WHAT....YOU SAID WHAT...decision time again???

So today i went and saw the surgeon, first of all let me give the praise report. I have lost 33lbs since September 2nd OH YEA!

So I go see my original surgeon today, he wants to talk to me, so I get in there he starts feeding me this crap how he doesnt think I will make the deadline to lose the weight...oh yea flipn right...I lost 33lbs out of 50 and still have another month to go. Come to find out he really is just going on vacation. Remind you this is the second time they have changed the date. Now you want to move it to december. So then he said he is moving my date back...No big deal because I am planning on changing surgeons...and then he tells me that he wants me to have gastric sleeve. What??? His explination, RNY will alter my quality of life. Gastril sleeve i still will be able to lose the weight and I will have a happier normal young mans life. What???? Are  you serious dude. So now thi***** got me thinking about that crap, he even said he would never suggest DS, now he is a jerk but I respect this man because he is one of the most sought out bariatric surgeons here in Southeast Michigan.

So now I am trying not to doubt my decison of having a malabsoprtive surgery. My biggest concern, I dont think the sleeve wiil be effective and I dont want anything to happen to me after or during ds procedure. Sorry to bother you guys, I just love my BAF family and respect yals opinion.

What do yal think?

You have to remember its still your choice, you have ask the right questions,  and you do your research so what it comes down to is who do you feel?  Do you think he is giving you what you need and if not then you don't need to listen to him get another opinion it never hurts to have more than one.  From what i have see and read some people who have the sleeve have to go back and have surgery again later.  But no matter what surgery you get everything has its down fall and its rewards pray about it, sleep on it and get a second opinion. And congratulations on your weight loss way to go!!!!!

Why don't you think the gastric sleeve will be effective ?

Have you visited the OH VSG board yet ?

Just my $0.02 - but my quality of life is and has been off the chain with RNY.  I came from 386 to 358 the day of my surgery - I am 190 today - so that's 196lbs total off and kept off for 4 years.

I eat pretty much what I want, but healthy choices - no more Venti Mocha Frappacinos - I drink Venti Iced Americano w/SF flavored syrup - still Starbucks - but a over 300calorie drop.

I can order what I want a a resturant for the most part - dry foods bother me.  I can eat a sandwich - just not all the bread and not 'spongy' bread. 

I can drink alcohol (like a damn fish).

I don't know what 'quality' of life he's referring to - but there's plenty of us on the board that are years out that have a fantastic quality of life - our tool helps KEEP that quality wonderful, it doesn't inhibit it.  
Good luck on your choice! 

Ok...from what *I* have seen IN REAL LIFE with others that have chose RNY, SLEEVE and the lap band, I personally would think you would do BETTER with the sleeve and PROBABLY HAVE a greater quality of life LONG TERM than both the lap band OR RNY, the reason I say this is you get to have the best of BOTH WORLDS meaning, you get NO DUMPING and NO FILLS and GREAT weight loss without the risk of LONG TERM COMPLICATIONS that the DS AND RNY tend to have.

If I had to pick between the lap band OR sleeve, I would PROBABLY STILL pick the lap band because *I* want that long term flexibility of adjusting how much I can eat -- I can always go get a fill whenever I start to gain weight years out -- NO OTHER SURGERY HAS this , and also I can afford to pay for my fills, now if I DID NOT have the income resources to manage my fills and I just wanted to be done when I got my surgery I would pick the Sleeve OVER RNY OR DS because you get the SAME RESULT but with little to no risk of long term complications and you can enjoy your quality of life years out and you are still young.
 
I would NOT recommend the lap band to everyone, I would not recommend the band to those with limited incomes, smoke cigarettes, or was addicted to drugs or alcohol, or those who could not exercise or those who need extremely tight restriction to lose weight that would be a disasters and cause band slippage, you see we are all different so I would say think about your habits, men tend to lose weight very quickly anyway.
 
I mean personally I have seen people who got RNY be a party drinking and faint because they dumped on alcohol -- and even at work, but again, some people mentioned they "needed" dumping to keep them straight, again, it's your final decision. I picked a surgery that I could tolerate and deal with the rest of my life rather than how quick I lost the weight and the most important thing to remember the Sleeve, RNY, Lap band and DS are ALL TOOLS AND NOT MAGIC wands and ALL require exercise to be effective and to get to a normal BMI.

Good luck

Hey Naomi! 

Just curious. What long term complications does the DS tend to have? I don't know of any on the DS board of any of the patients 5years+. Or did you mean to say possible complications with non-compliance? All of the surgeries have this, I can name several for the band (slippage, erosion, port problems), VSG, DS, and RNY. So I don't think you can single out just the DS and the RNY. Lets be fair

Just wanna make sure other pre-ops reading get the whole story.

Only about 40% of RNYers dump...and many do so less and less as time moves on. And if you are compliant with your vitamin regimen, you avoid many complications. I would certainly not make a blanket statement that the malabsorptive surgeries are fraught with complication. And I very much enjoy my post op life after RNY.

Just my .02 most Drs that DON'T do the DS would never suggest it!!! Uh, they would miss out on your paycheck. Go to www.duodenalswitch.com or www.dsfacts.com to see real lists of surgeons that actually perform the surgery.  And it's up to you which surgery is best. It's been cited by a few Drs that the VSG will one day replace the lapband and the DS will replace RNY  because of results. Those are the only 2 *I* would go with. I personally knew I didn't have the discipline to stick with the sleeve. I'm sure I could have gotten the weight off, the restriction of the sleeve is what helps weight loss in the DS too. But I knew I wanted the intestinal portion because my metabolism was screwed up and I would need maintenance help. I snoop over on the VSG board sometimes and I see many that are at goal and doing wondefully, so really it's up to you how successful you will be with your chosen tool.

 @ I have lost 33lbs since September 2nd OH YEA!

That's great.  Keep up the good work.

Maybe It's just me feeling spoiled here after having the decision made for me by my surgeon but I think your surgeon, after carefully analyzing all of the necessary data regarding your overall health, should be directing you more as to which type of surgery he will perform on you rather than you trying to pick and chose.  I may be wrong but JMHO.

If you go to a surgeon that is proficient in all 4 surgeries...that might work. After you explain your expectations, eating habits, exercise plans, and co-morbidities to the surgeon maybe they can help you choose. But ideally you should pick your surgery, then your surgeon. If I went to a Dr that only did RNY and lapband....guess what he would suggest lol