Hi, hello, how are ya!

Southern lady,
I kept trying to reply to your posts but something kept going wrong. Probably my stupid phone.

Anyway, thanks for your question suggestions. I will be using them and more. I appreciate your diplomatic stance and agree absolutely that it is an individusl choice. Everyone has their reasons for the choice they make that is personal to them. I will not begrudge anyone that as long as they have done their homework. I am pretty sure, for myself, that I do want the full DS. And I hope this surgeon is the right one. But I will not compromise myself to get it.
 
Hi, backacha...and beware of the Bait-But-Don't-Switch guys!


You are visiting with people who have LOTS of years of experience reading about the DS...and most of us are post-ops of many years. (I'm over 10.5 years post op.)

If you really are ready to self-pay, why pay for anything other than one of the very few PRIMO DS surgeons on the planet?

(Don't feel like you are being attacked...we warn people in your situation ALL THE TIME.)
You are right Spiky Bugger, I am only going to be able to do this once so I gotta make it count! And thank you for the reassurance that everyone means well. I have read about the bait and switch issue before. And with something as major as that being a possibilty I absolutely understand the concern.
 
@Ridgerunner good job on your research. I wish everyone went into their consults and ultimately their surgery as well informed as you are. I also agree that each person has to make his or her best choice. I don't think anyone here is critical of you, just critical of some of the operations that are being touted these days. We've seen too many people experiencing the disappointment of a failed bariatric surgery and feeling like they are failures once again, when in reality it is the operation that failed and not the patient.

Please let us know what you find out about this surgeon's DS experience. If he's really doing the DS, he would be a valuable resource in a location that thus far has not had a DS resource. That would be great.
 
@Ridgerunner good job on your research. I wish everyone went into their consults and ultimately their surgery as well informed as you are. I also agree that each person has to make his or her best choice. I don't think anyone here is critical of you, just critical of some of the operations that are being touted these days. We've seen too many people experiencing the disappointment of a failed bariatric surgery and feeling like they are failures once again, when in reality it is the operation that failed and not the patient.

Please let us know what you find out about this surgeon's DS experience. If he's really doing the DS, he would be a valuable resource in a location that thus far has not had a DS resource. That would be great.

I will definately posts my findings as soon as I get them. I would love to be able to pay it forward.
 
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Thanks for the question suggestions! I will use these and a few more at my consult.
I will post the answers to all these questions as soon as I can so others may have the benifit of knowing in the future
I had the ds the 13th of june. I had many other complications he had to take care of also. My ds went well and im excited to start losing weight. My surgeon is great but he does all wls. He is not well known to the group, and I too questioned him about the hess method. He told me he uses this, but I don't know how he does it. im sure he did a great job and I trust him. I had a sleeve done 5 years ago. Lost 150 but gained 100 back in a very short period of time. so of course I went for the ds which is what I should of done the first time. it would have been great if I could, being new myself I would have liked to have gone to one of the drs. these folks are talking about, but it was not feasible for me. im so grateful I chose him because he had to repair so many different things. if you are researching and have good communication with this surgeon you will be fine. Please let me know when you are having it done, Id love to stay in touch with you. Sara P.S. take a extension cord with you for your cell phone. Best tip I was given.
 
I had the ds the 13th of june. I had many other complications he had to take care of also. My ds went well and im excited to start losing weight. My surgeon is great but he does all wls. He is not well known to the group, and I too questioned him about the hess method. He told me he uses this, but I don't know how he does it. im sure he did a great job and I trust him. I had a sleeve done 5 years ago. Lost 150 but gained 100 back in a very short period of time. so of course I went for the ds which is what I should of done the first time. it would have been great if I could, being new myself I would have liked to have gone to one of the drs. these folks are talking about, but it was not feasible for me. im so grateful I chose him because he had to repair so many different things. if you are researching and have good communication with this surgeon you will be fine. Please let me know when you are having it done, Id love to stay in touch with you. Sara P.S. take a extension cord with you for your cell phone. Best tip I was given.

I will absolutely keep you posted. Would love to. I would love to lay some questions on you at a later time too if that's ok. Thank you for sharing with me Sara.
 
Hi @Ridgerunner. When is your consultaion? If you have read any of my posts you will have picked up on the fact that I am the world's strongest advocate for the Hess DS. That is because my original DS surgeon who has been doing bariatric surgery for a long time and is very respected In my area, screwed me up horribly and I have battled very serious health issues from malnutrition that he caused. Please ask your surgeon if he does the Hess or standard limb length DS because the Hess customizes and opygmies the ds for the individual. . If he says he does standard tell him that you want the Hess DS because you don't want to risk too much or not enough malabsorption (too much or not enough weight loss). If he says why tell him it is because you deserve the least risk of health problems and optimal weight loss because you are worth it.
 
Well, I could not stand the suspense any longer and called the bariatric center where I will be having my surgery and it turns out that they do not offer the traditional DS but the SADI. I do not have anymore information than this. I have scheduled an appt for early August to duscuss in more detail.
 
That's a shame, but I can't say that I'm surprised. We have yet to learn of a surgeon doing the DS in your state. Many people have to travel to get a DS, and IMHO it's well worth the effort. Traveling for surgery is a one time thing; you live with the results of the surgery, good or bad, forever.

The SADI is not the same as the DS. The long term results are not known. Some surgeons are touting it as less risky than the DS, but in reality, the one less anastomosis is about the easiest and least risky part of the DS, and that's the only thing that is avoided. It is also not a standard of care bariatric operation in the USA. Some surgeons (obviously I'm not saying your potential surgeon is doing this!) get around the lack of an insurance code for this operation by using the DS code, even though the description of this code clearly states that it has 2 anastomoses. At some point the insurance companies are going to catch on.
Of course you should continue reading and learn all you can about this before making your personal decision. There are several really good discussions about this on this forum already, and hopefully someone like @southernlady will come along and provide links for you.
 

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