sleeve to ds

I'm in your area.  I have no knowledge of Gerheart doing the DS or even being trained to do so.  I know who he is, as he's done general surgery on some of my family members.   

Beware if he's talking about giving you an RNY now.....

My surgeon was in Scranton but due to health is no longer practicing.  You will likely need to head to Philly, NC or NJ - there are vetted surgeons listed on www.dsfacts.com

Now if he's telling you he's doing the DS - find out (1) how many he's done - I'm guessing none.  (2) who trained him to do it.

This isn't something to take lightly.  Good luck.

I was actually one of his first few surgies for the sleeve... I think he had a proctor in there with him either for my surgery or the one before me...

I didnt think no one else would touch me if i needed a revision i thought i had to go back to the originial surgeon.. i asked his office and noone has been revised from the sleeve...

 You can definitely go to another surgeon. Try Abington (Bonnani or Antanavicius) or Dr. Greenbaum. 

If no one has been revised, then I would be willing to bet he's not trained to perform a DS.

A sleeve to DS revision isn't the worst thing, since you have the first part already.  But trust me - you need to find an EXPERIENCED surgeon to do this.

Please, go to www.dsfacts.com and check out the surgeon lists.  It's your life - and the DS is no small surgery.  Don't mess with it.

thank you for your input i would not even be interested if my diabetes would go into remission but it hasn't so far, and i heard the ds will make that happen i hope they are right...

           susan

Revising a Sleeve to a full DS involves cutting and sewing the duodenum---VERY fragile tissue. I've heard it compard to sewing wet tissue paper. NOT something you want done by someone who's not VERY experienced.

And since you use the phrase "now I am thinking of having the bypass on top of it.." I can't help but wonder if what HE'S talking about is a complete revision to an RNY/gastric bypass. Which you do NOT want, trust me.

Hello Susan,

I am a VSG to DS revisioner, had my VSG in 2007 and revised to DS in August 2011. I never lost all the weight I needed to lose either with just the VSG.

I was one of the unfortunate ones who had complications due to severe scar tissue issues. I would highly suggest a vetted DS surgeon even though the revision from VSG to DS seems pretty straightforward. Wierd things can and do happen and if they do, you will want a highly skilled surgeon on your side.

That being said, the revision has been very successful for me, I have lost 102 pounds so far. My pre DS weight was 270 and I am now at 168.

Please PM me if you have any additional questions I can help you with.

Best of luck in your journey.