Long Post - Sister's Complications with Bypass

A little over 10 years ago my sister underwent Gastric Bypass (Ryn Y). Prior to surgery, she weighed in at 450, was told by her primary care doctor that if she didn't have surgery she wouldn't live to be 30. Following surgery, she had a revision done because her pouch had folded over and adhered to itself.

Starting about 5 years ago, she began having major digestive issues. Her stomach would bloat and distend considerably...to the point where people asked her on a weekly basis when she was due. After spending plenty of time in the hospital related to these issues (which came with vomiting, constipation and lots of pain), she was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease called Scleroderma. We found the right care for her symptoms and for the last two years she's been managing her disease.

Two weeks ago, she got very sick again and was admitted to the hospital. None of the normal things seemed to be making her better and she was transferred to a different hospital. On Friday, a colonoscopy found that her intestines were twisted. They took her into emergency surgery to untwist them. On Saturday, it was determined that they re-twisted and yesterday she underwent another surgery where it was untwisted again and they inserted a temporary colostomy bag. Apparently, they found a kink in her intestines that they believe to be a result of her bypass. Additionally, they removed 11 liters of stool and waste from her body. She'd been walking around with more than 20 lbs of **** inside of her for YEARS.

I just cannot believe it. She made a decision 10 years ago that was supposed to improve her life and its dramatically made it worse. Knowing this, I'm questioning if I should have had my sleeve. While I know they are very different procedures and no one touched my intestines, who's to say something won't go wrong in the future. 

I'm sorry. I'm mostly just venting right now because I'm scared and upset about her situation. Hopefully we will now turn a corner and this will get better now that the kink was found and corrected. I just cannot believe it took this long to find. In all the years of CT Scans and xrays and colonoscopies...no one ever found it.  

For the last nine months I've been so proud of my success and happy with my results...now I'm questioning if it was all worth it? 

I think there's always a risk that something will go wrong in the future, even if you don't have any kind of surgery.  That's just life.  And, let's face it, you've had the surgery already and can't turn back the clock, so is it work worrying about?  If you're happy and proud of your success, doesn't that mean it was worth it?  You can't spend your life dreading what could happen!  

I'm really sorry to hear about your sister and her complications.  I hope that her medical team is able to get things sorted out.  

You're right. I think I'm just being irrational because of everything that has happened in the last 48 hours. 

It's definitely a lot to take in and process!  Remember to take deep breaths and be kind to yourself while you're processing.  Hang in there!

Try not to live with regret.  All we can do is make the BEST decisions given the information we have at the time.  Continue to have PRIDE.  Continue to love your sister.  I can't imagine what you are going though =(

Ms Shell

ppl who have never had WLS also get twisted bowels and fill up with compacted stool. It is not just because of the RNY.

we tend to want to blame even a sore throat on our Wls,when there is no correlation whatsoever.

hope your sister recovers quickly and well.

I hope your sister recoveries quickly and start to feel much better. 

My best regards to you and your sister. I wish her a speedy recovery.

I am so sorry your sister is struggling, and I do hope the surgical interventions will prove to be effective.  One of the reasons I selected the sleeve was precisely because there was no intestinol rerouting... not that I was aware that what you sister went though could happen.  It just made sense to me that the less that is cut, the less likely complications will result.  I do sometimes think about if our slender stomachs could twist easily, particularly since before being sleeved I vomited relatively easily from any type of bug or meal that didn't sit quite right.  But in the end, I know that if I still weighed 150 pounds more, I was on a fast track to other terrible health issues as well.  Try not to worry, and just plain old be gentle with yourself.  

I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. I don't know a lot about scleroderma but I have heard of it.  I wonder if having this disease has pre-dispositioned her to have complications of this type.  It is crazy that it went undiagnosed for so long, I can't imagine the pain she must have been in. I think sometimes they are so busy looking at one thing that they miss what is right in front of them.  I did that yesterday holding an item in my hand with some other things while I searched my suitcase for what I was holding on to...and the body is so much more complicated! I can imagine how frustrating and scary it is for you and your family. I pray that everything goes better now.

As for your surgery, the reality is that the complication rate for the sleeve is so low that the likeliness of it happening to you is very minimal. It does happen but very likely if anything where going to go wrong you would have had that happen already.  You can't live your life expecting failure, that will eat you up.  Your sisters case is not yours so keep enjoying your sleeve, your new found health and if, God forbid, anything ever does go wrong then deal with it when it comes up.  Live as if every day is going to be wonderful, it's the only way to be happy.

I wish you the best, Michelle