Guest guest Posted June 26, 2001 Report Share Posted June 26, 2001 Judy, I know what you mean about playing russian roulette with your life. I definitely experienced the same feelings before surgery, However, being obese is another way of gambling your life away, and in the end you will most likely crap out. I decided that in my case, the risk of surgery was less than the risk of continuing to gain more weight. I know where you're coming from and how you feel. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Good luck with your research. Kim Dr. Anthone DGB/DS-open 4/18/01 -64lbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 26, 2001 Report Share Posted June 26, 2001 > I still cannot shake the feeling that it is > almost like playing russian roulette. Who will > have complications, botched surgery and death. I think that comparing surgery to Russian Roulette is a pretty broad overstatement, (and I should know, as I was named the " King of Purple Prose " in school). IN MY OPINION, " complications, botched surgery and death " do not " just happen " in a vacuum. Sure, to some extent, complications and death can result from factors beyond anyone's control, such as the weight and/or health of the patient prior to surgery, the natural strength (or lack thereof) of the patient's immune system, and a lot of other things. But, to a large extent, I THINK that you can control your chance of " complications, botched surgery and death, " (particularly " botched surgery), by choosing your surgeon very carefully. > I now assume people just don't want to hear > about the bad. As someone reasearching this, > I want to hear everything, good and most > importantly bad. OPINION ALERT -- OPINION ALERT! I think it's true that some people just don't want to hear the bad, but I think that's a fairly small proportion of folks. What is more common is for people to defend their own surgeon blindly. Some do this out of a sense of loyalty/debt, i.e., he saved my life, so he must be good. Others seem to defend their surgeons out of a fear of embarassment, i.e., if something bad is true about my surgeon, then I'll be publicly embarassed for having chosen him/her. END OPINION ALERT > I am still on the fence about wls. I don't > want to be the statisic that has had problems > or worse, death. I fully understand. I sat on the fence about WLS for about ten years. During those ten years I went from about 260 pounds to 386 on the day of my surgical consultation. Moral: Don't sit on the fence too long, or you might get some really bad splinters when it collapses under your weight. > On the other hand, I am type 2 diabetic and I know > that will lead to a shortened life span in time. Yep. Sure will. On the other hand, the DS will almost assuredly CURE your diabetes. From Dr. Ren's letter: > I have performed 38 lap BPD/DS, one was converted > to open. Noone died on the table. During my fellowship, > one died 6 months after surgery from sepsis from a > leak, one died 10 days later from respiratory problems. So, out of 38 procedures, we have 2 dead (plus Deb). That's a death rate of 5.26%. IN MY OPINION, that is not a very promising start. Compare that to Dr. Hess, who had a total of six deaths among his first 440 patients, for a death rate of 1.36%. In other words, Dr. Ren's death rate is more than 3.86 times as high as Dr. Hess' death rate. And Dr. Hess CREATED the BPD/DS operation, so his first 440 patients were the first 440 BPD/DS's ever performed! But Dr. Hess only performs open, so perhaps it would be more proper to compare Dr. Ren's experience to that of Dr. Rabkin? Well, Dr. Rabkin reports that he had ZERO deaths among his first 185 LAP patients. So, am I saying that Dr. Ren is a bad surgeon? No, just inexperienced compared to Dr. Hess and Dr. Rabkin, (as well as many other DS surgeons). Dr. Hess, for example, finished his surgical residency sometime around 1965, and did not begin performing the DS until about 1990. In the meantime, he picked up 25 YEARS of surgical experience. Dr. Rabkin finished his surgical residency about 1977, but did not begin performing the Lap DS until about 1999. Prior to that, he had 20 years experience performing bariatric surgery, 8 years experience performing the DS by open, and 10 years experience in other laparoscopic surgeries. So, is the DS really like Russian Roulette? One day I was talking to my surgeon, Dr. Anthone, and I asked him how a surgeon learned to use his fingers with such dexterity. (Incidentally, Dr. Anthone finished his post-residency surgical fellowship in 1991, started performing the DS in 1997, and has had a total of three patient deaths, with none in the past four years.) Dr. Anthone replied that just about any reasonably intelligent person could be taught surgical technique -- cutting, suturing, tying knots one-handed, etc. But what makes a good surgeon is the ability to make good decisions under tough circumstances. Developing this ability, he explained, takes much longer than learning surgical technique. I think that all pre-ops can take a lesson from what Dr. Anthone told me. The lesson is, be sure to take the time and effort to learn enough about the DS to make a good decision on which doctor (among those that are available to you financially, etc.) is the best surgeon. Good luck, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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