Experience with stents?

I posted before about my leak, but it's been a while. Sadly, I am still in the thick of it as the leak is not healing.

I originally had VSG on 3/8 and by week 3 wasn't even able to keep water down. After a number of different treatments, including a month of TPN and nearly a month with a feeding tube, my surgeon recommended a repair. At the end of June, I had surgery #2 where he attempted to close the leak with fat and tissue grafting and he placed a JP drain.

Fast forward to now, I am still on TPN through a picc line, still have the JP, and the leak is still not healed. My surgeon is now recommending that a stent be placed because it seems that the saliva that I swallow throughout the day is what's preventing the leak from closing. I haven't really eaten or been able to drink anything (aside from small sips of water to take my Prilosec) for 6 months so I am eager to get this resolved. However, I am a bit nervous about undergoing another procedure. I have researched stents and it seems pretty straightforward, but what I haven't found is info about recovery time, pain after placement, stuff like that. Does anyone have personal experience that they can share? I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly...

What a horrible experience!  I'm so sorry you're going through this.  If you've not found it yet, there is a forum dedicated to complications.  You can find it here.

Thanks! I hadn't found that forum yet so I appreciate the link.

Have you seen other doctors about this? I think I would get a second opinion before going further.

Yes, I've worked with 4 different surgeons during the course of the treatment. I have not yet gone outside of my bariatric center, but my surgeon is consulting with others at Stanford about my case and ultimately they would place the stent there. 

I did the TPN thing for a month to heal a small leak.  My Dr decided not to do a stent because they have a pretty high risk of slipping and having to go in with an endoscopy to re-place it in the correct position.  No real good way to determine if this will happen to you or not.  Can you tell through testing if the leak is healing at all on TPN?  Is it possible that you just need more time?  Though honestly, if I'd been on TPN for that long I'd probably be willing to try anything.  I will say that I'm surprised that you're sipping anything at all, even water for meds.  And I'm surprised that saliva would be enough to keep a leak open unless.  A second opinion certainly couldn't hurt.  My doc actually consulted with another very experienced bariatric surgeon because he was at a meeting for something else, so I sorta got 2 opinions in 1 on the first go-round.

I've had a number of CT scans Upper GIs through this process and just did another Upper GI on Monday. They all pretty much show the same small leak with no progress toward closing. The sips are only two per day and very small so not adding much to the saliva I am already swallowing. My surgeon is surprised that it's not healing, too, but my body hasn't done much right through this ordeal. Even the leak didn't present as they would have expected so I think I'm just odd. 

I definitely am ready to do whatever it takes to resolve this. The TPN doesn't bother me nearly as much as the drain. Honestly, I'm a bit afraid to get to the point of eating again because it's gone so badly every time I've tried. I've been in the hospital 7 times since March and I do not want to be admitted for the 8th time, if it can be avoided!

I heard back from my surgeon.  He is still awaiting a consensus from his colleagues, but the three options are:

1. Have Radiology place a new drain further from the sleeve.  The current one is sitting up against the sleeve and could be preventing healing.
2. Inject the pyloris to keep it open, thus reducing pressure inside the sleeve.
3. Stent.

I hope to hear back early next week with the plan.  I did tell him that I am not terribly excited about the first option.