Floppy mesentary

[-Flo-]

I have been having some abdominal pain, and the CT scan showed inflammation. My doctor decided I needed an exploratory laparoscopy to rule out internal hernia and other scary things. So I had surgery on tuesday. He said there was some scar tissue causing the intestines to adhear to each other, so he freed them. But here is the weird thing, he said my mesenatry was very floppy and it is basically allowing my small intestines to flop around in there, which could be causing me pain. The mesentary should be tight and hold the intestines and internal organs in place. He said with my massive weight loss, it is loose now and things are shifting around. Have you ever heard of this before? He made a comment that I will have to keep a food journal and see if certain foods make it worse. I'm totally confused, how would food make a difference, doesn't he have to go in and tighten it up. I have a post op appointment next week to ask. Has this happened to any one?

 

[Settledownnow]

Wow, Flo, I am so sorry to read that you have not been feeling well and had to have exploratory surgery. I do not have any advice or experience to offer.

Was the surgeon who did the exploratory surgery the same surgeon who performed your DS?

 

[-Flo-]

I didn't have the luxury to go to my original DS surgeon. He is about 6 hours away. So I went to my local bariatric office that just started doing the DS last year. So I had the chief of surgery plus the only DS surgeon in my state doing the surgery.

 

[KathrynK]

You should definitely go to your appointment with a list of questions. I think what he is describing is "mobile cecum syndrome" which is loosely described as floppy, because organs are not being held in place by the mesentary, and it can be a cause of chronic, intermittent abdominal pain. Food can affect the pain from a mobile cecum, because excess gas and constipation can aggravate movement of the bowel in the abdomen. the list of questions if it were me, would include:

Most patients with as much weight loss as I have do not have this problem. What is different about me?
Why didn't you repair this during the mist recent operation? (Cecopexy is the name of the procedure for mobile cecum) Now, should it be repaired in a future procedure?
If this cannot be repaired, what are the risks of this in the future?
What symptoms would indicate I was having a complication from this condition?
It would be difficult to completely exclude the food causing pain, since my DS surgery causes intestinal gas and my calcium intake causes constipation. What else can I do?

You might want to ask if a surgical injury during WLS affected this, but it can put him on the defensive. When I had my complication from orthopedic surgery, I asked him it was an operative error. He said it wasn't a mistake but a miscalculation. Translation: it was a mistake!

I'm sure you have a longer list of questions, but I find it helpful to bring the questions in writing and to write down the answers. Good luck on your visit!

 

[-Flo-]

I looked up mobile cecum. I don't think that is what I have, although it is similar. My pain is more epigastric in nature, right above my belly button. More small intestine than large.

 

[Settledownnow]

I didn't have the luxury to go to my original DS surgeon. He is about 6 hours away. So I went to my local bariatric office that just started doing the DS last year. So I had the chief of surgery plus the only DS surgeon in my state doing the surgery.

Do you keep in touch with Dr. Greenbaum (I'm thinking that was your DS surgeon)? You may be doing this already, but it would be a good idea to share the surgery report with Dr. Greenbaum. He's been doing this surgery for many years and must have seen this before.