What will happen when we get older?

[Clematis]

On a side note regarding elderly care...

If MO, you will be turned down if you apply for long term care insurance. I don't know what they'd say about someone who has had WLS but I assume they would use it as a case to deny.

(After I applied for LTC but before the nurse phone consult, I fell and broke my ring finger. All the medical paperwork was in and I debated mentioning it but I am too honest. Yeah. I was denied because of my "history of fractures".)

 

[southernlady]

Yeah. I was denied because of my "history of fractures"

Then many people who broke a bone growing up would be denied.

I can understand them being wary of elders and breaking bones but a RING FINGER???? That was a real stretch!

 

[Clematis]

A broken bone (ANY bone) triggered a denial, however I could reapply 1 year later... when new rules and rates went into effect based on gender. LTC insurers really don;t want to write policies for women. Women take care of men until they finally ask for help when the man is near death so the men never use up all the money; women have no one to care for them so max out their policy benefits.

I wrote an appeal, had doctors write how silly this was. (I would not have been denied had the finger been AMPUTATED.) As the year passed and I debated whether to reapply, I developed Dupuytren's Contracture in that finger and that would have been an automatic, permanent denial even though it is not debilitating. My LTC plan is now a bottle of Jack, a gun and a solo boat ride out in Lake Erie.

 

[BebeZed]

My LTC plan is now a bottle of Jack, a gun and a solo boat ride out in Lake Erie.

Funny... mine is about the same, except I will have to steal the boat and take it out to the shipping lanes just to be extra annoying.
That is, if my kids don't do me in first

 

[DSRIGGS]

well aren't you two a bundle of uplifting spirit and joy today.

LOL

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

I do think about this a little bit, but not obsessively. I mean I could get hit by a bus, or drown, die from complications of a hernia repair! or some other horrible thing before I reach that level of need/age. I don't know any 640lbs 60 year olds, much less 80 year olds....so Im good with the bed I have made for myself

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

I am totally convinced we do continue to absorb more over time. Completely! Seriously, how can someone with a 75cm CC still be fat?

I am big on quality of life. If I end up in some kind of institutional setting, I would rather be dead. And I have done elder care and worked in nursing homes while I was in school. So it doesn't bother me in the least.

My motto for years has been the following: "I would rather die in a parachuting accident than in a nursing home!" And I mean it!

Yeah I have a 70cc and thought I would get smaller! bah! Guess the skinny life isn't in my cards!

 

[Spiky Bugger]

On a side note regarding elderly care...

If MO, you will be turned down if you apply for long term care insurance. I don't know what they'd say about someone who has had WLS but I assume they would use it as a case to deny.

(After I applied for LTC but before the nurse phone consult, I fell and broke my ring finger. All the medical paperwork was in and I debated mentioning it but I am too honest. Yeah. I was denied because of my "history of fractures".)

When LTC Insurance was first offered where I used to work...they accepted my late-70s mother, who had recently had colon cancer and my in-his-50s husband who had had a heart attack in his 40s.

Me...they denied because I was SMO. So I lost weight via bariatric surgery and they denied me because I was "too soon" post-op. I waited, became disabled and retired. Then I was uninsurable due to a pre-existing disability determination.

Current plan? I have a small...but probably large enough...stash of Fentanyl, darvocet, norco and dilaudid in a safe deposit box and we returned to CA where assisted suicide is apparently now legal.

Not sure how I'll feel when the situation presents, but I sure want my options.

 

[Larra]

uh, @Spiky Bugger I hope you'll stick around long enough for those meds to expire before you do. You may need to refresh your stash from time to time.

It was interesting that this thread turned partly into a discussion of our individual exit plans, and that no one seems to want a "nursing home", as they are euphemistically called, to be a part of that plan. The reason I posted the article was to point out that that both that being MO can cause someone to end up needing that level of care, and that at the same time, being MO can limit access to that care, and lower the quality of care provided as well. All in all, not a pretty picture.

My mother always used to say that she wasn't afraid of dying, just don't ever put me in a nursing home. She ended up dying somewhat suddenly and got her wish. I hope all of us are equally fortunate - but not for a long, long time.

 

[DSRIGGS]

Yeah I have a 70cc and thought I would get smaller! bah! Guess the skinny life isn't in my cards!

Do you know how long your AL & BPL are? I know people in the DS world have for some reason been conditioned to be fixated with the CC but the the other 2 variables in that equation are equally important. If th combination of your AL + CC > BPL then you are going to absorb more of your nutrients and not lose as much weight than if it was reversed. As Dr K likes say, the science tells us that is the case.

