I'm so excited!!

[Stormy]

Here I am at age 60 and going to be a grandmother in 6 months. A very obese grandmother. I have waited my entire adult life waiting for this moment even tho' I thought it would have happened years ago when I was younger and thinner. Well it isn't happening that way.

I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastroplasty (VSG) in 1994 at the starting weight of about 260 pounds. I eventually lost 130 pounds, felt fantastic and was in my early 40's. I rewarded myself with a new motorcycle, a new wardrobe and my son had me escort him during one of his high school events blushing at all the whistling from his friends. They watched me lose this weight and were my biggest cheerleaders.

So here I am 20 years later weighing more now that ever and I'm feeling miserable. What happened? I started dating and what comes with that is restaurant dinners. Did I get over confident and start eating little things knowing I could lose it? You can move food around on your plate to make it look like you are eating but one day people will notice so you start forcing yourself to eat more with trips to the restroom to expel that last bite. So I started practicing at home eating just a few extra bites. I did find that eating mashed potatoes with gravy was easy, Little Debbie's filled me up, and frosting out of a can, if eaten slowly, did not make me run to the restroom. Bottom line is, I learned how to cheat with the sleeve and it didn't hurt. Good thing I saved some of my larger jeans because very quickly I started wearing them.

At 280 pounds plus, depending on how much fluid I am retaining, I am MISERABLE. I have quit seeing my friends, turn down all offers to do something fun and save my money for more doctor visits. Taking medications are not curing my health problems but they are letting me get by for one more day. I need to make a change with surgery because obviously I can't do it on my own.

Here I am today asking for help and hoping to be someone else's cheerleader along the way.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to help change my life, to live a little longer and to enjoy this new child coming in June!

 

[SJB41976]

(((HUGS))) and Welcome. You will learn a lot on this site.

 

[Clematis]

Hi @Stormy

I am 7 weeks out after DS and today is my 63rd birthday so it's never too late!

May I ask why you are not adding the switch to your VSG and instead doing RNY??

 

[southernlady]

Welcome @Stormy and congrats on your coming grandchild.

 

[southernlady]

And if your answer is due to insurance not covering the DS or your surgeon...fire the surgeon and appeal the insurance. You already have the top half of the DS...please don't screw it up by making it a RNY.

MY starting BMI was 35.2 and I am a DS'er.

 

[Clematis]

Let me add that you've already figured out how to beat the VSG (or RNY) restriction with slider foods -- you NEED the malabsorption of the DS.

 

[Stormy]

Hi @Stormy

I am 7 weeks out after DS and today is my 63rd birthday so it's never too late!

May I ask why you are not adding the switch to your VSG and instead doing RNY??

I still have my pouch but the stapling as also come partly undone. My surgeon said it is not uncommon since I have this done so many years ago when it was fairly new. They do the surgery fairly different now and remove the remainder of the stomach that is not used. Mine was left there so it still produced those juices and cravings. I told my Dr. that when I eat there are times I can have a couple bites and other times I can eat a whole plate. He did an Upper GI to confirm his suspicions.

 

[Stormy]

And if your answer is due to insurance not covering the DS or your surgeon...fire the surgeon and appeal the insurance. You already have the top half of the DS...please don't screw it up by making it a RNY.

MY starting BMI was 35.2 and I am a DS'er.

My starting BMI is 54 and my previous stapling has come undone. Plus, I know how to cheat on VSG and not sure my willpower to behave is there. This way with RNY I will be forced to comply. I am not aware of cheating on RNY and don't want to learn!! LOl My co worker has learned to cheat and she wants to start over when I have my surgery so she and I can learn together.

 

[Stormy]

Hi @Stormy

I am 7 weeks out after DS and today is my 63rd birthday so it's never too late!

May I ask why you are not adding the switch to your VSG and instead doing RNY??

To be honest, I was never given the choice of the DS and didn't know about it until I came to this site. My surgery is at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and there is a list of dozens insurance companies that will only let this hospital do bariatric surgery. My choice was the sleeve or RNY as they no longer do lap band.

 

[southernlady]

My starting BMI is 54 and my previous stapling has come undone. Plus, I know how to cheat on VSG and not sure my willpower to behave is there. this way with RNY I will be forced to comply.

Actually the regain on RNY is about 50% after the initial first two years because the intestines adapt and start absorbing calories again.

But, question? Do you need NSAIDS or have a family history of needing them? If you do, Do NOT get the RNY cause you can never take NSAIDS again.

 

[southernlady]

To be honest, I was never given the choice of the DS and didn't know about it until I came to this site. My surgery is at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and there is a list of dozens insurance companies that will only let this hospital do bariatric surgery. My choice was the sleeve or RNY as they no longer do lap band.

FIGHT THE insurance requirement. Dr. Kemmeter is in MI.

Tagging @DianaCox and @Larra

 

[DianaCox]

First of all, you need to find out exactly what surgery you had. In 1994, you did NOT have the VSG - you may have had a mere vertical gastroplasty (since you mention staple line disruption) or perhaps a vertical BANDED gastroplasty (VBG - a VERY different surgery). You may well have a lot of damage to your stomach from this 20+ year old procedure.

So, to be clear, you don't have a sleeve (or at least it is HIGHLY, HIGHLY unlikely that you do - they weren't doing VSGs in 1994). You need to find out first what you DID have - can you get copies of your op report from your original surgeon? You are likely going to have to have a difficult revision of your stomach, and therefore, you need one of the top revision surgeons in the country.

