any one have an open procedure?

When i went to the infomation group they said that people who have had adomanal surgey will have a open bypass procedure. i have had 4 surg on my stomach 2 times i had the lap band procedure and 2 ttimes had it taken out. the dr who did those surg said theres alot of scaringe. so what isit like to have an open bypass?

I had an open appendectomy (have a huge, huge scar and lots of internal scarring from it as well). For my RNY bypass it was laparoscopic. I don't know why they said that people who have had previous abdominal surgery need to have an open bypass, I have known lots of people, incl. myself, who had previous abdominal surgery and had lap for their RNY. Perhaps there is something specific about the scarring you have that they have no choice but to do it that way? With my open appendectomy I had stitches unlike with the lap, and I had to wait like 10-14 days to shower and it was a slower overall return to physical activity. Surprisingly my pain was much less with my open appendectomy, I had a lot of pain with my lap RNY. It is different for everyone!

LOL Kinny, I am sure  she meant RNY !! yes I had open, it was because I had had so may abdominal surgeries the it was the choice , they will clean up any adhesions you  may have, it makes their work easier and recovery is  a little tougher but attainable. Between 2 C sections, hernia, gastric bypass,  it makes sense to do open to "get a good look under the hood",

On July 1, I did.  Had my gall bladder out at the same time.  It was a long surgery (not that I knew it at the time), and I spent 4 nights in the hospital.  Pain was never an issue for me.  You will have an pain med pump to shoot a burst of painkiller straight into your IV.  I had a drain and a gastric tube.  Neither were painful, just annoying.  My memory of the time I spent in the hospital was that I was uncomfortable (but not in pain - it's hard to explain how I was feeling) and wanted to be home.  My surgeon closed with staples, half of which were removed at 2 weeks and the remainder at 3 weeks.  My recovery has been steady with no complications.  I read on this site about people who went back to work 2 weeks after their RNY, but my surgeon did not release me to return to work for 6 weeks.  I still find that I tire easily, but my stamina improves day by day.  I've lost 28 pounds in 6 weeks.  I hoped that it would have been more, but back issues and afib limit my ability to exercise, so I suppose that my loss is not too bad.  Send me a PM if you have more questions.

I had an open RNY six years ago.  I was in the hospital for 4 days and out of work for 6 weeks (well, I actually ended up starting back to work only half time the 7th week because of significant oozing from the incision).  I did not have any drains, but my surgeon did put a gastric tube into my remnant stomach.  It was annoying, and stayed in for 2.5 weeks until my first post-op visit, but at least it gave me a way to get in extra liquids and a way to use protein shakes that tasted disgusting, LOL.  I had quite a bit of pain.  I took the liquid Lortab for about two weeks (and slept in a recliner for even longer because it hurt to lay flat on my back or on my side).  I felt ok by 4 weeks out (just had really low energy).  I was not allowed to lift anything over 5 pounds for a couple of weeks, then nothing over 10 (maybe it was 15?) pounds until 6 weeks out, and no exercise that pulled on the abdominal muscles until 6 weeks out.

It is really only different than the lap surgery for a few weeks until the pain from the larger incision (from the cut muscle, actually) subsides and you have no physical restrictions.

Not all "open" surgeries are the same, though. Some surgeons do a "mini" open where it is just a 3-4 in*****ision.  I carried a lot of my weight in my belly (one of the reasons that I had open in the first place), and my open incision was 8 inches long (from my breastbone to my waist).

One of the potential advantages of open surgery is that, if you develop an incisional hernia, sometimes the insurance company will pay for a tummy tuck at the same time as the hernia repair. Mine didn't, but some will. 

Lora

Well i guess 4 days in the hospital isok and good that iwill havepain meds im a baby when it comes to pain and im not worried about scaring because i rather have a scar than dieingfrom being so over wieght

My original open RNY scar ended up being just a very thin white line.  I actually thought it was aesthetically pleasing than the random incisions all over the belly from the lap procedure!  (Unfortunately, my tummy tuck that turned necrotic created a much larger scar, but the original RNY scar wasn't troublesome at all.)

Lora

I had a prior abdominal surgery and was able to do my RNY as a lap procedure. I would double check--that seems a pretty high bar to set for 100% of all patients to undergo that if they have had something prior.