Grand Rapids - Dr. Foote - Duodenal Switch?
Hi Angela! I'm a patient of Dr Foote's & had the DS almost 1 yr ago. What would you like to know? Do you have questions about the procedure, the surgeon, both? Ask away!! Many of our DS'ers are attending a huge DS'er bbq get-together down in Indiana this weekend, so it may be a few days before you get anymore responses. You'll also want to post this on the DS forum, as many of Dr Foote's & Dr Kemmeter's patients hang out there!! Feel free to pm me or we can "chat" on this forum!!
Lisa
Lisa
Hi Lisa, and thanks for responding to my post.
I guess what I'd like to know is how your overall experience was.
Some of the questions I am going to ask at my consult so I may as well ask you too.
First, (and I think I probably know the answer to this) how did you find dealing with Dr. Foote was?
Also I've read on here about people going home with feeding tubes and drains - is that the norm?
What is the recovery time (how was your recovery)?
And from what I read here as well, with this procedure you can eat more protein - may I ask what you usually eat in a day?
I'd better leave it there for now but I'm sure more questions will come to mind.
And thanks for the heads-up about the bbq - I'll watch for more responses next week and I'll also post over on the other board.
Thanks again Lisa!
Angela
I guess what I'd like to know is how your overall experience was.
Some of the questions I am going to ask at my consult so I may as well ask you too.
First, (and I think I probably know the answer to this) how did you find dealing with Dr. Foote was?
Also I've read on here about people going home with feeding tubes and drains - is that the norm?
What is the recovery time (how was your recovery)?
And from what I read here as well, with this procedure you can eat more protein - may I ask what you usually eat in a day?
I'd better leave it there for now but I'm sure more questions will come to mind.
And thanks for the heads-up about the bbq - I'll watch for more responses next week and I'll also post over on the other board.
Thanks again Lisa!
Angela
Dr Foote is awesome-he's exactly as you see him at the seminar. He takes his time w/you, never made me feel rushed in any way. I knew I wanted the DS when I met w/him, so it was pretty straightforward. That being said, he loves to do the sleeve(VSG) & may try to talk you into going that route, saying that there has been a lot of success w/the sleeve & you can always do the second part of the procedure(the re-routing for malabsorption) at a later date. The problem is, you WILL lose weight w/the sleeve, but if by chance you don't lose all that you want to, chances are your BMI will be too low for more surgery & your ins. may not cover the 2nd part of the surgery even if you do still have a higher BMI-something to consider & look into. He has also had a few patients that he couldn't complete the full DS on during surgery, for whatever medical reasons, & they ended up w/the sleeve-maybe they'll pipe in here too). Dr Kemmeter has not run into this issue as much & that's all I'm gonna say about that:)
I've never heard of any of Foote's patients going home w/feeding tubes or drains still in. I'm sure it happens, & if it does, there's a darn good reason. All surgeons do things a little differently than others. I didn't leave the hospital until my drains were removed. Never had a feeding tube.
I was in the hospital for 4 days total. I won't lie, it was rough for me for about 2 months. You have to completely relearn how to eat & drink(sip) all over again. Head hunger is in full swing during this time too. This is TEMPORARY! Every week got better-I now eat normal, skinny people portions, drink/gulp like a normal person, & eat whatever I want(but much smaller portions). You probably already know, but just in case you don't, because of a DS'ers malabsorption, we can literally eat anything-exceptions are white flour & pasta-gas issues, but many do still eat them in small amounts & plan accordingly. We also absorb 100% of any sugar we eat, so staying away from sweets & even fruits is best while in your weightloss window. DS'ers DO NOT eat lowfat-no matter what the dieticians tell you. You will have constipation issues & your weightloss can actually stop by eating lowfat. We only absorb 20% of the fat we eat-so it's (almost) like free food-dressings, butter, sour cream, heavy cream, fatty meats, etc are our "diet" foods. Sounds absolutely crazy, I know. Just take everything you've ever learned about dieting & do the opposite-it's really hard to get used to & not feel that nasty ole guilt, but that's how it is.
Now, to make up for all of the vitamins & minerals we don't absorb, we take mega doses of vitamins. This is probaly the most important thing to learn, because the surgeons & asst's & dieticians at GHP are not up to par for DS aftercare. They're going to give you a RNY diet & vitamin schedule-it won't work. It's incredibly important to research & be comfortable w/taking vitamins for the rest of your life(you have to do this w/any weightloss surgery but moreso w/the DS) & make changes accordingly based on your yearly labwork. Anyone on the DS forum here can help you with all of this-typically, we all follow the same basic plan & add in other vit's as needed, according to our labs.
What do I eat? Typically, I eat every 3 hrs or so. I don't do protein shakes because I think they taste like a monkeys behind(don't ask how I know what a monkeys behind tastes like;) For breakfast, I almost always have a piece of breakfast casserole(eggs, cheese, bacon, mushroms, onions, & shredded hashbrowns). Sometimes I have an omelet of some sort or scrambled eggs w/lots of cheese & bacon or sausage or diced ham. Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner the night before-steak, salmon, meatloaf, chicken, burgers, bbq of some sort(I love bbq), pork steaks, hot dogs, smoked sausage, ham, kabobs,Subway, baconaters from Wendy's, pizza(but not too much crust), chicken caesar salads w/bacon, every bit of mexican food I can get my hands on, etc. I still make all of the same type of foods I used to but always up the meat & cheese (like in casseroles) & decrease the carbs. Like hotdogs, sometimes I'll just eat 2 dogs dipped in ketchup & mustard or smothered in chili & cheese or, once in awhile, I have 1 hotdog on a bun. For snacks-peanuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, salami & cheese, lunch meats, string cheese, hardboiled eggs, deviled eggs(w/full fat mayo), tuna & crackers, leftovers, anything that's not nailed down:) Just kidding. You should eat 100+ grams of protein every day. If you have room after you've eaten your protein, then you can add in carbs-veggies & potatoes. The first few months you won't have room to add in other food. You find ways to always add extra protein into every meal-like cheese or an extra oz. of meat.
