Dr. B's RNY more aggressive??

Okay so this may seem a silly question for you but I am curious now to know. I talked some with Dr. B at my first appt about whether he ever does a more aggressive RNY surgery. He said he does them all the same but that his choice of RNY used to be considered the long limb but is now standard. He does the roux limb 150cm I guess and so I was wondering if any of you guys know if that is more aggressive than other doctors or the standard now, maybe I should be asking this on the main board but was wondering if any of you had input? Thanks Trish..I am hoping it is by the way, I have LOTS of weight to lose!

Hi Trish. I am not sure of what you are asking. I think you are asking if Dr. B does distal or proximal RNY. I believe he does proximal RNY. I don;t know for sure but I am planning to ask him when I next see him. The reason I think it is proximal is because I do not have diarrhea but am more susectible to constipation instead and I read somewhere that if the limb is longer you get constipation and if the limb is shorter then you get diarrhea. Also there is a big difference in the amount of vitamins and minerals absorbed in the two distances. The distal is more like the DS surgery but the drawback is the inability to better absorb vits and fats. This is how I understand it to be. I could be totally wrong. I don't think Dr. B.  is more or less agressive. I'm sure there are standards for practice. Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to cutting someone's insides up, Better to err on the side of safety.

. Thousands and thousands of people undergo RNY every year. Believe me when I say if everybody was regaining all of their pre-op weight it would no longer be considered the "Gold Standard " in weight loss surgery. The reason you do hear of regain is because so many people have it, that even though the percentage of regain  is low , because there are so many people who have had this surgery the numbers seem high. Most of the folks who get this surgery go off into the blue living their lives and you never hear of them again. Just look back 4 years of this small board and there are a lot of people you never hear from again. There are several of people who have had RNY on this small board that you never hear of again but if they were to regain all of their weight, they might come back to look for advice or help.

Right off the top of my head on this board there is Mary C, nsgallivingbythesea (Deb), debbietlc,and me who frequent these boards. There were 2 others when I first joined but the are gone now and we never hear from them. I think all 4 of us are pretty happy with our surgeries. I can only speak for myself though. I know Mary C has a petersens;s hernia last summer and was pretty sick for quite some time but Petersen's can happen following any abdomnal surgery and is not particular to wls.

I am only a year out so am not really the one to be answering you as well as someone further out could. Deb (nsgal) was a great support for me. Mary C is further out than I am too.

Thank you so much a very informative answer, even I wasn't sure how to word it but if you find out if it is proximal please let me know. I love to look up and research stuff that applies to me and my future health. Everyone on this board does seem very happy  with their choice to have the RNY and seems to be maintaining very well. I have a sister who had it two years ago and has to be careful not to "snack" on unhealthy food. She never experienced the dumping syndrome and so has to be careful not to go overboard on suger. But she says her tool still works great when she "works"it!

Lori M use to post here a lot and she has continued to lose weight, but doesn't post any more.

Hi there - I have a copy of my OR report and he resected 150cm of my small bowel. And I never dump - or haven't so far anyway. My OR report is in french - so I can't decipher all of it - but it says something like "as the patients BMI is in the 40 to 45 range - I elected to resect 150cm of small bowel". So that leads me to believe that he may vary the amount he removes based on the individual patient.

As for the length of my roux limb - I have no idea - I just looked ot my OR report again - and I can't see anything that specifically mentions the length of it.

Maggie gave you lots of good info Trish. As you said - you can try asking your question on the main board also.

Take care!       Mary

Het Mary, how did you get your hands  on an o.r. report?  I'd love to have one of my surgery. I am going to see him this week. 

Thank you all for your input, I guess I had read about the roux limb and that is where I got that it varies in length also. Sounds like the resecting of the bowel would be right though. I was hoping because my BMI is 56 that he would do the surgery with that in mind but he did use the number 150 cm with me also so maybe that is what he does everytime. Anyway any help at all is wonderful and this tool will help for sure so maybe this time with work and persistance the weight I lose will stay off.  Thanks ladies.

Haha - funny story about my OR report. About a year after my RNY - I was at  my family doctor for the womens yearly check up - regular stuff. The OR report is typed on pink stationary - and as my family doctor - a copy was sent to her. It's not hard to miss when you are looking at a chart where most of the rest of the paper is white. Anyway - we were talking for a minute about my surgery and my doc glanced at the piece of pink paper in  my chart and just handed it to me - saying something to the effect that I might as well have it anyway because she couldn't read or understand a bit of it because it was in french. Having lived in Quesec and then Ottawa as part of my being an Army Brat as a child - I have a fair knowledge of french - so could pick sense out of most of it.

So I have no "insider" tips for you how to get a copy of your OR report. Maybe just ask him when you next see him?
I did make a copy of my OR report and had one of the girls at my hospital put it in my chart at the hospital though. Even in french - ya never know when you could fall sick and that info is important. They could get someone to translate it if need be. And - when I see my family doctor next - I will be looking for the pink piece of paer regarding my surgery this past August.