New here...

Hello all. I am new to OH by about a month or so. I was referred to this site by the surgeon who will be doing wls on me. I have been doing a lot of reading all over the place.

Anyways, most of the info about me you can get from my profile. I am 36 and obviously overweight lol or I wouldn't be here. Alot of weight issues have not come from overeating, but from medical conditions I have had throughout my life so far. But I will admit there have been times where I have definitely over eaten, especially holidays. Other than that, I eat very little.

I started this venture a couple years ago, when after going in to see a plastic surgeon for a serious breast reduction and being denied because my chest was tooooo big!!! The surgeon at that time told me I should consider having bariatric surgery to help lose some of the weight, and I was also 300 lbs at that time. So after crying my eyes out at the surgeons office, I called my regular doc on the way home from that appointment and asked what I needed to do. He gave me the number for a wls surgeon and I called them. At that time, they wouldnt even look at me until I had a 1 year diet plan through a doctor documented in my records. I immediately got that going with my doctor.

At exactly 1 year of recorded diet plan with my doctor, I moved out of state. The wls had been put on hold and not really thought about again until we had stable insurance again and more health problems popped up. I talked to my new doctor about wls surgery and because I had been diagnosed with CHF by him and on the verge of diabetes, and also 75 lbs heavier than I was a year earlier, he told me to go have wls done ASAP. So in turn, he gave me the info for the informational meeting, I called to make a reservation, attended the meeting and here I am today lol.

I had my informational meeting the end of May. Since then, I have gone for my psych evaluation and passed. I have gotten all my records to the surgeon and last week the nurse called me to set up my appointment with the surgeon. I see the surgeon on Tuesday!! I was kind of shocked that things seem to be going so quickly. The nurse told me that with my records and being overweight for so long that I could possibly be having surgery by next month and she sees no reason why there will be any problems with approval from insurance!!!

Now, I am very excited, but I am also very afraid at the same time. I need to get this weight off as my health is going downhill at a fairly rapid speed. I honestly though, do not know yet which surgery to have. From the informational meeting, the sleeve seems to be the best option for me, but the statistics are no where near as good for that as the other surgeries. But I am very interested in the sleeve, because it seems to be the most appropriate for my body and all the things I have going on. I have decided that I will let the surgeon help me to make the best decision for me, since he is the pro in all this. He should know whats best and what is not.

Are there any of you out there that was not sure at first which surgery to go with? Did your surgeon help you to make that final decision? If you had the sleeve procedure done, have you had great success with it or any problems with it? I know everyone is different and reacts to things different, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for listening and so sorry it is long. Just wanted to give a lil history to my journey so far. I am excited to continue this journey and I am even more excited to get back to a much healthier life.

Welcome and good luck with your journey...enjoy the ride!!!

Welcome.  I think it is a really good idea to research all of your options.  RNY, Sleeve, Duodenal Switch and many others.  Especially with a BMI over 50 we need all of the informaiton we can to make the best decisions for our bodies.  I have chosen the Duodenal Switch because of the best long term weight loss results.  It is a very personal decision, but it is best made with all of the facts and information that you can possibly take in.  Good Luck to you and if you have any questions feel free to PM me.  check out duodenalswitch.com for more information on the DS.

Jennifer

Just wanted to share this cheery tidbit-- I started this journey as a 48H, and now wear a 36D...soon to be 36C. It gets better!

Hi. I am so glad you are here. Having weight loss surgery is the best thing I ever did for myself. My choice was the Duodenal Switch. But everyone eventually makes the best choice for themselves. Estelle is doing marveouly well with the sleeve or at least I think she has the sleeve. I am doing well with the DS, Dunny and many many others have done and are doing incredibly well with the RNY either proximal or distal. So many choices but I think once you figure out what you want to be able to do as regards eating after the surgery and what types of restrictions you either need or want and what vitamin regimines you are willing to follow, you will be able to make a good choice. Best of luck and if I can answer any questions please let me know.

Welcome to you! I think researching all you can and figuring out with the surgeon which surgery is best for you is the very best thing you can do. We're all different and choose different paths for varies reasons.

I had RNY because my surgeon and I felt it would be best. I lost 175 pounds in the first year. Mind you that first year was full of some complications too, but nothing that would have stopped me from having surgery to save my life.

Best wishes to you as you begin your journey!

Welcome.  It sounds like your long time efforts are finally coming together and you are closer to surgery.  Hooray!

I can speak to your surgery type question.  I considered both RNY and Lapband once I decided to have WLS.  I did quite a bit of research on my own and then planned to meet my surgeon to be to discuss further.  The only thing that struck me as odd was that every time you called into the office, and of course when you got there, they would ask you what surgery you were getting.   I treated my consultation appt as just that, consulting with the doctor and picking his brain.  I wasn't going to determine a surgery type until I did so.  For me, I decided on RNY for the following reasons - amount of weight needed to lose, how long it would take to lose those pounds, the number of years the surgery has been performed and perfected, and personally I was a little skeeved out by the thought of a foreign object being inside my body.  For me, my biggest motivation was the amount of weight lost in the smallest amount of time because I was 31 then (32 now) and time was a wasting to begin a family.  Although Lapband shows similar FIVE YEAR results compared to RNY, I didn't have five years to mess around.  Or rather didn't want to wait five more years on top of all the time I've been missing out on.  I also took great comfort in that RNY has been performed for so long and the procedure has been so fine tuned that with careful use of the tool you were getting, the results were reliable and there were statistics to back it up.  So that is how my surgery decision came to be.  I'm sure others will share their thoughts too.  I'm very happy with my RNY and the results so far speak for themselves.  I consider myself blessed an dvery lucky to have my "tool".  :)   Good luck with your decision.

Thanks so much for all of your replies. I will write more in detail in the next couple days, responses to some of you. I need to get my butt off to bed because tomorrow I have my consult with the surgeon. I have a 3 hour drive each way. Not looking forward to the drive, but definitely getting anxious about my appt. I have a lot to talk about with the surgeon and I am sure my mind will be made up by the time I get home on what process I am going with. Thanks again all