Revision

Hello again to all.  I haven't been around in a long time but it's time to make some more hard decision and I thought all of you might be able to help me. Well I had my RNY 5 years ago and I lost over 300 lbs but I stalled about a 100 lbs from goal.  I made some mistakes going through this surgery.  After my first year and a half where I did great it seemed like the further out from my surgery the more I started reverting to my old ways.  Little by little the old food demons returned.  Over a three year period I put on 40 lbs and now I am holding steady.  I am one of the people who has only dumped once from this surgery.  I can eat anything and not have any problems.  I wish I had for it would have made me stop the destructive behavior. I went back to the basics last month.  Water, protein, vitamins.   I  stopped drinking during meals and measuring my meals.  I know, I know you are not supposed to drink with your meals.  That was by far the hardest thing for me during and after the surgery.  So I've been doing that for a month, but I'm still not noticing a lower compacity for food.  I was hoping to shrink my pouch again to get some of the restriction I enjoyed.  Another thing I am doing again is exercise, but with my schedule(I work 70-80 a week) it is hard to set aside the time to do it so it is sporadic.  I still consider my surgery a success, but for my health I want to drop another 100 lbs and to be quite honest with myself I'm not sure I can do it alone.  I need the tool to work for me again.  Do any of you have any suggestions on how I can make my pouch smaller again.  I thought not drinking and lowering my calorie intake would do it, but I don't see it helping yet for I have only lost 2 lbs in a month of doing this.  And for anyone that is going to ask, I do watch the kinds of foods that I eat.  I don't go to fast food, my wife and I cook most of our meals and she is very health concious.  One of the main problems I have is what time I eat.  I don't get home until 9PM or so and that is when I eat dinner which isn't good to eat right before bed, but I am on the go until then. So my 2 questions to all of you is this.  Has anyone ever had a revision?  If so, who did you use and how successful were you from it. Any suggestions you might have on how to help me shrink my pouch and help my tool work for me again would be helpful.  I'm not looking for flaming here for there is no negative things anyone can say that I haven't said to myself. Thanks for listening and I appreciate any helpful advice you can give me.  For all the pre-ops and new post-ops I have one little tidbit of advice.  Even though you are loosing fast, don't take your eye off the prize.  Don't stray from the program for it is very hard to get back on it once you do. Calvin

Calvin, I would suggest contacting Dr. Oh in Federal Way.  He is an awesome surgeon, and if for some reason your surgery has failed, I would definitely recommend him for fixing it.  He did my RNY almost 3 years ago and I have had great success.  I HAVE gained back about 10 pounds, but honestly, I really needed to.  I was too thin.  I am holding steady now for the last 10 months or so.   To be honest, his bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired, but he is a fabulous surgeon. The other surgeon I might recommend would be Dr. Srikanth.  He is in Federal Way also.  He did my gallbladder removal and partial tummy tuck.  He has a wonderful bedside manner and truly cares about his patients and their success with WLS.  Hope this helps! Laura 230(preop)/110(current)/110(goal)

 

Thank you.  I have heard of Dr. Oh before and I will check with both of them regarding a revision.  Congrats on all your success.

 

Calvin

Calvin , Dr. Oh also did my surgery . He is an excellent surgeon , as is the other surgeon mentioned . They used to work together . Not as business partners , but each would be the others assisting surgeon , when they would do a surgery .  I know he does revisions , because my roomate in the hospital was a revision . That's a long drive from Spokane , though . Keep us posted . Kathy

Hi Calvin, Dr. Schrock did my first wls in '99 and had a much different approach then from what I hear he has now.  Do you know what size he made your pouch?  My VBG pouch was 3 oz. and from doing the cottage cheese test I know that before my revision to RNY it held 1 1/2 cups which is considered very normal and not overly stretched.  Dr. Rawlins made my current pouch 1 oz. and at full, healed capacity expects it to hold about a cup of food.  He has an excellent support program with a very talented nutritionist who is helping me keep to a sane plan for maintenance.  I don't expect to be able to be able to shrink the pouch in the future...from trying to do it in the past I know it didn't work.   You could consider a revision to the lap band...I've read here on OH about other RNY patients who go that route but personally, it wouldn't be an option for me.  Just my own personal thing.  If Dr. Schrock has a support group, I'd consider attending and if not maybe you'd like to join us at Dr. Rawlin's group.  We meet in his office at the Sacred Heart Dr's. building on the 7th floor each third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m.   Good luck with your battle, you sound very determined and will no doubt get back on track and make it to your goal. Molly

dr. rawlins and dr.bright with rockwood clinic

Hi Calvin, thanks for your honesty.  That's a hard thing to admit. I am having Revision surgery also with Dr. Oh on 7/17/07 - LapBand to Distal RNY. Good luck with your journey. Roberta

Hi Calvin, Have you considered a revision to a Duodenal Switch?  Over on the DS board we have several members who have had revisions from RNY to DS.  You would have to travel to get it but it is well worth the effort.  I traveled to Pacific Laperoscopy in San Francisco (www.paclap.com) for mine.  The Doctors Rabkin  (brothers) are two of the very best DS surgeons in the world.  DS is a great option and well worth looking into.  We would love to answer any questions you have about it over on the DS board.  You can also get a ton of information over at www.duodenalswitch.com.  I'm not saying this is definitely the right choice for you, just that it is an option worth considering.  Laura