for-my-love

Hello, sleevers! I'm here to post what my fiancée has been going through, so that I can get some feedback and hopefully provide some information for anyone who ends up searching on the same topic. My fiancée was sleeved laparoscopically just over a month ago and had a difficult recovery - almost 5 days in hospital. She's had some difficulty getting back to normal eating as well - she was put on a schedule of 1 week Clear liquids, 1 week liquid/purée, 1 week mushy food, then solids. I feel as though she rushed in getting to the mushy food and the solids, because she always tries her damnedest to get in her Protein without needing to drink shakes. I've tried everything to make them more appealing but it's a psychological thing now I guess; she hates them no matter which flavor and despite the fact that she liked the flavors at first. Three days ago, she started feeling some heaviness in her chest and pain in the left side/back. She has a history of pleurisy and so originally thought that it was coming back, especially since she had no fever and the pain wasn't unmanageable. This feeling has gradually led to pain when eating, drinking, or taking deep breaths, and a feeling of weakness and pressure in her chest. Today she saw her primary care doctor had a series of CT scans done, which were sent down to her bariatric doc as well. Everything came out negative for leaks, abscesses, etc. but we have no answers now. Her primary care doc thinks the cause may be inflammation-related and has prescribed a medicine to coat the stomach and hopefully allow the inflammation to go down. She has a follow-up with the bariatric doc in three days. Has anyone had a similar type of experience? If it wasn't a leak, what did it turn out to be, and how was it treated? If it was a leak, how did you catch it after the negative CT scan? Can this kind of inflammation come from moving on to too difficult of foods too quickly? I know I'm asking a lot of questions and you (most likely) aren't medical professionals, but I would really like to see if anyone has dealt with something similar. I am so scared for her, and I want to know everything I can so that I can be the most supportive possible. Thank you so much for listening.

It has gotten a fair bit better, physically. I think a combination of the carafate (which she is still taking as per her primary care doctor's orders) and the fact that the weather has been a little less humid have really been helping. For some reason, high ambient humidity seems to give her a lot of pain and difficulty eating (not so great when you live in Florida). She is back to being able to eat and drink again, although not quite back to her full Protein and hydration goals. She's still depressed, which I think will last until she starts seeing some more weight come off. I do want her to go back to the surgeon, and she may do so given time, but I think it's going to take a little while before she warms up to the idea. I think that the surgeon does know these things about his practice and sees them as something that you just have to be willing to deal with. It seems like he and his whole staff expect that you will be so pleased and grateful for the procedure that you'll put up with anything they pull on you (including small random charges that, when pressed, they can't explain).

I don't even think I am going to be able to convince her to see the surgeon's office again for follow-ups, she is so angry with them. She does have a very knowledgeable and caring primary care doctor, but he is not a bariatric specialist. The little scrap of silver lining is that she was able to eat a little bit (nowhere near her Protein requirements though) and drink at least 60oz of Water yesterday. She still has left shoulder pain that worsens when she eats, and she feels weak just after eating. I'm hoping that she won't end up in the hospital again.

I'm back. The medication she was prescribed at her primary care doctor was carafate. Hopefully if it is inflammation or an ulcer that will help to resolve it. I am beyond angry with her bariatric surgeon and his office (and so is she). Her followup appointment was set for 7:30 this morning because she had to be at work at 9:30 and we live almost an hour away. They kept us waiting until 8:20 to see anybody because the doctor was in an "administrative meeting". I would be a lot more forgiving of this if it didn't seem to happen every single time and they didn't keep assuring us beforehand that we'd be able to be seen on time. We spent 10 minutes talking to the nurse, found out there were still two patients ahead of us to see the doctor, and had to leave before seeing him. No answers. Before surgery, their office was much more caring, even though they are always extremely busy. After surgery, though, it feels like my fiancée is an obligation rather than a patient there - especially since her experience has been difficult. It feels like a bait and switch, a rejection, like they only want to hold up their complication-free patients for others to look at. I'm depressed because I can't help her, and she's depressed because she feels like she's thrown her life away to lose ten pounds (all she's lost since the surgery a month ago).

Thank you both for your replies. This is really scary! She has been on Dexilant since surgery (she took it for GERD pre-surgery as well). Still having pain and weakness when swallowing food/water, but no fever at all. I guess the Rx she got is more aimed at reducing stomach pain than inflammation, but I'm not sure how well it works yet because the pharmacy didn't get it in until this morning and now I'm at work. She feels really stuck because she is allergic to Prednisone/steroids, but can't take NSAIDs now after surgery. I think she is planning to have liquids only today, and hopefully that will help it. I'm still very afraid of something happening between now and her follow-up, or of damage being caused while trying to figure out the problem. She was already feeling down and unstable because of the hormone changes, but this has made her extremely depressed. Could these be signs of an ulcer? I am able to go to the follow-up with her and will ask her bariatric doctor.