Not a typical revision to DS?!

Ladynitewolf!
I totally agree about being in good hands with Dr. K.  .....  Sooooo, he showed up yesterday (upper G.I. & endoscopy) with a little shaving cut above his lip!  Do you think I can trust a surgeon who can't even shave?!!  LOL!   It was actually "his" joke....I just borrowed it  

I didn't realize that he uses a 50 cc as his standard for a DS?  My lengthening is due to malnutrition etal with some hernia fixes & a take down of the pouch thrown in with an addition of a sleeve.  I'm sooooo hoping that the O.R. crowd has enough stamina to see me through all those needed hours!!! 

I don't know that it's his "standard" length, per se, because he uses the Hess method to divide up the different limbs. But there are an awful lot of us that are his patients that have that length.

Are you having the surgery done in Glendale or Delano?

Note to self:  Study the Hess method again!

I'm not even sure I'll be able to have surgery but I suspect it will be in the Glendale area since that's where I've gone for the consult and then the testing.

Is there a yahoo group where Dr. K's patient's chat?  O.H. group?  How do I hook up with others that may have had "revisions" to a DS with Dr. K?

Do you attend any of the support groups that he hosts?

Thanks so much for the little tips!  I spent the morning reading through his patient reviews.  It sounds like the majority are very happy post-ops!

Joyce

Joyce,

Here is a good link for you, just in case you missed reading it on here.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/revision/4075530/Proximal- RNY-to-Distal-RNY-Xpost/#33181050


Good Luck on YOUR journey!!!!
-Jamie

Jamie,
That's a good "read".  Thanks for always sharing your research and giving a cheerful push

Joyce

Hi Joyce:
Lizzie here.  I have been panicked about the thought of gaining too, since my reversal of my ERNY.  I was LESS than  50 cm!!!  (40-50 cm!!!)  I was reversed to just over 200 cm.  I was scared to death.  At surgery time, I weighed 135.  After surgery, I lost TEN more...was down to 125.  Skin and bones.  Within a month, tho, I re-gained that 10.  Then I gained 12 more in month #2...getting to 147.  However, after meeting w/a great dietician at Mayo, my diet has been "tweaked"...  Pointers I learned: Altho protein is always #1 to consider, no more is the necessity laid upon me to eat snacks!  NO MORE protein snacks between my 3 meals.  I am allowed a cup of milk or yogurt wherever I feel the need have that...I choose between lunch and dinner most days, because my blood sugars tend to plummet then...OR I split it...having it between lunch and dinner and also 1/2 as an after dinner snack.  I am back to 137 lbs.  I have gained a little more "substance" in my boobies...which makes my bras feel more useful .  Unfortunately, the place I always gain first is in my stomach...I did not have any plastics...which I need but will not get... I have a very fatty stomach, and even w/all the weight loss, I still have a mental image of myself being fat altho when I see myself passing in a mirror, I SEE a thin person!  Go figure. 

Back to my diet... I am able to absorb FATS again!!  I immediately turned to cheddar cheese again, because I love cheddar...but one day when I was eating 1/2 a cheese crisp, I noted the fat dripping from the tortilla.... so I quit cheddar and switched to low-fat skim mozzarella, which I only have in the way of string cheese, 2 at breakfast, if I do not have 2 eggs.  I decided that my COFFEE VICE is worth more to me than cheese, hence I do not skimp on the Half & Half.  Like I said, they limited me to 3 meals per day: 2 oz protein, 1 oz carb (either fruit or cream of wheat) at breakfast... 2 oz protein, 1 oz carb, 1 oz veggie @ lunch, and THREE (woo hoo I can "over eat" here!!!) oz protein at dinner w/the carb & veggie.  I was scared when she said that was my LIMIT.  Why?  Because w/the ERNY I was starving all the time...I was eating constantly...and the food was literally coming out of me within a few hours.  I was a mess.  It has been an adjustment, but thankfully it is better.  I AM left w/a complication that I am getting checked out at my cardiologist...one that is a result of the extreme weight loss after the ERNY, a result of the chronic diarrhea, a result of malnutrition...my heart.  It is scary. 

Anyhow... Please do not panic at the thought of gaining a ton of weight.  I am looking forward to eventually weighing around 150... I was scared that I would view myself as a failure.  But, in hindsight, I am better off this way...and getting a  bit healthier. 

As to your Reason #1...dying in surgery... hey, I had THREE surgeries in the past year...  I never was afraid of dying on the table...I was worried I would die BEFORE the surgery.  My biggest concern was that, when I would imagine the smell of the O.R....that antiseptic-y smell...I wanted to puke!  I had to put all of this out of my mind--mentally "not focus on it", go with the 4 days in the hospital, let the nurses do their thing...and try to sleep thru it all, which I was almost successful at, until they took out the catheter and I had to keep getting up to go to the bathroom.  Ug. 

Joyce, you can do this.  You NEED to do this.  My new surgeon informed me of my prognosis of being on the verge of becomiing seriously ill very soon (as if I weren't already seriously ill!) if I did NOT do this.  Happier days are coming. 

Lizzie

Lizzie,
I too have been eating like I'm starving just to keep my weight and energy up.  I"ve developed all kinds of stinkin thinkin habits since the ERny!  .....  I'll need an army of therapists, personal trainers with whips, a bunch of nuts/dieticians and a good support group to reestablish a healthy regime (once I'm fixed).

Kudos to you for being pro-active and tackling your overwhelming truckload of bad health issues cuz of your ERny!  ....  But, 2 oz of protein?  I don't even remember what that looks like!  Yikes!

I hope your  is checked out OK and that you are soon loving each and every day.  Maybe someday you can use your AMAZING artistic talents to sketch your story in a book?!!! 

Hugggzzz to you friend!

Joyce

Hi Joyce and Lizzie...

So good to see your post here...Glad you are doing better...So I have to ask myself and all of you ERNY'ers out there...What is with the non-stop hunger thing...As both you and Joyce have said I feel ravenous 24/7....I have never been hungry before I just ate out of habit...But now I have hunger pains within 20 minutes after a meal and I mean I'm hungry even if I'm not feeling well...I know the shortened common channel must be the culprit for why we ERNY'ers feel famished all the time...What do you all think?

Also did any of you have problems with your hair? My hair has always been thick and manageable. Now it's dry, thin and disgusting...

Janie

Hi Janie:
YES!  It got to be that I was STARVING all the time!!!  No sooner would I eat, and an hour later I was in the bathroom.  Now, tho, I am so back to normal!!!  Eating much less, less often, and don't feel the need to eat as much.  Still weigh nearly the same, so it was a success. 

Janie,
Do you have a thyroid problem?  My hair went bad when I wasn't getting enough thyroid medication.
Deanne