Are most open or Laproscopic???

Being self-pay and self-employed, I was motivated by overhead ($1000/day) that doesn't stop while I'm recovering.  I paid $3K extra for the lap DS.  Dr. Stewart is a phenomenal laparoscopic surgeon, though, and I had zero postoperative complications.  I walked around so much in the hospital the nurses had a hard time finding me to check my vitals.  I also took a stroll around the entire outside of the hospital with my DW and IV-pump-in-tow  and got in trouble when I came back in for leaving premises with a morphine pump!  Oh well!   I had my DS Wednesday 12/16/09, left for home Saturday 12/19/09, and returned to work Monday 12/21/09.  I wanted to at least cover my overhead regardless of whether I made money for myself or not, but felt so good I was back full-time without any problems other than needing to go to bed early in the evenings.  In a way I'm glad I did it that way because work took my mind off of the postop recovery.  I just hydrated and hydrated and hydrated.    It's not the norm and I'm sure some will scoff at the idea, but that's what my situation required and it all worked out.  An open procedure would have cost me four weeks minimum recovery and that would have been more expensive than the surgery itself.  Love my DS!

I was an old retired person and afraid of that rhabdo-whatever it was, so I went the other way.

But I popped in because your comment reminded me of my sweet PCP.  He's not even 40 years old and I know he's struggling to make it all work.  A week or so ago, he saw us drive up and he wasn't doing anything, so he walked up to my car window and said, ""Hi, your calcium's too low and your PTH is too high...curb service!  Come on in!"

I said, "You need more patients."

He said, "We were swamped all day yesterday."

I said, "That was yesterday."

He said, "Well, if you want to go out and cough on a few people..."


People forget that each doctor keeps a lot of people employed...kinda like the big name singer keeps a lot of people employed.  I sometimes look at the orchestra and count bodies and wonder how they manage.

I know you want to comfort yourself, but there is no way to figure it out in advance.  There are people who have a terrible time with lap surgery and those who tap dance out of open surgery. 

i can't compare my band surgery (lap) to my DS surgery (open) because what was done inside was so different.  (And thirty-five years ago, I had a piece-of-cake emergency C-section and then two years later had a horribly long period of disability after a hysterectomy...you just never know.)

Sue

I had open surgery. I was 52, a revision and was back to work at a little under 3 weeks. (desk job)
My first WLS surgery was also open and it was months before I felt normal and I was 30 years old at the time.

Like Sue says it really is a crap shoot on how well anyone does with open or lap.  As far as I am concerned they could have done the surgery through my nose as long as I got it done. LOL

Michele

Mine was Open (although Dr. U does Lap as well)

I had no NG tube. I had 2 drains one on each side of the lower abdomen. Those were not biggie. Mine didn't put out that much and came out on day 5.

My recovery was difficult. I had abdominal soreness for 6 months. Hard to explain, but it was deep. Like when I'd stand up from being in the recliner I would feel the abdomen feeling sore inside at the top.

It took Forever to heal completely.

It's gone now!

I have no way of knowing whether it was from Open versus Lap but I did have a 14 in*****ision. Yes 14 inches.
But the incision itself healed quickly, the healing was from the INSIDE, deep. SO I believe that even with lap the sore part was from the stuff cut on the inside.

Some Opens heal fast. Some Laps have harder recoveries. So it depends. By and large.. lap is supposed to be easier. With one way one type of hernia is more common. With the other way, another type of hernia is more common. (Sorry, forgot which is which)

Oh I do have a hard knot (lump of scar tissue) on one end of my incision that has not gone away. Had one at the other end of the incision too but that one went away. Probably wouldn't have that if I had gone Lap!

That *lump* could still shrink though. Not sure about that as I am 9 mos out!

Lap has less chance of infection by statistics.

The only time to choose Open over Lap is if the doctor is not that experienced with Lap! Like is he has just started doing them Lap!
Some people think the doctor can *see* things better if you are just cut open. A skilled Lap doctor can see just as well.
My decision to have it Open over Lap was financial, as I was self pay.
I knew many people had it Open and were just as happy.

If I had a choice and money was no object. The surgeon was a skilled Lap DS doctor then why not choose lap?

Loretta

I have to add that I agree with what Michele says!  I just wanted it done! I did research lap vs open and all that but my main priority was to get it done & pay for it!

Loretta

Thank you all SO SO much.  I will definately have it Lap.  I was kind of figuring a lot of it was the internal cutting....I'm just getting nervous about recovery.  For every 20 good experiences, I read one bad one and then I flip out. 

I keep praying God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and the COURAGE to change the things I can.  I definately need courage for this.  LapBand was so easy.  But of course it was a waste of time!!  LOL 

Hearing all of your stories helps so much.  It gives a wide variety of experiences and opinions and helps me know the range of things to expect as normal.  I cannot thank you enough.

 

I cannot WAIT to be on the other side of this sharing my own story.  When I'm 145 pounds :) hehehe

Oh and Dr. Dennis Smith is the surgeon so that's why I say Lap.  I feel the same way about getting it done no matter what but with 4 children under 9 years old....the easier the recovery the better.  I've had quite a few lap surgeries and done really well (gallbladder, 2 Lap Band surgeries, Ectopic pregnancy) so I guess it would be interesting to hear about people who had the lap band and then had a lap ds and how they compared the two pain wise.  I KNOW it is more painful, obviously with the cutting on the inside.  I can deal :)  My Lap Band removal was a harder post op than an emergency of my fallopian tube with ruptured pregnancy.  Go figure.  Those surgeries were 2 weeks apart.

I had open and that's all Dr. Anthone will do at this time. There are many factors in why some only do open. My surgeon feels he can measure and cut and suture easier and that it also leads to less leaks. The first few days were very painful but with drugs it wasn't really terrible. After that everything has been great! Dr. Anthone is so skilled that I can hardly see the scar and am at the 6mo level in 4mo. Had I a choice I might have went lap but I am very satisfied with what I have. Good Luck .......

Dr Smith does lap surgeries. He uses a PICC line that is placed the day before surgery, but no drains, no feeding tubes. He uses the On-Q pain ball.