OT - Terrible Story I heard at HRRH

One of the nurses told me that a man went home from his RnY bypass and ate pizza, and exploded his pouch and died.  The story was either that he went home and did it right away, or at 30 days.

Like addicts getting out of detox and taking the hit that kills them,

Ok... So I have heard an exploding pouch story before. Sort of an urban legend style one though. "There was this woman who ate so much after WLS her pouch exploded!"

Are they true? I dunno... I've looked for case files and medical papers on it. So far I have anecdotal information and even a news story about an inmate who was forced to eat too fast in jail and is suing because it happened to him.

What is more likely:

The stroma becomes blocked (intake faster then it can process through or another cause), the food builds up and literally backs up beyond the esophagus... The person continues to eat... Adding more and more food and eventually they asphyxiate them self, or aspirate their food into their lungs which causes asphyxiation.

I'd go for this except that you have a gag reflex.

Anecdotal doesn't quite equate to reality but hey...........................who knows!

How dreadful.

I do know of someone who  died at HRRH from weight loss surgery in late November or early December.  My daughter works with the ex-girlfriend of the brother of the girl who died.  Don't know the story but she never left the hospital.  It had something to do with a leak.  That is all I know.

That is a really unfortunate thing to have happen. I can't imagine how devastating that would be for the woman's family, friends and I am going to add medical staff to the list here too. It really kicks a surgeons arse when they lose someone.

Ok so reading this posts scares me so bad, I double think having surgery. I don't wanna die from a leak WTH????

Breath in through your nose... Out through your mouth...

I am going to give you some real time stats and averages. Not to scare you but give you some facts.

1 in 500 die from RNY (that is averaged across ALL RNY procedures and some centers are lower).
1 in 2000 die from VSG (that is averaged across ALL VSG procedures and some centers are lower).
They do under 2500 surgeries a year in Ontario typically and about 5000 Canada wide per year.

1 in 4.65 die from a heart attack. There are 70,000 a year in Canada.

So I am going to put it like this...

Yes it is a huge decision and we should be nervous and maybe a tad afraid of the realities of our situation. I guess the point I am trying to make here is we have a higher risk of death if we continue on the way we are then we do from surgery.

I could go on for hours... Or I can link this http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/ind01/l 3_2966-eng.htm?hili_none and say:

I can't make the choice for you. No one can make the choice for you. It is a reality of the situation that you will be having major surgery. You will run risks of complications and I am not going to sugar coat that... But at the end of the day you may find that if you look at the risks associated with continuing on the path you are on... They may be higher. I used heart attacks as the numbers I compared because it is something none of us are immune to, and is a silent killer for women. We are women. We are excessively curvy and our heart health is a risk because of it.

I spent the first 6 months of 2012 being dismissed and treated like **** because I am bigger then the Dr's could respect... I'm not going to go into details here. It's on my OH blog posts... But damn it... I am really glad they won't be able to do that to me in 2013 just because my ass is larger then they can respect. This... THIS... is what makes that 1 in 2000 worth it for me.

Hugs,

Shell

Oh Shell, always the voice of reason !!!! LOL Thats why I like you soooo much. You always tell it like it is. The stats are scary, but when I hear ppl talk about someone who was there , and then passed...it kinda smacks ya in the face and reminds you of the danger. I consider myself "lucky" I dont have any health issues. No diabetes, low cholesterol, low blood pressure. Other than my under active thyroid, I am really ok, besides my weight I mean. Hopefully I will have a text book surgery.