visit to Dr. Oh...

[Guest guest]

WARNING: Kinda long & cross posting to 3 boards

Well, I was scoped & saw Dr. Oh on Friday. The results: my surgery

worked fine - " I got what I paid for " . Meaning, I have lost the

expected/predicted amount of weight that I should for the surgery I

had. When I saw Dr. Oh, I weighed in at 206. On the day of my

surgery I weighed 289. I am about 9 pounds heavier than when I last

weighed myself at home. I usually gain when I travel no matter how

careful I am & I wasn't as careful. I was more focused on Treasure

than what I was putting in my mouth. He said I have lost what I was

suppose to for being a proximal. My pouch is about 35 cc (he said

the procedure/scope sucked out some of the air so it is more like 40

cc). He likes the pouch to be 15cc. If I want to lose the rest of

my weight, I need to have a revision to make my pouch smaller (which

he said he can do) & go distal. He said I don't have to make the

pouch smaller, I would eventually get the weight off but making the

pouch smaller would give me the best chances of getting the desired

results. When I told him my doc said I would get down to 131 lbs,

Dr. Oh asked me (very matter-of-factly) did my surgeon not have

enough experience to know this wasn't true or did he just lie to me.

BTW - no staple line disruption & no mechanical problems, per se. It

is just I had the " wrong " surgery.

I am feeling kinda strange. I was sure it was a SLD. He made it

clear that it was not a fault of mine. Not one of overeating, not

exercising, etc. The surgery I had gave me the expected results. I

think what I am frustrated over is that I did not know that going

in. I researched like mad & thought I had all my bases covered. If

I had known the real differences between proximal & distal, I would

have opted for distal. Of course that thought is hindsight. Maybe I

would not have. Will never know at this point. My surgeon had not

been doing these surgeries for that long & maybe he THOUGHT I would

get the desired weight loss. When my weight stopped, he suggested

I " diet " . Again, more proof he doesn't understand the malabsorption

thingy. I would like to think that he did not intentionally lie me.

But that is just me - I try to think the best of people.

I knew I would need another surgery to get my hernia repaired, so it

is not like I was not going to have to go under the knife again, but

I think I am angry that I didn't go in originally with all the

information needed to make the right decision for me. Although I

researched thoroughly presurgery, I did not even understand the terms

proximal & distal til after the surgery.

When I told Treasure about it (her doc bypasses even less than mine -

her bypass is 45 cm & mine is 75 cm) she just said that after she has

kids, she'll just go to Washington, see doc Oh & have a revision. I

told her that may not happen to her & she said that she would deal

with it if it does. I thought that was pretty admirable with the

problems she had with this surgery. However, Mom may not be able to

handle another surgery with Treasure - LOL.

I also think that is part of my weird emotions. I just went through

this trauma with Treasure & I am always very calm during a crisis but

get nuts when it is over. I think my strange emotions is the result

of Treasure's surgery complications, the travel, coming home to a

zillion messages from work (I ended up being gone a week longer & my

clients are somewhat frantic), unpaid bills, & then finding my

surgery worked fine it was just the wrong one.

I am not beating myself up bcuz I know it is not my fault. I am just

disappointed. I wish I had checked on this a couple of years ago.

Oh, well. Now it is a matter of my insurance approving the

revision. If they don't, I am sure they will approve the hernia

repair & I may have to find a way to pay for the revision out of

pocket.

Oh, Dr. Oh recommends I have the pouch made smaller & so being, I

should not have the tummy tuck at the same time. He explained about

leaks, etc. I got it, just can't explain it. He said in a year he

can make me a very sexy stomach.

Okay, that's my report. Thank you to everyone for your prayers &

well wishes. Since doc Oh is booking surgeries for the middle of

October at this time & Treasure's wedding is Oct. 18, & the graduate

school class that I teach ends Dec. 6, I may be looking at surgery

the middle of Dec. If they can book me around Thanksgiving, I may be

able to end my class early & have it then. We'll see.

Luv to all,

Lorraine