Hello!
I am a long, long time lurker first time poster
I have followed the founding members of this board since rants&raves at OH, to proboards, to here. And am grateful for the time and energy that people have expended in paying it forward, educating the rest of us and relating the real life lessons that they have picked up along the way! I am on the path to regaining my health, and figured I should introduce myself before I start picking your brains. I will post my specific insurance questions in the insurance forum. Thanks in advance for reading!!!
The long and the short of it:
I received a lap RNY by Dr. Michael Schwietzer at Johns Hopkins in March 2009. I had done my homework, chose a surgeon who did both the DS and RNY (although, last I heard he had moved to doing the DS in 2 parts and it is no longer listed on his profile). I was leaning toward the DS and wanted to hear from a "medical professional" what they recommended for me. Upon my asking about the DS, his response was "People who get the DS are really forceful about it, if you have questions you shouldn't get it." And so, I moved forward with the RNY. My starting weight was 350lbs and I have been above 260 since middle school. I lost a hundred pounds my first year and stopped losing. My lowest weight was 249 for a blink of an eye. I soon bounced back to 270 and held steady for a couple of years and then slowly my weight had been creeping up 5-10 lbs a year so I now sit at 300 again.
Despite the disappointment of not getting "skinny" I was grateful for the difference it made in my health! I have been diabetic since the age of 9, type II... you know adult onset... I got dem good genes, lol. Before surgery I was on over a hundred units of insulin, ace inhibitors, metformin, and had tried just about every drug my very savy endocrinologist could think to throw at me to try to reign in my blood sugars. Even with all that, they still ran rampantly high and I had issues with continuous infections. I was taken off everything but metformin when I went home from the hospital, and I was good for a couple of years. The energy from dropping a hundred pounds and having my blood sugars in control was wild, this was how the other side lived. Being in my 20s I could do the fun active things my friends were doing, hike play kickball go to yoga, etc. I could shop, cook and clean... All in the same day! For that I am supremely grateful.
Fast forward to now, I am back up to 300lbs, life is hard again. Movement and activities are a challenge, my joints hurt, I meter out all tasks by amount of effort required. I am back on insulin, and a host of other drugs but with regained weight comes the added insulin resistance and so I am back to losing the same old battle against high blood sugar. With the insulin and drugs I have an added challenge, I am always hungry!!! I am never full, I never used to be a big morning eater and now I wake up ravenous. I am aware that there is psychological component and was in therapy for a couple of years dealing with food issues along with others.
In the end, I feel like I am back to where I started, sick, tired, and facing a short life not lived to the fullest. I need to change that and stem the damage.
I have toyed with the idea of a revision for years, I have reached out to Dr. K's office a couple of times to start the ball rolling but was working 60 hour weeks and put work above my health. No longer!!! Despite the deep sense of shame for failing with the RNY, logically I know that I did the best I could with the tool at hand, but it still stings. And now I need another tool. I have learned thanks to the research and vigilance of those on this board that there are a rare few who are qualified for a RNY to DS. Since I am on the east coast, I had also contacted Dr. Greenblum who tried to steer me into a distal RNY (aw hell no!), and Dr. Elariny who doesn't participate with any insurance and quoted me about $40K (I just can't swing that currently). From what I read, that only really leaves me with a west coast option
As most of us have, I have been through a stream of nutritionists and dietitians, most of which know nothing of how WLS effects our bodies and needs. With that said, I have been about mostly paleo for over a year, meaning no processed food or grains and concentrating on protein and veggies. I haven't really lost any weight but I haven't gained any- small blessings, right? I am compliant with my vitamin regimen with my only real deficiencies being iron and vitamin D. I get infusions annually and that takes care of my iron and my D was low even before surgery.
I am now in the position where I have time for a revision but not the insurance, but will work to change that. I know this was long, and if you made it through, thanks!!!
-Yusy
I am a long, long time lurker first time poster
I have followed the founding members of this board since rants&raves at OH, to proboards, to here. And am grateful for the time and energy that people have expended in paying it forward, educating the rest of us and relating the real life lessons that they have picked up along the way! I am on the path to regaining my health, and figured I should introduce myself before I start picking your brains. I will post my specific insurance questions in the insurance forum. Thanks in advance for reading!!!The long and the short of it:
I received a lap RNY by Dr. Michael Schwietzer at Johns Hopkins in March 2009. I had done my homework, chose a surgeon who did both the DS and RNY (although, last I heard he had moved to doing the DS in 2 parts and it is no longer listed on his profile). I was leaning toward the DS and wanted to hear from a "medical professional" what they recommended for me. Upon my asking about the DS, his response was "People who get the DS are really forceful about it, if you have questions you shouldn't get it." And so, I moved forward with the RNY. My starting weight was 350lbs and I have been above 260 since middle school. I lost a hundred pounds my first year and stopped losing. My lowest weight was 249 for a blink of an eye. I soon bounced back to 270 and held steady for a couple of years and then slowly my weight had been creeping up 5-10 lbs a year so I now sit at 300 again.
Despite the disappointment of not getting "skinny" I was grateful for the difference it made in my health! I have been diabetic since the age of 9, type II... you know adult onset... I got dem good genes, lol. Before surgery I was on over a hundred units of insulin, ace inhibitors, metformin, and had tried just about every drug my very savy endocrinologist could think to throw at me to try to reign in my blood sugars. Even with all that, they still ran rampantly high and I had issues with continuous infections. I was taken off everything but metformin when I went home from the hospital, and I was good for a couple of years. The energy from dropping a hundred pounds and having my blood sugars in control was wild, this was how the other side lived. Being in my 20s I could do the fun active things my friends were doing, hike play kickball go to yoga, etc. I could shop, cook and clean... All in the same day! For that I am supremely grateful.
Fast forward to now, I am back up to 300lbs, life is hard again. Movement and activities are a challenge, my joints hurt, I meter out all tasks by amount of effort required. I am back on insulin, and a host of other drugs but with regained weight comes the added insulin resistance and so I am back to losing the same old battle against high blood sugar. With the insulin and drugs I have an added challenge, I am always hungry!!! I am never full, I never used to be a big morning eater and now I wake up ravenous. I am aware that there is psychological component and was in therapy for a couple of years dealing with food issues along with others.
In the end, I feel like I am back to where I started, sick, tired, and facing a short life not lived to the fullest. I need to change that and stem the damage.
I have toyed with the idea of a revision for years, I have reached out to Dr. K's office a couple of times to start the ball rolling but was working 60 hour weeks and put work above my health. No longer!!! Despite the deep sense of shame for failing with the RNY, logically I know that I did the best I could with the tool at hand, but it still stings. And now I need another tool. I have learned thanks to the research and vigilance of those on this board that there are a rare few who are qualified for a RNY to DS. Since I am on the east coast, I had also contacted Dr. Greenblum who tried to steer me into a distal RNY (aw hell no!), and Dr. Elariny who doesn't participate with any insurance and quoted me about $40K (I just can't swing that currently). From what I read, that only really leaves me with a west coast option
As most of us have, I have been through a stream of nutritionists and dietitians, most of which know nothing of how WLS effects our bodies and needs. With that said, I have been about mostly paleo for over a year, meaning no processed food or grains and concentrating on protein and veggies. I haven't really lost any weight but I haven't gained any- small blessings, right? I am compliant with my vitamin regimen with my only real deficiencies being iron and vitamin D. I get infusions annually and that takes care of my iron and my D was low even before surgery.
I am now in the position where I have time for a revision but not the insurance, but will work to change that. I know this was long, and if you made it through, thanks!!!
-Yusy
