Finally...

I have finally been approved for surgery with Dr. Titus Duncan. He will be performing the New
Sleeve Plus. It's been a true roller coaster ride. I had to get clearance from two regular cardio docs and two electrophysiology cardio docs (one of which was a disgusting pervert I'm still suffering from and had to file a police report).

Now the true work begins. Thanks to you all I have a ton of information. I am very concerned about any after surgery problems such as gall bladder, leakings, twisted bowels, bleeding from the spleen, RH, intestinal blockages and so on. Has there ever been anyone or do you know someone who has had ZERO issues with their surgery and just loss weight? I would love to hear from you please?

April 6th preop appt @ 6:30 am

April 17 EGD

May 2nd SURGERY!!!

May 3rd leave the hospital

May 4th f/up

May 18th post op appt

Good for you for reporting the disgusting pervert!

Had my surgery in Seattle on Dec. 19th & I've had no issues afterward, just losing weight. I had the choice of the Sleeve or RNY & after talking to my team decided on the RNY. I've been pleased with the results. What's the Sleeve Plus?

What's the "New Sleeve Plus?"

The only issue I've had post-op was at about 3 months, right before my 3 month followup. My throat was being weird and tight, so I had to take an anti-spasmodic for a week and do 3 days of liquids, 3 days of purees, and 3 days of softs before going back to my regular VSG diet.

For me, I consider this as good as having had zero complications, since, really, it was super easy to deal with and a teeny bump in my life that I barely even remember at this point.

I was also diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder but... I had that before surgery too, so it's not like it's related to the surgery. Caring enough to get it addressed is certainly a result of the surgery though :D

Zero complication so far-- but you never know when a surgery complication can arise. I hopefully fend it off by eating well and exercising.

Ive never heard of the new sleeve plus.

I've had no complications at one year post-op for VSG. I also don't know what a sleeve plus is.

I had no nausea and little pain from the surgery itself and no complications from the beginning. I lost 100% of my excess weight in less than a year (stats in signature).

I looked up "Sleeve Plus" and it looks like another hybrid similar to SIPS, SADI, LOOP-DS Article here Another paper here

One thing to keep in mind is that there is that while the results show promise, there just isn't any long-term data yet to show if your weight loss will be sustained. Also, since there are so many variations, the procedure lacks standardization, so if you were to seek any kind of revision or encounter any problems, if this surgeon isn't available, you may find other surgeons to be reluctant to treat another doc's experimental procedure (which is what it really is). I'm glad he's showing the integrity to actually share with you what he plans to do. I've seen many finding themselves surprised thinking they got one thing and got some *******ized version instead.

Another thing to be wary about is that surgeon's offices have been doing these experimental procedures, but billing the insurance for something they are more willing to approve (like a standard VSG or DS). I'm surprised they haven't gotten wind of it yet, because I'm seeing so much of it, and it took nearly 20 years before the DS got any respect (and some still consider it experimental with success rates dating back to 1988). Anyway, if the insurance company refuses to pay for this procedure, you will have signed a form saying you will pay everything that they won't....especially if they deny due to fraud. Protect yourself and ask your insurance company yourself if they cover this exact procedure.

IMHO, EVERY SINGLE PERSON that has WLS surgery has issues...

Because EVERY SINGLE ONE of us has to re-learn healthy eating habits if we want to truly succeed... you won't just lose weight and keep it off without getting over this hurdle.

Other than that, I've had no medical issues... Text book case

IMHO, EVERY SINGLE PERSON that has WLS surgery has issues...

Because EVERY SINGLE ONE of us has to re-learn healthy eating habits if we want to truly succeed... you won't just lose weight and keep it off without getting over this hurdle.

Other than that, I've had no medical issues... Text book case

7.5 months out, and zero medical complications. I was several months out before I even threw up, and I'm still not sure what triggered that one. I've had discomfort/nausea from eating/drinking too much/too fast, but that's the extent of it. Keeping myself clothed for work has been the biggest challenge. ;)

There are great options for WLS. They have a long and extensive track record, and people are extremely successful with them.

Why on earth would you want to have an experimental procedure? Why volunteer to be a guinea pig, when there are proven solutions?

Being experimented on is fine when it's a last resort. As in, you are dying, and there is this new thing that's only been done a handful of times. It's that, or nothing.

But volunteering for an experimental heart surgery, for instance, that may or may not work, and may not work long term even if you do ok, is nuts -- if there is a standardized, proven procedure you can do instead.

There have been dozens of experimental weight loss surgeries over the years, and they all left their patients miserable, in agony, or dead. None of them are done anymore. RNY or VSG are pretty much guaranteed to work, if you do your part. I can't imagine submitting to be a test case for someone's new idea.

I would want to see results from 50,000 surgeries done over a couple of decades before I trusted it. When I picked a surgeon, I wanted one who had done at least 1,000 of the same procedure before I let him open me up.