I am looking for a surgeon - Seattle area

I posted over on the main board, and did get some replies.  I had the lapband in 2001 out of country.  I did okay with it for awhile, and went from around 275 down to around 200,  but about 2 years in, the Acid reflux hit me with a vengence and I basically have not been able to tolerate any fill since then.  I regained everything I lost, and then some, I have stayed in the same general ballpark of weight for awhile so maybe it could have been worse.  Emotionally though, going through the surgery and dealing with many side effects, while having lukewarm success at best has done a number on my confidence.  I am sorry if I sound like a bad attitude - but I know WLS is a tool and not a miracle cure, I know that lots of other people had good results, and I didn't.  I don't really want to go back to feeling bad about myself so I am actually not really interested in discussing all the people that the band worked great for them (more power to them, I just did not have that experience). 

Anyway, as I am sure many of you can relate, I feel scared about doing RNY - my biggest fear being that I will "fail".  My sleep apnea doc is the best - one thought he planted in my mind was this... even if I do regain the weight in 5 or 10 years, that is 5-10 years of being thinner, ablility to do the activities I want and reduction in certain health risks too.  Dang it, he's right... can't worry about the "what if I fail again" and rather focus on the best chance of success.

My biggest health problem is arthritis which is apparently both genetic and made much worse by weighing nearly 300#.  I have a lot of pain and it is harder and harder to stay active - although I do try since I love the outdoors, horses and all that.

So, I am in the Seattle area and trying to figure out how to sort out getting a great surgeon and the support I need.  I feel that one of the many reasons I didn't do well with the band is that although I had online support, I didn't have much real-life support.  I have tried counseling for emotional eating and it hasn't really helped, but I have to believe that having WLS may create a situation where my old friend and solace - food - won't do the job any more and I will need to find a way to deal with what ever comes of that.

Seattle doesn't have any hospitals that are 5 star Healthgrades for bariatric - at least as far as I can tell. I am on the Eastside, and Overlake and Evergree are both 1 star hospitals which surprised me!  They are both Center of Excellence hospitals, so I don't really understand how the healthgrades are determines.

 I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of how to really evaluate a good doc for a revision.  I met with Dr Nguyen at Overlake and I have to say I found him to be amazingly kind, understanding and sympathetic (how can such a thin person seem to understand the issues so well?).  I am not even sure why I am second guessing my choice, maybe it is my own fear of committing to this??  There is a part of me that says - stop goofing around and just do this!

My DH is not particularly supportive of doing a revision.   As in, he doesn't want to talk about it, I can't help but feel at times that I have let us both down, you know?   He was supportive and excited about me doing the band back in '01.  I guess he is probably skeptical of how well I will do this time.  I have a lot more health problems then I did 10 years ago - I was very motivated then too, but now, it seems the stakes are higher.  My college age son has agreed to help me out after the surgery if I need it - I wonder if I can get scheduled before he heads over the mountains to college?

I will say that I am feeling so thrilled with the idea of actually becoming at least somewhere near normal weight.  I don't need to be thin, I just want to stop hurting so much and to be able to do so many of the things I love that are getting so hard for me.  

Thanks for listening to me vent, and any advice about how to confirm my surgeon choice would be much appreciated.

 Don't spend any time kicking yourself over the band. I fails more people than it helps.

Well, if you have arthritis (or ANYthing that requires taking an NSAID for pain again during your entire life) I'd look at the DS or sleeve. If you failed with the band, then another restriction only procedure like the sleeve may not be good. The DS has the best stats on pretty much everything, but keeping the lost weight off is a biggy. 

I would go see Dr Srikanth. He has happy customers on the DS board.

I would recommend Dr. Joseph Chebli, his practice is Northwest Obesity Surgery.  I just had my sleeve done by him on Monday at Evergreen (you can also opt for Northwest Hospital).

I don't know what his revision policy is as this was my first WLS, but I would absolutely recommend an initial consult if nothing else.  You can find 112 reviews for him here on OH (all posiitive, yes, I read them all) and he's also won Seattle Magazine's Top Docs award for the past 3 years in a row.  As the only voters are other physicians--they choose who they'd go to themselves or would send a loved one to--knowing that gave me a huge vote of confidence when I was walking into this whole thing.  I also spoke to a few nurses on here who have worked with him and said he's an outstanding patient advocate.

He's very straight forward and meticulous offers a lot of great information and resources in this binder he gives you at the initial consult.  There are support groups at both Evergreen and Northwest, so that will absolutely be there for you post-op.

Good luck with whomever you choose, but definitely meet with Dr. Chebli before you make up your mind.

I had my crap band removed and a proximal rny done by Dr. Srikanth. He works out of St. Francis if Federal way. All the nurses say he is the best. You won't be sorry.
Jean