Feeling Frustrated and Mad at Myself

annabellarose77

Active Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2015
Messages
42
Location
Tennessee
Hi everyone. I haven't posted on here in a very long time. I was suppose to have a DS done in 2015 with Dr. Houston but he ended up convincing me to do a RNY instead. It's a long story, but basically he "hurt" himself skiing and couldn't perform the DS because of how long the surgery would take and he postponed my surgery. In order to finally get any WLS done I had to change to a RNY or a sleeve. He pushed me into the RNY, but I agreed to it, he didn't hold a gun to my head. Now, after dealing with complication after complication, with no help from him, I'm so tired of dealing with this. I made such a HUGE mistake in agreeing to do the RNY instead of the DS and now I'm paying for it. Worse thing is my surgeon is a HUGE jerk who believes he can do no wrong so there couldn't possibly be any complications from a surgery he performed. No other surgeon in the Nashville area will see me because I'm someone else's patient. I'm so tired of being sick and in constant pain. I have only lost half of my goal weight. The GI doctor I'm seeing believes I may need to have the surgery reversed. This seems so ludicrous to me after all I've been through. I finally broke down and called Dr. Boyce's office in Knoxville to see if he would see me for a consult. I'm waiting for him to review my records. At this point, I'm not sure what to do, but thinking of having a revision to a DS if Dr. Boyce will take me as a patient.

The complications I'm having is upper right abdominal pain( gallbladder removed long ago), severe nausea, pain in the middle of my chest, gnawing hunger pains with sometimes a burning sensation like acid, but it's more nausea than burning. I've had blood work, ct scans, and colonoscopy all negative. However, I just found out the ct scan showed a small hiatal hernia, but they never disclosed this to me. I had to read the report to find out. The other problem is I have other stomach issues going on that arose after fighting two battles of c-diff last year. I developed post-infectious IBS due to the severe c-diff infections and my bowels have not been normal since. I don't think the IBS issues have anything to do with the other stuff. Basically, the GI doctor wants to blame the RNY and my surgeon says it's not a surgical issue. He even said that there was no way I was having a complication from the surgery because I'd be having pain on the left side not the right. At this point, I don't know who to believe. I just want to be able to function and not be in pain and miserable every day.

I'm sorry for the long post. Just hoping for some advice. Do you think a revision to a DS is a viable option? I just wish I had made better choices prior to surgery. Thanks for reading.

Andria
 
I'm a VSG patient who will be revising to a DS next month, so I can't help you with your question other than to say that my surgeon said that it's much easier to revise from a sleeve than it is to revise from an RNY. This is a VERY knowledgeable board, so I'm sure someone will come along with a lot more info than I have.

I just want to ask you to not be so hard on yourself. Yes, you could have made better choices, but beating yourself up about it isn't going to help anything now. All you can do is recognize that you might have done better in the past and commit to do the very best from here on out. Being hard on yourself is just keeping that negativity swirling around your head. You don't need that. You need your head to work through this and get the best info possible.

Good luck.
 
Wow, you need to forgive yourself and know this is a long and hard journey and people make mistakes. There are lots of people who go from an RNY to a DS - it does not seem to be easy, but the end result seems worth it. :) Someone will come along and post more.

Forgive yourself. Stuff happens, people make mistakes, people fix mistakes, life get better. There is nothing you can do now, but fix the problem and not let it rule you.

Hang tough.
 
if you have a PPO I'd be trying to get to California where Keshishian is. He takes on those tough cases other doctors wouldn't touch. I know Rabkin has the ability to fix the tough cases but I'm not sure what his practice is in regards to touching other docs screw ups!
 
if you have a PPO I'd be trying to get to California where Keshishian is. He takes on those tough cases other doctors wouldn't touch. I know Rabkin has the ability to fix the tough cases but I'm not sure what his practice is in regards to touching other docs screw ups!
I was about to suggest same thing, Dr. K! You need someone who is EXCELLENT and is a kind, caring concerned surgeon, and from what I've heard of Dr. K he is all of the above!
Shame on your original surgeon for talking you into the other surgery because it was easier for him!
 
