revised

Aug 31, 2009

I am 3 years post DS and I had a revision last Tuesday with Dr. Pomp.
I'm hoping to resolve chronic diarrhea, foul gas, non healing anal fissures, severe anemia, and vitamin deficiencies.  I had tried flagyl, vanco, other antibiotics, probiotics, devrom, pancreatic enzymes, and I restrict my diet to a modified Specific Carbohydrate Diet (I have only been eating meat, nuts, nut flour, small amounts of honey, sweet and low, splenda, unsweetened soy or almond milk, and egg protein powder) for over 1 year.  There was nothing left to try.

In my case the standard advice of eat less carbs, cut dairy, and tinker with your vitamins after each blood test did not resolve my issues; on the contrary, as time went on they continued to get worse.  Perfect compliance does not guarantee a safe outcome with any weight loss surgery including the DS.

The Revision surgery itself:
I remain resistant or allergic to all narcotics so pain management was difficult.  It was supposed to be a 3 day stay, but it ended up being 6 days because it has taken a very long time for the newly reattached portion of old bowel to wake up and start passing food.  I also needed an iron infusion again because my hemoglobin dropped very low again while I was in the hospital.

Right now I can eat very little and my intestines hurt and cramp a lot when I eat.  I have been through an open DS and a LBL and breast lift and this is by far the most painful thing I have dealt with.  It equals the pain from my fissure when my fissure is hurting at its worst.  Thankfully this is likely to be temporary while my intestines remember how to process food.    I am tired.

Dr. Pomp was amazingly accomodating, fitting me into a consult within one month from Gio's referral to him, and then squeezing me into surgery 2 weeks later so I can start work in two weeks.  I cannot say enough good things about him.

I do not usually go on OH much anymore, but I will check in to update my profile sometimes, so I can respond to questions about DS reversal, and my experience going forward.

I am posting this because I want those researching the DS to know that a result like mine is possible.  In retrospect I certainly should not have had the DS and a VSG would have been a much more appropriate option for me.  I know that my results are not typical and I am not condemning the DS, I just think pre-ops should hear all possible outcomes before making an informed decision.  I do not claim my issues are "common," however, in talking about them at support groups and with the many surgeons I have consulted with in my effort to overcome them, it seems that they are less unusual than one would imagine reading this messageboard.  It may be that because message boards are for support and encouragement, those who experience less than the fantastic "come to the dark side, we have cookies" result, feel less of a desire to post.  Honestly, I don't know why it isn't discussed more often. 

In any case, I think that pre-ops should know, and anyone else suffering from chronic bacterial overgrowth, chronic diarrhea, awful smelling gas, unresolving vitamin deficiencies, or fissures, should know that there are other people experiencing this and I for one am happy to speak to you.  Do not lose hope.  It is very hard to avoid depression in this situation, but please do not stop advocating for yourself until you get an answer.

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