NON-Surgeon Reviews

Okay, thanks EN. Roo is actually someone I know from elsewhere (years ago) and since she said "even in the states" she thought BMI UNDER 80 should get it done all it once, I just wanted to know why she thought over 80 shouldn't even in the US where there aren't the restrictions of the NHS. :)

I'm new to Australia, so trying to figure out what the hell is going to be covered for me - but I want to figure out what's in my best interest and make sure that happens, regardless of what we end up paying for it.
 
Okay, thanks EN. Roo is actually someone I know from elsewhere (years ago) and since she said "even in the states" she thought BMI UNDER 80 should get it done all it once, I just wanted to know why she thought over 80 shouldn't even in the US where there aren't the restrictions of the NHS. :)

I'm new to Australia, so trying to figure out what the hell is going to be covered for me - but I want to figure out what's in my best interest and make sure that happens, regardless of what we end up paying for it.
A probably out-in-left-field reply...I have heard that some surgeons might prefer to have someone with a BMI that high spend less time on the table and under general anesthesia because of all the attendant risks. For that reason, those surgeons might PLAN a two-part procedure rather than the lengthier full DS, and avoid a mid-surgery change of plans.

When I went for my DS, I met a man who was a year post-gastrectomy and in town for Part Two. He had lost over a hundred pounds and was "down to," I think, about 350-400 pounds. I don't know what his comorbidities were, but "our" surgeon does MANY one-stage DS procedures and decided to go with two-stage with this man.
 
Cheryl, you can request copies of your medical records, including operative reports, x-rays, whatever tests you've had done.

But your surgeon should be willing to talk with you about what he found in there, and to put it in words that a lay person understands.
 
Cheryl, you can request copies of your medical records, including operative reports, x-rays, whatever tests you've had done.

But your surgeon should be willing to talk with you about what he found in there, and to put it in words that a lay person understands.
Oh yah I was going to do that.
Well my dr is not very forth coming with info and I have tried to get him to tell me but he is pretty arrogant and I don't think he thinks patients need that info
 
Is there anyway to find out what your insides really look like if your surgeon won't talk to you

do you want to tell us about this? you've had weight loss surgery?

welcome to the board!

I am waving hello & when I googled for a photo of a wave...:D

ocean_wave.jpg
 
do you want to tell us about this? you've had weight loss surgery?

welcome to the board!

I am waving hello & when I googled for a photo of a wave...:D

ocean_wave.jpg
Well I am not going to name My dr but I h as be had such a hard time dealing with him. I am not one of those in your face stand up for myself and all that.
I went to my surgeon and said I wanted a ds (before I had heard about sadi) he said yup you'll be in the hospital about a week. Insurance went through (by thus tine I had heard about the sadi) and met with him again. The paperwork seemed suspicious so I asked him and he wrote some medical terms down regarding what he was going to do and I said I do not understand those terms than he drew a picture. I could clearly see a sleeve but the rest looked like a big loop. So I asked him flat out are you doing 2 limbs and common channel and he said no I was going to do a.loop. i said I do not want the loop I want the 2 limbs and common channel. He begrudgingly said ok.if that's what you want. I almost didn't go through with it cause I was afraid he wasn't going to do it. Got to operation day and he described to my husband and clearly said dual ausmosis and everything seemed good . After surgery all he kept saying is you got everything you wanted.. ever time we tried to find out exactly what he did
So I want to educate my pcp so she can care for me and at my appt with him last week I said.. so I know I was a revision is there anything different about my insides over that of a straight ds. He said no. Than as an afterthought he said well I left your roux limb in an case there was any leaking. I have been struggling with getting in enough liquids (2 oz per hr is as ll I cam manage and I can't take the protein powder at all) so I asked him and he said well you gotta remember it was to go through 2 Attachments. Also he said my stomach is 42 boogie 1.4 cm but he won't tell me what that is in ounces.
So I am wondering what he really did.. i mean if he left my roux limb would he kind of had to leave my pouch? I hate not knowing what I am dealing with since I as m having such problems (but sorry this is a review place not a question place)
 
Larra will no doubt see this and give you a far better answer @cheryl baker , but I'll give it a shot: "roux limb" is one side of your intestine....And I *always* mess up whether it's the side that gets food or not. At least that *should* be what he meant.

His comment about water passing through two connections *could* be referring to the two anastomoses, one where the lower part of your small intestine got hooked up just outside your stomach and the other where the biliopancreatic limb meets the alimentary limb to make your common channel. Again, *should* be what he meant, but there's no way of knowing for sure.

There are some well known DS surgeons, Roslin apparently chief among them (and he his not known for bedside manner), who are getting madly in love with this "loop" or SADI stuff.

Is it absolutely certain that you have your pylorus back attached to your stomach?

If I were in your shoes I would practice saying this: "It is my right by law to have copies of all my records, including reports and images. Please comply with the law, immediately. Thank you."

GOOD FOR YOU that you stood up and insisted on the procedure you really wanted! You *can* be assertive, yay you! Assert yourself just a little longer to get the info that is yours by law.
 
