Larra
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2013
- Messages
- 3,525
@aprillperkins I can appreciate your frustration. You must feel like the rug was pulled out from under you. The most important advice I can give you is to not rush into anything. You are all over the board right now. Take some deep breaths and make your decisions when you are calm and you can be confident about them.
Re: Dr. Esquerra - it might not take so long to learn more about him. I don't know how long it will take, and neither do you. It's possible that patients of his may start showing up here or on other forums in the near future. Your decision of course, but I wouldn't rule him out so quickly. I don't know your whole story, but I do know that you chose the DS for a reason, maybe more than one reason. And while there are some people who do well with VSG, we know at least 5 year follow-up that they have problems with weight regain, and that resolution of comorbidities isn't as good as with either gastric bypass or DS. So if, for example, you have concerns about type 2 diabetes, or sleep apnea, or high blood pressure, you are setting yourself up for a much lower chance of success unless you have the DS.
Re: mini-gastric bypass, this is an operation that should be avoided (this is what I meant about you being all over the board - you are really grasping at straws on this one). This operation is not, and has never been, a standard of care bariatric operation. Results for weight loss are probably about the same as with RNY gastric bypass, BUT this operation sets you up for bile reflux, which is very difficult to treat because antacids don't work. Bile is a base, the opposite of an acid. To the best of my knowledge (I don't claim to know everything, after all) there is only one group in the USA doing this operation. I would recommend avoiding it at all costs. And btw it has many of the same disadvantages as the standard RNY gastric bypass - can't take NSAIds for the rest of your life, possible dumping, permanent low fat, low carb, low calorie diet. If you want a gastric bypass, have a gastric bypass, not this crappy version.
Personally, I would say if you just can't figure out a way to have a DS, I would go with VSG, because it preserves normal stomach function, and because if you do want/need revision down the line it much easier and safer to revise VSG to DS than gastric bypass to DS. But if I were in your shoes, I would either hold off a little to see what feedback comes down the pike for Dr. Esquerra, or go to Dr. Greenbaum for open DS. Open surgery is not the end of the world. Until a relatively short time ago, all bariatric surgery was open. But it's your call.
Re: Dr. Esquerra - it might not take so long to learn more about him. I don't know how long it will take, and neither do you. It's possible that patients of his may start showing up here or on other forums in the near future. Your decision of course, but I wouldn't rule him out so quickly. I don't know your whole story, but I do know that you chose the DS for a reason, maybe more than one reason. And while there are some people who do well with VSG, we know at least 5 year follow-up that they have problems with weight regain, and that resolution of comorbidities isn't as good as with either gastric bypass or DS. So if, for example, you have concerns about type 2 diabetes, or sleep apnea, or high blood pressure, you are setting yourself up for a much lower chance of success unless you have the DS.
Re: mini-gastric bypass, this is an operation that should be avoided (this is what I meant about you being all over the board - you are really grasping at straws on this one). This operation is not, and has never been, a standard of care bariatric operation. Results for weight loss are probably about the same as with RNY gastric bypass, BUT this operation sets you up for bile reflux, which is very difficult to treat because antacids don't work. Bile is a base, the opposite of an acid. To the best of my knowledge (I don't claim to know everything, after all) there is only one group in the USA doing this operation. I would recommend avoiding it at all costs. And btw it has many of the same disadvantages as the standard RNY gastric bypass - can't take NSAIds for the rest of your life, possible dumping, permanent low fat, low carb, low calorie diet. If you want a gastric bypass, have a gastric bypass, not this crappy version.
Personally, I would say if you just can't figure out a way to have a DS, I would go with VSG, because it preserves normal stomach function, and because if you do want/need revision down the line it much easier and safer to revise VSG to DS than gastric bypass to DS. But if I were in your shoes, I would either hold off a little to see what feedback comes down the pike for Dr. Esquerra, or go to Dr. Greenbaum for open DS. Open surgery is not the end of the world. Until a relatively short time ago, all bariatric surgery was open. But it's your call.
