What happens to your stomach later on in life after surgery????

I was wondering what happens to ones stomach after surgery? Like 5 years down the road? Does it grow together or will it always just be staples holding it closed? Crazy I know....

Not Crazy at all, have wondered that myself. I assume scar tissue heals together and with the staples as well. hmm Interesting.
;)

My dietitician told me that it isn't actually staples. She has watch one of the procedures (yuk). She explained it to me like this - he takes the scissors and cuts and burns a ziplock type piece in, then repeat etc. So the actual stomach has been cut and burned off and the end now is like a ziplock bag top. ????

My doctor said he uses a little gadget that uses tiny, tiny staples (half the size or more of normal staples) and goes back and forth to seal it. After a while the scar tissue forms over the staples to seal it up completely! It's that simple!

You can youtube a video and watch it. That's what I did. Once they staple "seal" your stomach, the remove the remainder. So, it's not like the old surgeries when people would simply have their stomachs stapled shut. In this one (the Sleeve) they actually cut off and remove the excess stomach.

Thanks ya'll! I was trying to figure out how long before your "out of the woods" as far as leaks go.... if ever.

I had a gastric swallow/x-ray while I was in hospital. You swallow this aniseed tasting stuff and it shows up in your stomach and they x-ray it. They look for leaks and also make sure that the fluid is going down how it should.

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Originally Posted by razn4

Thanks ya'll! I was trying to figure out how long before your "out of the woods" as far as leaks go.... if ever.

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My consultant told me if your going to leak its going to be in the first 72 hours, thats why your hospital should keep you in for a few days and do a dye test.

My doctor said that a leak could occur within the first 30 days, while the "seam" is still healing, that's why it is so important not to stretch it during this delicate time. Most of the leaks, however, will occur within the first few days but I would consider being out of the woods at 30 days.

what are the symptoms of a leak? just curious of things to watch for!

symptoms of leak are: fever, severe pain in the belly and shoulder area, rapid heartbeat. If you have a fever at any time, you should contact the Dr. immediately. Fever may be hard to detect if you are taking the Lortab liquid, as it contains tylenol which will control your fever so you might want to delay the pain meds a couple hours just to make sure that there is no fever, that's what I did because I was so paranoid of a leak!