23 Year Post Stomach Stapling (Gastroplasty)

I need some advice from people in their sixties.  The silastic ring the surgeon placed at the bottom of my pouch has disappeared beneath scar tissue.  I've had 6 dialiation procedures in the past two years and vomit frequently because food gets stuck.  I believe my body is in starvation mode as I have gained a massive amount of weight despite eating small amounts and not imbibing in breads, pastas, and burgers as I used to.  The only fix is a gastic bypass but it would require an open procedure.  I'm going to be 69 in November, but the number of health issues the weight is causing seems to now far out-weight the risks of gastic surgery.  I need some guidance.  Helppp.

Mizging

For SO many reasons and years of studying WLS and the issues and watching others go through problems and how they get resolved, and sometimes NOT, there are two surgeons I'd be willing to go to to resolve a problem like yours, and they are both in CA. If it were me needing that ring problem resolved and turned into a WLS that works for me, I'd go to Rabkin or Kesheshian in CA. They take and fix the tough cases.

There are posters all the time that will suggest a surgeon saying "I went to Dr so and so, he is the bomb and I highly recommend him". It's great when people love their surgeon enough to recommend him/her. I did NOT go to either of the surgeons I mentioned, but suggested them just based on the years of info I have seen about them and others here and elsewhere. There are lots of good surgeons, but your revision is one of the trickier ones, and you really should only go to a TOP surgeon for this revision. Revision surgeons are few and far between, and just because a surgeon says that can do some sort of revision, you need to be careful.

Thank you for the encouragement, and it is the revision surgery that scares me.  My mom will be 90 in November and I'd like to follow in her footsteps.  I know this won't be a simple fix.  It won't be the minimally invasive surgery because they have to remove the old pouch and build a new one.  I wonder if there is anyone who has had problems with leakage.  At this point the co-morbidity risks are just as great as the surgery in my opinion.  I just don't want to exchange this problem for a whole set of others.  I'm even wondering now with Obamacare if this surgery will even be covered because of my age. 

I live in TN, so am going to Dr. Brandon Williams at Vanderbilt...that is if he'll have me.  He's the one who explained the surgery and risks, but everything I've read points to his experience in the minimally invasive/laproscopic procedure.  I know I can't go to CA so it sounds like I need to do  a little more research.

mizging

People do indeed get leaks, and that is one reason that many weight loss surgeons are not really ones I'd want doing my revision. The stomach tissue has been stretched and thinned from the first surgery, so they will watch closely for leaks in the days post op.

My mom is 85, and I too knew I needed to do something surgical to address my morbid obesity or I'd be lucky to make it 10 more years. My grandmothers passed 100 years of age, and I had so many co-morbs destroying my body I knew I would not follow in their footsteps. Now, 6+ years post DS, I've lost 150+ lbs, and lost EVERY co-morb. I do think you need to be careful who you go to, but with a good revision surgeon you can get your health back, and live a very long life. 

I am going on 67 and hope for at least 30 more years of healthy living.  Please get the surgery you need to lose the excess weight and enjoy life again.  I feel more like a 17 year old than my real age.  I do have to limit the calories and types of food that I eat so that I do not have regain.

I believe that surgery put my body into a type of starvation mode or at least a very reduced metabolism.  If I gain one or two pounds it takes quite a bit of calorie counting to lose them.  I know that I will have to be diligent about weighing myself and not allowing any regain.  RNY is going to give you the malabsorption advantage that makes it much easier to lose weight.

But please get things fixed so that you have the best chance of getting to and maintaining a healthy weight.

I wouldn't attribute "massive" weight gain to "starvation mode".  I would look for another reason for the weight gain.

I would, however, definitely do what you need to do in order to get the ring and scar tissue removed even if it means open surgery.  (I have had a number of open surgeries, and it certainly isn't the end of the world... Just a longer and more painful recuperation period.)  If you are not eating  properly, and are vomiting, you are probably not getting the nutrition you need.

