon as I was settled.
I can say that I had never been so happy for pain medication via IV in my life as I was when the demerol went through my veins. I had already told my husband that if they couldn't do anything for me, or for the pain that I seriously wanted him to find a way to knock me out because I couldn't handle the pain. About two hours later the general surgeon my doc had set up was up talking to me.
Due to my pregnancy they were very limited as to what tests could be run. If I weren't pregnant they would have done a CT Scan right away - but there is a risk to the baby with that. So they did an ultrasound of my stomach area. The ultrasound showed nothing. So the surgeon said that they would keep me comfortable and hope that things corrected themselves as they can do if it was a kink or obstruction. They also were checking on the baby every couple of hours to make sure the heart was beating like it should be.
The pain was still intense and I was still living in the fetal position, but when I woke up Thursday it was a little better. I was hoping and praying that it was a sign things had fixed themselves and I would be going home soon. That night however things got really bad again.
Friday morning was even worse, and my surgeon said they were sending me for an EDG (tube down throat into tummy) to see if I had torn something or had an ulcer - which came back clear. He came back up after the EDG and said that in his opinion if things were going to fix themselves they would have. Also that in his opinion after this amount of time it was more dangerous to allow things to continue than to go in and figure out what was going on. They were hoping that given the fact that my pain was close to my gallbladder they set up and MRCP (I think was what it was called) basically a specific MRI of my gallbladder.
After the MRCP the surgeon came up and said that my gallbladder was slightly enlarged. They weren't sure if that was the problem, but the plan was to go in laproscopically, send in a camera, see if they can figure out what's going on via looking - and if they can see something that might be the problem, they would attempt to fix it. This meant I could wake up with or without a gallbladder, or with who knows what having been done. Hubby was to stay close so that depending on what the problem was they could get his permission for whatever they felt needed done.
Now, I'm not sure how many people have ever had something they knew was wrong but not be able to figure it out - but by this time I was afraid it was all in my head. What if I was losing it and there was nothing wrong? When they came up to take me into surgery I think both hubby and I were scared - there was a chance that the baby wouldn't make it through this - and there was a chance this could turn out to be a major serious surgery, we had no clue. There was also a chance they might not be able to figure out what was going on.
Coming out of surgery my first question was (and the nurse said that at that point I shouldn't have been able to think I was still mostly under) if the baby was okay. Once I was told yes, it was "did you find the problem" and when I was told yes I broke down in tears whispering that "it wasn't just in my head".
Now in recovery one of the first things I noticed was that yes my stomach hurt like hell, but it wasn't the same pain I had been feeling. That was also one of the first things the surgeon asked me.
Once I was back in my room the surgeon came up and explained to me what happened and what they found. He said once they got the camera in it was clear what the problem was. I was told that when the surgeons do the RNY WLS when they separate the stomach and the pouch it leaves a large opening that normally your bowels can move in and out of regularly with no problems. I had a lot of scar tissue at the opening to this hole and it meant that my bowels were able to go in and get stuck and not be able to get back out. Basically what they felt was this had been going on a long while and my throwing up had pulled things so violently it aggravated things and made them acute. I did have an obstruction - and was told that my not forcing myself to eat could very well have saved my life as the food could have built up and caused things to rupture open. The surgeon told me what he ended up having to do was go in, slowly take things out of where they were stuck, unkink, and unwind them, repair some damage, and put them where they were supposed to be. He then had to go in and suture closed the opening where things were going to keep stuff from going back in there in the future.
After this happened I've heard from a few WLSers who have mentioned they know someone, or a couple of people who have had the same complication - sometimes via the web, sometimes in person. This was a possible complication I had never heard of from anyone, anywhere. It's a complication/risk that I think everyone needs to be aware of. I think we also need to be aware of what the symptoms are, and what NOT to do.
Would I do the surgery again? In a freaking heartbeat. I have a baby growing inside of me right now that wouldn't exist without this surgery. I'm finally starting to finally feel comfortable in my own skin, and know that I have beat so many hereditary problems from heart disease to high cholesterol to diabetes in the future which were all headed my way.
(Sorry this is so long)
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~Christopher Allen Doern~ Forever Loved Brought into and taken from this world on July 4, 2009 at 22 weeks due to incompetent cervix. "The true measure of a life and love is not how long the flame burns here on Earth, it's how strong it burns in the heart. - Tammy Doern
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After this happened I've heard from a few WLSers who have mentioned they know someone, or a couple of people who have had the same complication - sometimes via the web, sometimes in person. This was a possible complication I had never heard of from anyone, anywhere. It's a complication/risk that I think everyone needs to be aware of. I think we also need to be aware of what the symptoms are, and what NOT to do.
Is there a specific name or diagnosis for what you described?
Any steps that patients can take to avoid it?
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Hey, SoulCysters! Need to eat more veggies, but can't find recipes??
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I wish I could tell you an answer to either. All I know is that the surgeon that fixed the problem also studied bariatric surgery and said that while it is not a common event, it does occur frequently enough. He also said that there was nothing that could have been done different to avoid it - which is the reason he sewed up the opening, there is no way other than to close the hole to keep it from happening again.
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~Christopher Allen Doern~ Forever Loved Brought into and taken from this world on July 4, 2009 at 22 weeks due to incompetent cervix. "The true measure of a life and love is not how long the flame burns here on Earth, it's how strong it burns in the heart. - Tammy Doern
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They are called either bowel obstructions or they can lead to adhesions or sepsis (body toxicity).... which can be potentially fatal if not operated on in time. I've known two people who have had this happen...both had emergency surgery and are fine now. So thankfully if this does happen you should be able to recognize it in your own body.... trust me cysters we've had to fight for our diagnoses we can make it through anything!!!
Yes and even a few years after wls, a person can still be at risk for a bowel obstruction (I've also heard it called a strangulated bowel). Once I had some severe pain and I was very afraid it was this condition. My surgeon called me back and by that time the pain had subsided. He said that if it had been a bowel obstruction, the pain would NOT have let up, and that the pain would have been so intense that it would have caused me to get to an ER immediately. If I ever have pain that gets worse, and worse in my lower abdominal area (and near the belly button), I am going to the ER. Yikes, these things can be really scary. But, my surgeon also did tell the people during the seminar prior to surgery that this is a risk/complication.
Glad to hear that you got the problem resolved. Thank goodness. It sounds very excruciatingly painful. I hope I never experience it.
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Currently taking: Multi Vitamins, Calcium Citrate, Dry Vitamin D, Sublingual B-12, B Complex, Iron, Chromium Picolinate, Mirena IUD inserted April 08
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WLS (RNY) - Risk no one mentioned (very long) 
