Hoping for revision

Hello: I am pleased to have found this board. 2 years ago today I had RNY. 436 was my highest. I found the first 5 to 6 months wonderful having the feeling of the pouch and being sastified. After than the feeling dissapeared. I did loose 100 pounds but it was a challenge. I recently had a barium test done and discovered the stoma is large. That certainly ansered why I wasn't feeling full and being able to eat huge amounts. I am now at 377 hoping for another chance. Like someone esle said on the board the worst feeling is embaressment like I have failed. We all had known that failure feeling time and time again before surgery as we had tried many diets. I had been hiding out for awhile but finally decided I had better seek help. My surgeon and his team will be making a decison about my case in a few weeks. I am anxiously awaiting good news. Someone else said they too wondered why everyone else was loosing while they were not. That was the hardest part. I even stopped going to support groups because of that reason. I had to come to realize that not all are successful. It still does not help the "why me?" questions. Looking forward to sharing, Michelle

Michelle- We have several RNY folks on the DS board who have sought or are seeking a revision to the ds. We would love to welcome you over there. Good Luck in your quest, Kimmer

Hello Michelle, I, too, am seeking a revision but I had the VSRG in 1997 and am now waiting for insurance approval for the D/S. I know what you mean about feeling like a failure. I lost about 105 lbs during the first 2 years after my surgery but then the weight loss stopped and the gaining began. I remember crying when I had to buy a size 22 again. I remember the day I bagged up all my "fat" clothes and gave them to Goodwill and saying to myself "goodbye for good." And unlike so many other types of failures, when you fail at losing weight, your failure is out there for all to see. Good luck in your revision journey. Take care, Lyndia

DEAR MICHELLE Good luck to you in all you may do, dont ever be embaressed you are a beautiful person.i had open rny in january 2005 and then a revision in september 2005 as well as a hernia repair the same day.as of now i have lost 123 pounds and need to lose another 40 in time i will i started at 311 my highest being 328 again good luck in all you may accomplish.i wish you well.Take care Rebecca

Hope you don't mind me asking but why did you need a revision?? It seems so soon after the first surgery. Angela

Sorry it has taken so long to answer angela. i had a hernia very large one with alot of pain and was not losing anymore weight so when the hernia repair was done so was the revision [i had a lenghtening done].so far i have lost from 311 to 179 in 11 months.take care rebecca

Hi Michelle, I was in the same boat. I had my surgery January 2002. For the first year the weight fell off. Last year I noticed I was gaining. I wasn't able to eat alot at a sitting but 10 minutes later I could eat again. My revision surgery was denied in January 2005. I started even eating more then. Finally in July I was approved after a lengthy appeal. Just had my surgery on October 11th. When I had the surgery the first time the stoma had closed several times and I needed it stretched with an endoscopy. Then it stretched too much. I was embarassed to go back to the support groups too but I did. They actually told me they gave me credit that I came back and sought help. I felt like I was a failure but I lost 165 pounds so I didn't fail. Luckily I took care of it before I gained too much back. I gained 41 pounds back. I was originally 355 lbs and got down to 188 lbs. The day of the revision I was 231lbs. It wasn't only the weight. Because the food was falling right through the stoma, I had terrible irritable bowel problems. My original surgery was done with staples only. The surgeon said he found that the stoma stretched when only staples used. So I started to think maybe it wasn't only my failure. Maybe the tool broke and I made it worse. So he sutured and stapled the stoma and restapled my pouch. He said the pouch was much bigger then test showed. Probably because I ate and ate after the test. You already took the first step by going back to the Dr. If you have trouble with approval, please email me and I'll send you a copy of my appeal. My primary said I should be a lawyer because of the good appeal I did. I worked hard on it. Plus the people from my Bariatric Center were very good and on top of it. Good luck with everything.

Hey Michelle: God Bless I will be praying so that everything turns out well for you. I had a VBG about 8 years ago and have since regained almost all of the 100lbs that I lost. I was feeling depressed and embarrassed to the point that I had stopped going out into the street and didn't like facing people at church. I praise God for the people who have taken the time to write about their experiences. I am scheduled for my first revision consultation on 11/17/05. Keep me in your prayers.