Looking into revision....

Hello.  So, here I am.  Almost three years out from RNY and nearly at my preop weight.  I am so frustrated.  I have the surgery in May of 08.  That summer was hell.  I basically was starving myself, as I couldn't eat or drink.  I have to beg and plead for my surgeon to let me have an endoscopy.  In Aug 08 my endoscopy showed I had a stricture that was smaller than a pencil eraser.  Two dialations and I was finally able to eat ad drink without pain.  By Dec of 08 I was at what would be my lowest weight (192).  It has been a struggle and uphill battle ever since.  I never experieced dumping and have never been able to handle meat.  To this day, meat causes me pain and 9 times out of 10 I end up throwing up.  I resort to carbs and such, cause they don't cause me pain.  I'm so down about it all and am looking into a revision.  Can anyone steer me in the direction of a surgeon in the Twin Cities that does RNY to DS revisions?  Has anyone had this done?  What was your experience with insurance, post op?  Any thought?  Thanks.

 There are really only 3 doctors that I know of that actually do the DS in the Twin Cities.  Others say they do, but really don't do them and try to talk you into something they do once in their office.  The doctors that do them are Dr. Ikramuddin, Dr. Buchwald, and Dr. Leslie.  They are all out of the University of Minnesota.  ( I believe Dr. I and Dr. Leslie also do some at Abbott).  I do not know if they actually will do a revision from an RNY to a DS.  It is a very complicated surgery to put your stomach back together, and there are not many around the country that have a lot of experience at doing this.  There are many that will give you what they call a DS, but it actually isn't.  They give you the intestinal portion of the DS and they leave the RNY stomach.  This will cause very serious issues if they do this.  

My suggestion to you would be to call the U of M Clinic, to find out if they would do a revision to a full DS.  (612-626-6666).  If they will not do one, you more than likely will have to travel to get it done.  I can think of 4 off hand that will do a complete revision.  Dr. Rabkin - California, Dr. Kesheshian - California,  Dr. Stewert - Texas, Dr. Anthone (I think) Omaha, Nebraska, and there is a fifth one, just not sure if he is taking revision patients is Dr. Greenbaum - New Jersey.

Hope this helps a little

Jeff