Really need an UNBIASED answer
I had my surgery with Dr Keshishian right around the same time and had a very simiar experience with a leak. Not only was the leak similar but also the treatment plan (heal on its own while on TPN). In my personal opinion, Dr K was actually not prepared for complications (perhaps because he seldom has them). The hospital he uses in Glendale did not have xray equipment or even scales that would work for patients above 300 lbs. At the time, I weighed 344 (SW 370). I know... this is surprising.
Sooo in a nutshell, complications can happen to anyone and even the most experienced surgeons may be caught off guard with complications because they are not the norm. In the end, I was glad Dr. K was my surgeon.
Sooo in a nutshell, complications can happen to anyone and even the most experienced surgeons may be caught off guard with complications because they are not the norm. In the end, I was glad Dr. K was my surgeon.
Becky- Oh goodness I didn't mean to imply that people here would be less than honest with me about the DS surgery at all. I suppose i should have used a different term... "unbiased" maybe? I am trying to be practical, careful and logical about something as serious as weight loss surgery and I just don't want to hear the sugar-coated stuff if that makes sense?
I will continue to check into my other options as well as far as doctors are concerned. There is another Bariatric Center of Excellence close to me but they do not list the DS as one of the surgeries they perform. As for me at this point I am fairly certain the DS is the surgery for me but until I am finished researching all of them I can't say with 100% certainty that is what I want. I DO know with 100% certainty though that I do NOT want the Lap Band.
I will continue to check into my other options as well as far as doctors are concerned. There is another Bariatric Center of Excellence close to me but they do not list the DS as one of the surgeries they perform. As for me at this point I am fairly certain the DS is the surgery for me but until I am finished researching all of them I can't say with 100% certainty that is what I want. I DO know with 100% certainty though that I do NOT want the Lap Band.
Ms. Cal Culator
on 4/27/11 2:56 pm - Tuvalu
on 4/27/11 2:56 pm - Tuvalu
On April 26, 2011 at 6:57 PM Pacific Time, beemerbeeper wrote:
The title of your thread sounds like you think we would be dishonest with our answers. That is a little off-putting. This is a painfully honest group of people IMO.My surgeon is known for "cherry-picking" his patients and has a very very low complication rate and it had been many many years since he had had a death.
And of the almost no DS patients that we know of the one who posts about him HAD a complication. If i were you I would go to a MUCH more experienced DS surgeon.
~Becky
"The title of your thread sounds like you think we would be dishonest with our answers. "
You needed to add, "to me."
Because it didn't sound that way to everyone.
HI!
I understand that you might be very scared. The procedure you are considering will be life changing and is a major surgery with all the risks. I myself was scared and actually cried as they wheeled me into the prep OR room. It is my opinion that you need to inform and educate yourself with as many facts as you can and then face your fears.
As everyone said here already - research the hell out of your surgeon. The success of this surgery is literally in his hands. You want to know as much as you can about him and his past patients. You want to get that information from him but you ALSO want to get it from previous patients and from any resources you can locate.
The mortality statistics that I discovered or most often saw quoted while researching the DS ranged from 1.5% to 2% vs your average weight loss surgery mortality rate of 1%. Stats are just stats - lets look at the information behind them. (You know sometimes the movie studios have reported weekend openings in CANADIAN dollars rather than US dollars just so a movie looked more successful? Data should always be examined when evaluating stats).
- Many of the studies published - and you can google them - are limited studies using pools of as few of 25 patients to as many as 1200 patients. This means that if Study A reports a death in its pool of 25 surveyed patients, the study shows a mortality rate of 4%. This can skew some numbers.
- The mortality number doesn't reflect the health of the patients prior to surgery. Many overweight folks like us have health problems.
- The mortality number doesn't reflect the surgery weight of the patient or indicate the stress this weight can be on surgery. The surgery is easier for the surgeon and the patient if the patient weighs 250 lbs than if the patient weighs 800lbs.
- The mortality number doesn't reflect the skill or experience of the surgeon or the location of the surgeon. If Dr. Smith screws up his 1st DS when he had previously never done a WLS of any type, this is the death in the study. If Dr. Smith performed the procedure in a foreign country or a less than top notch hospital, this is not reflected.
