Ulcers due to surgery and extreme pain in lower back

Question
I had my surgery, Gastric bypass on 12/28 once I began eating soft foods, i.e. scrambled eggs, puddng, ect. i began vomiting, I ate slowly and every 4 hours as suggested by the nutritionist.  Still I could not get anything to stay down, once i began the "normal"food stage the same thing occurred, vomiting, and could only get approximately 2 tbls. of food down and it would come up.  On 1/25 approximately 1 month after my surgery I began having sharp continuous pains in my lower back which eminated to both the left and right sides of my lower back and down the buttocks.  I was taken to the hospital, obviously, suffering from dehydration, i was admitted and EDG was purformed and it was discovered that sutures were left in my stomach and the rubbing of the sutures caused a huge ulcer, now I am being treated for that, put back on a total liquit diet for 2 weeks.  BUT they, the hospital did not even diagnose my back pain, just said i should treat it with tylenol and there was nothing they could do about it.  2 weeks after the onset of the pain it is still a horrible experience, both sleeping and awake.  Can you help me figure out why sutures were left in my stomach and why this horrible lower back pain is occurring

Answer
Hi Sandi,

I'm sorry to hear that you've had such problems.  Since I'm a gastric bypass patient, I'm not sure what it is that would cause your back pain.  My preparation, surgery and aftercare was provided by a single medical group of doctors.  So they were very attuned to any issues that came up (and, luckily, I had very few).  Did you have the same experience or was each step and phase of your experience handled by a different doctor or medical group?  Most problems that I hear about like this are due to the fact that the patient is "handed off" from a nutritionist to a doctor to a surgeon to an aftercare doctor.  None of these professionals speak with each other about your case; they just pass you around in the form of medical records.  Some doctors are very quick to hand you off to a "specialist" and then they just expect that you'll be followed thereafter.  If you have a Primary Care Manager (family physician) of any kind, I would suggest that you have all records released to whoever that is and then make an appointment to discuss the entirety of your problems and ask for YOUR doctor to supervise the management of your case.  

And whenever pain is involved, it's very difficult to get a read on the issue because everyone has a different level of pain tolerance.  So I suggest that you waste no time in pursuing the pain issue.  Sometimes it becomes an issue of pain 'management' for a period of time until the issue causing the pain is resolved.  So, you may have to 'deal with' a certain amount of that.  But persistent pain and suffering is not typically a long term issue - speak with your PCM about this.

One of the things that you didn't explain was why you were dehydrated from not being able to eat.  Typically, even if food is obstructed, some kind of liquid can get by.  I encourage you to try to keep up with the amount of water that has been recommended, even if you find it difficult to get food to pass.  And, whatever, you do, follow your doctor's orders with respect to vitamins and nutritional supplements.

Please keep me updated on your problem and the resolution.  Your experiences help me help others.

Thanks,
Steve

1. Prev:After Sleeve, have pain when I swallow food? Like it is stuck in throat or tube to stomic??
2. Next:plateau?