Severe complications

[Thousandsofbirds 0]

Hi! First time poster here. It's a bit long but I really need help.

I had gastric sleeve on 6/22 in Mexico. It went well, passed my leak tests and left feeling good. A week after I got home, I had severe pain and went to the ED where they discovered a leak. They did surgery that night but were unable to reach the leak as it was "too high on my esophagus. " they also discovered 2 abscesses that were between my stomach and spleen. They were unable to remove the abscesses due their location. I spent 28 days on a feeding tube in the hospital. The plan was to wait for the leak to encapsulate/close which it eventually did.

I came home on long term antibiotics and 4 days later I ws in severe pain again so back to the ED where I was diagnosed with a complete bowel obstruction. I had a my 3rd surgery in 3 months that night.

Went home and a month later (2 weeks ago) I had pain so bad in my left lower side that made breathing/coughing/vomiting extremely painful. Back to the ED where I found out the abscesses had infected my spleen and it is now half dead/ dying. It will be removed but the surgery team is holding off due to the inflammation and scar tissue in my abdomen. I was discharged a week later with a PICC line and I receive IV antibiotics at the hospital daily.

My question is has anyone heard of this many/similar complications? I'm considering getting a second opinion at a different hospital but I don't even know where to start!

Thanks for reading.

[RickM 1,752]

You sure have been through the wringer. While there are some who have had severe complications from their WLS, their cascade of events will likely be different from yours, so won't be directly comparable. The best that I can suggest for second opinions would be a major regional cancer center that has a GI department, as they will usually have a more experience with a broader spectrum of unusual cases than an ordinary bariatric or GI department. Duke has a good bariatric program with a reputation for doing complex revisions, so they may be a place to try as well if they are in your area.

Good luck in getting this resolved and getting back to the health that you were aiming for.

[catwoman7 11,223]

those kinds of complications are pretty rare, so you're not likely to find anyone who's been through that (but then again, who knows...). I'm so sorry you're going through this!!)