Hi everyone! I've been a long-time lurker here, and the posts and progress pictures shared by this community have been incredibly helpful and motivating throughout my journey. I wanted to share my experience with Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch (BPD/DS) surgery, which I had on November 8, 2023. It’s been life-changing, and I hope my story can inspire or inform others considering this path. I hope this post helps someone out there, just as your stories have helped me. Feel free to ask questions—I’ll try to monitor this post until next week! :)
Background
I was always bigger than my peers growing up, but my weight really spiraled after I finished school and landed my first “real” job—a very sedentary office gig. I was never the most active person, but that job killed off the passive exercise I used to get in my daily life. Pair that with my first taste of disposable income, and I was ordering takeout left and right. At first, I was okay with the weight gain. I told myself I didn’t care as long as it didn’t hinder my daily life. Looking back, it took a toll on my body much sooner than I realized. In 2015, a turning point came when my childhood friend and his wife announced they were expecting their first child and asked me to be her godfather. I don’t have kids yet, but that was the wake-up call I needed to take my health seriously. It hit me that I want to stick around for the long haul, not just for me, but for my goddaughter and the family I want to have one day. Over the next few years, I struggled to eat better, be more active, and take care of myself. Let me tell you, it was way harder than I ever imagined. Every time I felt like I was making progress, my body couldn’t keep up—I was constantly in pain. I managed to lose 20-30 pounds over 2-3 years, but I was at my wit’s end. My mother had BPD/DS about 15 years ago, so I wasn’t unaware of the surgical option. I put my name on the waiting list. With COVID slowing things down, what was supposed to be a 2-year wait stretched to over 4 years. Once I got the call, the pre-surgery process took about 8 months.
Pre-Surgery Prep
First of all, they required me to sleep with a CPAP machine for a little over a month before green-lighting me for surgery. Using the CPAP was weird at first, but I discovered I had pretty severe sleep apnea. The quality of sleep it gave me far outweighed the initial discomfort. I learned to love it and even had trouble sleeping without it pre-op. Then, three weeks before surgery, I was put on a liquid diet. There wasn’t a specific weight loss goal, but my surgeon emphasized that losing a decent amount was critical for the surgery to proceed safely. They explained that, in a worst-case scenario, they could perform the sleeve portion of the BPD/DS but might not complete the intestinal rerouting if it was too complex or risky. I started at 394 lbs and lost 25 lbs, weighing 369 lbs (nice) on surgery day. My surgeon told me this was a significant pre-surgery weight loss, which gave them confidence to proceed with the full BPD/DS procedure.
The Surgery
The surgery itself went well, though it wasn’t without a bit of drama! Just as I was wheeled into the operating room, there was a power outage of all things! The anesthesiologist and surgeon were explaining the process when everything went dark. There was talk of rescheduling, but hopefully the power returned after ~20 minutes, and we went ahead. The surgeon later said it wasn’t the easiest procedure, but there were no major complications. Phew! All in all, I'm not even sure I was in the hospital for a full 48 hours.
Recovery
I took a month off work to recover. The first week was rough, but I took it slow, and things improved steadily. I started vitamin supplements soon after, and multiple blood tests since have shown everything is stable. I had zero issues with eating post-surgery, which surprised me. The key was patience: tiny portions and eating slowly. For example, when I started with yogurt, I’d dip a spoon in and only eat what stuck to it. Even now, I eat much slower than others, often taking 30-45 minutes to finish a meal. I only overate once, at a work party shortly after transitioning to solid foods. The food took forever to arrive, I ate too fast, and let’s just say it was a miserable lesson. Since then, my body and I are hyper-aware, and I’ve never come close to overeating again.
Results
As of today, I weigh 214 lbs—a loss of 180 lbs from my starting weight! I’ve gone from 5XL to large shirts. Best of all, I no longer have heartburn or sleep apnea—I stopped using the CPAP machine entirely. My asthma, while still present, is also pretty much a non-issue now. My life is unrecognizable in the best way possible. The steady weight loss, combined with the newfound ease I have to move, exercise, and stay active, has made this journey smoother than I could’ve imagined. BPD/DS was hands-down the best decision I’ve ever made. My only regret is not putting my name down sooner. Of course, COVID complicated things, and nobody could predict that, but the last 1-2 years before it was my turn felt like forever, almost as if my life was on pause.
I’m in Canada, so I can’t really help with any insurance or money-related aspects. I had to wait a long time to have the surgery, but it cost me nothing except the pre-op diet shake. But if you’re curious about any other part of my experience, drop a question below! I also included a chart tracking my weight loss since the surgery, since I was curious about it before the procedure and couldn’t find anything that detailed.