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

BPL no, but AL is 370cm

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

Do you know how long your AL & BPL are? I know people in the DS world have for some reason been conditioned to be fixated with the CC but the the other 2 variables in that equation are equally important. If th combination of your AL + CC > BPL then you are going to absorb more of your nutrients and not lose as much weight than if it was reversed. As Dr K likes say, the science tells us that is the case.

I've never even heard anyone mention BPL in my 5+ years round these parts lol.

I have said since the beginning, arguing all the while lol that I am a rare DSer that DOES have to keep an eye on calories. It's not an anal endeavour like it was pre DS, but I have to be aware and anything over 2300 and I can expect not to lose, doesn't really matter where those calories come from. I think I have a freak body that absorbs air and converts it to fat lol

 

[DSRIGGS]

BPL no, but AL is 370cm

Hi

I don't know your height but based off height you can get a rough estimate of your Total SBL length and then figure out your BPL length. Height is correlated to SBL length (I will see if I can find the study that has a plot showing the relationship between height and SBL- I posted on here sometime back in June or July I believe) so based off that chart you can guestimate yours.

If you have a 70 cm CC and 370 cm AL that means you have 440 cm of absorbing small bowel. I know we don't think about it much but the AL absorbs some nutrients even though there are no digestive juices, not as much as the CC but it does absorb.......so with 440 cm of CC/AL you would have to have a 880 cm total small bowel length for the optimally performing DS (standard from Hess method). Anything less and you will by theory absorb more than somebody who had AL + CC = 50% of Total SBL

Actually I found the chart

http://meetings.ssat.com/abstracts/2014/images/Mo2053_A.jpg

One other point. Dr K explained to me that the SB has a great deal of elasticity so two surgeons can measure and have totally different results based on how much they "stretch or don't stretch" the intestine when measuring. As an example, my original DS op report says I have a 100 cm CC and 150 cm AL. Dr K measured it at 125 and 200 respectively. A 25% and 33% variation respectively. BTW my total SBL was 725 cm measure by Dr K, therefore my BPL was 75 CM longer than my AL + BP so I was malabsorbing (should have been 50% of Total SBL not 45%).

 

[DSRIGGS]

I've never even heard anyone mention BPL in my 5+ years round these parts lol.

I have said since the beginning, arguing all the while lol that I am a rare DSer that DOES have to keep an eye on calories. It's not an anal endeavour like it was pre DS, but I have to be aware and anything over 2300 and I can expect not to lose, doesn't really matter where those calories come from. I think I have a freak body that absorbs air and converts it to fat lol

That is exactly why I am so preachy about this topic. Frankly my original DS surgeon F$$cked me up and I don't want to see that happen to anyone ever again. So many DS surgeons do not do CC's and AL's as a predetermined percentage of the total SBL (10% and 40% roughly) so that is why we rarely hear any talk about the AL or the BPL. We only hear about the CC. The CC is very important but so are those other two parts of the equation.

It sounds to me like your AL + CC is probably more than the BPL length so you probably do absorb more. That being said, it sounds like you are healthy so that is the main thing.

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

Hi

I don't know your height but based off height you can get a rough estimate of your Total SBL length and then figure out your BPL length. Height is correlated to SBL length (I will see if I can find the study that has a plot showing the relationship between height and SBL- I posted on here sometime back in June or July I believe) so based off that chart you can guestimate yours.

If you have a 70 cm CC and 370 cm AL that means you have 440 cm of absorbing small bowel. I know we don't think about it much but the AL absorbs some nutrients even though there are no digestive juices, not as much as the CC but it does absorb.......so with 440 cm of CC/AL you would have to have a 880 cm total small bowel length for the optimally performing DS (standard from Hess method). Anything less and you will by theory absorb more than somebody who had AL + CC = 50% of Total SBL

Actually I found the chart

http://meetings.ssat.com/abstracts/2014/images/Mo2053_A.jpg

One other point. Dr K explained to me that the SB has a great deal of elasticity so two surgeons can measure and have totally different results based on how much they "stretch or don't stretch" the intestine when measuring. As an example, my original DS op report says I have a 100 cm CC and 150 cm AL. Dr K measured it at 125 and 200 respectively. A 25% and 33% variation respectively. BTW my total SBL was 725 cm measure by Dr K, therefore my BPL was 75 CM longer than my AL + BP so I was malabsorbing (should have been 50% of Total SBL not 45%).

Ok I feel completely stupid right now lol. I looked at the chart and can't make heads or tails of it. For arguments sake I am 5'9" (175cm). I could figure all that out lol but the Y axis. What are those numbers? lol I know I sound really daft! I see length...but length of what exactly?