Well, I'm starving now that I've been talking about food:) Hopefully I haven't scared you too much! If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. I'm almost always on here in the mornings so if I don't answer right away in the evenings, you know I will then!!
I've never heard of any of Foote's patients going home w/feeding tubes or drains still in. I'm sure it happens, & if it does, there's a darn good reason. All surgeons do things a little differently than others. I didn't leave the hospital until my drains were removed. Never had a feeding tube.
I was in the hospital for 4 days total. I won't lie, it was rough for me for about 2 months. You have to completely relearn how to eat & drink(sip) all over again. Head hunger is in full swing during this time too. This is TEMPORARY! Every week got better-I now eat normal, skinny people portions, drink/gulp like a normal person, & eat whatever I want(but much smaller portions). You probably already know, but just in case you don't, because of a DS'ers malabsorption, we can literally eat anything-exceptions are white flour & pasta-gas issues, but many do still eat them in small amounts & plan accordingly. We also absorb 100% of any sugar we eat, so staying away from sweets & even fruits is best while in your weightloss window. DS'ers DO NOT eat lowfat-no matter what the dieticians tell you. You will have constipation issues & your weightloss can actually stop by eating lowfat. We only absorb 20% of the fat we eat-so it's (almost) like free food-dressings, butter, sour cream, heavy cream, fatty meats, etc are our "diet" foods. Sounds absolutely crazy, I know. Just take everything you've ever learned about dieting & do the opposite-it's really hard to get used to & not feel that nasty ole guilt, but that's how it is.
Now, to make up for all of the vitamins & minerals we don't absorb, we take mega doses of vitamins. This is probaly the most important thing to learn, because the surgeons & asst's & dieticians at GHP are not up to par for DS aftercare. They're going to give you a RNY diet & vitamin schedule-it won't work. It's incredibly important to research & be comfortable w/taking vitamins for the rest of your life(you have to do this w/any weightloss surgery but moreso w/the DS) & make changes accordingly based on your yearly labwork. Anyone on the DS forum here can help you with all of this-typically, we all follow the same basic plan & add in other vit's as needed, according to our labs.
What do I eat? Typically, I eat every 3 hrs or so. I don't do protein shakes because I think they taste like a monkeys behind(don't ask how I know what a monkeys behind tastes like;) For breakfast, I almost always have a piece of breakfast casserole(eggs, cheese, bacon, mushroms, onions, & shredded hashbrowns). Sometimes I have an omelet of some sort or scrambled eggs w/lots of cheese & bacon or sausage or diced ham. Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner the night before-steak, salmon, meatloaf, chicken, burgers, bbq of some sort(I love bbq), pork steaks, hot dogs, smoked sausage, ham, kabobs,Subway, baconaters from Wendy's, pizza(but not too much crust), chicken caesar salads w/bacon, every bit of mexican food I can get my hands on, etc. I still make all of the same type of foods I used to but always up the meat & cheese (like in casseroles) & decrease the carbs. Like hotdogs, sometimes I'll just eat 2 dogs dipped in ketchup & mustard or smothered in chili & cheese or, once in awhile, I have 1 hotdog on a bun. For snacks-peanuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, salami & cheese, lunch meats, string cheese, hardboiled eggs, deviled eggs(w/full fat mayo), tuna & crackers, leftovers, anything that's not nailed down:) Just kidding. You should eat 100+ grams of protein every day. If you have room after you've eaten your protein, then you can add in carbs-veggies & potatoes. The first few months you won't have room to add in other food. You find ways to always add extra protein into every meal-like cheese or an extra oz. of meat.
Well, I'm starving now that I've been talking about food:) Hopefully I haven't scared you too much! If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. I'm almost always on here in the mornings so if I don't answer right away in the evenings, you know I will then!!
On July 13, 2009 at 7:08 PM Pacific Time, Dave90834 wrote:
You will love Dr. Kemmeter he was my surgeon had the ds on june 11th. He was very understanding friendly and above all safe! Good luck, oh and no tubes of any kind for me I was in hospital 2 days after surgery.May I ask what you are eatting (or drinking) these days?
I assume you are in the "West MI" area? Do you go to any of the support group meetings?
I was wondering if (and I know they use to do this in the past) they still let people come to the meetings who haven't had surgery yet.
Thanks again Dave and all the best to you!
Hey Dave, welcome to the Dark Side!
If you don't yet, please come on over to the DS Forum here on OH.
You'll learn so much about post-op DS life, even if you just read and don't interact.
Especially important is that GHP after-care is mainly RnY oriented, and the advice they give on supplementation is down right dangerous.
Great cutters though!
~ I am the proud wife of a Guatemalan, but most people call me Kimberley
Highest Known Weight = 370# / 59.7 bmi @ 5'6"
Current Weight = 168# / 26.4 bmi : fluctuates 5# either way @ 5'7" / more than 90% EWL
Normal BMI (24.9) = 159#: would have to compromise my muscle mass to get here without plastics, so this is not a goal.
I 
my DS. Don't go into WLS without knowing ALL of your options: DSFacts.com
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