Major Complications

[TKDBlackBelt15 0]

Approximately 2 weeks ago my fiancée had her gastric sleeve operation. The surgeon said to me she has perfect anatomy and the surgery went very well. She got home about 3 days later and felt fantastic and started her home clear liquid diet. a couple days later she started experiencing chest pains, back pains and trouble breathing. after reading issues after the surgery we thought this was normal. She then started to develop a fever of 100 that didn't fluctuate. She became lethargic but this only happened at night. The following morning she felt great. The 3rd day I got home from work with her sitting on the couch. She had a fever of 101, red faced lethargic and was crying as she stated "why did I do this to myself?" I rushed her to the ER immediately. In the ER they wanted to her to drink an oral contrast for a cant scan to find the problem. After taking two small sips she experience pain equal to that of a heart attack and couldn't breath. Ive never seen her in so much pain in my life and was so upsetting to see her crying and screaming "why do I feel like this please help me" They gave her 9 shots of morphine and 4 shots of Di lotted. This did not immense the pain at all. They admitted her over night. The next morning that did a cat scan with the contrast given to her through an IV. a few hours later the surgeon game in and said she had a leak that caused an abscess below her esophagus and above her spleen the size of a soft ball. They scheduled another operation in the OR an hour later to try and seal the leak. After the operation the surgeon could not see the leak because it was so small. They gave her two drainage tubes on each side of her stomach and an NG tube out of her nose. They said they wanted to dry her stomach out so the the hole could clear on its own because of how small it was. she was held in the ICU to keep her under constant supervision. 3 days later she started to develop another fever of 102. The surgeon then ordered another emergency draining in radiology from the abscess above her spleen. this procedure was approximately 20 minutes. Immediately she lost all pain and felt great. She is now currently in ICU still and draining her stomach out. Doing a lot better but can eat or drink anything (she is so thirsty she says). Every time they move her she feels pain on her incisions ( 10 total). They have to move her so that the tubes can collect all the fluids in her stomach. What breaks my heart the most is that shes wanted this for so long and so bad and now says she regrets ever getting it done and has suffered greatly.

[ybnormal 21]

Where did she have her surgery? Did her original surgeon do her follow up surgeries? This is HORRIBLE and I'm so sorry for your fiancee and for you, seeing your loved one in pain and being unable to do anything about it is so hard.

Lots of prayers for both of you

Renee`

[lsereno 2,525]

I'm so sorry she is suffering! It sounds like the Dr's have a handle on things and that her leak and pain will soon be in the past and she will be on her way to a healthy life. And it's so sweet of you to post for her and share/gather information.

Best wishes to both of you for a speedy resolution to her recovery issues. I am sending healing and calming thoughts to her.

Lynda

[AutumnLily 77]

Sending out my best wishes on a speedy recovery.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I don't necessarily think that this is the surgeons fault until we hear more details. I think all surgeons run into complications they did not expect.

I hope we hear from TDBlackbelt to hear how his fiance is doing.

[bilka 6]

I wish your fiancee to feel better as soon as possible, I am so sorry she had such a bad experience.

[Ericka 1]

Wow I am so sorry to hear that you sound like u r the best she's lucky to have u and I hope my guy is just as active as u r we wish her the best I hope this will be all up hill from hear out

[fatBgone 6]

A speedy recovery wish for your fiance! It does, however, sound like they are on the right path now. Draining the abscess is key to relieving her pain and with the drains in place, even if the leak is still there, she should drain out and not form another abscess. Hope all goes well from here on out!

[Deakay 15]

I hope she speeds along on her recovery....but we all have those "what have I done" moments. In 3 months she won't regret it

[Foxbins 625]

First post, and the story is a serious complication? Sorry, I think this was placed here to elicit the caring responses the members of this board provided. If I am wrong, I am very sorry and I hope your fiancee recovers uneventfully, but the people who have true complications here are usually members of our community, not first-time posters.

[kellyw74 258]

Prayers going out for both of you!

Best wishes,

Kelly

[Lakelady 2]

I'm sorry this happened. Keep in touch-many here with complications end up loving their sleeve after some time!

[New & Improved Mel 1]

I spent months researching and reading people's posts on this website before having VSG surgery because I was petrified of a complicaion but I didn't register or post anything myself until I was a few days away from surgery . I am sad that BlackBelt's first post has unfortunately turned out to be the very unlucky message that his fiance's surgery didn't go as planned.....

Everybody in this supportive community wishes you, and especially your fiance, their best wishes for her speedy recovery as we remember the fear we felt of the risk of a complication.. which sadly became a reality for your fiance

Keep in touch, as the wealth of knowledge that members of this site have may be useful to both you and your fiance as she recovers. I know in my opinion, the advice I have received from members of this community has been invaluable.

Best Wishes to you both,

[wishes 125]

Wow, I wish her a safe and quick recovery. You are an amazing person being with her through all this. Please keep us posted on how she is doing!

[MeMeMEEE 206]

Sorry to hear of her complications! Does she post here? There is a section for those with complications and maybe knowing she isn't alone will make her feel better.