an update, good for all to know, be proactive for YOUR needs

This is to newbies and oldie DS’ers and other WLS patients. Many of you who know me, know that I have had a rough ride down the DS scale and I never lost as much as I had needed to lose. My first DS was 7-15-03. Revised DS with re-sleeve and shortening of the alimentary channel 5-18-09. I want to share what happened to me for a couple of reasons. Many of you “think” you know everything you need know about this procedure, and many of you think the docs have no idea what to do post-op at times. This is about being proactive for your personal health. I have had to be VERY proactive. Many people I know have been very supportive through the rough times and I can never thank you enough.

 

You see in 2006 I sadly and suddenly regained about 90-120 pounds. Many told me I had to be cheating and I needed psych help. I knew what I was doing and I was not cheating. Nothing had really changed except for the scale. I started reading and doing a lot of research on why people regain post-op. It did not appear that I fit into any of those category’s. In 2008 I started to consider a revision, but the decision of who to use was a hard one. I finally had a re-sleeve with shortening of the alimentary channel by 50 cm on 5-18-09. I was frustrated with my PCP thru this process as she kept saying regain is normal, even when I explained normally with the DS the actual regain is usually only 10% and I was much higher than that statistic. She welcomed me to being older, blah blah….that made me look harder at all the facts. With this revision I stopped gaining weight, but only lost 5-10 pounds depending on the day.

 

I recently, on June 21, 2013 underwent another revision. What a difference ! You are probably thinking… is she nuts ? She just did not follow the rules. Well, I did and this time I went to the best in the US. I saw Dr John Rabkin who is wonderful. I have worked with his office long distance over the past 8+ months to get to this point. Pre-op we knew going in that things did not look totally right. A hiatal hernia could be seen and other things on the upper GI just were not totally normal. We did not do the small bowel follow-thru as he felt it was not necessary due to needing a full exploration. That he wanted to re-measure and he uses the Dr Hess method and tweaks it to each individual person’s height and lifestyle.

 

Here is what Dr Rabkin found…. My common channel was supposed to be 100 cm and it was not. It was 125 cm. My bilio-limb had never been measured in the past OR reports and it was extremely long. He made my common channel 80 cm as I am short and I have orthopedic issues that I need to get the weight off. My alimentary channel is 135 cm. He reduced the stomach to 95 cc’s or approximately 3.2 ounces. He found that it was about three times that size, even though in previous OR reports it was reported to being smaller. He performed the blue dye internal leak test and hmm, yes there was problem. Behind and sort of to the side was a fistula that had developed and it was reconnecting the bilio limb to the alimentary limb ! OH MY ! That is why I was absorbing more food and gaining weight ! He was also amazed at how great my labs results were pre-op as this showed him I was absorbing too much. Dr Rabkin believes the fistula was the biggest problem that was present inside of me. He repaired the hiatal hernia while he was in there as well. Even though it looked small on the Upper GI,  he could get a whole finger thru the hole and he stitched it shut so there should be no more sensation of my stomach in my throat.

 

I am writing this, to demonstrate it is best that you  go the best doctor with the most experience. You are risking improper measurements and results with non qualified docs. While I am only a few days post-op, I feel good, normal post surgical pains etc. If I had just gone to Dr Rabkin 10 years ago, I believe I would not be writing this today. Now in a few months I will let you know how my weight loss is coming along. Dr Rabkin believes I will lose without a problem now with all the items changed and / or fixed.

 

I am blessed that we were able to come early and play in California for a week before surgery. It’s been a blast, but my excess weight did limit some items. I am looking forward to moving forward and being able to enjoy our next getaway with a normal BMI. I also want to thank the few of you who knew more details of what I was going thru to get to this point. Your support has been priceless. You encouraged me to find out why I had regain etc.

 

 

Thanks for your post.  It gives me food for thought.

Rabkin is one of the best.  Glad you went in and got the repairs done.  It should be interesting to see how much weight you lose with everything functioning as it should.

Thanks I can't wait to see as well ! 

Thats quite a story.  Im so glad you stuck to your guns when you knew something wasnt right, and didnt listen to your pcp....  congratulations on your new DS.....

Thanks Dusty, we have to advocate for ourselves when we know something is wrong

Wow, what a story!  I can't even imagine the emotional toll this journey has taken on you, yet you sound so upbeat and positive.  Congrats on finding the best surgeon for you, and being PROACTIVE to get what you needed!

Thanks meq815, helps going to the best !

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story... and for believing in yourself enough to figure it out.

I hope that you have wonderful results from your revision.  You deserve them!

Thanks Sami!

Thank you for writing this informative post. So much can go wrong but I hope all is finally right with you. I will look forward to your future updates. I love Dr. Rabkin and still try to attend his support group meetings as often as possible. He's the ultimate professional and one of the best of the DS surgeons especially when it comes to after care and education.