Cindy Cooney

I'm only 8 months out from my DS surgery so I can't speak for stalls at over 2yrs post op. But we do know that at approx 12-18 months post op our stomachs will stretch to approx 75% that of a "normal" person. Your stomach at 2 yrs is likely as big as it's going to get, and no longer the lil 25% size it was. That just means you need to work harder at weight loss nowadays, as compared to the early days when you had zero appetite. You CAN lost those last 30 lbs if you want to badly enough. Do you? That's the question you need to answer. I've lost 173 lbs so far and WILL ACHIEVE my target weight before my surgical anniversary on May 8th. The rule I have for whether something is possible or not, is the suit case rule. Simply put, if I had a suit case here with $1 million dollars in it and you'd get it if you lost those 30 lbs...would you do it? I suspect the answer is yes. If I asked you to lift a truck over your head, no matter what money was offered, you couldn't do it. Lose those 30 lbs and be able to know you achieved your goal! Pay the price and claim your reward. You've come too damn far to wimp out now.

Good point made. I am 20 pounds from my goal and down 116 pounds. I had surgery on 6/30/14 so I am doing well. I use myfitnesspal and exercise 3-4 times a week. I have been in a plateau for 4 weeks. I just need to let the time pass focus on the rules of DS and the weight will come off. I try not to eat more than 50 grams of carbs a day. I do not count calories or fat. I just count the carbs. Thanks for posting and reminding us that we need to "pay the price" and claim our reward.

I have a surgery date - June 30th. My last day of teaching will be the 27th. I will definely be having a DS. That was confirmed with Dr. Greenbaum. It is by far the best option for long term weight loss. I will be looking to starting off the school year a little less smaller.

I love the idea and my surgeon is a 2 hour drive from my house so unless they do virtual support group meetings it will impossible. So I will be looking for something.

I have completed all the preoperative tests and the worst was the sleep test. If given the choice I would rather have a colonoscopy. OMG and to find out I do not have sleep apnea.

Well met with the surgeon - he will be doing the DS because of the best choice for me. I stressed the importance of the benefits and I would have chosen this surgery back in 2001 should I have been given the choice. Now we are in the insurance approval and I hope everything goes well.

I am hoping to have surgery by late June.

I have already researched and I know this is the best option for me right now with my history of weight loss. I totally agree with you. I had an BMI >50 back in 2001 and DS would have been a better surgery. But it was offered at my hospital. Now I just want to make everything right and get it done over the summer.

Unfortunately my insurance in NJ Direct and I am a teacher in NJ and a state employee. I am limited with my selections. I was grateful that the state at least had one surgeon. My husband has been unemployed on and off and I carry insurance for him. So I am gathering up my operative reports and my recent EGD and will let him evaluate it. I mentioned to him that I used to work at Morristown Memorial Hospital where I had the original surgery and he takes revisions from that hospital. So my guess is that he does the distal on "as needed basis", evaluating each case as it comes. He only does open and there is a preop liquid diet for 2 weeks so I am aware that he wants to shrink the liver and open makes will be easier for him to access organs.

DS is major surgery and you need to be committed to a lifetime of Vitamins. Mentally I am just trying to absorb the information that he provided. I have 130 pounds to lose and I feel that DS would get me to my goal weight.

I had RNY back in 2001. I was a hospital employee and I just jumped on the bandwagon. It was the first year that the hospital had this program and everyone was dropping weight. I went from 360 to 220 in two years. I followed the diet and exercised and did everythng that I could do, but my weight loss stopped. I hired a professional trainer and a nutritionalist, but if I had problems losing weight in the past, how was it going to work now? I maintained my weight loss until 2004 when my father dies, 13 months later my brother died suddenly, walked out of a job in 2006 and was layed off in 2007. I gained 60 pounds from 2004 - 2007. So here I am now looking at revisional surgery to see if I can accomplish my original goals.

I live in NJ - so I had an appointment with Dr. Greenbaum with Virtual Health. He does offer revisional surgery RNY to DS. But he seems to push the distal RNY. I need to do more research to find out what is my best option and move forward with this. I wish the DS surgery was offered back in 2001 because I feel that is the surgery I should have had from the beginning.