Anyone lose an internal staple?

[Sweettoothless 100]

I recently had a hysterectomy and am 5 months out of rny. My surgeon told me she found a staple on my ovary. She wasn't concerned at all and said it happens. They sometimes can get pushed out during the healing process. I am totally weirded out by this. Does that mean my surgery is undoing itself? She took the loose staple out. My new insurance doesn't cover my rny surgeon so I can't go see him. Has anyone even heard of this? Rogue staples floating around inside the body?

[Frustr8 7,886]

Oh My Oh My💦I. I hope it is just that - a Rogue Staple- scary when you think about it!😪

[elcee 3,342]

I wouldn’t worry too much as they staples are probably not required long term. Once the stomach has healed and formed scar tissue it probably stays together.

[Frustr8 7,886]

Yeah but it is upsetting if things like THAT are free- floating in your abdominal cavity! Dodge those arteries, don't knick that colon and stay away from my kidneys, even though I have 3, I have given already in the Surgical Suite!

[GreenTealael 25,446]

Someone correct me if im wrong but some type of imaging testing could confirm if more are loose.

Maybe your primary could order it so its covered. If so , then perhaps contact the Bariatric doctor anyway and let them know. They may take care of it without charging you in a perfect world or bill it under something covered like exploratory surgery to remove foreign objects.

*Try* ( I know its hard believe me) to not let insurance issues prevent to from seeking assistance or at least asking the questions necessary. But let's hope its a singular event. Totally possible.

Good luck! 💜

[KCgirl061 1,533]

DONT PANIC. I'm a surgical nurse and see all sorts of surgeries that use staplers. It is totally normal for loose staples to have been left in abdominal cavity. I'll explain.

Lets say your doctor is using a 60mm stapler. And he makes his way across the stomach and gets to the end where his last bit of stomach to staple across is only 30mm. He fires the stapler and 30mm of staples are in your staple line and the other 30mm worth of staples have to go somewhere right? They fall out of the stapler into the abdominal cavity. Usually the surgeons at the end of the case will put a bunch of saline in and suction it back out, getting as many of those staples out as they can. But not all of them. They don't have a count of how many loose staples are there and arent going to spend any amount of time picking out every single one. Especially when they know they won't cause any harm.

So even though there was a loose staple that made it's way down to your ovaries, it's VERY UNLIKELY it came from your staple line.

[Sweettoothless 100]

6 hours ago, KCgirl061 said:

DONT PANIC. I'm a surgical nurse and see all sorts of surgeries that use staplers. It is totally normal for loose staples to have been left in abdominal cavity. I'll explain.

Lets say your doctor is using a 60mm stapler. And he makes his way across the stomach and gets to the end where his last bit of stomach to staple across is only 30mm. He fires the stapler and 30mm of staples are in your staple line and the other 30mm worth of staples have to go somewhere right? They fall out of the stapler into the abdominal cavity. Usually the surgeons at the end of the case will put a bunch of saline in and suction it back out, getting as many of those staples out as they can. But not all of them. They don't have a count of how many loose staples are there and arent going to spend any amount of time picking out every single one. Especially when they know they won't cause any harm.

So even though there was a loose staple that made it's way down to your ovaries, it's VERY UNLIKELY it came from your staple line.

Thank you thank you. I stayed up all night worried about it. My right ovary hurt before bypass and it hurt much worse afterwards but due, I think, to not being able to eat Advil like it was my job. (Advil works well for me and i am sad to lose it.) Then when my gyno called me yesterday and casually mentioned that she removed a staple that had landed on my right ovary...omg. i just imagined staples popping out of my stomach and embedding themselves everywhere and also my stomach falling apart! I have no other symptoms except my over active imagination. I meet with her for a an after hysterectomy appt and I plan to grill her further. She said it was no big deal and happens all the time. NOT TO ME LOL! Thank you for calming me down until I call my surgeon and pcp to make sure there aren't any in my kidneys (I grow stones). I've had a couple of MRIs leading up to my latest surgery but they clearly didn't see my rogue staple flipping the bird to the camera from its perch on my ovary.