now what do I do ? ?

Well I made it through the 6 month hoops at the comp clinic and was oked to see the surgon in sept..... but I wanted lap band and they pulled out of doing the lap band so now I have to have the rny or start over... I am soo confussed on what to do. The bypass scares me soo much because of the malnutrition. What happens when your 80 and can't afford your medicine how do you get the right nutrion? I just don't know what to do? I want to do what will work for me the best and sometime i feel the rny is right then i feel the lap band is. ok any suggestions would be great.

Dee, Its such a personal choice As far as getting your nutrition, Ive NEVER used supplements....I eat normal food for everything, with the exception of sublingual b12 which I take a couple times a week. Let me tell you this: I had to have a cbc and cmp for work...as did everyone else...and when I compared mine to a 'normal' 23 year old girl at work, my bloodwork was BETTER than hers!! And I'm 2 years out. I've never had a single problem, healthwise, after this surgery. As a matter of fact, Im such a believer in it that I hope to work with a gastric bypass surgeon after I finish nursing school.

Just so you know, there are plenty of 80 year olds who *never* had RNY that struggle with meeting their nutritional needs. You need to be educated and knowledgeable -- with or without this surgery -- in order to be healthy for your WHOLE life. When I did my surgery research, I started out DEAD SET on having lap band. The further I got into my research and the more I knew about my own habits and patterns, the easier it was to see that the band was NOT the way to go for me. I'm glad I made this decision. I don't regret a minute of it. Stef

Dee, I was also very concerned with the nutrition issues, as was my sister who's a nutrionionist. After a lot of research I'm actually very comfortable with my decision to have RNY. I will say that the recent Mayo study that found a very significant percentage of neurological damage in post bypass patients really gave me pause. But I've discussed it with all of my doctors, who said proper supplementation and monitoring will prevent that sort of damage. I asked the gastroenterologist I had to see for a pre-surgery eval about the surgery and whether he had any reservations at all about it - particularly from a nutrional/absorbtion perspective (including the Mayo study). After asking me which type of surgery I was having - proximal or distal - I'm having proximal (as proximal as possible). He said he had absolutely no reservations as the amount of intestine being bypassed was so small. He said as long as I take supplements as instructed, I should have no problems. The key to all of this is following your surgeon's instructions, eating right and supplementing appropriately. All of which I plan to do. Good luck and best of wishes in making this very important decision. San