Have you asked, though, why it would be necessary to have the bypass portion of the gastric bypass done rather than just having a new pouch (or sleeve) created?  My concern -- and it is a concern I also have for myself after having had the RNY 7 years ago (since I am now 52) -- is that once we are over a certain age (some say it starts after age 50, others say after 60) our bodies become gradually less efficient at absorbing nutrients naturally, so adding the lack of vitamin absorption from a RNY isn't really ideal and may affect your (and my) health from that standpoint.

I went to grad school at Vanderbilt and have a friend who is a general surgeon on staff there, and their medical facilities and staff have excellent reputations, so I certainly wouldn't have any qualms about having the surgery done at Vandy rather than in California! (No offense to the other person *****sponded, but it seems somewhat common for people in California to believe that everyone there is better qualified than people in other states, especially when it comes to medical care.)

Good luck!

Lora

I don't have words of wisdom but I do want to thank you for your honesty and your post.  Please accept what I have to say as a blunt way of saying what I've learned during my WLS journey.  

In 2002 I had the Gastric Bypass RNY and lost about 140 pounds in a short time.  Everything went well until about 4 years later when the weight started to come back.  From day one I never had that feeling of being satisfied after eating a small meal.  I always wondered why others that have thad the surgery had that pain in the upper chest after they ate and I had nothing.  Needless to say I started to gain again...and along came the YoYo Diet Game.  It wasn't until last September I decide to have a revision to the Gastric Bypass.  I has a Band Over Bypass (BOB) and let me tell you...this was the BEST decision of my life.  I'm 39 years old and didn't even think twice about getting the revision because I needed to start living the life I was meant to live despite my age.  One is NEVER to young or old to get back on the right track and journey they are meant to be on.  What I'm saying is....just do it.  Make this yours.  You are a survivor for the past 23 and will be a survivor for the next 23 PLUS years that are ahead of you.  Keep the steam in your dream.  You're still young and life still has a few more curve balls to pitch your way...

Best of luck and I hope I don't upset or offend...

Cheers,

:)

I had a VBG in 1986. I was revised to RNY in 2010.  The revision surgery is a very tricky one and the advice to get a VERY experienced surgeon to preform it is right on.  I had major issues with scaring and Barrett's Esophagus ( I had 6 tumors removed).  I had gone to 6 doctors who said they would not touch me because they had never seen anything like what was going on with my anatomy. (I should have gotten a good surgeon the first time too... He messed up my VBG pretty bad).  I finally got a referral to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  Their top gastric surgeon was the one who finally fixed my issues.  I had no problems after my RNY.  It was instant relief for me.  I have only vomited once in almost four years and that was my own fault.  The revision gave me my life back. Surgery comes with risk.  I was so miserable that the risk was worth the chance to feel good again.

The weight gain you've experienced is likely because you have found out that it is easier to drink your calories than it is to eat them because of the vomiting.  You can drink A LOT of calories.  I gained because I searched out foods that "worked".  Most of them were slider foods that I could eat in larger amounts... not healthy meats and veggies.  You should measure write down everything you eat and add up the calories.  You might be surprised at how much you are actually consuming.  The most important thing about WLS is getting your head in the game and out of the sand.  You can't fix what you don't acknowledge.  Good luck to you.  You shouldn't let your age stop you from having surgery. 

Thank you all for sharing your stories and advice.  I've written to Dr. Williams so I'm waiting to see if he responds.  I saw him a couple of years ago but backed out because of the risks involved.  If he doesn't answer me tomorrow, I'll call him because cir****tances have changed.  

I'd like to guarantee I don't get calories by drinking as I've always hated it...I usually have one cup of coffee per day and rarely finish that...and maybe a water or small soda.  I avoid any think with aspartme.  I need to drink more water and I definitely go to the foods I can eat.  Usually don't eat anything until afternoons.  This problem has given me real bad habits.  Wish me luck that Dr. W calls.  The first question I have for him is how many revisions he's performed and with what success rate.  I'm an author and I'd really like to do some promo and marketing but I do my best abd only work online.

Agaun...bless those *****sponded to my post.  I'm going for it.

Sorry for the spelling errors.  Typing on a cell phone isn't easy nor could I see what I typed until I posted.