Question:
I need educating! What are

sounds terrible. I am in-line to have an open RNY and am starting to have doubts. My surgeon is in Indiana, and I can't fathom having "balooning", etc., various times in my home town, and dealing with other complications that just sound awful! Please, someone, tell me this is the exception instead of the rule! Also, (this is probably really a dumb questions), let's say, you have an open RNY, lose all the weight you need, is it possible to have the surgery reversed and you are "normal" again - keeping your weight off in a normal way with your smaller stomach? I think I'm more confused than ever. Is an open RNY always a distital or is it proximal? Some of you guys are to well informed, you must know the answer! Thanks    — Sandy C. (posted on September 22, 1999)

September 22, 1999
Dont Panic! There, to my knowledge are far less complications to the surgery than you have been led to believe. I had the proximal Roux en Y done in March of this year, and have lost 85 lbs to date. Exactly 6 months out. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Twice if I had to. The difference between Distal and Proximal, as I'm sure you will hear ten times over is that in a Distal, where the weight to be lost is more, they bypass more of your intestines so that you have even less caloric absorption from the food that you do eat. The Proximal, which I had, bypasses around 5 to 7 feet of your intestines, where the caloric absorption is lessened, but not as severly as the Distal. I am just shy my goal weight of 150 lbs. I need to lose about 32 more. Good luck to you!
   — Lori D.

September 22, 1999
Complications are the exception, not the rule. Lots of us have had some little nagging thing. Smoe have had not one single problem. Except having to buy new clothes for a year! As many inches of intestine as you have (somewhere between 200-220), that's how many different variations of RNY you'll find. I am distal, and pretty radical at that. Higher risk, entirely dependent upon supplements, but best weight loss. Proximals geneally have loor risk for surgery, post-op and long term. Suppleents help their wt loss, but they're not dependent on them as a daily thing. The weight loss isn't going to be as drastic as distal. HOWEVER, those are generalities. Distals can remain heavy, proximals can get all the way down.
   — vitalady

September 22, 1999
I am 5 weeks postop and have not had any problems so far. My surgeon does not use the silica ring that some surgeons do, and have heard this could be the problem. Chewing your food well is also something that needs to happen. If it is a concerns of yours I would put it on your list to talk to your surgeon about. Ask whether he/she uses the ring or not. Hope this helps.
   — bperrin

September 23, 1999
Hi. My name is Kathy. I had gastric bypass surgery in Oct. 1998. I weighed 305 pounds at the time. Today I weigh 175. I was in the hospital for 4 days. Everything went very well. I live 39 miles from Fort Collins, Colorado where I had the surgery done. I didn't have any family or friends that could stay with me after surgery because they all had to work, including my husband. So, for the 2 weeks I was off work I was basically alone. Everything went pretty well. I went back to work after the 2 weeks and I've been working ever since. I have not had any complications from my surgery. The only problems have been when I don't eat slowly, and when I don't chew my food properly, and at those times I have to go throw up and then I can finish my meal. I have never had "ballooning", I have never had the dumping feeling. I can eat what ever I want and not get sick. As long as I eat slowly and chew everything real well I can eat anything I want. I don't know what you mean by "back to normal" this is the first time in my life I feel normal. I can eat anything and still lose weight. I do not weigh my food, count calories, or worry a great deal about fat grams. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want and I lose weight. This is the first time in my life that I do not feel like I am on a diet and I still lose weight. I know you are nervous and scared about the surgery but of all the people I have talked to who have had this surgery every one says they would do it again. I feel the same way. This surgery has changed my life forever for the better. For the first time in my life I am "normal". Good Luck!
   — Kathy K.

September 23, 1999
It is the exception rather than the rule. I've done 35 patients with RNY and have never had to dilate any of them. The surgery is permanent. Reversal would be difficult and dangerous and if successful would lead to regain of the lost weight, so we don't do it !
   — Bruce B.