NON-Surgeon Reviews

[jjordan8130]

Ok guys. Sorry to totally skip out. Last weekend I worked then headed into final exams with school. It's been a CRAZY past few days! I'm finally winding down.

First, thanks for the support! What @k9ophile said is the truth. The NUT education there is the same regardless of the surgery. Personally I think he had some DSrs struggle and now he shys away from doing them. But as she said, they bear the responsibility. I'm a fresh post op and I have gotten very little support. Not only do they not give you the correct diet and vit information, but they judge you heavily when you don't follow the information they gave. You become an outcast, bc remember...they know more than you, right?! (heavy sarcasm implied) As many of you know I had to argue my way into getting the DS. He didn't want to do it in the beginning and he was very outspoken at every appt about it. He even called me personally the night before after office hours and tried talking me out of it. He did tell me that a lot of his sleeve would be back for DS at some point. I understand why he's sleeving people. He wants to DS them later when they aren't successful. I'm not saying that a sleeve can't be successful, but I am saying I don't think it's in the best interest of a 450 pound patient to just have a sleeve for weight loss (He sleeved on the day he did my surgery...I met her in the office at my post op visit). I asked, not knowing her co morbs, if he intended to DS her later. Maybe DS was too risky for her at that time????? I had no idea what her situtaion was. So of course I asked her and she said no....he just wanted to do sleeve. She was a diabetic and had sleep apnea. How could he possibly expect her to be successful long term? I'm not saying it's impossible....but it doesn't seem likely. I wish her the very best and hopefully I'll see her again in passing at the office. I just believe in doing what's best for the patient. I don't think that was it.

@DianaCox The follow up support and care just isn't there for the DS. I'm sorry to say it, but it's not. K9 can back me up on this. She knows first hand this is the case. The people who get the support and the sainthood at that office are the ones who follow to the T the advice of the NUTs and surgeons AND keep the weight off without cheating EVER! If you admit to not being perfect you're done. I do NOT attend their support groups (for good reason!). I only do my follow up appt for lab work. That's it. He's gonna be pissed when I go back in June and mark the same information!!!!!!!!!! Ask me if I care?! I get my protein in and YES I eat fat. He can kiss my ass.

@nursemelanie Who did your VSG? I looked at Dr. Boyce as well. I threatened to take my business there if mine wouldn't DS me. Are you close to Nashville?

 

[nursemelanie]

@jjordan8130 Westmoreland in Murfreesboro did the sleeve. My insurance covered his practice but not Vanderbilt and I lived in Nashville then. We relocated to a small town close to family while I was finishing my LPN and we are moving back to Nashville this summer. My plan is to get on at Vandy after my recovery from DS....and start school part-time to work towards my RN.

I really like Dr Boyce and they have been very proactive in my healthcare. I've been told he is an excellent cutter.

I would be interested in connecting if you want. It would be nice to have a DS buddy.

 

[jjordan8130]

Ahhh! Ok. A friend of mine (also a nurse) is having VSG with him. Anything I should pass on?

I work at Vandy and my insurance is through them. I went out of network to Centennial and it still ended up being cheaper. I got a little bit of a discount for being a Cent. employee.

I graduate tomorrow with my RN. I just accepted a position at Vandy (staying in my same unit) as a Nurse Resident. I start in July! YES!!!! I'd love to connect!!!!! We definitely need the support!!! If you need anything let me know!!!!!! I'd be interested in learning more about your VSG story. My surgeon went on and on about how that's what I needed to do, but I know myself.....I don't think I would have been successful with it. Message me if you like!

 

[nursemelanie]

I will pm you.

 

[Munchkin]

They put me on a relatively new drug (at the time) for a few months after surgery that didn't require the testing or have the restrictions that comes along with coumadin. I cannot for the life of me remember the name, but there have been commercials for it and I reacted well to it. Wow that was so helpful, lol

Pradaxa maybe?

 

[Munchkin]

A Dr. Davidson. Latest sad story on OH. A guy goes in for a rny to ds revision. The doc coded it that way, and that's what was approved by insurance. He came out with what sounds like the same rny with 100 more cm bypassed. And the patient isn't losing weight either. And it doesn't appear there is any medical reason for doing what he did. I told him to get some legal help. The others had already told him to see a real DS surgeon. Poor guy!

 

[Munchkin]

His user name is Cowboy(something). I sent him a PM and told him to come here. @DianaCox

 

[DianaCox]

@Munchkin: Trying to talk to him on FB DSP.