I am not sure whether Kemmeter can do this kind of revision - you many need to come to California to talk to either Rabkin or Keshishian, if you are going to get a DS.

 

[Larra]

Diana beat me to it. There is no way you had a sleeve 20 years ago. It didn't exist at that time. You had a VBG, or maybe a gastroplasty without the band. But definitely a gastroplasty, which was a forerunner of the gastric bypass and which is so out of date it's no longer considered standard of care. It is NOT your fault that this operation failed. the staple line disruption you have is extremely common with this operation, which is why it has fallen out of favor. With loss of restriction and never had any malabsorption or metabolic alteration, you in effect have no tool whatsoever to help you.
So first of all, stop kicking yourself for failing. You didn't fail, the surgery did, as it did for so many other people that it's not done anymore. Next, consider your options for the future. The DS would far and away be your best choice as it would give you a combination of moderate restriction with significant malabsorption and metabolic changes to not just help you lose weight but help you maintain that weight loss. It would also allow you to continue taking NSAIDs (or take them in the future if you don't need them yet), no dumping, no laundry list of forbidden foods, you can drink liquids with meals, etc.
If you think people can't cheat with gastric bypass, guess again. On average, people with gastric bypass lose maybe 60% of their excess weight, though of course there is a range of results. The failure rate, and rate of regain, are substantial. If someone has told you you can't cheat or you can't regain, they lied. If you think dumping will prevent "cheating" or regain, you are mistaken. Dumping is not a weight loss tool, it is a very nasty side effect that some (not all) people with gastric bypass have. Most responsible RNY surgeons will tell patients that after the first 18 months at most, continued success depends entirely on behavioral changes.

The biggest question will be, what is possible, depending on what damage has been done to your stomach, esp if any mesh was used. Sometimes the scar tissue around the stomach is so bad that it can't be safely revised, and all the surgeon can do is create some malabsorption for you. You really need to have your surgery with a surgeon experienced with difficult revisions. Dr. Kenmeter is a great suggestion.

btw, I have no idea why this post switched to italics , or how to get it to switch back. And I'm not saying all this to discourage you, just to get across that your situation is very complex and just any bariatric surgeon won't do.

 

[Stormy]

First of all, you need to find out exactly what surgery you had. In 1994, you did NOT have the VSG - you may have had a mere vertical gastroplasty (since you mention staple line disruption) or perhaps a vertical BANDED gastroplasty (VBG - a VERY different surgery). You may well have a lot of damage to your stomach from this 20+ year old procedure.

So, to be clear, you don't have a sleeve (or at least it is HIGHLY, HIGHLY unlikely that you do - they weren't doing VSGs in 1994). You need to find out first what you DID have - can you get copies of your op report from your original surgeon? You are likely going to have to have a difficult revision of your stomach, and therefore, you need one of the top revision surgeons in the country.

I am not sure whether Kemmeter can do this kind of revision - you many need to come to California to talk to either Rabkin or Keshishian, if you are going to get a DS.

My surgery is called Silastic Ring Vertical Banded Gastroplasty. I had to look it up online to be sure. There is no mesh involved. My stomach was stapled and a ring about the size of a pencil eraser was attached to the opening. I flew to Davenport Iowa after watching an infomercial late one night. I had Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance at the time and they approved this organization. Dr. John Stoner did my surgery and he is now retired and the clinic has changed names. If I didn't have the surgery in 1994 then it was 1995, no sooner or later. Pretty sure it was Sept. 1994 because my son started a new school and I had to go out of state. Dr. Jeffery Genaw will be my surgeon in Detroit and I have full confidence in him. I have been thru extensive testing to be sure he can "fix" this and he says he has plenty of room. He is a tough love kind of guy and makes you jump thru hoops to get this done. The team at Henry Ford wants to be sure I can adjust to the new lifestyle and have to prove to them I can do it before surgery is completed. He knows this isn't cut and dry and another surgeon is attending. I was more concerned about scar tissue because my first surgery I was opened from sternum to belly button and this time hopefully it will be laproscopy like everyone else.

 

[DSRIGGS]

My starting BMI is 54 and my previous stapling has come undone. Plus, I know how to cheat on VSG and not sure my willpower to behave is there. This way with RNY I will be forced to comply. I am not aware of cheating on RNY and don't want to learn!! LOl My co worker has learned to cheat and she wants to start over when I have my surgery so she and I can learn together.

Please listen and don't take this the wrong way, that is utter and complete hogwash. You REALLY NEED to research the DS and the RNY outcomes and you will find out that if you do an RNY you will be making a huge mistake. You need to talk to a good DS surgeon about getting resleeved and having the switch added.

Note the hunger cravings will never go away and the great news is that with a DS it doesn't matter because you can feed that hunger (protein mainly) and you will loose a shit pot full of weight and keep it off.

Sorry if I am coming on strong but you need a DS, you just don't know it yet.

as @DianaCox mention Dr's Keshishian and Rabkin are the people with whom you need to be talking. Full Disclosure I am a Dr K patient and love the man like a brother.

Dr K contact: dssrugery.com

Dr Rabkin: http://www.paclap.com/weight-loss-surgery/duodenal-switch.cfm I believe this is correct but Diana can correct if I am wrong.

Reach out to these people, just to get more information and a second opinion. They do phone consults and Dr K replies to emails freely and in a very timely fashion.