I'm looking for advice from everyone I can about which procedure to get. Please add your two...

Hello Kathy, My name is Richard WIlson. I have not had the surgery yet , however I am waiting for it. I am going to OSU under either Dr. Needleman or Dr. Melvin. I am going for Lap surgery, because of my size and because the recovery time is quicker. It is not so radical. There is differences between the two that you should really look into. You must be under 400 pounds if I am not mistaken to go for Lap.Good Luck

Hi Richard, I'm not so much trying to figure out the lap or open. I'm trying to decide between RNY, BP/DS, and the band surgery. Also, did you have to take weeks of classes before surgery at OSU? I'm going to have a time bind. I started and continued my paperwork through the Bariatric Treatment Center in Columbus, but mid-stream, they left my network. I am in the waiting on approval stage from Medical Mutual (it takes 7 - 21 days). I'm told the approval is only good for 60 days - so I'm going to have to find a surgeon fast. Since different surgeons do different procedures, I wanted to decide on the procedure and then find the best surgeon for that procedure - but it's going to have to be really fast. That might exclude OSU.

Kathi, I am having Lap Dec. 19th in Cleveland at St. Vincent's. Their criteria is if your BMI is over 50 you can only have open. However, under 50 they will do lap unless you REALLY want open. My BMI was around 48 so they automatically set me up with the Dr. who does lap and he recommends it for me because it is less invasive and you have a quicker recovery time. This was important because of my severe asthma. Also, I have medical mutual (through what is called a third party plan) and I have 6 months from time of approval to have my surgery. I would check this out again. Sixty days just doesn't seem right. Maybe someone gave you the wrong information. Good luck with your search. Read all you can about the different types of surgery, ultimately it must be your decision and what you are comfortable with having done. Also, have you talked this over with your primary care physician? Sometimes they can help you out.

Kathy, everything I have read and everyone that I have talked to have told me that rny is about the way to go. It has the best long term weight loss. And yes I have set up the classes with the diatician. They require 4 weeks of classes, one day a week, before surgery. It teaches you how to eat after the surgery and to also know how to get the proper nutrition. They also made me see a psycologist to make sure I was ready for surgery. I had a 600 question test and he wanted to know about family history and whether I would have support from the people around me.

I know some insurance (my Aetna included), do not cover the DS and only cover the band in certain situations. I don't know if Medical Mutual is the same or not but it's something to consider.