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Hi Marci,

Welcome to the group. I hope that you will take the time to look at both options. There is no 'best' surgery for everyone, but there will be a best fit for you. When I was looking into the various options, I narrowed mine down to RNY and Lap. Being my somewhat analytical self, I created a table listing the pros and cons of each and weighting them to see what seemed best for me. RNY won out, but not because it is an overall better solution, but because it was a better fit for my personal cir****tances.

A friend of mine that just had DS a couple of months ago seriously considered RNY, but she has some degenerative disc disease, coupled with a signficant family history of osteo-arthritis. She knew that she could be exceptionally compliant with the great number of supplements that DS required and she also knew that she was likely to need NSAIDS to help control her arthritis pain; DS allows her to take NSAIDS and RNY doesn't. There were other factors that swayed her towards DS, but that was the biggest.

I don't know if doing something like that might hel*****t.

I do know that you have waited a long time, but in the interest of making the best decision for yourself in the short and long-term, I hope that you consider both and how they fit your overall health and lifestyle profile and then make the best decision for you.``

As I was being welcomed into one of the forums, someone posted that I should research another form of WLS - the DS.  I had never heard of it so that's just what I did.  At first I was feeling as if I had already done all the research that I needed to do and had my mind made up.  But on further processing in my steel trap of a mind, I decided that I am going to have someone cutting on my body that I should indeed ensure that I am making the best possible decision - even if it does mean more research!

So I went on over the DS forum and read some things...enough to get me interested in looking further.  So I called my insurance company to make sure that this form of WLS is indeed covered and lo and behold it is - with the same criteria as RNY and lap band - woot woot!  So then I decided to see if there was a surgeon near by, well no such luck.  There does not appear to be a surgeon in all of Iowa that performs this surgery.  So my two closest options are Chicago or Omaha.  I am leaning towards Omaha after looking at Dr. Gary Anthone's website and page on here.  I am very impressed with what I see about him.  So I call my insurance company yet again and found out that to my luck he is IN network - triple woot woot!  So what do I do?  I call them to get some info...and am told that their first step is to check with my insurance to make sure that they and the procedure are covered.  Ok now I know that getting paid is important, but does it need to be the first bloody concern of absolutely everyone related to WLS?  Jesus!  So ok, I guess I can deal with that since I already know that my insurance appears to cover both.  Next step is of course the dreaded seminar...but I was told that b/c I live so far away that I can come in and watch the seminar on DVD and then immediately meet with the surgeon right after.  Cool..  My next question of course was how long is this all going to take to get me a surgery date?  She says that is usually takes about 4 months.  Well hell, don't really wanna wait another four months.  So I tell her that I am basically on track for RNY in Waterloo, and that really all I am waiting for is official insurance approval before I get a surgery date.  She asked if I had the psych eval, nutritionist appointment, 6 month supervised diet, sleep study, etc.  And I told her that yep I've had all of that done, so she said that considerably moves up my time.  Wonderful!  So she is sending me info in the mail to get that initial insurance coverage question answered and we go from there.

So here I am trying to make a decision...RNY or DS?  My initial instinct is to for RNY b/c I can get that done faster and feel like I have been waiting for so long b/c after I finally made the decision to have WLS and attend the seminar (after fretting for about 18 months) I found that I had to do the supervised diet.  Well I did that and am in the home stretch.  But on the other hand my rational and adult brain kicked in and told me that I needed to calm down and look at both options and pick which one I think will work best for me.  So that's what I am trying to do!  But calmness and patience have never, ever, ever been a virtue that I have in my bag of tricks!

So anyone who has any input either way - RNY or DS - I would love to hear it!! 

You are in my prayers.  Please take care of yourself and let us know from time to time how things are going with you.

I deserve credit for keeping my blood sugar down within normal limits.
I deserve credit for staying away from sugar and soft drinks.
I deserve credit for keeping my crabs low...

lets see this week i'm 3 months post op and i finally got out and walked a mile on monday, i've gottn my protein all in, which is hard for me, i get busy and i forget about me, that has always been one of my problems, i need to re-schedue  my schedule to fit it everything that i need to do for me first,  i'm doing better on remembering my vitamins, i wish there were vitamins that i could just swallow any suggestions? my nut said i could take capsules now, she gave me a couple samples of calium capsules. anyone one take capsules at this stage??????????

thanks
barb