Well....It's active

Now that the board is active, what shall we talk about? How about, how is your weight loss going and what struggles are you dealing with on a daily basis? Amy

Hi, I am excited about the new board!! Thanks!!! Melinda Lap RNY 10/17/03

Let's see... it's been 21 months since the first WLS (which failed due to a SLD) and 7 months since the second WLS to fix the first one. Can I combine the two, divide in half and consider myself 14 months post op? DeeDee

Sure DeeDee! I'm just curious, the first surgery, did they not transect your stomach? Amy

No, the surgeon didn't transect the first time. It was the ONE question I didn't know to ask. He had been doing WLS for 20+ years as his father before him had. I thought the years of experience and the fact he had only lost one patient in those years was a great testimony. I had NO idea that there was a difference in the old-fashion "stomach stapling" where they didn't transect versus the new way of transecting. (There's a diagram of my surgery at the bottom of my profile.) He called it RNY because he actually did re-route my intestines; otherwise it was more like the old VBG including the silastic ring. My new surgeon told me that my pouch was also about 3 times larger than the new "standard." I am doing pretty well with the revision but it is a much slower process; I think you only get one initial honeymoon period. Once my staples started coming "unzipped" then I had food going through two openings in my stomach and down two intestinal tracks. Needless to say I was doomed at that point to being ravenous with the floodgates open to process the food twice as quickly. What a mess! However, I will admit that I haven't had any complications other than coming unzipped and having to go through a year process to get fixed so you won't hear any grumbling or complaining from me. It's been annoying but I have my health and the weight is coming off even if it is slow so I'm grateful. I'm only 3 pounds away from being back where I had gotten down to when I came unzipped... YAY! =) DeeDee

DeeDee, It's still surprising to me that surgeon's still do just the stapling and the bypass and call it the RNY. One of the surgeon's I went to in Atlanta did it that way. I was like no way... I think more and more are getting away from it at least now. Amy

I'm not transected and I live daily (really literally DAILY) with the fear I'll pop my staple line. I advise everyone to RUN to a doc who does a full transection. It's not worth the fear. Sigh....

Wow, I had not idea you were not transected either. Interesting. Amy

Same here RUTH! Scares the ever luvin' bageezus out of me too!!!!!! Aaaargh. The worse part? I have NO ONE to blame, er, blame is the wrong word here. I have no one to point fingers at but MYSELF if I do end up with a SLD. I KNEW that my surgeon refused to transect, even knew to ask the question, thanks to my "mentor" from this site who also used my surgeon. Well - he was such a FABOO'lus doc, that I decided to roll the dice and hope. My biggest fear/concern was getting off the table ALIVE and I knew this man could accomplish that. Of course, NOW, almost 3 years later, the constant concern and fear is always in the back of my mind. ADD to that, the fact that my MENTOR (who also used my doc) has since had a REVISION due to Staple Line Disruption. Yep - If I end up with ulcers, it'll be THIS constant fear and thought process that brought it on. Hugs to all - Lei

Wow, I had no idea that Weber didn't transect either....geez. So now I'm dying to know who your mentor was lol...and how long postop did they end up with a revision??? No ulcers...not allowed (but I hear you!).