Oh OPRAH!!??

Long term EWL%  -and-  post-op lifestyle.

I have an actual working stomach (although smaller), with most of the ghrelin (hunger hormone) producing area cut away, and no concerns with dumping.  I can be scoped, take NSAIDs, and drink with my meals -- and although this may seem odd, I like to drink with a straw and chew gum without worries of swallowing it!

Personally, I didn't need to  'get right with food', I needed food to get right with me (my metabolism was shot, and while diets worked short term to get some weight off -- 100# three different times -- it would come back on quickly with quite a few of their friends, so long-term EWL% was important to me.  Taking some (but never enough to even get to obese) was not the problem -- keeping it off was.  I didn't need  'a tool', I wanted to have as normal a post-op lifestyle as possible -- I didn't want to live my life concerned about what I ate in public (like a number of my RnY family & friends do).  I didn't want to dump, didn't want the threat of dumping, and knew that the threat of it wouldn't  'keep me from eating the forbidden'  foods.

I have a number of RnYers in my life, and frankly, not one of them is happy with it.  Be it medical issues, weight regain, feeling deprived because of dumping, the dumping itself, and even the disappointment because they don't dump.  I love each of them, and support them in any way I can (everyone of them had RnY prior to me having the DS, and none knew of the DS when having the RnY), and I am VERY fortunate that all are happy & supportive of me -- and everyone of them wishes they would have at least known about the DS and had that choice.

I made the right choice for me.  It breaks my heart when people discover that the DS would have been right for them only AFTER they have had RnY or gastric banding.  Many people don't even know it exists -- have never heard of it.  It takes a highly skilled surgeon to perform the intestinal part of the DS, and it takes longer OR time, so DS surgeons aren't in every neighborhood like RnY surgeons.... so, when someone goes to a WLS seminar, they are likely to not even hear about the DS, or hear inaccurate information, because the surgeon they are considering doesn't perform the DS.

So, these are my reasons.  If you want to learn more about the DS, please check out DSFacts.com!

Wow that is fascinating i do wish i had known about it before  I had my RNY. Although I am VERY happy with my results- 120 pounds gone in 9 months. I did have an awful time the first 4 months of so and it was rough. Thanks for sharing the info- I was wondering why my surgeon never offered that option.
Happy for you!

You are doing fantastic, and should be really proud of your accomplishment!!
The first several months are rough on everyone -- these are all major surgeries.  But we get into a groove, and new habits form.  All the help on OH really helps to figure it all out, since even with the same surgery, we all don't end up with the same experiences post-op.

Someone just mentioned on the DS forum the other day that there were no DS surgeons in MA, but maybe 3-4 in OH (??, I think that is where they were from) -- saying maybe their state was just a lot fatter than MA!

My very very very dear aunt had RnY maybe 12 years ago.  She has regretted doing it ever since, and it makes it worse being around me -- watching me eat anything I want, etc...  But, she also has a really bad attitude as far as her own health is concerned!  Her goal was skinny (and she isn't), and mine was improved health -- I don't care what the scale says, but I do care what my labs & health marker tests say.

I really wish everyone would know all of their WLS options, and got ACCURATE information, but once you have what you have, the right perspective is key!

I enjoyed the show.  If these people would have had some type of medical intervention, than maybe they would not be in the position they are in.  When I see someone over 500 pounds I think of how easily that could be me.  I can't imagine not being mobile and so dependent on others.  It was sad, but aleast the half ton teen is having sucess in her weight loss. 

I remember seeing that. It is some hospital in Texas that is the only hospital that would take her and a few others. They actually spend months in there trying to get to where they can have the surgery and went as far as surgically removing several pounds of their body so they can actually do the surgery. The lady did die of Cardiac arrest almost 2 weeks later. People need to realize that a woman that large that has been imobile for so long that it was a miracle that she was able to survive the move itself. It was a sad show and I admit I sat there and cried like a baby for those kids. It came on around the time of my surgery and that made me even more determined to get this weight off.

The second story was a guy that was 500 pounds and they made him lose some weight before they would operate on him.  Thank God Oprah was semi positive about that.  I never thought I'd live to see it.  Of course she did have to get the first story in which was incredibly sad.  I still think there will be some star that will get busted for having the surgery when they said they were doing somebody's diet.  I have to believe it happens but it's just a matter of how long it will be before someone gets busted for it.  After all....the horrible shame attached to the surgery...you know. 

I'm PROUD!!! It saved my life.

Not that I am racist but wasn't the one who weighed 500 a black man?

 I'll have to watch....to show you how much I'm NOT a racist, I didn't even notice!!!  I'm just hoping that her producers have finally said "LOOK, YOU'VE GOT TO AT LEAST TELL SOME STORY THAT'S NOT ALL BAD".  She DID however point out that he had a blood clot and so we were told how dangerous it was again.  Sorta like he made it...but he almost didn't.

Everyone is different but by the time I had surgery, I was walking death and didn't care what the odds were.  I couldn't live like that anymore.  I knew I could do so many things but NO ONE paid any attention to me, my art, my photography, my ability to run a business, literally do just about anything but nothing in person. And if I did get a job, I had to do five times as much to make up for my obesity.  I was nothing, I was nobody but I was able to do so many things.  That was one of the reasons I excelled on the computer....no one could see me.

The most important lesson I learned though....was not to be negative about that AT ALL because all it does is hurt me.  Instead I look at it as a blessing that I learned to do all those extra things because now they come back to me as gifts.  There's no point in living in negativity about anything.

Isnt there a star from the show 'The View' that had WLS?

Yes, Star Jones, but it took her a long time afterwards before she would admit it.