1 in 200 seems like a scary number. It is scary if you view it that way. If you could view a genuine number that would reflect your risk, I bet you would feel alot better. Are you basically healthy aside from being overweight and having the accompanying co-morbidities? Are you at a good weight for surgery? Are your prelabs good? Are you over 60? Once you take all these items into account, YOUR risk is probably much less that the stated number of 2%.
It is still a risk. All surgery is. I asked myself how long would I live without the surgery while stressing my body with all this extra weight and likely adding more to it. When I looked at it like that, the surgery seemed the lower risk option.
You might still be scared. That is ok. You just have to go thru the fear to get to the other side of it. This board is an excellent place for support and information. Keep coming back.
I understand that you might be very scared. The procedure you are considering will be life changing and is a major surgery with all the risks. I myself was scared and actually cried as they wheeled me into the prep OR room. It is my opinion that you need to inform and educate yourself with as many facts as you can and then face your fears.
As everyone said here already - research the hell out of your surgeon. The success of this surgery is literally in his hands. You want to know as much as you can about him and his past patients. You want to get that information from him but you ALSO want to get it from previous patients and from any resources you can locate.
The mortality statistics that I discovered or most often saw quoted while researching the DS ranged from 1.5% to 2% vs your average weight loss surgery mortality rate of 1%. Stats are just stats - lets look at the information behind them. (You know sometimes the movie studios have reported weekend openings in CANADIAN dollars rather than US dollars just so a movie looked more successful? Data should always be examined when evaluating stats).
- Many of the studies published - and you can google them - are limited studies using pools of as few of 25 patients to as many as 1200 patients. This means that if Study A reports a death in its pool of 25 surveyed patients, the study shows a mortality rate of 4%. This can skew some numbers.
- The mortality number doesn't reflect the health of the patients prior to surgery. Many overweight folks like us have health problems.
- The mortality number doesn't reflect the surgery weight of the patient or indicate the stress this weight can be on surgery. The surgery is easier for the surgeon and the patient if the patient weighs 250 lbs than if the patient weighs 800lbs.
- The mortality number doesn't reflect the skill or experience of the surgeon or the location of the surgeon. If Dr. Smith screws up his 1st DS when he had previously never done a WLS of any type, this is the death in the study. If Dr. Smith performed the procedure in a foreign country or a less than top notch hospital, this is not reflected.
1 in 200 seems like a scary number. It is scary if you view it that way. If you could view a genuine number that would reflect your risk, I bet you would feel alot better. Are you basically healthy aside from being overweight and having the accompanying co-morbidities? Are you at a good weight for surgery? Are your prelabs good? Are you over 60? Once you take all these items into account, YOUR risk is probably much less that the stated number of 2%.
It is still a risk. All surgery is. I asked myself how long would I live without the surgery while stressing my body with all this extra weight and likely adding more to it. When I looked at it like that, the surgery seemed the lower risk option.
You might still be scared. That is ok. You just have to go thru the fear to get to the other side of it. This board is an excellent place for support and information. Keep coming back.
HW-345,SW-300, CW-144lbs. DS 5/11/10. First round of plastics with Dr. LoMonaco 11/8/11 LBL, BL. 14lbs of skin removed.
2nd round with Dr. LoMonaco 2/8/12 Brachioplasty, Thigh lift, Breast Implants.
I go from scared spitless to really excited and everything in between. I know I am obssessing over every little thing to do with weight loss surgery and I am probably driving my BF crazy since all I ever do any more is read about wls. Right now I am stuck reading what I can on the net but possibly Saturday will actually get to go to the library to do some research there as well. And that "research... your surgeon" was one of the reasons I posted the questions I did. Because I really need to know the answers and maybe the way I worded the title and the questions came off all wrong but i really am trying to understand what I may possibly be in for and what I am getting into here. I posted something similar on another thread but here's the thing.. If I KNOW the worst case scenarios I don't freak about them as much. It's something about my brain saying "yeah that's really bad and that can happen but we are going to be okay and we will get through it if it happens." Remember the saying "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst"? That is what I am trying to do. When I had my hysterectomy and my tonsillectomy I did the same thing.. read as much as I could find and learned everything I could about the procedures (I was actually at a greater risk of dying during the tonsillectomy than I was the hysterectomy.. imagine that lol)
The intense research/obsession phase for WLS is very common from what I've seen. So are the nerves and the what-ifs. Same with the worst case scenarios and the panic attacks and the glimmers of hope... and dreams of the skinny and healthy future that we thought would never be for us. Just keep working through it, it has to take its course for you to be ok with whatever you decide.
