Mattymatt

Yep! This is pretty much dead on. The purpose of RNY is so that you never go back to your old ways of living. I never want to live to eat again. The misery of diabetes cannot be over-emphasized! I needed to experience this first hand to get my ass in gear.

Thanks for answering my question. Now I feel as if I've some hope for developing a positive body image post-surgery.

Don't rule out gastric bypass as it is still considered the gold standard for weight loss surgery. You know that you could do the gastric bypass and only take one vitamin 4x per day. The Vitamin is called OptiSource and it comes in an orange flavor that's pretty good. If you're going to undergo surgery again, this might be the best route for you. There aren't really any negative long term effects. The stories you read about need to be taken with a grain of sand. Less than 1% of people that undergo gastric bypass have long term problems. You read about those more than the successes so you don't get an adequate perspective. I am going the gastric bypass route because it is the *gold* standard and I am willing to make the changes necessary so that I am never obese again.

You look great! May I ask about your age? I am 40 and hoping to look as young as you.

Feeling comfortable with your surgeon is extremely important and cannot be emphasized enough. I ended up changing surgeons when I was pretty far along in the process because his staff was obnoxious and I felt that he talked at me, rather than to and with me. The second surgeon is wonderful and her staff are fantastic. The program at Christiana Care in Delaware is comprehensive and fantastic. They do a really thorough and complete workup .... they want you to have the safest and best chances for success.

You should be very proud of your results. You look fantastic and I am sure that you probably feel even better!

I understand it's hard but you can do it! 2 weeks will absolutely fly by, and before you know it, you'll be there.

Doctors can be such jack asses. Sorry you had to hear that. I have my medical clearance appointment on the 29th and I am hoping they don't pull some crap like that on me.

Speaking of fad diets ... everyone wants me to try the keto diet. Fad diets don't work - they come and go. The real success is actually with people that have used surgery as a tool. The keto diet ain't real good for you either - it's terribly high in fat. The studies point to about a 65% success rate. That's a little bit more than 1/2 people keeping weight off long term. I am done with the fad and the yo-yo.

In my experience, you aren't going to win over the naysayers and they have no bearing on your decision. You're doing this for you. The naysayers may come around when they see how healthy you've become or they may get jealous of your success. My father isn't supportive and I really don't give a damn one way or another. It's your health, your life, and your matter - no one else's. You are doing this for your quality of life.

The substance is at least partly the issue because the substance is doing something to alter your brain's chemistry. Sugar is shown to be almost as addictive as heroin. There is a reason that heroin is sometimes cut down with table sugar.

It may help to try and build up the muscle in the gluteals area. Back in 2013-2014, when I lost a little over a 100 pounds in about 8 months time through traditional diet and exercise, I had the same issue so I worked those muscles and it helped quite a bit.

You don't have to have a goal weight. I picked one simply by BMI to satisfy the surgery gods but in all honesty, I don't think it will be clinically possible for me to be 190 and 6'4". It's more realistically for me to be simply under 220. I am trying a new approach this time around. Previously, when losing weight I had really lofty goals (quite possibly unrealistic) so this time, all I want to do is simply get healthy. In the past I set really hard goals and the moment that I had a serious set back, everything unraveled. I know that I have a medical tendency toward severe depression so this time I am not setting myself up for failure. My goal is to live healthy in mind, body, and spirit - My only goal is ending the cycle of sickness.

CHF is really frightening. I remember my grandmother dealing with the end stages of both COPD and CHF. I was never close to her but her fear and turmoil was written all over her face. My grandmother was not overweight but she smoked all of her life - Marlboros. With significant weight loss, it may be possible to reverse the CHF. Either way, I am wishing you the best. I truly believe you've made a good decision.

Strange dreams are just another permanent part of my life. These happened after I had a serious accident while riding my bicycle and I was definitely concussed. I wonder though if weight loss will have any effect on mental state...

That's very insightful! Food is also a strong addiction. One of the advantages to this surgery is that it kind of forces you to break that addiction. This will make you so much better at your job because you will be able to identify with your clients on a whole new level. In some ways, your newly developed insight will help you to have long success.

I have heard that people's taste buds change quite dramatically as a result of surgery. Some folks have told me that foods that they used to crave look nauseating now. One guy at a support group that I attended no longer eats red meat because the taste is enough to make him gag and he was a meat and potatoes guy.

I would say that you aren't too old. Go through with it and make your life better.

Excellent!!! 28 pounds is a drop in the bucket. You got this.

It sounds like a good idea to basically take all the time that you need. My new job requires a fair amount of walking and I don't have much trouble with that but I think I'll take what time I need. No sense in rushing only to cause a problem.

I am getting very close to my pre-op diet and I'm kind of nervous. Of course, I am a lot heavier than the thread asks. I am just hoping that this surgery gives me some quality of life back where I have none whatsoever right now. It's refreshing to read about people whom have had their lives turned 180 degrees for the better.

Yeah, looks like out of state might be your best option. Some of the best hospital systems on the east coast are Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, Penn Medicine, and Mass General. For something like this, I wouldn't trust less than the best.

Let's look at one thing at time. First off, you need to get to the bottom of the issue. Don't wait on the bariatric surgeon as you have stated that he is contradicting your primary care doctor. When two doctors don't agree, it's time to go to a specialist and get another opinion. I know you are seeking a remedy for your current situation but this is going to take time and persistence. I would advise seeking out a specialist that is employed by a major, respected healthcare system. If you have to go out of state to do it, then do it. This is the sad story of healthcare in America. Not only must you fight to get better, you must fight the system that is supposedly helping you to get better. The specialist's diagnosis will most likely override both your primary care and surgeon's diagnoses. Now, while you are doing this you need to take some form of action against the surgeon because it is absolutely unethical for him to behave the way he has. Your bariatric surgeon has a responsibility to you for some ongoing, post-surgical care. If were you, I would reach out to him, firmly remind him of his or her responsibility, and if they continue to neglect it, I would look for an attorney. This is a serious situation that is not to be taken lightly - your quality of life hangs in the balance. Sometimes it takes that kind of measure to end the hubris of a doctor. When their livelihood hangs in the balance, it becomes a whole different ball of wax.

You have to remember that what you read on the internet is not always true. For every good story there are at least 4 bad stories. People are more apt to share their nightmare before their good fortune. This is just basic human psychology. We share our nightmares to get reassurance or even elicit sympathy from others. Remember, you made the decision in conjunction with the medical professionals and they don't generally perform risky elective surgery. Is this going to be an easy, pain-free, and discomfort-free journey? No, it probably won't be. Instead of relying on other people's experiences to judge the wisdom of your decision, you have to ride out this phase and come to your own conclusions. If your gut feeling says that this is the best option, most likely it is. Since I am a T2 diabetic, the best option for me is RNY. My entire care team knows that RNY will be the best surgery for reversing or curing T2 diabetes. I am putting my faith and trust in those whom are caring for me. I read about all kinds of horror stories about RNY and automatically dismiss most of them. The cold hard facts from research show that there is a less than 1% chance of complications which is statistically insignificant. Most people worry about the lifestyle changes and I think you just have to ride them out.

Perhaps you need to seek out another surgeon, one who has successfully performed higher risk surgeries. I thought that the sleeve was less invasive than RNY. I remember reading about another user on here that had an aborted surgery because of a somewhat similar issue. Is it possible that you could have the surgery done open instead of laprascopically?