Adhesions to spleen and band removal

[pennreporter 12]

I recently went in for a band revision. In my mind that's what was happening. Worst that could happen was that they would have to replace the band. Wake up from anesthesia and hear the nurses talking about the band being removed. Well, needless to say, I was devastated.

Seems I had developed significant adhesions to my spleen. Nowhere in the literature or even on here have I seen that as among the more common risks. But while he was in there, he didn't see anythng wrong with the band that would be causing all my slippage problems, he just went ahead and removed it. This from a surgeon who is not a great believver in the band to begin with.

While I was still dopey from drugs he's talking to me that this isn't necessarily the end of the world. They could always do a bypass later or if he could get insurance to approve it, a sleeve. I was still in tears emotionally from the roller coaster and drugs.

He absolutely is adamant that the stomach adhesing to the spleen could not have possibly cause the band to not function properly. But something clearly was causing the slips.

I go for a second opinion in a few weeks and maybe can get more questions answered. After seeing what they do with the sleeve, I'm not willing to take the risk. If a band surgery will cause enough adhesions to have to have 100 mini staples in my stomach, what are the risks of them removing half your stomach and a gazillion more staples.

Financially I will be paying for this for the next two years. I wasn't at goal yet...I'm abuot 25 lbs out but maintenance was always my issue. I had hoped that this would be the answer to maintain. So for 10k+ I've got a whole lot of staples and a pretty messed up looking abdomen.

Would love to know if anyone else has ever had their spleen adhese to the stomach.

Trisha

[Mimilou2004 13]

I am so very sorry for what happened. I wish you a speedy recovery.

Mimi

[NH-Pam 2]

Trisha,

Wow I can't believe that. I believe that we were banded around the same time. I'll be heading into surgery for a revision from a slip on Nov. 18th. You bet I'll be questioning the spleen before I go in.

I'm about 20pounds from my goal and told my husband that I'll have the revision this time but if it slips again, I'll just have it removed. I think we've made enough changes in our lifestyle so the weight wont come back on. (I hope) Im praying that the revision works!

Let us know how the second opinion goes.

Pam

[pennreporter 12]

I was supposed to go in for my followup appt today but I rescheduled for next Tuesday. I'm still pretty upset with my surgeon. From what I can read and find on the internet, adhesion to the spleen is not common. I know adhesions can happen after any surgery. So I have my list of questions when I see him next week and then I'll have my 2nd opinion about 2 wks after that. I was about 15 lbs from goal at the time of major slip in June and then when they unfilled the band, and had no restriction all summer, I gained back about 20 lbs. So I'm at 174 right now, a realistic goal is 150-160. So Im not that far off. Since the surgery I haven't been eating much. Incisions are still sore.

Slips are fairly common now that I've done more reading on the bands. And whether my surgeons inexperience contributed, I may never know.

Just make sure you discuss with surgeons every worst-case scenario before going in. I think had I known it was a possibility of having it removed, I would have been much better prepared mentally.

It's horribly frustrating to know how many thousands of dollars I've spent to be at a spot I could have gotten to on my own. Reaching this weight was never a problem. It was getting to goal and maintaining. I'm a horrible yo-yo dieter.

So good luck and my fingers are crossed that it all goes well.

Trisha