I think my doc gave me the wrong surgery!
The results of my test said this (asteriks added for emphasis):
"Barium initially fills a gastric pouch however,
**there is no evidence of filling of a small bowel loop leading from the gastric pouch and the barium traverses the pouch into the stomach.**
Multiple surgical clips are seen surrounding the stomach.
IMPRESSION:
**A gastric pouch is present, however, this communicates with the remaining portion of the stomach.** The flow of the barium from the gastric pouch into the stomach is slow, however, and depends on the positioning of the patient before emptying occurs.
********No evidence of gastric bypass is noted with no opacification of a loop of bowel from the pouch identified. ********
My surgery has been fairly successful, but I am horrified to learn that my doctor misrepresented the surgery she gave me, and gave me a different one from the one I asked!!
Does this mean she gave me the VBG instead? Should I contact a lawyer? What do I do?
I am so hopping mad right now, because I am not yet in control of my addiction to food, and I've read that with the VBG, only 20% of patients maintain their weight loss after a certain time. I don't want to gain this back, I'd almost rather die, especially considering I ended up almost dying when I got the surgery, and was in the hospital for two months.
Someone please help me with any information, medical, legal, or otherwise.
Sara
338/188
Before jumping to conclusions, get a second opinion from you family doctor. After all it has been 2 years and look at you now. You look fabulous. Even if you did have the sleeve (VSG) the long term rate is much higher that 20%!! You also would have malabsorbtion. It's not such a bad thing. I know when I had a xray of my stomach after surgery the technican was training someone and told this poor kid that this is what the stomach looks like after a RNY. I didn't have the RNY ... too funny! He even tried to show this kid that was where my reattachment was .. NOT. Didn't happen. I also commented this to my doctor and he confirmed what surgery I had. When in doubt ... ask!! Being in the legal field, I don't think you have much to stand on since the surgery has been a success, regardless of which. Keep up the great work .. you look fabulous!!
I am a VSG patient who just HAPPENED to peek in here out of curiosity. I can tell you that what you have is NOT a VSG. In the VSG there IS no, "remaining portion of the stomach" for the, "gastric pouch" to, "communicate" with. There is no, "gastric pouch." What we have is the remnant of a stomach. The REST of the stomach is completely removed so there is no way POSSIBLE for the contents of the gastric pouch to, "communicate" with it. It certainly SOUNDS like you had an unethical surgeon that sold you a bill of goods. At MY surgeon's hospital the VBG was the CHEAPEST surgical option while the RNY was the most EXPENSIVE. I would do what I can to find out FOR CERTAIN what it is that you HAVE. Get a second opinion. Get a THIRD. Then, get a LAWYER and a revision. If I were YOU, I would seriously CONSIDER getting a revision to the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. It has been shown to be as effective as the RNY without the side effects. The ADDED benefit of the surgery is that it REMOVES the portion of the stomach that CREATES the hunger hormone. Most patients experience significant if not complete cessation of hunger after the surgery. There are a number of additional health benefits but they are too numerous to mention in a short post. Do some research. You can start by visiting my profile page and viewing my post on my blog there called Surgical Comparisons. You can find it here : http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/hubarlow/uzone,blog/action ,comments/blog_id,143782/blog_post_id,146413/ or at my profile : http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/hubarlow/. Look for it in the March archives if you can't find it on the profile page.
Do your own research on these procedures. Ask for advice but remember that most of the people on these boards are just PATIENTS like you and me. SOME would like to CLAIM that they are weight loss "EXPERTS" but I have SEEN some of the self proclaimed "EXPERTS" express opinions that are quite unhealthy if they were to actually be followed. ANYONE who would DELIBERATELY eat to cause themselves to have diarrhea is essentially practicing Bulimia. They risk malnutrition just so that they can have the pleasure of eating the foods that they like to eat. This is NOT a healthy eating behavior. Remember, YOU are ultimately responsible for your own health. Trust your PHYSICIAN above the YAHOOS on this board and that INCLUDES ME! DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH and if what your PHYSICIAN says does not make sense according to what you KNOW is right, FIND a NEW Doctor. Not ALL doctors are going to be current regarding to what is important to YOU. If your Doctor will not support YOU then you need to find one that WILL.
I am so sorry to hear of your troubles. I hope that things work out well for you in the long run. If it turns out that you WERE sold a bill of goods and you do get a settlement or win a lawsuit against this surgeon, at least you will not be restricted by the insurance companies as to which surgical procedure you can CHOOSE. This is most often the reason WHY most people end up with the RNY instead of the VSG or the DS. The insurance companies PREFER the RNY because it does not have the label of "Experimental Procedure" placed on it by the US medical profession. Both the VSG and the DS have been performed OUTSIDE of the US for YEARS and have been PROVEN to work WELL with the DS having a close to 90% success rate and the VSG having close to an 80% success rate. The good thing about the VSG is that it is EASILY converted to the DS if it is required LATER but it is often NOT NEEDED for the initial stages for MOST PATIENTS.
I wish you well, Hugh
I learned to keyboard using OLD word processing software. It DIDN'T have BOLD. It DIDN'T have ITALICS. Using CAPS is a HARD habit to break.
