Hi, Lisa! My surgery will be open. My surgeon, Dr. Monte Schwartz, only does open precedures, but his practice is branching out - some time in August he is adding another surgeon, Dr. Jeff Monash, who is finishing a laparoscopic surgery fellowship in San Francisco. Starting in August, patients will be able to choose which doctor and procedure they want.
I toyed with the idea of waiting until August in order to have a lap RNY instead of open, especially since shorter recovery time would mean less time off work, but for me personally, there may be more advantages to the open procedure despite the pain and longer recovery time. For example, the open is faster to perform, which means less time under anaesthesia - I had difficulty coming to after a lap appendectomy in 1999, when I weighed about 120 pounds less than I do now, so I am concerned about that. Also, Dr. Schwartz has told me that the incidence of leaks (e.g., between pouch and small intestine) is lower with open RNYs than with laps. Also, I'm sure Dr. Monash is great, but I already know Dr. Schwartz and his level of expertise, and have spent a lot of time talking to other patients of his about their experiences, so I'm more comfortable having him do the surgery. Plus, given the size of my torso, I'm not sure whether a surgeon could complete my RNY laparoscopically, without having to open me up...
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Eric
6'4"
540/470/250/215
highest/surgery/current/surgeon's goal
VSG with Dr. Chiasson 2/13/08
TT Gym Rat Club member #30
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