Recent Posts
Hi. I'm sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I did see on Dr. Coates website the other day that it says he does do revisions to the DS, however he no longer actually performs that surgery, so his website is outdated. He is giving all of his patients a Loop (also called the SADI) instead. Even if it is without their knowledge. I know of at least 2 patients of his who went into surgery thinking they were getting the traditional DS and came out with the Loop.
This is the emoticon that explains how I feel about that --> 
I would stay away from him unless you are ok with getting a Loop. Even then, you may want to try finding another surgeon who is more experienced. Dr. Coates started performing the DS less than 4 years ago and only started performing the Loop this past September. There is also no long term data for the Loop surgery. There is less malabsorbtion, but long term wise nobody knows how well that plays out in keeping the weight off.
There's a Dr. Rabkin in San Francisco, he might easier to travel to than Dr. K. He's one of the top DS surgeons in California, just like Dr. K is.
Wanting the DS!
If you care enough for the result, you will almost always attain it. - William James
Alice there is a support group at Clovis community Hospital on the 1 tuesday of the month.
contact kat kaze 559 324-4822 starts at 5:30 to 7pm.
hope this helps
Travis Cantrell 
Hi! I'm in Diego and have just recently attended the info seminar. Have you been approved yet?
-nikki
I have heard from several he is good and has been in area for year. He also sees patients monthly in San Luis Obispo California.
Call your local transportation department and ask what paratransis services are available in area that may be able to help and also call service clubs in area too
Best wishes to you in getting your vitamin issues resolved. So important to at least once a year get those labs done. Easy to resolve stuff early on than when your #'s are really in the toilet. Even if you faithfully take your vitamins the malabsorptive component of RNY is a double edged sword.
Welcome back to California.
There is only one other surgeon in CA who does this very complex revision surgery, and that's Dr. Ara Keshishian in Glendale. You could contact his office to see whether or not your insurance would be accepted, and what your out of pocket costs would be.
RNY to DS revision involves taking apart the old RNY, restoring everything to the original anatomy, and THEN creating the DS. It's a big, complicated, challenging operation that only a few surgeons do. That means your options are limited. Dr. Rabkin and Dr. Keshishian both do many revisions so you would be in good hands with either of them. I hope you will be able to swing the out of pocket costs. This revision has helped many people who have either experienced severe complications with their RNY that could not be otherwise fixed, or whose results with RNY have been poor.
Larra
So my insurance (Blue Shield of CA) will cover my revisional surgery (wanting rny to ds) however Dr Rabkin's office requires the 15000.00 to be paid upfront and then they will give you back whatever the insurance pays out. There is NO way I can do that, its going to be a challenge to pay out the deductible of 4k as it is. So I need to find a surgeon that accepts insurance that will do the revision surgery. Can anyone point me in some sort of direction?
You should look on meetup.com and see if there are any in your area, there are several in the Bay Area.
Preop 225 Height 5'2" Current: 162 Want to get back to 125. ZERO Complications! ZERO Vomiting!
Tore my right knee in July and was limited to any walking or exercise, Gained 35 pounds, and feel it. knee healed up and pulled a muscle in my back. Medicine make me ill and started eating crackers all the time. 35 pounds of crackers on my hips! seriously!!!
I am better now, and will get back on track if it kills me. haha
Member Services · 0 replies · 351 views
Kim Gyurina, OH Staff · 0 replies · 546 views
