Why I Chose My Weight Loss Surgery

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Erika

20120730-141743.jpgThree months AFTER surgery

This is not why I chose to have weight loss surgery (I was a giant fatass) but why I chose a Biliopancreatic Diversion with a Duodenal Switch.

You see, most people who have weight loss surgery have a lap-band or get a Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass. But I chose a DS.

And even though I’m about to start another round of iron infusions because my intestines do not absorb iron, even though I’ve had enough ass-related issues for a lifetime thanks to those same intestines, I know that a Biliopancreatic Diversion with a Duodenal Switch is the most effective weight loss surgery of all. Here’s why:

1. No “dumping” syndrome
Unlike those who have a RNY Gastric Bypass, I have my original stomach, my original intestines (although they do less) — my anatomy is the same as before. My plumbing is a little more effective. At any rate, there’s no concern about “pissing off the pouch” (or the band) which leads to indigestion and vomiting.

2. I can take NSAID medication, and get scoped if I need to
If you have RNY surgery, you get a pouch, rather than a stomach. One concern is that you can’t take NSAIDs with a pouch. Nor can you have an endoscopy if you’re having problems that could be diagnosed using that test.

3. Long-term, it’s a more effective wls
When “long-term” means “Statistically, how much excess weight is still off at 10 years post-op,” the Duodenal Switch wins.

Also, you can eat more normally with a BPD-DS since you still have a stomach — although my lactose intolerance has increased exponentially since surgery. And obviously my body doesn’t digest gluten like it once did, since I feel way better physically when I’m gluten-free.

This is not to say that the BPD-DS is without problems; obviously vitamin deficiencies are a huge concern. Taking lots of supplements every day to compensate for malabsorption is a necessary by-product of the surgery, and good vitamins aren’t cheap. I admit, I haven’t been as committed to my vitamins as I had been previously, and now I’m paying the price. My iron is a mess and I’m starting infusions on Wednesday. But I’m recommitted!

Even with the complications — and the fact that the first few weeks post-op were horrendously painful — I don’t regret my decision to have weight-loss surgery. And I’m really glad I had a Biliopancreatic Diversion with a Duodenal Switch instead of any other surgery.

20120730-141607.jpg
I can eat cake!

****Note: the Bpd-DS isn’t available everywhere; it’s a more complex surgery and fewer surgeons perform it than rny or lap-band. Also not all insurances cover it.****

Filed under: weight loss surgery | Tagged: , , , , | 6 Comments »

Almost Four Years Post Weight Loss Surgery

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Erika

I weigh 145lbs, at 5’6″, and I wear a size 8 in pants and a med or large in shirts (my b00bs are kind of big, still, compared to the rest of me. They’re also deflated). My BMI is 23, which is in the normal weight range. My lowest weight, in which I kind of resembled skeletor, was 130, at which time I wore a size 4 — and they were loose — and a med in shirts. I wore a lot of shirts back then because I was freezing all the time. Below is a pic from 2009

2009: It was probably 95* out and I was cold.

I have complications. These are mostly due to the fact that a key component of my surgery is malabsorption

The most commonly quoted absorption percentages following DS are approximately 20% of fats, 60% of protein, 60% of complex carbohydrates but 100% of simple carbohydrates. The 2005 study by Gagner et al. [68] demonstrated that DS surgery decreased fat absorption by 81%

Gagner performed my surgery in 2008. I email him regularly with questions or concerns.

When I was visiting my parents, my dad asked if I regretted my surgery due to my complications. He did not specify a complication. He could have been talking about

1. Being hospitalized in 2009 for dehydration and malnutrition

2. My first butt surgery, in 2010

3. Which healed poorly and led to the most recent butt surgery, Assgate.

4. Iron-deficient anemia from malabsorption.

4. The sheer amount of time I spend in the bathroom every day.

Another complication is my gut flora, which seems to change daily — based on what I eat — so I take a probiotic called VSL3 every day to keep it in check.

Sometimes My Chemical Romance does not like sharing a bathroom with me. Sometimes I don’t blame him!

I’ve also nursed in here. Yes.

Sometimes my extra skin causes chafing that leads to sores. But there’s no way I’m ever having surgery again unless I’m in dire need.

In all, I do not regret my surgery. It’s not entirely the free pass to eat whatever I want that I hoped for. It’s not as easy and thoughtless as I want it to be. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. But I can’t say that if I’d continued at 270+ lbs, I wouldn’t have had equally-sucky complications.

Last week, when I fell completely on my ankle and broke my foot, one of my first thoughts was, I’m really glad I only weigh 145. This would be a lot worse if it happened four years ago.

Night before my surgery, in 2008.

Filed under: Daily Life, food, weight loss surgery | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Complications after weight loss surgery: “I’d rather be fat.”

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Erika

No you wouldn’t.

Or, that’s because you’re skinny.

Okay, maybe you’re not skinny. Maybe you’re average. Maybe your BMI puts you in the overweight category, or even obese. Maybe you struggle to find clothes that are slenderizing – but you can still shop at Target.

When I tell people about my chronic diarrhea — and yes, of course, I tell people about it — most of them say, “I’d rather be fat.” When I was hospitalized for dehydration twice, I’m sure some of my friends thought that.

Honestly, I am not a huge fan of my chronic diarrhea. It does inhibit me in some ways — I doubt I’ll ever go camping unless it’s a special camping site with private bathrooms — and I’ve been hospitalized twice for dehydration when nothing would stay in. I don’t like it when I feel kind of nauseated when I eat too much sugar in the absence of any protein. I didn’t enjoy getting iron infusions while pregnant with Porcelain because my body had so little iron leftover after what she took. There are aspects of my life post-weight-loss surgery that give me some pause.

(If you want to read about a Biliopancreatic Diversion with a Duodenal Switch, you can find some here. And here. And some research studies here.)

But being fat — being morbidly obese, being nearly 275lbs at 5’6″ with no clear limit in sight — I wasn’t a fan of that either. It came with complications too. My blood pressure was rising, I was pre-diabetic, and when a piece of my liver was sent to the lab it came back as severe fatty liver, like what an alcoholic would have. I was tired and lethargic. I wasn’t able to enjoy spending with my kids the way I can now (sometimes). Or my dogs.

And oh, the sweat! Moving 275lbs around is not easy. The regular sweat. The underboob sweat! The sweat-dripping-into-my-eyes-and-blinding-me sweat!

The comparison is not FAT versus SKINNY WITH DIARRHEA AND A FISTULA.

The comparison is fat with potentially life-threatening complications that would not have improved on their own and skinny with definitely annoying complications but I don’t think they threaten my life and I can help them somewhat by what I eat. 

I rarely regret having my weight loss surgery. I can’t say never — right afterward surgery, when I was in a lot of pain, I thought, “My god, why didn’t I try Weight Watchers one more time?!?!?” — but every day I’m glad I did it.

Filed under: weight loss surgery | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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