Ruen-Y Failure

Darlene, I am a RNY patient from 2007. I was 350lbs at the beginning. After 10 months got down to 197lbs and became pregnant with our last child. Since having her in 2008, I had begun to gain weight and not stop myself from eating. I was miserable. I spoke with my gastric surgeon (best in the nation). He suggested the Stomaphyx. Trick is sometimes it takes 2-3 tries and then again it may not work. I did it once. It worked for 3 weeks then I was right back to eating again. ALOT. I saw him again and he did a revision on me. Just had it done 5/16/11. He did it lap and reshaped (made smaller) my pouch since it was grossly enlarged. he cleaned any scar tissues and placed a pericardial patch at the top of the pouch so I can not stretch it. (the patch is not elastic). I can tell you it is amazing. I can feel my pouch again working for me.

Please get another opinion. I can not believe your surgeon will not help you? What kids of Dr is that?

Wow! NeeNee, That sounds awesome! I did finally find a surgeon that will repair my surgery! The catch is that I have to move to Florida to have it done and have my insurance pay for it. They e-mailed me the paperwork and a perscription for an upper GI to bring with me. She said I could possibly get in to see the Dr. in the early part of July! I'm probably going to have to jump through the same hoops as before, but I finally found someone to at least repair what I have!
Thanks for the info about the stomaphyX. I watched how it was done and knew that wasn't what I wanted. Good luck on your journey!
Darlene 

Which surgeon are you seeing? I am glad you did find someone. Be funny if it was my surgeon. If so rest assured he is the best of the best

Hi NeeNee! I honestly didn't notice that you're from Florida! The Dr. I found is Dr. Robert Marema. He has a practice in St. Augustine and one in either Ocala or Orlando, I don't remember which one. He is a patient himself, plus he teaches other Doctor's how to do the surgeries. He has performed over 150 thousand WLS and was rated #1 in America. I can't argue with those kinds of stats. I can have the upper GI done here in GA, then I have to bring the disk from that, and all my records from up here. These also include my original records from Gainesville, and Tennessee when I lived up there. I was thinking, when I lived in TN I got a piece of steak caught on a staple and that Dr. took one out. I gained 30 pounds immediately. He thought it was funny and told me to go on a diet and I would lose it like everyone else that hadn't taken a "short cut". I did lose the weight and then some. I just wonder if him taking out that staple could have been the beginning of it all. Hmmm
Darlene

Well, not sure how the old RNYs worked. My stomach was detached and a pouch formed. Dr. Jawad is constantly tailoring his surgeries to that of what the patients say. So we have a big hand in how he does his next set. Like now he is putting the pericardial patch in from the beginning. In 2 weeks I lost 20lbs since my revision. he also cut my engrossed pouch down to size all done by lap. I hope this surgeon works out for you.

This is my Dr. http://www.obesityhelp.com/profiles/bariatric-surgeon/dr-muhammad-jawad/#profile_procedures

My RNY was done with the row of staples and the stomach left intact, and a small pouch formed. I'm not really sure what's gone wrong but this is the most hope I've had in years. According to his Patient Advocate or whomever it is that we talk to first said he does accept cases that have been done by other Dr.s that has failed. That's more than I've been told by anyone. I was so depressed thinking I would never find anyone to revise my surgery. I got lucky too as far as location. St. Augustine is near my family. They live in Lake City, so that was a big plus. It's also just across the State line, so a mile or 2 closer to my boyfriend. That's going to be the hardest part. He can't relocate, so I'll have to be running up and down the highway to visit him. He's older than me and physically couldn't hold up to making the trip very often. I also have a friend that lives very close to St. Augustine that's a LPN so she can check on me. I just hope this works out and he accepts me, and I hope I don't have to jump thru a bunch of hoops like the first time. Wish me luck. And, you are doing AWESOME!!! Keep up the good work. And if for some reason this one doesn't work out, I may seek out your Dr.

Sounds like you have it mapped out!!!! Hope this does work for you. You have the old type of RNY. I hope you have minimal scarring and all as well. Ask about the pericardial patch. It really does work!!!!!

What does the Pericardial patch do? From my medical terminology classes that sounds like a patch around the heart. Where is it and what is the function?

Hey Darlene, basically it is a ring at the top of my pouch and will stop it from stretching as I eat. I stretched my pouch out pretty bad after 4 years and a pregnancy. So he trimmed it and placed the patch in since it is not stretchable. I feel great and my eating has been lots better.

Cool! I had never heard of a pericardial patch before. It sounds like a fool proof way to keep from stretching the pouch back out...ever...Thanks for the tip, I'll put that on my list of requests!