Lack of DS in media

[Remingtonh]

I remember when I was in the hospital surgery waiting room and my surgeon came in that morning to check on me. After some discussion I asked him what time would I be rolled into surgery, and he replied that "pretty soon, I have one surgery ahead of you, but it's just a sleeve." (or something to that effect).

My DS took him nearly 5 hours to complete. Looking at the insurance payout (if I was reading it right) he definitely didn't get 5x the payment for my DS over what might have been an hour surgery for a sleeve. I then understood why I had to (kind of) fight for my DS. He can hammer out multiple sleeves a day during his two days a week at the hospital doing surgeries and that's simply more lucrative than doing, what, probably one DS a day?

 

[aaa]

Re "We'd like it to get better but at least it hasn't gotten worse. I used to lift weights every other day"

Can you do exercise without weights ? When I started the best I could do was go through the motions for legs and lower back. It was good enough to get me going.

That said, I have zero experience with osteoporosis, and would definitely check with the doc first.

Do they recommend PT here? I have a friend in London (ant ani... 70+) who takes a med for bone problems, after a couple of fractures. She recently started on a concept 1 row machine to build up strength. Her husband is a retired GP, so there was some oversight

I do what I can. But it doesn't seem to be the same as with the weights. At least, that's what they told me.

 

[aaa]

Getting back to the original topic, TLC did actually have a show in which a SMO teenage boy was featured, and he had the DS with two bariatric surgeons in Amarillo, TX. Sadly, I don't recall their names. This young man had the most beautiful voice and his dream was to become a professional singer. He did great with his DS.
More recently, there was another episode with these same two surgeons and a man who had known one of them since, I believe, high school had the DS with them and also had a great result. There was another patient featured on the show, a woman who carried most of her excess weight on her torso, and they were unable to do her surgery because of the extreme thickness of her abdominal wall. They set up a plan for another attempt when she had lost weight, and then the pandemic came along and pretty much screwed up her life, and as the show concluded she still hadn't had any further surgery.
Apparently they do the DS for people with a bmi over 50 or with diabetes. Not perfect, but they seemed like good people and at least the DS got some publicity, and positive publicity at that.

I remember that one with the young man.

 

[Ainu]

It's nice to see everyone's stories. I'm obviously "only" three years into this, but I like to know what to expect. I'm quite a few years away from menopause so I'm going to consider my options in 10 or so years.

I do a good amount of weight training. I paused for too long when I extra hurt my back but I'm slowly getting back in to it. So I know what it's like having bad disks ruining everything.

I never really considered the cost/time ratio of the different surgeries. But you're right, they're close to the same price but a simple sleeve will get a lot more profit than a multi-hour DS. Still... If I had been able to lose weight by just eating less... I would have eaten less. The sleeve scares me because it's almost like they didn't do anything in the first place. It's so easy to eat around the sleeve. Maybe I'm just being too judgmental. But I am seeing things from many different angles thanks to everyone here.

Sometimes I feel like a born again Christian trying to get everyone to "see the light" without taking a moment to think that maybe that's not the light they're looking for.

Bone loss is possibly my greatest fear which is why I have so many resistance training gadgets. If you could only buy two things, I say get a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a bench. That's what I use the most. I also have a set of loop bands that I use while sitting in front of the TV.

Sorry this seems a little disjointed, it's been a long day and I hadn't realized there were any replies here and I wanted to hit all of the bases.

 

[JackieOnLine]

Sometimes I feel like a born again Christian trying to get everyone to "see the light" without taking a moment to think that maybe that's not the light they're looking for.

nicely said

 

[Doctorblue]

TLC had a pilot show called Obesity Med that aired last month featuring the DS. The doctors were Bleu Schniederjan and Bo Neichoy at Panhandle Weight Loss Center.

 

[Ainu]

TLC had a pilot show called Obesity Med that aired last month featuring the DS. The doctors were Bleu Schniederjan and Bo Neichoy at Panhandle Weight Loss Center.

I watched that yesterday. It's so nice to see a TLC show that actually shows respect for the patients. 600lb life is all about showing people in the worst light possible. Obesity Med showed these people as people and I loved it. Plus the success of the DS patient and how happy he was.

 

[Webmommy]

I watched that yesterday. It's so nice to see a TLC show that actually shows respect for the patients. 600lb life is all about showing people in the worst light possible. Obesity Med showed these people as people and I loved it. Plus the success of the DS patient and how happy he was.

I am going to take a look at those! I really had issues with the fat shaming and fat phobia on 600 lb life. They may not be explicit about it but the tone is there.

 

[Justme222]

I watched obesity med last night. It was good. It made me more excited and a little less apprehensive of surgery. The patients on there were much larger and way sicker than me. The results for James were amazing! I felt bad for the girl (Amy?), but did she have nutritional support to help lose weight before surgery? She was eating toast. I saw that and hate to admit it, but I was thinking there is no way she is losing weight eating carbs like that. She just might not be ready to commit. I just want to lose weight and feel better and be healthier more than I want my old comfort foods.

 

[aaa]

I saw it.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Oh, I don't know. Surely there is a mercantile aspect to medicine, but I'd like to believe that monetary considerations are not primary. They do make their living healing, and, after all, we go to them for help, not the other way around

Surely you jest. There is probably a slightly higher percentage of Money Grubbing Assholes in certain professions—medicine, law, politics, some religous endeavors, mortgage brokers—for example, as opposed to the number in teaching kindergarten or owning a flower shop.

MY most recent experience was when I moved (no choice, condo was sold, furniture was enroute, we had to go somewhere, right then) from CA to NV while receiving home health care of daily antibiotic infusions. (We can talk later about c diff.) I went to the NV medical practice where I had gone 30 years earlier.

That humanitarian read my records and came unglued. “You have Medicare! I guess nobody cares home much daily home care costs when taxpayers are picking up the tab!” it was a very small town and I lived 0.3 miles from the hospital, so he ignored the previous orders and had me find a way to get to the hospital and get my infusions there on the SNF-side of the facility. (Again, we can talk later about c diff.)

Oh! My earliest experience! A scene from the bank where I worked at age 18. Back when there were separate lines for each teller.
<Arrogant jerk waving a check at me while I am getting ready to open my window>: Hey, Sweetheart, will you deposit this right now?
Me: I’m not open yet, sir.
Him: Do you know who I am?
Me: No, sir.
Him: I’m Doctor Borsook and I have a patient on a table in the OR right now, so I’m in a hurry.
Me: Oh. My grandmother was one of your customers.
Him: One of my patients? Who?
Me: She’s dead.

By then, I had my window open so I took his check. But..back then, there were “bank books,” where we stamped the date and entered the amount and our initials. He didn’t hand me his bank book from our bank. He tossed four or five bank books, from four or five different institutions…so we peons could see how much money he had and also to make sure he didn’t exceed the FDIC insurable amount.


ETA: Diana is the LEAST money grubbing ESQ on the planet.

 

[JackieOnLine]

Surely you jest. There is probably a slightly higher percentage of Money Grubbing Assholes in certain professions—medicine, law, politics, some religous endeavors, mortgage brokers—for example, as opposed to the number in teaching kindergarten or owning a flower shop.

RIGHT?!