splenic infarction

[honeyrubybee 1]

Anyone experiance a splenic infartc as a complication? I'm going through it now & it's pure hell. How long did it take for the pain to go & you felt normal again?? How did your doctor treat you? To say I'm miserable is an understatement.

[renniemommie 8]

I don't know anything about this, I am sorry to hear it though. Tell us what in the world it is and how you do over time!

[Rootman 1,101]

Wikipedia info: Splenic Infairct Sounds painful. We wish you the best.

[seniorsleever 17]

A splenic infarct is a blood clot lodged in the splenic artery or in a vein in the spleen. It causes tissue death in the affected area, the size is dependent on the size of the clot and where it lodged. Since you can live without a spleen it is not life-threatening, but it is painful. I don't know how long it will take to resolve, Rootman, but I do sympathize with you. My husband had one after his appendectomy, and it still shows up on a CT scan as a scar on his spleen.

[Rootman 1,101]

I don't know how long it will take to resolve, Rootman, but I do sympathize with you.

Actually it's the original poaster HoneyRubyBee that has the issue, but I know she must appreciate the sentiments.

[seniorsleever 17]

Oops, sorry! Wasn't paying enough attention! LOL!

[swizzly 901]

Sounds horrific, I'm so sorry to hear about it. I really hope the pain resolves quickly!

[honeyrubybee 1]

Thanks for the replies. I've yet to find any other WLS patients out there who has dealt with this. I'm not feeling much better but I'm not any worse. So I suppose that's good. How long did it take for your husband to heal??

[seniorsleever 17]

Thanks for the replies. I've yet to find any other WLS patients out there who has dealt with this. I'm not feeling much better but I'm not any worse. So I suppose that's good. How long did it take for your husband to heal??

Well, you see, he was diagnosed with a slow-growing cancer after the surgery (that's what had caused his appendicitis) so he had a long recovery time. He was already in a lot of pain from the surgery, so he couldn't tell when the infarct resolved. He was up and around in a couple of weeks, but still in pain for a week or two after that. I know that doesn't help much. Hope yours gets better real soon.

[w2ben 3]

Yes, but was told by the surgeon that it is done as they do your surgery. They cut some sort of veins that supply the upper spleen! I was never told any of this pre-op and have been through hell for 3 weeks. I'm, finally. feeling better but not so sure this surgery was for me. Anyway, I always preached to my kids about taking responsibility for your own actions, etc. so I have come to accept that I did this to myself...it has not been easy but at least I've lost 60 lbs. since 12-8. Hope you are better.

[honeyrubybee 1]

You're right Nana. When you make decisions, you have to accept the bad with the good.

[lsereno 2,525]

Hi Honey,

I attended a face-to-face support group at Kaiser Fremont yesterday and one of the attendees had this issue. She also had a stricture which they had tried unsuccessfully to dilate. She is going to have an RNY conversion. I don't understand how converting to RNY is going to fix a stricture, but apparently it does. I'm not sure if they also removed her spleen or just treated the infartion.

Someone familiar with Kaiser staff said that spleen infarcs were mentioned as a complication at a recent bariatric conference.

You're right about not hearing anything about this before the operation. Kaiser had an extensive list of possible complications, but a spleen infarc wasn't on the list.

My thoughts are with you and I hope you are healing well now. Please let us know how they treated the spleen infarc.

Thanks,

Lynda

[jencomenz 3]

I just had my surgery on July 12 and am going through this now. The way my doctor explained it was that not everyone's spleen is attached to their stomach and for some reason mine was. They clipped the artery and had to just wait to see how the spleen would react. My spleen was angry and irritated and I ended up with the rapid response team in my room rushing me to a CT scan and a night in the ICU. ( Of course my Dr's calm explination was the morning after the fiasco ) They did not go back in and remove my spleen, they are managing my pain while parts of my spleen are dying off. I feel like I am significantly behind in my healing process because of this but it is getting a little bit better every day.

I would love to hear from the others that this happened to and where they are in their progress now.

Jen @~~~

[honeybunnyslp 0]

I realize I am months late on this conversation, but I did suffer a splenal infarct as a result of my VSG. I didn't know until about a week after my surgery when I went to the ER in horrible pain. They did a CT scan and told me about my spleen. All of the doctors I spoke to about it were very nonchalant about it, and made it sound like it was a very common problem (not just for bariatric patients). The fact that it was causing me a lot of pain seemed to confuse them. Frustrating. I am sure this complication, along with many others, caused my recovery to take much longer than others without it.

[Neese 75]

I'm late too but this also happened to me and was found on a CT scan. My pain, however, was from dehydration.