mrmbv

I had my MGB done 15 years ago by Dr Rutledge... Anyone here who had the same procedure done?

Oh God @@Soonerjoseph! If you find that report, I would be most appreciative because I would LOVE to read it! That is exactly what my new doctor told me and why he rather do the surgery sooner rather than later - bile reflux is most dangerous when it is silent! According to him, it becomes a time bomb. After seeing my endoscopy results he was truly surprised I have no symptoms, as the damage appears significant. Please, please, please if you do happen to find it, please send me the link. THANK YOU!

@@Soonerjoseph Thank you so much for this information! I will be discussing it with my Dr as well...

@@Band07 That is great! If your Dr has a way of preventing future bile reflux, you are one lucky gal! MGB works awesome and it is truly a life-changer. Knowing about the danger of bile reflux now, I couldn't in clear conscience recommend MGB to anyone, BUT if there is away to prevent it: WOW! then YES, GO FOR IT! Even as scared as I am for my upcoming surgery and/or the possibility of cancer, I don't regret anything about the last 15 years. Like I said before, MGB gave me freedom and a self-confidence that I would have never achieved on my own. There are plenty of haters out there who criticize this and any kind of WLS - but this is by no means the easy way out (as they claim). It was the right decision for me at the time. Dr. Rutledge had been doing his procedure for 2-3 years with incredible success when I got mine done, so he had no data for long-term complications. Now that you know more data and your Dr has a way to prevent what seems to be the only bad long-tern side effect, I say, GO FOR IT without hesitation! If you have any post-op questions or need any extra encouragement, please let me know, I would be happy to help! I will be praying for you on 4/23 Thank you for letting me know about the facebook page. I will certainly look for it!

@@weegie88 @@Band07 my experience with MGB has been, in general, amazing. Looking back, the only "hard" part was reprogramming your brain to eating. The first couple of months, say at a restaurant, I would order as if I was pre-op. It takes time to adjust/accept that is impossible to eat that way (not that it is a bad thing). I experienced dumping often, again part of the adjustment period. I'd say a year post-op I had mastered the new lifestyle and was able to eat anything, just with the portion control that my body imposed on me. It was a win-win! The only side effect I have experienced in all these years has been Iron deficiency. So, every couple of years I would go in to my hematologist and I would get a round of either iron shots or iron IV. Life was good. On the 10th anniversary of my MGB I gave birth to a healthy baby girl. My pregnancy was perfect, with absolutely no problems or complications. It was so perfect that I had to be induced at 42 weeks because both baby and myself were too happy with the pregnancy! 16 months after she was born, I got pregnant with my son. If I had been younger, I would/should have probably given my body a little more time to fully bounce back, because my iron deficiency kicked in soon after my first trimester. I had to be given 2 separate blood transfusions because iron shots or IV are not allowed in pregnancy. I was always overly tired due to my severe anemia. During my last trimester I was caught up in the middle of a "fight" between my hematologist & Ob-gyn on how much to wait to induce. My anemia was so out-of-control my hematologist feared my body would not resist birth. My ob-gyn was confident I would. I was absolutely nerve wrecking. I had ever prayed harder. Finally, it was my son who "made the decision" for all of us and changed position the day I was going to get induced. He ended up being born completely healthy and perfect (thank you God!) via c-section at 41 weeks. Unfortunately, I was so weak and anemic, I was not able to breast feed him full time and was able to do part-time for just 3 months. During the first 10 years post-op, I kept a stable, very comfortable weight and dress size. At first I maybe lost too much weight, only to gain a couple of pounds to my ideal weight soon after. It was great. Two pregnancies after 40 changed that. Specially with my son's pregnancy I started nervous eating more often because, in my head, I thought he might be hungry because I was so anemic (crazy, I know!). So I've gained weight. Too much of it in my book, although I'm not morbid... Yet. 15 years post-op I'm finding it extremely difficult to loose it and it's very frustrating. Unfortunately Dr Rutledge is MIA and I couldn't consult with him if this is "normal". So I consulted a new bariatric Dr, just to have an opinion. His concern was that, supposedly, Dr Rutledge's MGB is frowned upon by most of his peers because some studies have shown patients 15-20 years post-op developing gastric cancer due to bile build up from the liver (scary, huh?). He says that is why there are so few Drs performing Dr Rutledge's, once considered revolutionary, MGB. So he ordered a endoscopy. My results did indeed show huge bile damage, eventhou I do not feel any heartburn or discomfort! The biopsies performed reflect numbers that are not completely healthy either (although not cancer at this point). So basically he said, it is not a matter of "if" I get cancer in the area, it is a matter of "when" in the next 1-5 years! So, now I'm getting surgery done to eliminate Dr. Rutledge's MGB and stop the bile from the liver in the area and prevent cancer from developing and invading the area. I will be forever thankful to Dr Rutledge for the joy and freedom his surgery gave me. I would give anything to consult my new situation with him. But now, 15 years post-op and a mom to 2 beautiful young kids, I'm scared. That's why I asked in this forum if there are any other veteran MGB patients. I need to find out more info on this 15-20 post-op development.

I'm scheduled for surgery @ Fair Oaks in May. I would like to attend a support group meeting pre-op, do they still have them? Is it worth going pre-op? Any comments about Fair Oaks hospital?

Rabrijumo: who is your dr? When did you have surgery? How was the staff there? I'm scheduled @ Fair Oaks in May and would love to hear about your experience there!