ObesityHelp

 Yea !!!   What a great feeling  that is.   

 My dad just had his DS done with Dr. Stewart a week ago. They are based in Houston right now for my mom's work, so traveled up to Dallas for Dr. Stewart. The surgery went very well, no complications (except a little issue with his asthma, but that was anticipated going in), and he is doing great! There was only one problem -- On his third day in the hospital, the doctor didn't come to see him until quite late. It was assumed that he'd stay one more night since it was so late and he was still getting nebulizer treatments. Two hours later, a nurse comes in and says he's going home, that the doctor had signed him out when he'd been by earlier. My mom then had to scramble to try to get everything ready back at the hotel and find a pharmacy that late, etc. It made for an awful last impression. But the rest has been good. Stewart was a great surgeon.

Hi Brenda

I am approved to have DS at St. Joe's.  I don't have my surgery date yet.  My surgery will be with Dr. Hong who I understand is the only surgeon in Ontario who does the DS.  Here is what I posted a couple of weeks ago:

"To my knowledge, Dr. Hong is the only surgeon in Ontario who does the DS surgery. RNY is the "gold standard" so this is why this is the main surgery offered at the bariatric centres, including St. Joe's. The DS surgery is much longer (5 hours instead of 2 for RNY) and much trickier as a result of how they create the "common channel" (the part of the bowel that allows for absorption and mixing of gastric juices and food). DS isn't appropriate for every patient, so I get the sense that Dr. Hong waits for a patient to suggest it which shows that we've done the research to understand the procedures and what we feel is best for ourselves.

I did a lot of research about duodenal switch surgery in comparison to RNY and looked at many of the available studies (http://weightlosssurgery.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dsdat a). DS has typically been used for folks who have a BMI over 50 and at least one comorbidity. The big one is diabetes and DS is seen as being the best procedure for folks with this condition and curing diabetes quite quickly after surgery. I didn't meet either of these criteria for BMI or diabetes, but argued that my BMI is high enough (47) and DS has better statistics for longer term prevention of diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure (which all run in my family). Dr. Hong seems really reasonable in giving patients some say in the surgery they get so he was open to my arguments and approved me. DS is highly malabsorptive so his big thing is making sure patients are absolutely committed to taking vitamin supplementation for the rest of their lives and getting at least annual blood work for any deficiencies - there is much less "wiggle room" in this regard compared to RNY. Dr. Hong also takes out the gallbladder right away during DS surgery because it's a hard organ to get at later if it acts up. Dr. Hong also said there's a 20% chance he might have to the DS in two stages - the VSG in the first surgery and then a 2nd surgery in 1 year for the "switch". I'm really hoping that doesn't happen to me.

One of the OH members, PatXYZ is also very knowledgeable about DS and helped walk me through all of the details.

If folks have other questions, please let me know (private message works too) :)

Take care

Carlijn"

 Quite a nice victory -- enjoy it.  You've earned it.

With a 98% cure rate for diabetes with the DS compared to resolving my diabetes with RNY as I lost weight, and if I regained, the diabetes would return.  Hands down it was the DS.  Haven't had any regrets for the last 4 years.  For lifestyle, eating and enjoying life the DS just makes more sense...

Oh God.  If I'd known you were revising from a band I would have been jumping up and down and screaming!

Now I KNOW you need to go with Stewart.  No question.

I'm glad you were open to the information.

~Becky

Hi Gina and friends,

Memorial service for a friend of Hank's tonight.  Standing room only.  What a sad night.

B:  bacon, eggs and cheese
S: string cheese
L: Brok's pizza with ranch dip
S: Protein bar
S: Carb Smart bar
S: Cake Shake
D: peperonni, cheese and about 10 corn chips
S: Greek yogurt

Exercise:  very little
Vites: All in.
Fluids:  I'm drowning in grape flavored water per usual.

I wore the same dress I was wearing in the DS group photo from DS Cruise 1 so I guess I haven't gained too much weight since then.  My tummy pooches out so I bought a nice new slimming thingy (girdle my mom would have called it) and I felt better about how I looked but man those things are NOT comfortable.  Would tummy exercises help?

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!

~Becky

 Hi there
I am so happy to hear this. I am very interested in the DS. How did you get approved for the DS?  I live in Dunnville On and am going through St Joe's. I had my orientation on May 7th and my first assessment is for July 18th. Any info you could give me would be appreciated.

 if you go back to 4  or 5 pages on this forun someone posted they were approved for DS in Ontario. good luck Manitobans can't get it. I am going to Mexico self pay.

Great idea!!!