Hi Everyone!

My name is Katie Konrad and I'm a grad student in the English department at UW-Milwaukee.  I'm currently writing an article for a class on my weight loss surgery and the profound effect it's had on my life.  I'd love to include other people's stories and experiences...and that's where you all come in! For those of you who'd like to help, there's a list of questions for you to answer at the end of this post. You can answer any or all of them, any information you'd be willing to share would be most appreciated!  If you do chose to answer any of the questions, you can email your responses to me at [email protected].  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you friends!

-Katie Konrad
[email protected]

Your Name: Location:   Surgery Type: Surgery Date: Highest and Lowest weights:     How did you come to the decision to have weight loss surgery?   Did you have any major health problems before surgery? Do you still have them?   Did you have any complications with your surgery?   What major lifestyle changes have you made?  
What would you tell someone who’s considering having surgery?   What would you tell skeptics who think that weight loss surgery is an ‘easy way out’?   Any funny/inspirational personal stories to share?          

  The concept of the mini gastric bypass is quite intriguing as there are several variants created to mimic traditional Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Themini gastric bypass is popularized mostly by Dr. Rutledge, who in his own series, reports that the mini gastric bypass is safer with similar weight loss. Dr. Rutledge creates a 70 ounce small stomach pouch such as that seen in figure 1. Compared to the traditional Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, Rutledge’s pouch is longer and serves as a greater sized reservoir for food such that patients can eat more than they can compared to the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. As a result of the different type of pouch in the mini-gastric bypass, the bypass portion is fashioned differently where a segment of small intestine is brought up to the end of the pouch and as such you really do not have a Roux-en-Y.

The mini-gastric bypass popularized by Dr. Rutledge is not recognized by most insurance companies for payment and is still considered experimental and the results that he is demonstrated are not reproducible by most surgeons and as a result. Presently, Texas Bariatric Surgeons nor any specialized group in San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi offers the mini gastric bypass procedure.

However, when you objectively consider a Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass versus a mini gastric bypass, you need to consider that the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is a time-tested with 100% endorsement of the national surgical community. As a result it is still considered the gold standard amongst weight-loss surgeries performed in the United States and the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass remains the most prevalent procedure in United States.

While surgical results and techniques vary from surgeon to surgeon, Texas Bariatric Specialists are able to complete a laparoscopic gastric bypass with a minimally invasive approach in 30 to 45 minutes, with a 2 night hospital stay and this procedure is 90% of the time preauthorized through insurance companies. The laparoscopic gastric bypass remains the hallmark of our practice and Dr. Patel serves as a national preceptor for gastric bypass surgery. Figure 2 demonstrates a movie about Rutledge and the mini gastric bypass taken from his website.

I am slated for surgery next week(bypass). I am considering switching my procedure to the Verticle sleeve due to patients reporting very little feelings of hunger. I am totally healthy despite being over weight. So i am curious as to what bypass patients post op expierences are with the feelings of hunger???

 Thanks.

Okay, now we all know that official start of the food laden holiday season is upon us as we approach Halloween. How are you handling the temptations that come with the inevitable bowls and goody bags brimming with goodies calling to us?

I have a list of things I'm doing to help me make sure to enjoy the holiday without running me off the road so that I can sustain my journey.

First, I'm starting each day with one item from each of the following buckets that I want to focus: health, quality of life, and appearance. Each of these things is just one of the many reasons I want to stay on track, but making the conscious effort to articulate these things helps make them more tangible for me and helps me focus on WHAT I want to do and WHY I want to do it. I then try to think of these things before I put anything in my mouth and determine if what I'm about to eat is going to help me fulfill these goals or short-change me.

Next, I've decided not to bring candy/contraband into the house until a few days before the holiday and have made sure to get things for the neighborhood kids that, to be honest, I don't really like. I'm not much of one for sweet tarts, gummy bears, etc. The kids will enjoy, but it won't be nearly as hard for me to resist as if I had a dish full of dark chocolates calling to me.

Finally, speaking of dark chocolates. I am able to eat it without getting sick, I opt to go get a piece of Godiva... that's just because See's isn't available on the east coast... but what I'm saying is I get a piece of REALLY GOOD dark chocolate and savor it. Really enjoy it. This allows me to not feel deprived, but not have a bunch stuff in the house that could undermine my goals of living a healthier, fuller life... and still fit into my closet of size 4/6 clothes ;-). Now that I'm at goal and maintaining my weight, it's important to have some balance. Enjoying some chocolate is fine, but I also need to know my limitations and not put myself in harms way, which is why I don't keep bags of Dove chocolates in the house as I did before.

Please share any tips to navigate what can be a SCARY side of Halloween so that it's not a frightful journey.

 

 

Hi,

First of all there is plenty of research and his surgery has been proved over and over.  Also, surgeons are very possessive about their procedure.  I have heard very few surgeons praise other doctor's wls procedures.  The best thing I would suggest is go directly to the source.  Talk to him.  ask him all your questions and concerns.  You will find him extremely informative and can give you all the supportive documentation  you need.  Call him on his cell phone.  Keep calling until he answers.  Doctors tend to be very busy.  His contact info is at http://clos.net.  Also, he has gone global.  He is not only in the U.S. now.  He has trained other surgeons all over the world.  Information and knowledge is the key.  Taking other peoples opinions is not always the facts.  However, the choice is yours regardless of what procedure you choose.  Educate yourself from the sources not from what other people think.  Good luck!