Sleeve Gastrectomy - Rough Start but Doing Great Now! - Fremont, CA

I had the Sleeve Gastrectomy on June 13, 2012, the day before I turned 44. Surgery went well, went home the next night. At 5 days out, I thought I had the flu, running low grade fever and feeling like I was hit by a truck. By Friday, I was running a 102 temperature and dehydrated. Went to the ER where it was discovered I had an abdominal abscess/leak and severely dehydrated. They put a drain in for the infection but it slipped and wasn't draining. Ended up with fluid on my left lung and had to have a chest tube put in. I was very sick. Spent 18 days in the hospital, 14 of those were with nothing to eat or drink. Had a Picc line put in so I could get nutrition through TPN. I was definitely having buyers remorse while I was so sick. I went from taking 10 days off work to being out for 2 months.

Once I recovered I've been doing great ever since. I'm a slow loser due to back issues and had a spinal cord stimulator placed 2 months ago. I'm down a total of 117 lbs and couldn't be happier. Yes, the complications were awful and scary but I now have my health back. Unfortunately, the weight loss didn't help my back issues but because of my Sleeve, I'm able to still lose weight without much exercise at all.

My labs were good at 6 months and I will have them done again in June. I would definitely recommend the Sleeve Gastrectomy even after my complications.