hi yes

I have done a great amount of research and am fortunate in that I live so close to Dr. Greenbaum of Virtua who is one of the few in the country that does revisions. I have done a lot of research for my last surgery and for this one. I am very aware of the risks and also excited to have this done. thanks for the feedback.

Hi. I haven't been on this site since my surgery almost 10 years ago...It was so helpful to me before and hoping for it to be now. I had a very successful RNY in 2010. I lost over 100 lbs and kept it off for 6. I was really enjoying my life, exercising, eating well, etc. Then of course, life happened....I had a few tragedies, family deaths, and overall stopped taking care of myself the RIGHT way and turned back to food....After a few years of getting my head back on straight I realized I am back where I started and have been looking into revision. I found a great doc in South Jersey in Dr. Greenbaum who will do a revision to a DS. Of course after jumping through all the hoops insurance won't pay for it. I was a self pay before and I plan on doing a self pay again. I have an appointment this week.

Question for any of you who went through Virtua with either Dr Greenbaum or anyone else. Did you have to do the 3 month nutritionist visits if you are self pay? I know I will have to meet with the nutritionist and do all the testing, just wasn't sure if I had to do the 3 months or not. anyone have any insight? Of if not with Virtua any other self pay and what you had to wait for? Did you have to wait the 3 months?

thanks for the help

Michele

Sometimes we need "to fail" so we can realize how much we really want and not do things that made us regain the lost pounds.

However, often the weight loss after revision is much slower than after the first surgery. And often the revision is much more dangerous that the original surgery.

People often ask "what is wrong with your tool now?" if the original surgery still provides restriction when proper diet is followed, what we don't want to hear is :

• "your tool is still working, why can't you go back and follow the proper eating(dense proteins, good fats, + non starchy veggies) to lose what you regained?

And they would be right, unfortunately. The additional surgery can cause real problems and complications.

2 times so far I regained getting to app 25-30 lbs above my personal goal. Both times - I regrouped, realized what my problem was (alcohol and carbs, so tasty) and changed the what and the when and how much I was eating. Got a little bit more active (10,000 steps per day instead of 6-7,000) and lost the regain.

Even now, with a mature pouch, I can't eat enough of protein/fat/veggies to gain.

I gave up alcohol completely, because my body really does not like it. (and I became allergic to a red wine). I like the taste or wine or good beer, but a day after having just 2 drinks, I did not feel very good. Plus drinking alcohol allow my pouch to get less sensitive to volume,so I not got the calories from alcohol, but I also could eat more..

Check things out, but think hard if you really want to risk your life. And your health. We can eat around any WLS. I dump on too much sugar, but over the years I learned how to work around that. Or RH (reactive hypoglycemia). Too much sugar is still a deterrent, because dumping can be really horrible. Not eating sweets or starchy carbs takes away the hunger and craving for that type of food.

It is your life and your health, chose wisely.

I'm waiting to be scheduled for a reversal for malabsorption. Have been on TPN since October 2018. Would like to talk to someone who has had it done. Wondering about how it was done and recovery and did it reverse your malabsorption.

Good point. And beside shame, a lot of insurance companies in USA have "one WLS per lifetime", regardless if they were the ones paying for the first surgery, or other insurance or even the first WLS was cash paid by the patient.