 

[Liz Cooper]

I wanted to share my experience with my previous surgeon (Dr. Bobby Bhasker Rao). He worked me up and got approval for what he was calling DS. I continued to ask questions and he gave me very round about answers and I kept having feeling I was not going to be getting from him the DS I was looking for. Wanting to clarify things I asked him to draw me picture because I felt what he was describing was DS was not really. Here is that picture, glad I did. Just wanted to share so other can be sure you are getting surgery you asked for. Excited that will be in good hands with Dr. K now.

 

[Larra]

Liz, this looks like some version of the SADI, aka single anastomosis duodenal ileostomy, which some surgeons are doing as a simplified version of the classic DS. There are no longterm statistics available for the results of this procedure, either for percent excess weight loss, for maintenance of weight loss, or for resolution of comorbidities. So it's sort of a DS, and yet not what patients who have researched the DS think they are going to get. It is also not what insurers think their patients are going to get, though my guess is that the same CPT codes are used (I doubt a separate CTP code exists) and is really experimental at this point.
So good for you for asking all the right questions, for continuing to ask until you got an answer, and esp for finding your way to Dr. K. You will indeed be in the best of hands and you will get the tried and true DS that you want.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Hi @Liz Cooper ! Thanks so much for posting this.

 

[Tiffani]

Please repost wherever you post: I would like to initiate a place to collect reports of known BAIT-AND-DON'T-SWITCH surgeons.

This includes:

• Surgeons who advertise they do the DS, but then refuse to do them (there are rumors has it that Dr. Kim in Dallas has publicly stated that "due to liability" he is no longer doing the DS, yet there is more than one person on OH claiming that they are seeking a DS with him)
• Surgeons who try to steer patients away from the DS, and only grudgingly will do one
• Surgeons who steer patients to some variant thereof, like the SADI, especially if they are doing it on self-pays, or if they are billing insurance for something that was not authorized.
• In particular, I'd like to keep track of surgeons like Cooper and Ponce de Leon who apparently give patients a SADI or some other "variant" DS without fully informed consent, i.e., when the patient THINKS they are getting a proper DS and only find out later that they did not (patients have reported that they had NO idea they were getting the SADI, or were told it was just like a DS, only "safer").

I also hope that anyone who sees a pre-op patient who is going to a surgeon that does this will WARN them of these reports of their chosen surgeon's practices, so they can do their due diligence even more carefully.

TO BE CLEAR: these reports are like Yelp reviews - they are only as reliable as the person reporting them, and are for the purpose of raising awareness and advising pre-ops to be particularly careful, not only with the named surgeons, but also ANY surgeon - GET WHAT YOU ARE AUTHORIZING THEM TO DO - OR NOT DO - IN WRITING!!

I assure you Dr Kim does DS surgeries. I have several friends have had it done by him recently.

 

[Lilyofthevalley]

Wow, I'm so glad this information is out here now. I had never heard of a DS before meeting with my surgeon. He suggested it, explained it, and I researched it. I just assumed a DS was a DS, and I am sure that is what I got. He even explained to us (me, my husband, and my son-in-law) what he was going to do to change my anatomy, just before they took me into surgery.

Over the last 22 months I have read about, and communicated with several folks who were bated and not switched. In my mind if there is any discussion that includes the words, "maybe", "if", "partial", "two parts", or "possibly", one should do some more research on that surgeon.

 

[more2adore]

Here in the UK, few surgeons, if any, now days do the full DS in one go.

In my case, that was ok with me because I was so large the sleeve itself was a difficult procedure. I realise not everyone does well in two stages, but I have done ok, I think lol.

The NHS is a funny little thing. The do the sleeve first, hoping you won't need the DS...and it works out to be true some of the time. However, if in the states, and one has a bmi below 80, I'd say do it all at once. My bmi was around 95 at the time of my sleeve and was still well over 60 when I got my DS.

Sorry for bumping a post from April, but does this mean for people OVER a BMI of 80 it IS better to get it done in two stages? My BMI is 96 at the moment. I'm a shorty.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Sorry for bumping a post from April, but does this mean for people OVER a BMI of 80 it IS better to get it done in two stages? My BMI is 96 at the moment. I'm a shorty.

It all depends on your overall health and the skill of the surgeon/s.

What Roo was saying was simply a statement of NHS policy. That is not necessarily based in evidence.