Serious Complications, post-RNY

My wife speaks highly of this board, and I felt like maybe someone here could offer some insight or hope... She went in for her RNY on April 27th, and it was scheduled to be done laproscopically in 4 hours. 5 hours later she was out of surgery. She was in significant pain immediately upon waking, but was alert and functioning as could be expected. About 6 hours later she developed a sudden extremely sharp pain on her left side, which would not subside. After repeatedly telling the nursing staff and doctor about this pain, they did a CT scan on Saturday night that revealed a significant clot forming in her 'old stomach', blocking the excretion of fluids and nearly bursting her old and new stomach. They had done a chest X-Ray sometime on Saturday morning that showed nothing, but I don't feel it was taken very well.  (She was sitting in bed, and it was taken from about 8-10ft away from her) Sunday morning they had to take her back into surgery to fix the blood clot and repair the damage to the stomach pouches, this time using an open incision for greater access. She also had a drainage tube placed in her old stomach to rid it off excess fluid. 2 times I found that tube disconnected after the nurses were finished moving her around. That repair lasted about 3 days, and early Wednesday morning they opened her up again because of visible gastric fluid leakin through her inciscion. This time they left the incision open so that they could get easy access again in a couple days to ensure things were holding.  Her latest surgery was today, where they found the pouches to be holding, but had to remove a small amount of fascia tissue that had died from the leakage. She has been in the ICU since Wednesday, complete with ventilator and main line running into her neck. They plan to go back in on Monday to make another assesement of the situation and see if they can finally close her up for good. I imagine this has to be one of the worst-case complications, and don't know if anyone might know of someone that lived through something this traumatic, but any words of encouragement are appreciated. Though my wife is a strong person, and I have no choice but to believe she will make it through this, there are still times when it seems like too much for a person to take. Thanks, -Matt

There are several people on this board who have come through very bad early complications. keep praying and tell her that she is going to be well, and not to give up. I know you're scared ****less, but keep the faith and remember we're all praying with you.

Thanks for replying... the success stories are great to read.

Dear Matt, I am praying for your wife and you too. I know this is a very scary time for you. Thank goodness you are there to be her health advocate when she isn't able to be. You're her biggest cheerleader, and most important person so I'm so glad you are able to be with her. Lot's of patients go on ventilators temporarily while they regain strength, I've had pneumonia patients be on them for 2-3 weeks and come out of it and do just fine, it's giving her lungs a rest during this time of trauma so her body can heal.  Stay positive and please post a update when you can. Sending loving healing vibes to your AlishaGail. Talk to her all you can even if she doesn't appear to be concsious she can & does hear you. I'm amazed how many patients tell me when they are better that they heard & were aware of everything going on around them when they appeared to be out of it to me!  Big HugsXXX  I know everyone here will be praying for her to heal quickly. -Sara

hope everything is going ok..

Matt, If your here, how is your wife Lisha doing? Hugs, -Sara

She has been having various issues with her temperature and O2 levels, but they did not find any more leaks in todays surgery, which sounds like great news.    They've also partially closed the open incision, so that makes me feel a lot better as well. The next few days will really tell us where she is at. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers... -Matt

Wonderful!! That is great news! Keeping you both in my thoughts & prayers. Thank you so much for posting Matt, I've had you two in my thoughts all day today. That's very good progress.  Please update when you are able and give her our love & hugs! -Sara

I have been thinking of your wife and hoping to hear how she is doing.  I know several people on this board have prayed for her and send warm wishes her way. Take care of yourself too, and may God bless you both.

Hey everyone.. Alisha is still doing fairly good. Surgically things looked to have improved, but unfortunately she is still sedated and on the ventilator due to having acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). They say it was caused by all the trauma of the surgeries and can be quite serious, but the doctors say she should be able to recover 100% from this as well, it will just take some time. I'll try to keep this updated as things change. Thank you everyone for your prayers -Matt