Hi Y'all. I'm at a loss & don't know where to go. I'm hoping someone here will be able to give me some advice? Here's my story. I had a weight loss surgery clear back in 1982, and it was called, Gastric Exclusion, or more commonly, Stomach Stapling Surgery. I am nearly 40 years post op!! My results were fair, but for sure not worth what I went through & continue going through! Approx. 12 years ago, I had been fighting a stomach ache for weeks. It wasn't horrible, just nagging. Then I went to visit my daughter in southern California, and something about getting on that flight, turned my "nagging stomach ache", into projectile vomiting, & it did not let up until I ended up in a San Diego ER, & they gave me some Protonix, & sent me on my way. Well, that lasted less than an hour, & I was trying to get to my daughters, 80 miles north... well, this projectile vomiting was so bad, and nothing would stop it! Well, the 4 day trip I had planned to go get to know my new grandson, was extended to 10 days, 9 of which were spent in a lovely hospital bed with palm trees outside my window view. They had me with a Naso-gastric tube, the one that goes from your nose into stomach to drain all contents of stomach continuously. On the 8th day, they finally scheduled me with a gastro enterologist, (really?? duh!!) and he did a scope on day 9, and found that one of my staples, had dislodged, and was floating around in my abdominal cavity, and had began boring a hole in my stomach wall!! The doctor who performed the scope dislodged the "staple", and took it out with the scope itself, at which time, my nausea, projectile vomiting and all pain magically went away along with that staple! Well, I was just so happy to have the issues resolved & be on my way back to Colorado, that I didn't bother getting much information about what was the cause & effects, or what to do in the event that I started having similar symptoms again! (finally bringing this to today!) Yeah, you guessed it. I've been having the same type of pain for the past week or so, & I fear it's going to be the same problem rearing it's ugly head again! I actually ended up in the ER a couple days ago, because of horrific abdominal pain, WAY worse than the pain I had 12 years ago, & they admitted me for a night & day for observations & kept me NPO while I was there. They did a CAT scan, & said they "THINK" I have an obstruction that will resolve on it's own. I attempted to tell these ER docs & nurses about my surgery in 1982, but they looked at me like I was from another planet, & just excused the topic. So, my question is, has anyone ever heard anything about this type of complication or ANYTHING 40 years post op, and if not, does anyone know where I could get information on this subject?
