New to Bariatric Facts, but not to WLS! Thanks Larra!

[Heather Modispaw]

Thank you to Larra for pointing me here! A quick background on me. I was banded 9/14/2006. Did great, lost 80 pounds, but developed issues by year 3 and finally had a major slip that needed to have surgery to either correct or revise to another wls. Note, never made it to goal with the band, in fact I had some regain. When Dr. Schweitzer went to correct the slip he decided to give me a Sleeve (VSG) because the band had left me with massive scar tissue. The 90 minute surgery took 5-1/2 hours to clean me out and then do the sleeve. That was 6/11/2009. Recovery was easy and I lost down to 211 pounds with the sleeve. I think I was 211 for about a day. (I'm 5'11") I had some regain and then on 5/24/2014 I had a motorcycle accident where I fractured my T12 vertebra, pelvis, sacrum and coccyx. Thankfully I'm alive and can walk, but the lack of activity this past year has caused more regain and I'm up to the 260's. I now have a consult with Dr. Schweitzer for a revision to DS. I keep seeing that he no longer does DS, but I was told by Pat Jordan (NP at his office) that I, "may be a candidate for the second stage in which a portion of small intestine is bypassed". I emailed her this morning to verify that she means the TRUE DS. If it's not I'll need to find someone nearby. Has anyone else been banded and/or sleeved and then gotten a DS? If so, what have your results been?


Heather

 

[Charris]

Welcome. Isn't Larra a God send? She got me to this group before I had a weight loss revision that the doctor told me I probably wouldn't loose any weight from

 

[Heather Modispaw]

Hi Charris! I truly appreciate Larra for pointing me to this group! I just found out that my surgeon really isn't doing DS any longer and that by what the NP meant was he'd do the second half as a RNY procedure not DS. Not sure what to do at this point. I completely trust Dr. Schweitzer, but wonder if I should find a DS surgeon. Not sure that anyone does it in Maryland.

 

[aaa]

Welcome.

 

[Larra]

Hi again Heather! You have come to the right place. I think you will get lots more opinions here other than mine, and that's a good thing. More posted on your other thread.

 

[southernlady]

Welcome @Heather Modispaw

 

[brooklyngirl]

Not sure if I've heard of DS surgeons in Maryland, but I've heard of some in NJ, VA and Philly, which would probably be within a couple hours drive from you?

 

[JackieOnLine]

Hi, Heather, glad you made it here

 

[Heather Modispaw]

Sooo, according to my health insurance (ChampVA) it says that DS is not covered, but bypass is. I need to talk to Dr. Schweitzer to see what we can do if anything.

 

[Sandy]

Hi Heather, and welcome. Back when Dr. Schweitzer was still doing the DS, he wasn't very reliable in how he would do them. By that I mean, he didn't perform an aggressive switch (the intestinal part) and definitely favored a very conservative switch. I have one friend who only lost 70lbs with her DS, eight years ago, which wasn't anywhere close to what she needed, and wanted, to lose. Another of his patients got the sleeve part of the DS but the intestinal configuration that was more like the RNY configuration rather than the DS. She got rid of her diabetes but stayed obese, or possibly morbidly obese still.

This is not a commentary on his skills as a surgeon, but rather about his willingness to perform an aggressive WLS when he has a patient who needs a more custom and aggressive approach. He chooses a more conservative approach and if the patient gets lucky that works out to be good enough. However, I would encourage you to look at your history and realize that you have already had two restrictive-only procedures that didn't get you to a good goal weight. Are you likely to get better results with yet another conservative approach? That is the question I would be asking for myself under these circumstances. I realize you trust him and that counts for a lot when you are having surgery, but is his approach to WLS going to be enough for you?

I don't envy your position because you've already tried this twice and that just has to suck. I hope you will look at all the options available to you before you make you final decision.

 

[Will2014]

Welcome Heather! I'm quite certain there are DS surgeons in Maryland...I'd start with Johns Hopkins docs. Best of luck to you in your journey!

 

[Larra]

@Will2014 I'm sorry but you are mistaken. Dr. Schweitzer USED to do the DS at Johns Hopkins but stopped years ago. Left some very disappointed patients behind in the process. There are DS surgeons in the area but he isn't one of them, and in the years since he stopped doing the DS I haven't heard of any other surgeon at Johns Hopkins doing the DS either.