Your opinion..

Here's my story, I had originally planned on getting the DS well my surgeon decided that I was 'buying the wrong car' as he put it, he's really a nice guy I'll tell you this before I start. I am 26 and like 265 and 5'4" so he calls me a lightweight (I still laugh when he says it...) I told him I did not want the RNY because I did not want to dump and did not want to drink protein shakes and wanted to be able to take my pills for my thyroid and not have the chance of regain and be able to get down to 115 with EASE and have my gallbladder removed. He told me that he will meet my demands with the RNY, he will adjust my channel so that my ideal weight would be 115 (from what he tells me he tailors this surgery to the individual and if you have in your mind to weigh 130 he can either lengthen or shorten whichever channel so beings I want to be 115 he said this is not a problem), he will remove my gallbladder (been havin problems with it), he says his patients do not dump because he makes the pouch a tiny bit bigger than most surgeons to ease up on the dumping and his patients do not do this, he said that after like 3 or 4 weeks I can take my pills (I take 2 pills the size of mini m&ms and a REALLY tiny birth control pill), he said that I will not have to drink the nasty protein shakes that if I can't get all of my protein in through eating that I can take a pill for the protein, and the getting me to a weight of 115 (of course with exersize) he said I should have absolutely NO problem of getting to that within 6 mo and like if you'd have heard him you'd have believed it was written in stone. What do you think about this? I for some reason trust and believe him but so many people have been like 'honey if you think you're gonna get to 115 in 5-6 mo you're dreamin' he considers it to be a fact... I was going to get just the first part of the DS done which is called the sleeve and see where that took me then work on losing whatever was left on my own and he was like NOOOOO and said that that surgery is not for me that it is for other patients but that I am young and don't have 'that much' to lose.... Can anyone like confirm that this could be for real? It seems that he is the only one who believes this and that anyone else I tell thinks it's the most ridiculous thing they've heard in their whole life....it makes me sad....I just want to hear from others that this is not ridiculous I suppose...I have plans to do it, I have all of my presurgery testing set up...anyone have any positive input? ~Tema~

Did you recieve my input.Cindy

? If you emailed me I didn't receive it...

why does everyone think you get so sick with the rny.I dont. I had mine 4 weeks ago and I dont get sick except when I eat to fast but I certainly have time for the bathroom. I have never dumped. It seems like so many people are ill informed. I dont get it.Cindy

I am not sure what part of the state you are in, but I really think getting yourself to support group meetings would help with some of this, especially with this doctor's patients. You get lots of opinions here, but being able to talk to people and see them to get a conversation going back and forth might really help you. I worry some that this doc is making it sound like if he adjusts the bypass and size of the pouch, you will drop to an automatic weight. This may be setting you up for failure. What if you don't get to 115 lbs "with ease" in 5-6 months? This is not a cure, it is still a tool, and you have to work the tool. You likely won't lose weight bam, bam, bam until you get to that magic number of 115lbs. Your body will likely go through plateus along the way, adjusting to the weight loss. Sue

Hi Tema, I just thought that I would give you a little of my thought on this because I too have ran into the same surgeon's office statement that I was a "light weight" & the DS is for extremely morbidly obese individuals. First, both surgeries come with the possiblities of drawbacks as well as positives. I knew that the DS offered more of the lifestyle that I wanted to have for the rest of my life & I could deal with the bathroom issues if that became an issue with me. DSrs seem to be able to eat more regularly than the RNY patients (ONLY MY OPINION). I didn't want to have to worry about eating & drinking at the same time, chewing my food to mush, not chewing gum (I have heard this mentioned before as a no no), of finding out 5 years down the road while I am on vacation eating oatmeal that my body doesn't want to tolerate it & I suffer from the dumping. Now many seem to not have an issue at all with these things but it was a personal decision that I made for myself. When I looked at your choice in surgeons, I knew exactly what you are going through because I myself called this surgeon's office too to inquire about this surgery. He may be a ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL SUCCESSFUL surgeon but I don't know because there seems to be very little testimony out there on him. For instance, I was told that all of his training & experience has been in a foreign country which explains why he is not board certified here. I also inquired how many DS surgeries he has performed & the answer that I got was that he has not performed any here because they have not been able to get any approved.....Tibbie (his nurse) really pushed the RNY which reminded me of Barix of Groveport. If it's anything but the RNY procedure, they neagtively speak of the others in my opinion....When I got off the phone with this office, my first thought was that this surgeon obviously has very little experience with this procedure or he would be well aware of the fact that this surgery has been performed on many "light weights" who do just fine with this procedure. Finally, a last few thoughts & then I will quit rambling...is he the only surgeon that you have looked in to? If it is the DS procedure that you are dead set on having, I would look into other surgeons & speak with patients who may have been in the same situations as you are. Are you a member of any of the DS message boards out there? You can find a wealth of information on those boards. Good Luck to you on your journey! Jennifer

Tema, I just finished reading your profile & I felt EXTREMELY COMPELLED to post to you again.......I don't know if anyone else has read through your profile, BUT I DO NOT LIKE WHAT I HEARD about the statements this surgeon has made. He sounded more like a car salesman than a surgeon. Of all the surgeons that I have inquired upon, NONE were there to meet my demands or had a yes answer to all my negatives on things. I am so worried that he is setting you up for a complete failure! You said "why would he lie?" many in the medical field unforunately lie about a lot of things! Unless, I had concrete proof, in other words, spoke personally with individuals who have had this surgery with him, I wouldn't trust a single word of the different things that he does to make his RNY surgery better than others. How many RNY surgeries has he performed in the states? How many DS's? I am glad that you were on message boards geared to DS patients & heard for your self that what he said is an absolute lie.....well, I will say a complete fabrication!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many, if not most, do not suffer from poo issues & the ones that do, hello! they make prescriptions to help with those issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sorry to rant but I am just so ticked off right now because I feel that he is bullying you into a surgery that may not be the right fit for you! NEITHER SURGERY COMES WITH PERFECT RESULTS & NO DRAWBACKS & he portraying that HIS RNY does!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do some more investigating & look into some other surgeons! This is your life & the rest of it! If I can be of any other help, don't hesitate to email me! Jen

Hi Tema, I checked out alot of surgeons before i finally chose the one i have. None that i talked to ever told me i would be down by a certain weight by a certain time. Everyone's body is different and reacts to surgery differently. I know we all reach plateaus along the way and they can last along while. I was looking at your surgeon's profile and I guess it bothers me that he does not seem to have alot of experience in WLS, He was trained at Allegheny, (where i had my surgery done) but if i read his profile right he was trained last yr. Kinda scary to me. My surgery was at Allegheny and I am very happy with my surgeon...but he did not make any promises to me. WLS is a combination of surgery and changing your eating habits. It works hand in hand. Please talk to a few more surgeons, yours really makes me nervous. Good luck....Patty

Patty- His nurse Tibby told me that he just came here from Europe so that's why it would only show him as being there for a year I would assume.