I remember having the fear of dying in surgery. My Doc hadn't had anyone die in like 4000 surgeries. I had to say to myself what made me think I would be the first one? It is nerve wrecking but now that I am on the other side, no regrets. 

In 2006 I had a LapBand placed going against the advice of both my PCP and my WL surgeon.  They were advocating RNY for me (I weighed 242lbs then) and I decided I was to scared to have such a "drastic" procedure.  Fast forward 8 years and I needed a revision.  For lots of reasons, but I was still hesitant of the consequences of the RNY.  My PCP looked me in the eye and told me that I was worrying about the wrong thing.  She said all the health problems I currently had and will most certainly will have if I didn't have surgery far outweigh the potential problems I MIGHT have with WL surgery.  That I would be lucky to be alive to deal with WLS complications 10-15 25 years down the road.  

Don't let fear decide for you.  Educate yourself.  Be positive.  Move forward.  

23 years as a diabetic?  Yikes. Take this golden opportunity you've been given and make it work for you.  Good luck with whatever route you take.

"I barely meet the BMI requirements and he is only able to approve me for a surgery under a 'diabetes control' diagnosis. But to do so, I should let him perform the BPD INSTEAD OF THE SLEEVE."

Wait a minute- from this sentence, I get the insurance company is dictating the procedures your doc can perform and limiting YOUR medical care. Isnt that against the law?

Insurance people...any advice? Is that above tactic useful in getting the surgery she wants/is ok with and limiting the insurance companies influence on the doc?

Insurance companies only pay if the requirements are met.  It seems her BMI is not high enough to qualify for insurance to pay for surgery.  Her surgeon is going to get her covered with diagnosis of diabetes which usually means BMI of 35 as opposed to 40 for non-diabetic.

Her surgeon wants to do the surgery that gives the best chance of remission from diabetes.  The insurance company will pay for the sleeve but her surgeon wants to insure diabetes remission.

Yes Whitdove! That's exactly what I was trying to express the situation to be.

Thank you!

Thank you to every one who has messaged me and answered this post! I am blown away by the amount of info I am getting off of its site and a couple others. Soooo glad I decided to traverse the forums available. 

I thought I was pretty educated on this, but im not afraid to admit I need a bit more time and research. I am taking all I've learned in just the last 24 hours and I'm just going to run with it. I was awake until 3 am reading and collecting info from several sites and forums from real people going through this.

I will,however, say this: I'm MUCH, MUCH more comfortable with the advice to go with the BPD w/DS now.  

What's the point of half-assing this process only to have to possibly  go through it later anyway. I cannot escape the past 23 years nor the fact that my entire family has been affected and destroyed by this disease. I don't have control of it, it has control of me. Even when I wasn't needing insulin or meds, I constantly checked my sugars and worried about the future. What if the numbers start going up again? What if I have to have meds or insulin later?  Well....here I am...needing meds again...insulin again is the next step. Better to get this over with now while I have some pancreatic function left and I'm actually healthy enough to give 100% to this weight loss journey.  Thank you for the reality check guys. It's so true, the complications that are POSSIBLE are nowhere as devastating as the end result of staying where I am. Those are PROBABLE. I watched it kill my Mom. She suffered terribly before that though. It took her legs,her eyes and her will to keep living. Then it took her heart and kidneys and killed her.  I'd rather go out fighting for a good quality of life than succumb to that. 

Besides, just honestly, I've worked so hard to lose the first 128 pounds on my own. I've only gained 40 of it back. I changed my ENTIRE life to do that. I never went back to eating crap, processed food. I just eat too much. I already take more than 15 supplements and vitamins. This can be streamlined and specialized for my new plan. I can get back to the exercise mindset. It's not like I haven't done this before and been successful. I am just not afraid now, to admit I need a bit of extra help getting to my goals. I'm not a failure, I just need help. 

I can do this. Fear is the emery here. I will not succumb to it. 

*enemy.... Lol, not emery. 

BPD/ DS or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass address the diabetic condition in a miraculous way. My husbands diabetes was gone frim the day after the surgery. It was amazing. And if anyone needs this type of procedure its you, with the family history you have. I wish you great success.

Hi your fears may be justified but it depends on you as an individual. People live with various degrees of them and that is why there is a new procedure, which IMHO has the best parts of all the procedures yet is similar to the BPD/DS, is simpler to preform and has fewer and less dramatic side effects as with the BPD/DS or the RNYGB. It is referred to by a few different acronyms; SIPS and SADI-S bariatric procedure are two.

SIPS = Stomach Intestinal Pylorus-Sparing Surgery

SADI-S = Single anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy

The biggest issue with the BPD/DS may be the 100cm common channel, where the food/nutrients is actually absorbed. The thinking is the short length is where the everyday side effects start. With the SIPS / SADI-S you get the stomach sleeve (not a pouch like a bypass), preserving the Pylorus valve that controls when and how much food leaves the stomach than the intestines are split with a BPD and a 250-300cm common channel for fewer side effects and better nutrition absorption. The whole thing is done with one connection (anastomosis) point not the two as in the BPD/DS.

The biggest issue is finding a surgeon to preform it. The surgeons that started SIPS/SADI-S are Dr Mitch Roslin at Lenox Hill hospital in New York and Dr. Daniel Cottam of Salt Lake City. There are a few other centers preforming 'studies' AND it has been approved by some insurances. See Duke U in N.C. and Celebration Center for Surgery Celebration, FL among others.

I'm in Chicago and there is one surgeon I found here but I'm still looking I do have an appointment at Duke in March. Don't worry you will be fine.

Big problem with SIPS/SADI is no long term vets or studies so basically you're the guinea pigs. Which is fine, there would be no procedures without people willing to be the pioneers. There are more and more surgeons doing it but many will try and hide the fact you're not getting a traditional DS. If the doc is upfront with you and you're cool with it then go for it !