Looking for help for my Mom - ThinnerTimes

worriedaboutmymom · 06-22-2008, 02:36 PM

Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum, and I am here to ask for any suggestions/help/support for my mom. She had gastric bypass surgery but not from being overweight. She was told she needed this due to her ulcers and after she had gallbladder surgery. (I believe now that the doctor was crazy but that's another story).

She not only had to have part of her stomach out (Roux-En-Y surgery?), but about a year later (when she was so sick and could hold no food down) they went in and took her entire stomach out except for a tiny sac. It's been about 2-1/2 years since her last surgery and she's been through SO MUCH! And she is STILL VERY SICK! She can hardly keep any food down - she can only take 1 bite of food and sometimes even that is too much. She finally consented to a feeding tube thru her nose about a year or so ago, but it gets stopped up very regularly even though she flushes it every 30 minutes/hour...and she has to drive to the hospital an hour away to have a new tube put in. She is ready to give up hope and has said that she just wishes her conscience could allow her to pull the tube out (which is the ONLY thing that has kept her alive thus far) and let "nature" take its course. She has not had a "life", and honestly I don't know how she's made it this far. I couldn't imagine vomiting several times a day....EVERY SINGLE DAY....for YEARS and never being able to eat real food!!

Anyway, I just thought I'd stop by this forum to see if anyone else has gone through anything like this. I am grasping at straws and her doctors have pretty much said there is nothing else they can do for her. I guess I'm just looking for support - from anyone who may understand what she's going through.

Thanks so much!
Donna

RebeccaNV · 06-22-2008, 04:42 PM

Hi Donna. It sounds like your mom had a gastrectomy? What kind of shape was she in before she has this procedure done? I'm sorry that she is having a terrible time. Did the doctors tell her to follow a diet similar to that of a gastric bypass patient? It sounds like it might help. I am wondering if you also were to Google to find info for stomach cancer patients if you could find more information pertaining to her condition? From what I have read, a gastrectomy is similar to the vertical sleeve gastrectomy, which is another form of weightloss surgery. There is a sub forum here for that procedure. I hope that you can find some relief for your mom.

http://www.surgerychannel.com/gastrectomy/index.shtml

Godsblessedme · 06-22-2008, 05:24 PM

wow i'm so sorry that sounds horrible. I hope she can find some relief and it does sound like she had a gastrectomy (sp?) and BTW my daughter had a NG tube (now a G tube) and the home health nurse just came out and changed the NG tube cant she have the nurse come out and do the changes? they make us as parents do the NG and G tube changes but i tried and couldnt do it to my daughter. I would ask the home health team. I'm so sorry and i hope there is help for her here

katzz87 · 06-22-2008, 05:45 PM

I don't even know what to say, except that I'm really sorry to hear all that your mom (and you too!) are going through. I'd definitely follow up with RebeccaNV's suggestion. I'm also assuming that your mom is seeing a different doctor then the one(s) that performed the surgeries? If not...I'd head somewhere else and get a 2nd (3rd) opinion.

MiladyB · 06-22-2008, 06:37 PM

I don't have any experience with what you are describing but as a nurse I have to wonder why they don't place a PEG tube through your Mom's abdomen? I can't imagine having a feeding tube through her nose all this time. I work with burn patients who need an increased amount of calories. If they can't eat all they need to the doctor's will place either a PEG tube or a PGJ. I would talk to the doctors about that if I were you. In regards to your Mom constantly throwing up have the doctors ever done a scope to try to figure out why she is constantly throwing up? It sounds as if your Mom may need to seek another opinion.