mcw12985

Hi Everyone, I have been to Dr. Rutledge's seminar in Chattanooga at Memorial Hospital. I live in Knoxville, but I made the drive because he had the seminar quicker and seemed to be able to get me in faster, as opposed to Knoxville doctors, and I have a very limited time to get this done. I have BCBS right now, but my husband joins the Air Force in September so the good insurance who says they will cover it will be bye-bye. Has anyone else looked into Dr. Rutledge? He does the lap-band, but he seems partial to the bypass.

Hello, Everyone. I have been perusing these forums for quite some time, but this is my first post. Last night I went to the "mandatory" seminar. This one in particular was supposed to be informative about the Lap-Band and the gastric bypass surgeries. Well, I got the distinct impression that this surgeon preferred the bypass as opposed to the band. I went in determined that I wouldn't change my preference from having the band, but he made me think about some things: He says there is a huge bell curve with the Lap-Band, that almost half the people who have it don't even lose half of their excess body fat. On the contrary, he says people with the bypass generally lose 70 to 80 percent excess. This was something to chew on. He says that the long-term effects of the bypass have been documented, as it has been performed since 1977 as opposed to the Lap-Band which only began around 2001. He believes there could be problems 10, 15 years from now with the Lap-Band that there are not with the bypass. He says that there is not ?malabsorption? with the band, only that it is restrictive, as with the bypass it is both. This part confused me somewhat. Something about eating a bunch but only a few of the calories actually getting into your system, some business like that. He brought up a few good points. However, it did come up that he has done around 500 of the bypass and only about 20 Lap-Bands. I wonder if he is just more comfortable with the bypass and if that is why he favors it. But still, he got my wheels turning and now I don't know what is best. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. My first appointment with him is in a week, and then we're going to try to do one of the surgeries before the end of September. My husband is joining the Air Force in September, and I'll just go ahead and assume that no doctor like this is going to accept Tri-Care. Blue Cross Blue Shield will cover it they say, so you better believe I am going to take advantage of that. :clap2: Thanks for listening/reading, and thank you for any thoughts that you may have. Mallorie

Thank you, Kathi, for your quick response. I wish it was an easier decision. Do you, or does anybody who wishes to respond, wish that they had done the bypass instead of the Band? I love to hear what people say, whether they're happy with what they did or if they would have done something else.