Yikes! Kinda worried now...

So my surgeon's office just called and told me 1) My hiatal hernia is medium sized and may require repair with mesh during my bypass surgery. 2) Ultrasound of my gallbladder showed stones and sludge and will be removed during my surgery. 3) I have a fatty liver and will need to be biopsied during my surgery to check for any permanent damage. Yikes :( So it's now become at least a 3-in-1 surgery if not a 4-in-1!

Apparently I'm more of a mess inside than what I thought! I thought I had gone all this time being overweight and had been fortunate enough to not have any comorbidities. I guess not! I haven't even had my testing done for sleep apnea yet! I'm kinda worried now - especially about the fatty liver... It's definitely imperative that I have this surgery ASAP!!!

THATS LIKE TAKING OUT 4 BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. TRY TO MAKE IT A GOOD THING. THEN MAYBE U WILL FILL SO MUCH BETTER WHEN ITS OVER... (SORRY  about the caps loc) i alway**** it

Great that you are finding this all out now! Having separate surgeries would seriously suck. Your fatty liver will probably improve tremendously after you start your 2 week pre-operative liquid diet.

A lot of times they will see stuff on the tests and then get in there and it is totally different. I supposedly have had a hiatal hernia for 10 years that 2 different surgeons thought they saw, but both times I was operated on it was not there...

Sure, it may make recoverya little more trying. But JUST THINK HOW HEALTHY you are going to become after your surgery. You're going to be a new woman!

Be grateful that they found this stuff now.  I would much rather have a 4-in-1 surgery than 4 separate surgeries.  The hiatal hernia repair is no big deal.  I had a huge one and ended up with quite a large piece of mesh in my diaphragm.  The worst part about it is when you try to take deep breaths or cough right after surgery it can hurt.  Plus I ended up with extra scars from the repair.  Since having it repaired I have not had reflux once.  I also haven't vomitted.  Pre-op I would vomit at the drop of a hat and I had heartburn ALL the time.  I'm so thankful they fixed that.  

The gallbladder surgery is no big deal.  I felt like a new woman once mine was out.  You would much rather them take it out now since there is stones and sludge.  You don't want to wait until you're in a ton of pain and sick as a dog.  Gallbladder problems are incredibly common after surgery. 

As far as your liver goes as someone stated it will improve a lot on the pre-op diet.  I was shown to have a fatty liver pre-op, but when they got in there my liver was healthy.  I firmly believe the pre-op diet helped a ton in that respect. 

Imagine if you wouldn't of decided to have this surgery.  Those tests wouldn't of been done and you would have no idea what's going on inside of you.  It's better to know and have a plan on how to deal with it than to not know. 

My hernia's were repaired during surgery, no biggie.  And the GB, good riddance.  You will be fine.  Not to worry.  Better than having to do the GB in a couple of months AFTER WLS.

You poor kid! But the other answers are right: you are going to be dealing with this all in one surgery - far better than them having to go in later.  I don't know what the liver biopsy and gallbladder removal feel like, but I did have hiatal hernia repair - and neither the doc nor I knew I had that problem, LOL:).  Recover hurt, and I'm still a bit sore and tired 8 days post-op, but I know it was worth it. 
Hang in there - you can do this thing!

I think we ALL have fatty livers pre-op; that's part of being obese and the partly, the reason for the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver.

Is the surgeon going to all of that lap or will (s)he do it open...?  Many times (but by no means always) the installation of mesh for the hernia requires open surgery.  My hernia was incisional (from my open RNY) so it had to be open, of course, but a friend just had a hiatal hernia repaired and her gallbladder out and either she did not pay attention (which wouldn't be unusual for her, LOL) or the surgeon did not tell her that he would be doing the surgery open.

Lora

Thanks for the comments, everyone. They have brought me a little bit of comfort. I am thankful that my surgeon will be able to take care of all of these things in one fell swoop. I was kind of hoping he would be taking out my gallbladder anyway because I didn't want to have to deal with that a couple of months down the line and had read and been told that GB problems were very common after WLS.

The thing that concerns me most is the fatty liver. I know it will probably clear up tremendously after surgery, and it's probably shrunk quite a bit from the time I had my ultrasound as I've been on a 1500 cal diet and been exercising 4-5 times per week for the past month. I'm just praying that there isn't any permanent damage to my liver.

My surgeon is also still waiting on labs to test for and H.Plyori infection that was suspected when I had my endoscopy.

All of this just gives me MORE reason to have this surgery - and SOON! I'm ready to be well on the way to a healthier me! :)