I need help deciding...

 The surgeon i talked to only does DS for people over 500 lbs.  My insurance is also iffy on it.  Going to Marshfield to see what they have to offer on the 19th.  Minoqua only offers open and I want to check out lap rny.  I too have other conditions that I don't want exacerbated by a long complicated surgery.  Again wish you the best of luck.
deb

I believe most surgeons fall into that category.  It is my unerstanding that once a certain weight is acheived, they only do open... 

Thank you

My insurance would only cover rny or lapband.  I chose the band for several reasons--it's adjustable and even removable if needed, and with our family history of cancer and the resulting treatments, that's a consideration for me.  Two--no cutting and rerouting of intestines, and the recovery time is faster.  The fills/unfills don't hurt, and lap-band is the least invasive of the surgeries.  I actually wanted to have a slower weight loss.  My aunt needed massive plastic surgery after losing her weight really fast with rny, and I didn't want to have to go through that myself.  Three--I had dumping syndrome after my gall-bladder surgery--almost didn't make it to the bathroom a couple times.  I just didn't want to go through that again.  I would rather do a million fills than crap my pants while doing an eye exam on a patient.  Four--no concerns about vitamin, iron, and other levels.  Since lap-band is not a malabsorptive procedure, I don't have the same concerns about that as my aunt does.  Five--all the surgeries have failure rates.  However, if mine does for some reason fail, most of the failures are fairly easily fixable, and if not, I do have the option to go to any of the other procedures.  However, I wanted to go the lapband route due to lower morbidity/mortality, faster recovery, and quicker return to normal activities. 

I know I'm always going to have to work at my weight, but the lap band will make it considerably easier, as would any of the other procedures.  There is no wrong answer in the choice you make. Each person chooses their surgery for a variety of different reasons in consultation with their surgeons.  My reasons for choosing my surgery may be very different from yours or anyone else's.  Read up on all the procedures, ask your surgeon lots of questions, talk to a lot of different people about their different surgeries and experiences.  Ultimately, though, you have to be happy with YOUR decision.  You're the one who has to live with the final results.

Did Dr. Chua decide for you or did he let you pick what surgery you wanted? 

He went over my previous history, my weight, looked at my food choices and why I'm overweight (I overeat, but I'm not a huge sweets junkie like I was 10 years back), listened to my reasons for considering lap-band over rny, and pretty much agreed.  I told him I strongly preferred lapband over rny but would consider rny if he really thought that would be substantially better, but he thought either would be fine in my case.   My situation's a bit different because I'm an eye doctor, so we ended up talking 'medical' about statistics, advances in the lapband surgery, and changes in surgical technique over time more than rny vs. lapband. 

If he had serious reservations about my decision or the reasons behind them, I have no doubt he would have advised me strongly about going for an rny instead, and I would have taken that recommendation very seriously.  He strikes me as someone who is deeply committed to all his patients being successful at weight loss.  I think he wants that as much for you as you want it for you, so he's not going to steer you wrong. 

Thank you!