severman
I am currently 8 years post op from a RNY. It has been quite a journey. I had lap RNY on 12/27/02. I had a leak and had to have an open RNY to repair leak and fix my bowel the next day. My pain never went away. My surgeon told me it was not related to the surgery. So six months post op I had my OBGYN do a lap exploratory surgery on my abdomen. He couldn't even get in because of all the scar tissue, adhesions, and hernia. Then December 2003, I switched surgeons because mine wouldn't listen that my pain was related to my RNY. My new surgeon was Dr RoseMarie Jones. She performed a lap surgery and fixed my hernia and cut out all my adhesions. I suffered another leak and had to have emergency surgery the next day. Then in May and July 2004 I developed a small bowel obstruction that both required surgery. I started getting partial bowel obstructions monthly and had to be hospitalized for a week at a time every month from September 2004 to June 2005. My cortisol levels dropped and they falsely diagnosed me with Addison's Disease. They put me on steroids and I gained 90 pounds in six months. I also kept getting ulcers that would require endoscopies. I threw up so much that I eroded so much enamel off my teeth that I had to have them pulled and now have a full set of dentures. I started seeing a pain specialist to help me deal with the pain. I lost my insurance and the new doctors did not want to touch me because of my surgical history and complications. They told me it was more of a risk to go in and remove the adhesions. I would get severe abdominal spasms that would start around the bottom of my riib cage in the middle and radiate to the back and sides. The spasm would tighten and release, sometimes for hours. I took a medicine called Levsin that would help sometimes. My GI finally referred me to a different surgeon. He did an enteroclysis and discovered I had something called Blind Loop Syndrome. It's where a section of the bowel becomes paralyzed and stops functioning allowing bacteria to grow. In August 2010 I had surgery and had a foot of diseased bowel removed. He had to redo my Y portion. I got about four months pain free before my spasms returned. I am technically unhealthier post op than I was before surgery, but who knows where I would be if I hadn't had the surgery! I have been able to take off most of the steroid weight gain since July 2010.
Feel free to message me with any questions or comments about my WLS journey.