-Mandi
DSFacts
5'1" HW: 360 SW: 337? CW: 132 GW: 130
DS: March 2011, Plastics: LBL+BLA: April 2015
Well you are probably getting really tired of hearing this.
RUN RUN RUN to a vetted DS doc.
Here is my story. abbreviated... I had what I thought was the DS with a doc in 2003.. Things started out rocky,(immediate complications) even though I had good recommendations on him. I was in his first 50 DS's. He used to be on the DS recommended list. He was removed though as he his complication and death rate climbed rapidly. I personally know 2 people died under his care. One was a CLOSE friend. What an EYE opener ! As time went on, I had lost most of my weight when I very SUDDENLY gained back 80-100 pounds. Talk about a shock !
Well in 2009 I went to a vetted DS doc, Dr John Maguire in Ohio, jumped thru the insurance hoops, traveled over 1000 miles, stayed in hotel, the whole 9 yards. Finally had a revision. Found out I was not really a DS. He revised me as close as possible to the DS. The weight has come off slowly and is still slowing going away, I am not quite where I would like to be, but getting close !
I have to say it has not been a smooth journey ! It is too bad I did not research better. That is another story and very long. After all I have been thru, I would never recommend a non vetted DS surgeon. I realize people have to be those first patients somewhere for him to get experience, but I would never recommend the risk after all I have been thru. I just would not even wi**** on my worse enemy in the world !
Yes, every surgery has it's risk. You are already high risk, why increase those ratio's ?
Just my .02 worth. Take it or leave it. Best of luck as you try to find your comfort level.
RUN RUN RUN to a vetted DS doc.
Here is my story. abbreviated... I had what I thought was the DS with a doc in 2003.. Things started out rocky,(immediate complications) even though I had good recommendations on him. I was in his first 50 DS's. He used to be on the DS recommended list. He was removed though as he his complication and death rate climbed rapidly. I personally know 2 people died under his care. One was a CLOSE friend. What an EYE opener ! As time went on, I had lost most of my weight when I very SUDDENLY gained back 80-100 pounds. Talk about a shock !
Well in 2009 I went to a vetted DS doc, Dr John Maguire in Ohio, jumped thru the insurance hoops, traveled over 1000 miles, stayed in hotel, the whole 9 yards. Finally had a revision. Found out I was not really a DS. He revised me as close as possible to the DS. The weight has come off slowly and is still slowing going away, I am not quite where I would like to be, but getting close !
I have to say it has not been a smooth journey ! It is too bad I did not research better. That is another story and very long. After all I have been thru, I would never recommend a non vetted DS surgeon. I realize people have to be those first patients somewhere for him to get experience, but I would never recommend the risk after all I have been thru. I just would not even wi**** on my worse enemy in the world !
Yes, every surgery has it's risk. You are already high risk, why increase those ratio's ?
Just my .02 worth. Take it or leave it. Best of luck as you try to find your comfort level.
Ginger<><
Revision #2 Dr John Rabkin June 21, 2013; First Revision DS - Dr Maguire 5-18-09; First DS 7-15-2003 Dr Clark Warden = Third time is the charm 
Okay THIS is what I meant by "i just dont want the sugar-coated stuff." I am so sorry you had such a horrible experience and I thank you for sharing it with me because I am trying to learn so I don't do stupid stuff like go with a surgeon who's never done a DS but is willing to use me as a guinea pig (for the sake of clarification since this is the net and noone can see the intent of my thoughts.>> I am NOT calling anyone stupid, I am NOT saying a new DS surgeon is using his patients as guinea pigs in short I am NOT condemning or vilifying anyone for any reason whatsoever) I AM trying to learn and in my experience THE best way for me to do that is to ask questions of people that have "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" before me.
I really appreciate people being honest and up-front with me about their experiences. so again. Thank you
I really appreciate people being honest and up-front with me about their experiences. so again. Thank you
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