Bad news from consult

[Guest guest]

I am cross posting this on the duodenalswitch and DS_Elariny

Hi everyone, It is a little after 10:00 PM. I just returned home from my

2:00 appointment for my presurgical consult. I saw Dr. Elariny, with whom I

was very impressed. It took us 2.5 hours down and 2.5 back. It didn't help

that we got lost in DC using the mapquest directions. The office had changed

our appointment from 4 PM to 2 PM, thank goodness, or we would still be out

on the road. We had to wait about 1/2 hour for people who were scheduled to

be at the group consult with us. Then we watched an 1.5 hour video that

needs some work. It was their first attempt at video taping the

presentation. We returned to the office, where the doc answered questions

and then took us back to the opitory for the exam.

Dr. E. was a little dismayed that I had my gallbladder out and a liver

resection, he was concerned about scar tissue hampering the procedure, and

couldn't guarantee the px. being done laporascopically. I happened to

mention that I had pancreatitis at the same time and he said that may make it

impossible for me to have the DS at all. Apparently the duodenum rests on

the pancreas, and after having an infection, scar tissue seals the duodenum

on the pancreas, making dissection probably impossible in order to do the

duodenal switch. He said he wouldn't know for sure until he was actually in

there checking things out. He said if he couldn't do the DS he could convert

to the Scopinaro, which involves a pyloroplasty, which means I would lose the

function of the pylorus. That is the main reason I wanted the DS, so I would

have a normal functioning stomach. I am very depressed about this.

That isn't even all of it. My insurance has a specific exclusion for the DS.

It will cover the gastrectomy with bypass, but not the DS part of procedure.

That means I would " only " have to pay the surgeon around $5000. He said the

hospital doesn't charge that much for the staples and what not for their

share, " only " about $1500-2000. Dr. E. said he would set up a payment plan

that would be very reasonable, and the hospital would likely do the same. I

think I could live with this. The really bad part, though is, if he opens me

up and finds out I have to have the Scopinaro, the insurance doesn't cover

any of it.

I am going to research this Scopinaro px., but I do not feel comfortable with

it. I wanted the quality of life one gets with the DS. I guess my other

option at this point would be the sleeve gastrectomy, but I eat a lot of ice

cream, and that would defeat the surgery. With the sleeve, Dr. E. said the

weight loss window is about 6 months for the majority of the loss compared to

18-24 months with the DS.

I am going to try to find the positive side to this situation. If any one

has any words of wisdom for me I could really use them right now.

Pam in PA