Re: Gastric bypass surgery

[Guest guest]

Kim:

The surgeon told me that I would be between 112 and 120 when the weight is

all off. You were close to my weight pre-op and close to my goal weight. Did

you need to any plastic surgery? tummy tuck? etc? Just wondering out of

curiosity, I know everyone is different.

in Delaware

Lap RNY 3/10/04

261/176/120

[Guest guest]

You will find a lot of info by reading the posts here. I would

suggest looking through the older posts and the files as well.

There are risk factors to the surgery. There are risk factors to not

having the surgery as well though.

If you are just overweight and not morbidly obese I would not

suggest going any further with this. Most Insurance Companies and

Surgeons will not perform the surgery unless you are at least 100

LBS overweight or your BMI is above 40 I think it is? Someone

correct me on this one if I am wrong please?

If you are serious about the surgery I would talk to your Primary

Care Physician and see if she/he would recommend it for you. Also,

be sure the surgeon you choose is very qualified and has done many

of these surgeries and by that I mean 100's (upper 100's even) of

them and has an outstanding reputation.

There are many factors involved in this type of surgery and you do

not want to place yourself at more risk than you absolutely have to

so please resist the temptation to go to an inferior surgeon just so

there is less of a wait. So many people do that now because a lot of

surgeons are jumping on the bandwagon who really do not have good

quality programs in place. It is sad and scares me.

A good quality program will have all of the following attributes and

then some possibly:

-a mandatory psyche evaluation requirement

-a waiting period before surgery that is more than 4 months if not 6

months or more (that time will include time for all the pre testing,

evaluations etc. to be done along with support group meetings)

-a nutritionist either on staff there at the office or one who is

part of their program and you are required to visit more than once

- mandatory support group meetings before and after surgery

- be willing to work with you to help educate you about what comes

after

-a solid follow up program which will include checks on your vitamin

and mineral levels for years to come

That is all I can think of. Anyone else have more to add to that

list?

Hope this helps! My best to you!

Colleen

Lap-RNY 11/03/03

315/195/???

> I have always had a weight problem. I have tried diet after diet

to

> help me loose weight. None of them have worked for me. I also

found

> out that I have type 2 diabeties. I think my best alternative

would

> be to have the gastric bypass surgery. I have read alot about this

> and think this would be the best surgery for me. I would like to

talk

> with someone who has already had it done. I would like to know if

> there are any risk factors.