Dr's advising Mini- bypass not sure what to do!

Hi pixies mum,
I can understand your feelings as I went through this 4 years ago and I being a nurse refused to be blindly lead to having a RNY bypass. I went into have a lap and and a few days before my op had a endoscopy. The result showed I had barrettes oesophagus which contra indicated a lap band. So my surgeon advised me a bypass would cure my GORD and booked me in without me having time to think.
I went home and did lots of research on long term effects of the malnutrition from bypass and realised it was not for me due to my past history for which the surgeon did not even assess.
I had had a long term parathyroid tumour which robbed my bones of calcium for many years inducing severe osteoporosis. I was not going to put my body through any more malnutrition as I had felt so unwell 
for years and I recently had only started to feel well again.

So I rang and cancelled the op on the grounds of my osteoporosis .
I spent 4 years researching and finally decided to have a sleeve as it wasn't malabsorption and it offered me a good qualitity of life during retirement when we may travel a lot as I can still eat normal foods just less. I had to choose a different surgeon as the first didn't do sleeves as they are not reversible. 
However I found I don't have barrettes now on another endoscopy so I am so glad I stuck up for what didn't seem right for my body. The positive is that I now feel I have done what is right for me as I have heard of so many lap bands that have failed.
Listen to your intuition as a nurse - you know your body, research and be 100% happy with you decision as it is a lifetime commitment. 
Wishing you all the best and hope you receive the support you need when you start your journey.

I didn't have any major health issues other than the excess weight, I started at 101 and I'm 157cm. To be honest I didn't even consider wls till I heard about the sleeve. From my perspective I didn't want to go the route of the band and the dumping etc from the bypass seemed too extreme for my particular situation. The positive impact it's had on my relationship with food so far has greatly exceeded my expectations. I'm very happy I had the sleeve, I don't know what it will be like 2-5yrs down the track but so far my quality of life is great and I have less chance of suffering from malnutrition. At the end of the day it's a tool, you just have to decide if it's the right tool for you.

Yes I feel the same way as you - it was about quality of life for me, which is why I never considered either the lap band or the bypass. Surgery wasn't an option at all until I heard about the sleeve in January. My lifestyle is perfect now. I can eat anything, just in smaller amounts. No dumping or throwing up.

I did suffer with GORD pre having my gall bladder out which was treated with a course of Pariet. Since then very occasional indigestion but nothing to write home about!

He is a very experience surgeon and the only other one who I would consider that is still operation on self funded patients. It appears most in the Brisbane area will only consider patients now if they have PHI.

He is prepared to do either surgery and my feeling from the consult is that he feels the long term outcomes are better. This might be so from a weight loss point of view but I don't want to lose the weight at the cost of quality of life - unfortunately long experience of working as a nurse with patients with chronic disease has led me to the opinion that that measure of success is rarely considered by the medical profession. To me there is no point reducing the long term health risks if the quality of life you are left with is non-existent!!!!

I am still leaning toward sleeve at this point with lots of psychological support to help with the comfort eating issues.

Do you suffer from reflux? Often if patients already have GERD issues the surgeon will recommend a bypass, but otherwise I don't see why, with your health he would do that.

I'd seek another opinion. I was a similar starting weight and height as you with no health problems other than aches and pains from carrying too much weight. I've now lost 27kg with the help of the sleeve and am feeling fantastic. I love that I don't have a bypass and my eating style is very natural. 

Perhaps your surgeon just has more experience with the bypass so it's more familiar to him? I'd honestly seek another opinion if you're really keen on the sleeve.

After lots of research I had made the decision to have sleeve gastrectomy.

As a bit of back ground I am 108 kg and 164cm tall. I currently do not have any major health issues but am pre diabetic with raised cholesterol levels and surer with lower back and joint pains related to my weight. I have had more attempts to lose weight than I can remember and always manage to put it back on with interest!

Well I went to the initial consultation with surgeon yesterday and he through a spanner in the works of my decision by recommending a mini-bypass. I didn't think my health issues would warrant going that far but his comment was 'if you want to be sleeved that should work for a while and then you can go to by-pass in a couple of years when you stall.'
I'm self funding and can't afford to do this again so if it fails that's tough and I will have to live with it but the things I've heard about by-pass, and my experience with patients who have had them, makes me very wary.
I know the decision is mine but would appreciate any thoughts or comments I need to do my research and bounce the ideas around.

Thanks
Pixiesmum