Ed_NW

Does anybody else have Kaiser Permanente as their insurance and also the medical center where their WLS will occur? It seems to be a one stop shop for me. I guess this is a good thing? Kaiser is huge anymore and I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Anybody have good or bad experiences with Kaiser in the Seattle area? Ed

It might of came across better if the sentiment were more introspective and less preachy.

I agree 100%. When it comes to life or death (witch is the case for most people facing this surgery), you do what you have to do. I like your spirit.

He is married and has a 4 year old son. He does have a good paying job but no insurance. He has a mortgage and is settled in where he currently lives. He's actually the one that told me that there is a lot of people that get this surgery done in Mexico at an affordable cost. I've done a lot of research and am just recently becoming more comfortable with the idea of him getting it done there. He personally knows a few people that had their surgery done there and everything turned out fine. I think he's leaning in that direction.

My oldest son is 500+ lbs and I partly blame myself for not teaching him good eating habits when he was young. He is in his late 20's and desperately needs WLS. He is married with a 4 year old son of his own and I want to help him break this cycle by (me) going through this surgery and changing my eating habits in hopes that he will follow suit. I share with him something every day that I've learned about WLS and he is getting motivated. It's all a matter of money and or acceptance from insurance witch he has neither. If a person has the means to get this surgery and change their life, it is definitely first a gift and secondly a tool.

One thing I've learned by watching the amount of YouTube videos that I have leading up to my WLS is how rapidly medical technology has advanced. I'm sure you've experienced this first hand given your medical history. All of the laparoscopic and robotic procedures that are used now cut back the recovery time in a big way. Soon,they will just slap us on a conveyor belt and spit us out on the other side with perfect results. "Meet George Jetson, his boy Elroy"

Bugs the heck out of me to think they're just trying to make money off of me. The place where I did my sleep study lost my records so my insurance was trying to make me do a new sleep study as a prerequisite to getting my WLS. I think I found a way around it. Ed

My son did the sleep study and was given a CPAP machine with the nasal pillow mask. It didn't work for him and he would knock it off of his face while sleeping. He ended up going back for a video taped sleep study and they changed him to a BIPAP machine and a full face mask and the quality of sleep he gets now changed his life according to him. I think if you have a serious problem with sleeping you can work with the sleep Dr. until they get it right. It could be that you sleep fine and they are just doing the typical judging a book by it's cover diagnosis.

I agree with you. The sleeve seems to be the least invasive procedure. I (probably like everyone facing this surgery) watch tons of videos on WLS. I was watching some videos yesterday from a Dr. John Pilcher https://youtu.be/pQidnZEhDoc and he mentioned something that I found interesting on this subject. Both surgeries have the same long term weight loss sustainability success rates. Both have similar food restriction benefits with different side effects if you over do it. Bypass has dumping syndrome witch doesn't sound like something I want to deal with being a driver (dizziness) and the sleeve has acid reflux that I think can be more manageable. Of course a person should stick to the program but poor choices are what got me in this mess.

I've used a cpap or bipap for about 10 years now. I've tried the half mask and some other masks and they all left marks and sometimes sores. The nasal pillow is the only one I can use. The fact that a machine blowing air up your nose will give you relief from sleepless nights still amazes me. I wish I had one when I was a teenager.

I always say I'm putting on my scuba gear when I strap on the cpap mask (haha). I'm glad you made it through surgery and hopefully on your way to a new you.

Thanks for opening up like that. It takes a lot of courage to share your struggles in such detail. It will help a lot of people facing the same uphill battle. I hope everything goes well for you today.

Great information. Thank you

Makes perfect sense. Thank you. Ed

Thanks for your reply. I've never had any problems with acid reflux but my concern with the VSG would be the possibility of stretching the sleeve due to my food addiction. In a lot of the videos I've watched, people experienced regain and ended up getting another surgery to switch over to the RNYBP. My only concern with the RNYBP is the possibility of vitamin/nutrient malabsorption. I have a tendency to overthink things haha [emoji16] Ed

Hi all. I'm just now at the required weight and need to go weigh in and schedule surgery. Still haven't spoke to the surgeon about which procedure is best. I'm thinking RNYGP. Any thoughts? Ed