RNY to DS

Hello, I had my RNY back in 2007, I am doing well for the most part, but have been having issues with severe dumping syndrome since early 2009.

I had stomaphyx last October which helped for approx 6 months, then the dumping came back. I went in for an upper endo a couple of months ago, and found out the stomaphyx fasteners have failed (which I knew was a possibility prior to having this procedure).

I decided to attempt the rose procedure because of the minimally invasive aspects of this procedure were appealing to me and my surgeon was happy with the results he has seen compared to stomaphyx. I was scheduled for the procedure this Fri.
 
My doctor's office called Tuesday and said that my insurance denied it because they considered it experimental. I was annoyed at first, however I started to think that this may be a blessing in disguise.
 
I remember my surgeon mentioned one of my options was to convert my RNY to DS, problem being that he does not offer this type of revision and I would have to go to another surgeon who is located a lot further away from home.

Has anyone gone through this conversion? how long did it take for insurance to approve? what were the pre op requirements?

I was a virgin DS so I did not go through the proceedure - but there are many people on the DS board that have gone through it.   I would suggest you visit www.dsfacts.com for a list of vetted DS surgeons.   There are very few that will do a real RNY to DS revision.   I believe Dr. K and Dr. Rabkin in CA will do it as well as Dr. G in NJ.    There is also Dr. Husted in AZ but I would not recommend him (not because of his surgical skills - just because he moves all the time and I believe there has to be something to be said for a surgeon who can not stay at a practice very long).   

I honestly believe that the DS will be the best choice as you can see the stomaphyx's long term results are not that great and from what I read the rose procedure is not much better.  

As far as insurance - It just depends on what your company requires - typically if they cover a virgin DS they will cover the revision to one.   

Please come over the DS board and post this question and you will get lots of people who love the DS (and had the RNY). 

Good Luck in your Journey

 
Dr. Husted is a great surgeon and before slamming him for moving perhaps you should call him up and ask him why he moves.  He had good reason.

To knock someone based on something you know nothing about is without excuse.

There are a bunch of us who had it done. I am one of them. I had RNY in 2003, and converted to the DS last December. It's been a blessing - the problems associated with my RNY are gone. I had severe vomiting from a permanent ring around my stoma, I had iron absorption issues, and I had a crappy quality of life. Now I'm fine and I'm very thankful that I had it done.

There are only a handful of very qualified revision surgeons. A couple are in California, one is in southern NJ (and there's talk he's stopping revisions now), and one in Montreal.

WHat part of the country do you live?