I am actually thankful in switching jobs a few times since having had my VSG that I now have a new / different insurance that I didn't have when I had my VSG done initially. Sadly, I am one of those that regained all of my weight back. I was told VSG was the best surgery for me, etc etc....I was steered away from the RNY that I had initially settled on back then. In some ways I'm happy, in some ways not so much. I see my mom who had her RNY in 2007 lost weight, but also have that weight loss come back even for her. Now, I am pursuing revisional surgery to go from VSG to DS because I finally did some research on surgeries rather than jumping into the deep end blindfolded with weights shackled to my legs. There really needs to be better information out there for people who don't know....who truly believe that VSG is the end all best weight loss surgery. Its only restrictive....and it's really only effective for a period of time...a very small window. Eventually, people learn the ways around it....eventually people can start eating a little more, and more. Eventually, people have no punishment for not abiding by the VSG rules, because there really aren't any. When I settled on wanting RNY, I wanted it for the higher potential of dumping syndrome being the proverbial slap on the hand.....or slap to the face to wake me up and say, "HEY, numbskull....you can't eat chocolate anymore unless you enjoy feeling like you're gonna die!". I never got this with VSG. In fact, the only benefit I had with the VSG was portion size being small...and not allowing me to eat til my hearts content in one sitting. That doesn't mean I can't have a few bites now.....a few more bites 10 mins later, and so on until a giant plate of food is gone. So yeah, VSG is just not good long term, unless you can and do work extremely hard to maintain good eating habits, and work out.
I feel blessed and am looking forward to my DS surgery, and knowing that it will be the best tool to help me re-lose my weight and this time around, keep it off long term.