Revision from Lap RNY to DS - Dr. Greenbaum - ?'s

I know that there are some of you out there that are Dr. Greenbaum's patients and some who have had revisions with him.  I met with him in June and have been working on the things I have to do - had the upper GI, met and did the psych eval., did the sleep study test and am meeting with with a nutritionist on Thursday.  I went to the support group meeting last night which was a great one for me since he was talking about revisions. 

I had Lap RNY in April of 2000.  I originally lost 125 lbs. and within 5 years had regained 40 lbs.  It was a struggle from then on and I have no excuse other than I have an eating addiction.  Emotional upheaval in my life two and half years ago and 40 more are back.  I know that I have to deal with the mental part of eating and I am working on that.  I started researching revisions about a year and half ago.  OH was a big help in learning about the different things I could do but after reading everything I could I contacted Dr. Greenbaum and started the process. 

So after Tina gets my results from the sleep study and the nutrition consult she said that it will be submitted to insurance.  Hopefully that will go through without too much problem.  But how long does it usually take from that point until surgery?  I'm hoping to have surgery right after Thanksgiving.  How long do revision patients stay in the hospital?  I know that he will send me home with a feeding tube - how long will that stay in?  Do you still take your vitamins at that time or do you wait a while?  When does he have you start on clear and soft foods?  Anything else you can think of that I might not know?  Thanks for all of your help!

Karen

Is Dr. G doing RNY to DS revisions again?? He started doing RNY to distal RNY (instead of a TRUE DS) revisions quite a bit ago.

He is doing both on a case by case basis.  I am low risk and could do either. 

Karen

I was approved in under 2 weeks, and right after I got the approval I found that my insurance was being switched. I had less than 10 days until surgery at that point, so I could get in under the wire.

I was in the hospital from Dec. 21 - 25. I went home with the jtube and the drain. Mine was in for a long time, mostly because of the holidays, so it didn't come out until the after the 1st week of January.

I started on chewable bariatric vitamins about a week after I got home. I wasn't cleared for food for about 2 weeks. My first actual nibble was on Dec. 31, I had the tiniest nibble of cheese.

I made sure to have protein shakes, wound up hating them all. It was so weird, everything changed, my tastes changed. Ugh. I felt like I'd had the crap beat out of me after surgery, I won't lie. It was rough, much rougher than my open rny, rougher than my c-section, and rougher than my plastic surgery.

I will definately ask again,  But at my consultation we went over both and he did say that he does both.  He considers me low risk and I could do either.  At the support group meeting last night he again talked about both and did not make it sound like he was pushing the distal.  He specifically said that he feels that the revision to a true DS is the best.  He explained that the distal is an easier operation and an easier recovery.  He did say that he will not always do a true DS revision on some patients depending on their risk factor or how their prior surgery was done. 

Karen

Yes, he is doing SOME true RNY to DS revisions, but he has gotten a LOT more selective about whom he will offer this procedure.

I was surprised he was able to do mine, and very happy with the results. I had an open RNY, the added silastic ring around my stoma - the real reason for my revision - and yet he was able to do it. Maybe it was because I was less of a risk because I was a lightweight? I don't know. All I know is I got my life back.

Everyone keeps saying he's not doing them, but he does, he is just very selective, as is Roslin.