Risks -- pre-ops, please read

November 10, 2002

I am a newby to this group, having reached my anniversary date on

Halloween. I have lost 140 pounds (down from 323) and am still

losing slowly.

I am writing today to the " lurkers. " Hear my words and take them to

heart. I am one who almost gave my life. Twice.

My original lap surgery went well. That night I developed a leak in

the staple line of the pouch, and my surgeon did an open procedure

to repair it. After that surgery, they could not stabilize me, and

put me into a coma. I was in the coma for 33 days. In late

November they told my husband I had less than a 1% chance to

survive. When I finally awakened, I thought it was the afternoon of

the surgery. I could not move, except to move my arms a few inches

off the bed. I could not talk because I still had the respirator

on. I was in a respiratory unit for ten days, and then was

transfered to a rehab hospital to regain the strength I lost from

being immobilized for so long. While I was in the coma, I developed

several bedsores, the worst of which is on the small of my back. It

has required daily (sometimes twice daily) home health care

treatment and two surgeries. My husband still has to put medicine

in the hole and change the bandage daily. It will be several more

months before it heals completely. This spring I developed severe

malnutrition (I could not keep any food down at all) and was

hospitalized for insertion of a feeding tube. I was told later that

if they had not treated the malnutrition at that time, I would have

died within a week. I spent a month in a nursing home. Thereafter I

developed a blood infection which required another two week hospital

stay. I was on tube feedings for about five months. In two weeks I

will have the catheter removed, and that, hopefully, will be my

final surgery.

My medical bills are close to $1 million. I have lost my job. I

still have weakness in my legs.

Would I do it again? No way.

As a pre-op, I read and heard about the risks, but my thought

was " that won't happen to me. " Well, it did. And it can happen to

you.

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