Larra will no doubt see this and give you a far better answer @cheryl baker , but I'll give it a shot: "roux limb" is one side of your intestine....And I *always* mess up whether it's the side that gets food or not. At least that *should* be what he meant.

His comment about water passing through two connections *could* be referring to the two anastomoses, one where the lower part of your small intestine got hooked up just outside your stomach and the other where the biliopancreatic limb meets the alimentary limb to make your common channel. Again, *should* be what he meant, but there's no way of knowing for sure.

There are some well known DS surgeons, Roslin apparently chief among them (and he his not known for bedside manner), who are getting madly in love with this "loop" or SADI stuff.

Is it absolutely certain that you have your pylorus back attached to your stomach?

If I were in your shoes I would practice saying this: "It is my right by law to have copies of all my records, including reports and images. Please comply with the law, immediately. Thank you."

GOOD FOR YOU that you stood up and insisted on the procedure you really wanted! You *can* be assertive, yay you! Assert yourself just a little longer to get the info that is yours by law.

That is my problem. I have no way of knowing if I do. My 2 requirements were pyloric valve and the 2 ausmosis ds and he said I git everything I wanted but since he refuses so far to cone right out and be forth coming I worry.
I think a part of me hasn't asked for my records for fear of seeing no plyoric valve. My husband says atop fretting over it what is done is done and he is right can't undo it but since I am struggling may e there is a physical reason.
I bet you can figure out who the dr is ha ha ha.
 
It sounds like you won't get the answers you are looking for until you get your hands on the operative report. You are entitled to your medical records. If you can't get the report from the surgeon, you can get it from the hospital where the surgery was done.
The difficulties eating early out, though, could just be from all the surgery, esp with you being a revision. I had a tough time for months after my DS and I didn't have a revision, and my surgeon doesn't make an especially narrow sleeve. We never did figure out why I had problems, and I'm fine now. So don't panic, just get your operative report.
 
@cheryl baker No offense, but if you can't speak up for yourself in the presence of the self-annointed high and mighty, you may have had the wrong surgery.

This is life and death stuff. Let me put this as delicately as I can: Fuck whether he ends up liking you...just get what you need. NOT doing this could cost you your life.

GET A RECORDS RELEASE FORM FROM YOUR PCP, fill it out, have your PCP fax it to your surgeon. Make sure that you state that you want EVERY SINGLE ITEM from your file, surgical reports, all imaging, lab work, every.damned.thing. That way it's usually free. Then have your PCP give you a copy.

And, hi!

Sue
 
I'm not sure exactly what he meant about the roux limb either. Keep in mind that with a true DS, we have a RNY set up, with RNY being a surgical term that is not exclusive to gastric bypass. Part of the confusion is that the lay portion of the bariatric surgery community, meaning us patients, has taken to referring to gastric bypass as "RNY", when it's really a more general term. So if he did a true DS, like you insisted and like he says he did, you have a RNY with a roux limb, it's but it's not the same as the roux limb you had before. Confused yet?

Bottom line, you need that operative report. I understand about being afraid to look at the report for fear of having something you don't want and being stuck with it. But the reality is that whatever you have is what you have regardless of whether you read the report of not. And in her usual fashion, Spiky Bugger has spelled out one of the realities of having complex medical care and needing to be your own best, sometimes only advocate - whether it's your nature or not, now is the time to become assertive and insist on the care and the records to which you are entitled. You did a great job on the care, by comparison getting the records should be a piece of cake. Doesn't matter who the surgeon was (and I do know!) or what his bedside manner is like. Doesn't matter whether or not he likes you, or you like him. Get those records!

PS If I had to guess, my guess would be that he really did do a DS for you and not a SADI. Whatever complaints people have had about him, it hasn't been about dishonesty. I don't think he would tell you he did a DS unless that's what he did.
 
I'm not sure exactly what he meant about the roux limb either. Keep in mind that with a true DS, we have a RNY set up, with RNY being a surgical term that is not exclusive to gastric bypass. Part of the confusion is that the lay portion of the bariatric surgery community, meaning us patients, has taken to referring to gastric bypass as "RNY", when it's really a more general term. So if he did a true DS, like you insisted and like he says he did, you have a RNY with a roux limb, it's but it's not the same as the roux limb you had before. Confused yet?

Bottom line, you need that operative report. I understand about being afraid to look at the report for fear of having something you don't want and being stuck with it. But the reality is that whatever you have is what you have regardless of whether you read the report of not. And in her usual fashion, Spiky Bugger has spelled out one of the realities of having complex medical care and needing to be your own best, sometimes only advocate - whether it's your nature or not, now is the time to become assertive and insist on the care and the records to which you are entitled. You did a great job on the care, by comparison getting the records should be a piece of cake. Doesn't matter who the surgeon was (and I do know!) or what his bedside manner is like. Doesn't matter whether or not he likes you, or you like him. Get those records!

PS If I had to guess, my guess would be that he really did do a DS for you and not a SADI. Whatever complaints people have had about him, it hasn't been about dishonesty. I don't think he would tell you he did a DS unless that's what he did.
My "usual fashion," eh? I'll getcha for that!
 
Hey, I meant it favorably!

But if you think you can get me, bring it on!
 

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