You called Houston a jerk? You're being much too kind. He was my surgeon 9 years ago. I respected him then; even recommended him.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Best wishes going forward.
 
Last edited:
I'm so sorry about all this!
I will second the recommendation to get in touch with either Dr. Rabkin or Dr. Keshishian. Both take on the toughest cases, both as very experienced with RNY to DS revisions, and both are accustomed to working with patients from far out of town. Of course if you can get the care you need close to home with Dr. Boyce, that would be great, but if not, you need a Plan B.
And stop kicking yourself!
 
Keshishian seems to be very dedicated to fixing the mistakes of other surgeons. He seems to take on the risk without concern for his reputation (and if he takes particular joy in his work as a "fixer," I think it is more grim joy in being able to help patients in need).

If it were me, I'd want to be either in Keshishian's or Rabkin's hands.
 
I am sorry for your situation, but as several have stated, Dr K is an incredible surgeon who has done over 500 revisions with the biggest share of those being RnY GBP to DS. Dr Rabkin has an excellent reputation as well.

I am very, very biased for several reasons but I am a Dr K patient who had a revison with Dr K to fix malnutrition problems that I was suffering with from my virgin DS. Dr K operated on my oldest son in 2015 fixing very bad gastroparesis for which an local surgeon wanted to take his freaking stomach out. Dr K basically cut a big hole off the greater curvature of his stomach and attached to the small intestine...so he has in effect an RnY with just a tiny, tiny bit of small intestine bypassed (not enough to have an weight loss component) but it cure his debilitating gastroparesis. Dr K also did a ventral hernia with mesh repair on me last May and then in October operated on my colon and cleaned up a bunch of scar tissue and adhesions. I can't state it with enough force as to just how good he is as a surgeon, but as good as he is at cutting he is even better about follow up care and genuine concern for the well being of his patients. He and I talk, it seems, at least once a month. Not only is he a great surgeon but I consider him a friend as well. btW, I live in IL so nowhere near Glendale, CA where he is located but he is worth the travel.

If your insurance is accepted by him, he is as good as it gets with RnY to GBP revisions so please consider him because if possible he will fix you right up.

Best wishes and don't beat yourself up. You did what you thought was the right thing.
 
Thanks everyone for your kind words and support. Dr. Boyce will not take me as a patient, as his nurse stated, he didn't see any need for a revision based on my RNY surgical op report. I guess it doesn't matter what complications I'm having now. I did contact Dr. K's office, and luckily they take my insurance, but he requires a $4000 program fee up front 1 week prior to surgery. I'm been unable to work the past few months due to these issues I'm having so coming up with that kind of money is going to be very difficult, if not impossible. But I think he may be my only hope. My surgeon here is not taking my concerns seriously, and I feel like they all think these symptoms are in my head. I wish they had to deal with the constant pain and nausea all day long like I do then tell me it's all in my head. I'm just beyond frustrated right now, and not sure what to do. I just know I can't continue living this way. I really understand the importance of making sure you find a highly reputable surgeon that is going to do the surgery that is best for you in the beginning, and is not only a good cutter, but great at after care as well!

Andria
 
Talk to Dr. Rabkin. I know this forum loves Dr. K, but I think Dr. Rabkin is an amazing and wonderful man. It's just less people here know him.

Good luck.
 
Talk to Dr. Rabkin. I know this forum loves Dr. K, but I think Dr. Rabkin is an amazing and wonderful man. It's just less people here know him.

Good luck.
Rabkin is definitely a good one too.

Other and me in particular love Dr K because beyond being a great surgeon technically his bed side manner, geuine concern for every patient and out of this world follow up is just unmatched. Unless you have met him or had him do a surgery on your or a family member it is hard to explain. On another board before here and a lot of the people from here posted there as well, people were singing the praises of Dr K and I made a post saying, geez the guy is human and other Docs are great as well. I thought my original DS surgeon was very good until I learned later on that he wasn't nearly as good as I thought, especially his shitty follow up an arrogance.

All of that being said, I don't think anyone could go wrong if they go to Dr Rabkin. He is very well respected and I believe he and Dr K are the two best DS surgeons in the world. There ability to do the RnY GBP to DS, separates them from the crowd.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top