Sleeve surgery Dec 2013

I just wanted to wish you luck shrinkingviolet with your upcoming surgery, and thank you for your important post. It's so easy to just focus on the good news stories but it's vital that we're all aware of just how major this step is and make a decision accordingly. Unfortunately things can and do go wrong, so we need to make sure we're in the safest hands possible. 

Thank you for speaking out.

Oh please don't get me wrong...my surgery was around $6000 gap above Medicare and top PHI....nothing cheap about him. I paid top rates at a top private hospital.

And yes, I hear he does work doing Intermediate patients in a public hospital too. Churns them out like clockwork. In one day, out the next. God knows what happens if you don't feel well.

Good Luck with the complete gastrectomy surgery.

Yep I agree, its better to know the risks when you make your decision on which surgeon to use.  Just because there cheap doesn't make them better or worse.  But in my opinion, the final decision regarding which surgeon for sleeve surgery shouldn't have anything to do with there price structure.  But there will always be people who just look at price.

I don't know why, it sort of seems people with sleeve issues tend to remove themselves from the forum for whatever reason.  Maybe there busy trying to sort themselves out. Or Maybe there worried about getting sued.  I don't know.

So thanks for letting us know were your at.

Hey ShrinkingViolet,  Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with others.  People need to be aware of what can go wrong.  I am so sorry to hear about your complications and hope that your new surgery improves your quality of life as much as is possible.  Have you met or heard of any others who have had this procedure done?

Your comment about surgeons is so incredibly true.  I think choice of surgeon is the number one consideration when beginning this process.  When I was doing my research just a few months back there was one particular name in our city that I ruled out based on some comments that I had seen - not a lot of info, but enough here and there to flag him as someone I wouldn't feel comfortable with. I just looked at your other comments to see who your surgeon was, and it was the same guy.  The thing that worries me for others is that I have heard that he offers semi-public (I could be wrong but I think so).  As this is a cheaper option it will mean that he still gets plenty of business but these people will not have PHI to cover them for any complications they could suffer. Scary!

I'm not sure if you already have or are considering it, but I would suggest people need to report their complications or complaints further to whichever medical authorities are relevant.  They need to be aware of his shortcomings and monitor his complication rates. If enough people do this, they would have to take some action to prevent future patients being harmed.  That comment for you to "take a chill pill" was so completely rude and clearly designed to make you feel like you are over-reacting, and yet the results have been catastrophic for you. :( 

Anyway, I'm sorry to rave on.  I wish you all the very best and hope that you will keep us up to date with how you are travelling as you go through your next treatments.  As you know, the support in this site can be invaluable.

not to scare people off but just to let people know that shit does happen.

I used to be on this forum as Invisible Me, my stomach twisted 1 day post op, I spent two weeks in hospital, had a feeding tube, then was discharged without any further follow up tests after being told that it had all resolved. I struggled a bit post op, never really felt that things were normal, my surgeon never acknowledged I had any problems. In fact he even denied the initial post op complication calling it "gastric spasms". 

Well, here I am over a year later. I weigh 45kgs. I am on a nasal feeding tube. I'm not allowed to have anything to eat or drink by mouth. In two weeks time I'm having a feeding tube inserted into my intestines through my abdominal wall for about two months for more intensive feeding to built up my strength enough to have a complete gastrectomy (my whole stomach removed).

Turns out my twisted stomach post op, never untwisted and my stomach is completely useless. In fact it's worse than useless because it's a high pressure chamber causing problems with my oesophagus. So despite being told, and I will quote the surgeon word for word, "its in your head and take a chill pill".... It turns out that in fact I have been having extremely serious issues.

It wasn't until I went outside the "team" of doctors that work with my original surgeon and sought a second opinion that the truth came out. The surgeon who will be doing my gastrectomy does not do Sleeve surgery. I can't disclose who he is but I will say he is one of the most reknown and respected Upper GI surgeons in QLD if not Australia. In fact he is a Professor of Surgery so I feel I'm in safe hands at last.

I am not writing this to discourage any one from this surgery. I still think that in the hands of the right surgeon, thie Sleeve Surgery is an excellent permanent weight loss option.

I am writing this to make sure that before you have your sleeve surgery that you choose your surgeon based on thorough and in depth research.

I implore all of you, please give honest, accurate feedback about your experiences with your surgeon in the surgeons section. Please don't sugar coat negative experiences. Don't assume that you were the only one with a post op problem because everyone else seems happy with that surgeon and so you omit to leave feedback. I know things can go wrong with any surgery, shit happens. But I have since found out that shit seems to happen a a little more frequently with my surgeon than with some others. Even if you think your complication was a minor, one off problem and that your surgeon is/was actually very good, could you at least feedback that you did, indeed, have a problem. It might turn out that every second patient of that surgeon has that same "minor/one off" problem.

For instance if someone is told that their sleeve has a little "kink" post op....instead of just assuming it's a normal post op condition, it is actually a complication and it would be good to know if particular surgeons are prone to particular complications such as kinks, leaks, infections etc.

Where else are we going to get this information if we don't get it here on this site where we all seem to come for support pre and post op?