Good Morning. TGIF, babeees!

You aren't alone in your experience with your surgeon. I talked to my DS friend out there who is the same year group as me (2007) and she never hit goal and has regained to where she is 80 pounds over. He did something off the mark when he was doing DSs, I'm glad he's stopped doing them if he couldn't get them right.

Glad you found us here and have a safe place to post. 

I really think it's because he doesn't like malabsorption and probably left the stomach so large to compensate for it.  I know it is very rare to regain that much weight with a DS with most experienced surgeons.  I wonder if I would have had the same problems with a different surgeon but I can't discount the fact that I ate badly, too.
It is a surgery that should only be done by a very experienced surgeon with a good track record.  I think I would have had more success with a smaller stomach and a longer common channel and good education, as well as addressing my eating problems.

Happy Friday everyone!

When my doctor suggested WLS in October 2009, then only surgeries that I knew about were RNY and Lapband.  I thought the band was less invasive so that's what I wanted.  I started researching at lapbandtalk.com and then heard about the Sleeve.  I jumped ship to verticalsleevetalk.com and listened to everything there.  From that point, I was sold.  It was like a light went off in my brain.

I'm a Kaiser patient. When I went to orientation in November 2009, they weren't offering the Sleeve yet.  I did all of my reseach and when I went to my surgeon (and I did wait until I got the surgeon that I wanted out of the 4 available) I was armed with a list of why I thought the Sleeve would be the best option for me.  I told him I could be one of his first Sleeves because I trusted him. 

My list was:

1.  Mom had celiac sprue which I was showing signs of.
2.  History of Rheumatoid Arthritis and might need meds
3.  Had taken chemo type drugs and wanted the sleeve in case I needed more.

I didn't even need to list the reasons.  Doc Baggs looked at me and said that the Sleeve was my only safe option.

At the time, everyone was getting a 40f Sleeve because they were just figuring it out.  In hindsight, I almost wish I had waited because within a few months everyone was getting a 36f which is a smaller sleeve.  Maybe I'd be at goal by now with a smaller sleeve?  Hard to say but I've been complication free and can eat anything (which is good and bad).

I still love my Sleeve and I'm so grateful for this body that I live in today!

Easy one!

Chose my surgeon based on her credentials and my comfort level with her, plus she was at a Center of Excellence as required by insurance. I do feel my surgeon was very informative about the pros and cons of the surgeries and how they could affect me based on MY anatomy.

Chose RNY because there was a pretty high risk of worse reflux with lap-band and VSG. Plus, it would have been a huge fight with insurance to try for VSG and the result may have been worse acid reflux. My surgeon discouraged me from getting DS, so I never really considered it. Maybe it would have had the same risks with reflux though.

Love how we can discuss this stuff without being all crazy! :)

I had been thinking about wls for several years but since it was an exclusion on our insurance that was as far as it went was a thought. Then at the end of 06 our insurance changed and while speaking with company insurance lady about the changes. She said we were getting better benefits and started rattling them off. WLS would be covered but there was a catch dr and hospital had to be IN Network! So I started doing my homework and decided on the DS. I started calling surgeons offices. Found one in NO that gave me approval and a list of all tests I needed to have done. A month later I hadn't heard from his office when I finally tracked him down he didn't even have a hospital he was doing surgery at. Besides trying to talk me into a RNY. I ran the opposite direction.
2 seminars later I found surgeons in Lafayette that did the DS and was on our insurance. I thought I'd been blessed but the one I ended up seeing in practice only wanted to offer me the RNY or lapband? What I was paying for this and since it's considered elective surgery I have choice of what type I want. He didn't try listing pros or cons or anything else. Just gave me a choice between the RNY or lapband. His jaw hit the floor when I told him I'd pick up my paperwork on way out. I had made up my mind I wanted the DS. That was when I started being more active on OH. I was steered towards the surgeon I have now. I was his 3rd yes 3rd lap DS patient. I had to go out of state but am so happy I found him. Since then he has become very experienced in DS surgeries and his practice stays busy.
Hine sight I was very blessed that the first surgeon dead ended for me, I found out he had been the surgeon that performed an RNY on a neighbor of mine. She almost died after surgery, had numerous complications, never got anywhere near goal.
I know I regained 35 lbs of what I had lost but also know that it was from my on bad eating habits and food choices. I'm a stress eater and eating on the go are a bad combination. I'm going to correct my bad habits eat 3 meals a day. Grazing don't cut it, I'm not a cow.

I educated myself like crazy online and then I picked my surgeon. At that point, I thought insurance would pay for my surgery so I picked a surgeon in network. Before I could meet with her, though, I found out WLS was excluded from my policy. So, when I realized I had to be self-pay, I started over from scratch. By the end of my second round of research I had picked a different WLS type and a different surgeon.

Therefore, by the time I saw my surgeon, I knew quite a bit about all 4 surgery types. He did give me a 35 page booklet that talked about them all but I read it only to make sure he knew what he was talking about and to see where his biases were and not for information. LOL

I definitely wanted a surgeon who did all the different types and very complicated revisions. I didn't want a Dr. Bypass (i..e, 90% of his practice is bypass and somehow RnY is just the perfect surgery for everyone who comes to his office) and I didn't want to go to a band mill (even when I was thinking about getting a band) because I wanted a surgeon for whom my surgery wouldn't be the most complicated thing he knew how to do.

I believe I found what I was looking for as my surgeon believes very strongly that your WLS type is a personal decision and they all work for some people and they all don't work for others and really does do all 4 surgeries. I don't agree with everything he says but I think he's pretty fair to all the surgery types and I agree with most of it and with his overall approach to the subject.