Another Reason Why the Sleeve is Sometimes Better than Roux-En-Y

I am so glad that it has all worked out and that she is ok,  Wishing her a speedy recovery.  It is also good to see a long term sleever doing well.  Take care.

Hey Folks! It's been another year since I last posted and here's some new news...

Many of you "old timers" knew that my wife had the Roux-En-Y (gastric bypass) done a few months after I had my sleeve done six years ago. Same hospital (UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital in Los Angeles), same surgical staff (though different surgeons) and pre- and post-op programs.

So here we are six years after the surgeries and in January my wife started having pain in her abdomen under the rib cage which radiated toward her back, in the form of heat. She went to our primary case physician who immediately ruled out heart problems and ordered a blood panel. Everything checked out. No issues.

So, our primary care physician ordered an X-ray and CT scan with contrast. Nothing showed up on either.

She saw my gastroenterologist (the one treating my ulcerative colitus which is why I had the sleeve rather than the bypass to start) and he conducted an upper GI. Nothing. All looked normal.

An MRI was ordered, and again, nothing showed up.

We then decided to consult her bariatric surgeon, but neither of our surgeons are with UCLA any longer. Fortunately, our local county hospital started a bariatric program two years ago and we're also affiliated with that hospital on my company's health care plan. It also helps that my son-in-law's father is a practicing physician in that hospital and between our primary care physician and him ;)  we were able to see the surgeon quickly.

He reviewed everything and thought it might be an internal hernia (see: http://www.webmd.com/diet/weight-loss-surgery/gastric-bypass, it's one of the risk factors) and recommended exploratory surgery with an eye to do an immediate repair.

We were scheduled to have the pre-op consult on April 17 with the surgery to be done one the 21st and post-op on the 24th.

Well, my wife went into severe distress on the 16th and was admitted to the hospital that evening. The surgery was done the next morning and he located and and repaired the hernia and also removed some scar tissue that had accumulated and she was released on the 18th. The procedure was done laproscopically, so there is a minimum of scarring.

The result is that she is now free of pain and able to continue. She's still at her maintenance weight and we're actually going to start attending the local support group. The trip to L.A. has actually become a hassle at this point.

I need to lose 30 pounds that I've slowly put on from my lowest and much of it is simply due to a sedentary life style. I've tuned up our bicycles and done the spring cleaning of our RV and tuned up the tow vehicle. Just a couple more items to complete and we'll get outdoors and moving again now that she's well.

So, unless something comes up, it may be another year between posts.