Gastric Bypass Surgery Support Group

With your history, yeah I think being nervous is a totally rational reaction. I think you will want to surround yourself with alot of support and do whatever it takes to manage your anxiety prior to surgery so it doesnt take over your life. I have had to take something for anxiety before past procedures, so I hope you wont hesitate to ask for the same to get through it all. As far as the hernia is concerned: I was thrilled to hear that during RNY repairing the hernia is very easy for the surgeon, and they want to do it while they already have you on the table and not as a seperate procedure. I didn't end up having one, but it made me feel really good about my level of care.

I had a small hyatal hernia before my surgery and doc said it didnt need to be fixed. I had my bypass in June of this year and during surgery the surgeon looked at it and agreed to not do anything. He told me that losing the weight can reverse the hyatal hernia.

So I got an answer to each of my questions!! Thanks for your responses. Especially the one about the hernia maybe not having to be repaired...I've heard different things about that and it's good to learn about real live people and their experiences. Thanks

I had a large Hiatal hernia and they said it would get smaller with weight loss. You'll do well. Get ready for all good things.
Maggie

I can't speak to the hernia issue, but anxiety prior to the procedure - absolutely. Dealing with the wait prior to surgery can be a real roller coaster - because so much can go wrong. You're never sure until you're actually in the operating room that it is really going to happen.

Here's one of the things that happened to me prior to surgery a few weeks ago. About 5 years ago I had a minor heart attack. We caught it early, before it did a lot of damage. Came away with 4 stents.

When it came time to get cardiac clearance for the GB, I had to get an echocardiogram and a full stress test (treadmill). It was a two day process and at the very end of the 2nd day. Usually the tech completes the camera shots and verifies that they've got usable images - then he clears you to leave. This usually takes 5 minutes (I've had 4 prior stress tests so I knew the game)

But the tech doesn't come out for 10-15 minutes and when he does he's tap dancing - saying they needed to get a doctor to read the images 'just to be sure'. I can tell there's something wrong just be the way he's tap dancing.

Eventually a nurse pulls me back in to a room and asks how I'm feeling, do I have any chest pains or shortness of breath? The doc on call finally comes in a explains that the stress test showed a new blockage in the area of my previous stents. They can't tell me exactly what's wrong but they suspect that my stents are re-closing. They tell me I'm head back to the cardiac cath lab and that this could be potentially serious and that open heart surgery is a possibility. But in any event, my gastric bypass is definitely cancelled.

It was 4 very long, very anxious days before they could get me into the cath lab. In the end, it turned out wonderful - my existing stents are all A-OK - no reblockage. The new blockage they detected was in a minor artery - and a simple balloon angioplasty opened it back up. Then they went ahead and cleared me for the gastric bypass. Things moved pretty quickly after that.

But anxiety? Yeah. More than a little.

My GB surgery was performed October 7.

It is quite normal to be nervous before any surgery. I had my hernia repaired 18 months after my gbs. However my hernia was not hiatal, but near my navel. The gbs was much easier than my hernia repair because it was the second time that I had it repaired.

they said i had a small hiatal hernia, and it didn't have to be repaired before surgery either.