Scare to death to make a decision!!

Hi all - I am new to this postng thing! LOL

I had Lap Band surgery in March of 2009 - been a roller coaster ever since! I either can eat everything and never fill full or be so tight that I can't even swallow my own spit. There is no happy in between.

My doctors office called me on New Years Eve and said that my insurance had approved me (in less than 2 weeks) for a revision to a RNY. When we submitted to the insurance I told them to just submit and they would probably deny and then I would make my decision for sure if I wanted to go through with it or not.

Well they approved and fast. This was reviewed by a doctor at my insurance they must have thought there was problems too. My thing is now I am scared to death. I mean I couldn't make the band work - what if the RYN is worse on me. I want to be able to eat and basially not starve to death - only being able to eat 4 bites make it sound miserable. I don't want to be miserable. What if I had alot of complications. My husband has said even before the lap-band that this surgery was way too serious for me to have. Does to ending result make it worth it. I'm scared to death!!!

Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you don't know how RNY works compared to how a Lap Band is supposed to work. It that's the case, I wouldn't let anyone cut me open and alter my guts.

This isn't your doctors life we're talking about here, it's your life and it's up to you to know what you want and how you want to live. Have you looked into and know how all the weight loss surgeries work and how you will need to life the rest of your life after the surgery?

Why are you going to get RNY instead of VSG or DS? What are the advantages of RNY compared to VSG and DS? What are the disadvantages of RNY, how will you eat, how will you live after the surgery.

If you can't answer all those questions, IMO you have no business getting any surgery. You need to know what you're getting yourself into BEFORE you have surgery. Surgery is a big deal, it will change you for the rest of your life and you better damn well know what you're doing before you let someone cut you open and re-arrange your guts.

Kerry 

I know what it involves I have probably researched as much as anyone - All I am expressing is my fears!

Like I said, if you can answer those questions, then there in lies the answer to your fears. If you can't answer those questions, then your fears come from not knowing what you're getting yourself into. Most fear is really fear of the unknown and knowledge is the key to getting those fears under control. 

If you've researched as you claim you have, why not explain why you're choosing to revise to RNY instead of VSG or DS? I think typing it out would have a good effect for being able to analyze what you're really afraid of.

Kerry

 Well put!

I don't know what your BMI is, but RNY has a 40% failure rate for people with a BMI of 50 or more. How many surgeries are you willing to submit to?

I say, do it right the first time; you've already made one mistake with the Lap Band, make sure you're not making another mistake by getting RNY.

As a side note, I had a gastric bypass / RNY done back in 1980, I lived with it for 28 years and I hated it. Finally got a revision to DS 15 months ago and am loving life like I never thought would be possible for me. 

Make sure you're doing what will work for you and give you the kind of life you want to live.

Kerry

Hi there - I understand your fears, it's perfectly normal.  I had an RNY in 2002, and as you probably know it's basically a restrictive procedure meaning you can only eat small amounts of food.  The beautiful part about that is you lose the weight fast.  Many many people have been very successful with it, however, I wasn't.  I lost the weight and regained the weight.  Unfortunately I found out after the fact that it wasn't terribly uncommon.  So, I'm faced with a revision.  I've decided to go with a Duodenal Switch because it has both the restrictive aspect as well as the malabsorptive portion which is what I really need.  I want to be able to eat full fat foods on occassion and not worry about putting the weight back on. Now this is a personal decision of mine.  It's really really important that you look at all of your options and decide what's going to work best for your lifestyle.  It's an overwhelming task.  Good luck with your decision and feel free to PM me if I can answer any questions for you.

The reason I am choosing RNY is because of financial aspects - my insurance will cover the cost of a rny and willnot cover other forms of wls except rny and lap band.

that's the wrong reason to have surgery.  If you can't live w/the type of procedure you're having, you won't be successful.  Not trying to scare you..but just be sure you know what you're getting yourself into.  Best of luck.

Since Medicare now covers both the VSG and the DS, in many, many cases you can FORCE your insurance company to cover them. If you want to fight your insurance carrier, visit the DS board and ask some questions---there are a lot of olks there who've fought and won, and they'll help you do the same.