Bariatric Surgery Risks
July 1, 2008 by Terry
Filed under Terry's Rambles
When considering any type of surgery we want to know the risks. As a bariatric surgery patient that will be receiving laparoscopic weight loss surgery on July 16th 2008, believe me I looked into the bariatric surgery risks. I might not be a genius but I am certainly not a fool.
For years I would not even consider gastric bypass or lap band surgery. I did not want to be cut up the middle like a stuck pig and besides; I truly believed that I could maintain my weight with my own willpower. Like many others I spent years trying just about every diet that came along, was usually successfully able to loose 50 to 100 pounds only to gain it back. Now don’t get me wrong, many of these diets were excellent diets that I would highly recommend.
My professional life has always been a very sedentary one spending 8 to 10 hours behind a desk each day. With this deskbound lifestyle I found that unless I was willing to exercise an hour or two a day I was not going to even come close to maintaining my weight at a reasonable level. By the time I was in my 60’s it was becoming even more difficult to loose weight and to maintain it at about 235 pounds I was exercising as much as 3 hours a day and being very careful with my food intake. After sustaining a neck injury I cut way back on the exercise and soon ballooned to 300 pounds.
Finally I decided to investigate bariatric surgery. As I started talking to people and surfing the web I learned that many surgeons were performing weight loss surgery using laparoscopy surgical procedures that are minimally invasive. This appealed to me for though my body was round like a beach ball my stomach was not scarred up and who knows, next summer I might be taking my shirt off at the pool or seaside.
As I further delved into weight loss surgery I learned that laparoscopy reduces risks, your hospital stay after surgery is shorter and you heal much quicker. I also learned that there is a difference between the amount of education and experience that surgeons have and that some bariatric centers are Bariatric Centers of Excellence. While there are excellent surgeons and hospitals that are not a Bariatric Center of Excellence I personally was pleased to learn that the Oregon Bariatric Center and Sacred Heart Medical Center are for that is where I will be having my surgery.
When I had my first meeting with the surgeon the very first question I asked was, “How many of your patients have died during or following surgery?” The surgeon informed me that out of over 1000 surgeries his team had performed, one person had passed away in the days following surgery. Her death was due to complications and she had delayed in returning to the hospital. As with all surgeries there are risks and the mortality rate is presently said to be about one out of 200 for gastric bypass and somewhat less for lap band patients. Knowing these statistics, and realizing that even one death is too many his answer helped to put me to ease.
Besides the potential of death there are risks during surgery and long-term complications and risks that are associated with all weight loss surgical procedures. Some of these possible risks include potential blood clots, bleeding, deep vein thrombosis, dehiscence, infections, leaks from staple line breakdown, pulmonary problems, marginal ulcers, stenosis, spleen injury and more. The odds of experiencing these problems are small yet every person considering any weight loss surgery procedure needs to thoroughly discuss them with their doctor. Bariatric surgery is not a cure and it is not perfect. As a patient it will take a lifetime commitment adhering to the recommendations of my physician. I believe the risks to be much less than the potential benefit and look forward to sharing my experiences with others for many years to come.
A word of advice is choosing your surgeon carefully and close to home if at all possible. While a person I know had lab band surgery in Mexico and it was a success, combining your surgery with a vacation to save money is not always the best bet. By killing two birds at one time you may end up one of those birds! While most every country has some wonderful surgeons you need to consider potential risks following surgery. For me, I consider being able to get back to my surgeon or the hospital in a reasonable time to be of major importance.
For those of you that are considering weight loss surgery or have already experienced it I would love to hear your thoughts on bariatric surgery risks and any other weight loss matter you would like to discuss.
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SurgeXperiences, Thank you for your post. It showed up as a duplicate on this subject. I hop you don’t mind but I deleted the second one. I visited your new blog and saw that you are a medical student. Keep up the good work and look forward to hearing from you often.
Terry
Yep – I would agree with that.. Thanks for the line.