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Surgeon: Dr. Kenneth Welker, Portland, OR by Connie: Late 1999: Life long battle against obesity. Tried every diet under the sun, including high-fat/high protein, low-fat/high protein, low-fat/extra exercise, simple low-cal, low fat/high fiber, protein modified fasting (Optifast), and even pure starvation combined with uppers..... and nearly every drug/herb/potion in existence, some of which have possibly injured my health. I'm ready for this to be over. I want to live the rest of my life able to move around with ease and really enjoy being in the world. BMI = 57! Arthritis, unstable blood pressure, constant heartburn, really annoying asthma, depression -- and Lord! don't mention having to fit in an airplane seat.... (just one of life's little horrors an obese person faces.... right?) One of my best friends had this done in April and she's truly a different person -- and not just physically either -- my only contact with her now is via email and phone as I relocated about 10 months ago, so there's no way I can know how she looks. There will never be a better time for me. I know that. Let's go! 5/19/00: Well after changing insurance companies I had my surgery on 4/21/00. I had distal gastric bypass with duodenal switch performed by Dr. Kenneth Welker at OHSU. Unfortunately I had a leak in my stomach and Dr. W. had to go in again on 4/24/00 to repair (only his second leak in 10 years of doing this surgery.....) so now instead of his normal plastic surgery thin scar I have a completely open incision which must be packed with sterile dressing twice a day and is too gross to look at.... And it will be a great BIG scar.... But I had my first follow up visit on 5/15 and I've lost 33 pounds already. And I'm getting a little better each day. Trying to walk some, but my endurance is very poor. But it's important to keep trying..... I'll update better in the future -- I promise!!! 12/28/00: So much has happened to me, I hardly know where to start. But I warn the reader right now, that this message may scare you. I've hesitated to post an update because I just don't want to frighten people away from surgery that can save their life, but everyone needs to know that bad things can happen -- and I'm one of the tiny percentage that absolutely EVERYTHING bad happened to, until the very end..... I never really "prospered" after my initial surgery and revision in April. The third week in June I became so ill I had a CT Scan on my belly which revealed a huge abscess covering my spleen, stomach and liver, with a fistula actually opening out of my stomach into the abscess. I was immediately hospitalized and after a week of attempting to clear it up medically, I was transferred to OHSU where Dr. Welker performed two operations on June 30. One an abdominal laparotomy, to clean out my abdomen and install a J-P drain and a second -- a thoracotomy to clean out the lining of my lung, which had become infected during the previous week. I was very close to death on that occasion and spent over three weeks in hospital in total. The grossest part of this whole thing was that the fistula from my stomach was connected directly to the J-P Tube and everything I ate (actually drank...) came right out the tube into the bulb. (ICK!!!) This stopped after about two weeks as the fistula closed naturally. Then my food started going down the right way.... In the meantime, Dr. W also had installed a "jejeunostomy" or "J" tube through which I received supplemental feeding for nearly 4 months. Then in mid-August, another belly CT scan (based on a significant increase in white blood cell count) revealed the abdominal abscess had recurred. This time, in hospital, a brilliant radiologist here in Salem installed another drain under fluoroscopy. I kept this one in for a month. Then, when it was nearly time to have it removed, I started getting terrible headaches. After a one night stay up at OHSU, where they reluctantly decided I had the flu and after becoming so ill during the following week that I was dry-heaving 24 hours a day, I had a head CT and they discovered the abscess (infection) had moved THROUGH MY HEART up to my brain and was now infecting my right brain.... So in mid-Sep I had my fifth surgery -- neurosurgery to drain the abscess. They also installed a semi-permanent PIC line where I received IV antibiotics twice a day for six weeks at home. (The reason I mention that it moved through my heart is that my PCP here in Salem told me that as it was the exact same infection -- the route it had to take to my brain was through my heart and normally when that happens the type of infection is was destroys the heart's mitral valve and the patient has to have open heart surgery as well -- so it was a miracle that it just slid right through my heart with no damage..... Praise the Lord!) Now for the rest of the story: Since my last major surgery in September, I've been so healthy and happy and vigorous and totally robust (!!!!) that you wouldn't believe I was ever sick! After six months of laying in bed at home, I'm BOUNDING around town and up and down the I-5 corridor here in Oregon like a crazy person!!! I drag my family EVERYWHERE! I'm finally back at work full time (and more). I've lost a total of 158 pounds and am just starting to wear "Misses" sized clothes. The Lord, after letting me discover for myself just how bad life could get, and how close I could come 3 different times to joining him in Heaven, shook me back to life so I could FINALLY and COMPLETELY begin to serve Him in the way he directed in the Bible. Well -- I got the message, Father. Here I am. Not my will be done, but thine! Two weeks ago, after having stopped supplemental feedings the first of November, Dr. Welker operated on me a fifth time (my sixth and final surgery) and removed my J-tube. This was just day surgery and now I'm totally without tubes and with only a small bandage over the incision. Everyone asks me if I'd do it again. ABSOLUTELY!! Mine was one of the 3% of cases that get skewed a bit. The VAST majority of DS patients go home from the hospital and are back in their lives in a matter of a few weeks. If I ever had to do it again -- that's what would happen to me -- I know it! And Dr. Welker is STILL my hero! He is so compassionate with us and he suffered so much while I was ill. A major part of my blessings these days is that now I get to email him on occasion and tell him some wonderful thing or other I've been able to do. I think there will be a special place in Heaven for all the bariatric surgeons who deal with obese people as if we mattered to the world, and who gently care for us in a way no one has done for literally decades for most of us..... So, enter into this with care and concern and most of all prayer. Read everything you can read on the subject and read stories like mine. Then make the decision that's right for you -- and you alone. The REAL new millennium is coming in a few days. May everyone who reads this have the most WONDERFUL of new years! 2/19/01: Life just keeps getting better and better!!! I'm now down to 230 -- that's a total of 177 pounds lost. I had blood tests the other day and my cholesterol was 141.... triglicerides - 100.... HDL - 46.... LDL - 75.... and my 12 hour fasting blood sugar was 86 and my Glycohemoglobin (another blood suger indicator) was 5.7%. My liver functions and protein levels are normal and my blood pressure was 106/75. I'm not exactly sure -- but I don't know if I could be any HEALTHIER!!!! Plus now I've joined a gym and work out nearly every day. PLUS I just came back from two business trips and nearly JOGGED through miles and miles of airport concourses carrying big bags and laptop and you name it!!! Yep! I'd do it all again.... The Lord's Blessings to ALL of you! 7-11-01: I just realized it's been several months since I updated my story for this site. I am just so active and busy these days - many details get left behind, I'm afraid. I consider this an important, useful and inspiring website - we should all make an effort to keep it current. I'm now down to 207 - if you're calculating - that 200 pounds gone. I don't really lose very fast any more - for example last month I only lost 3 pounds (however I DID lose 5 inches and 2.7 of the 3 pounds were fat loss...) But 200 pounds is 83% of my excess weight. This is pretty much the norm for the initial weight loss. From now on it will be much slower and will require some effort on my part. No biggie - I work out 4 times a week and - hate to say it - eat pretty much anything I want - just small portions. I DO concentrate on protein tho - eat at least two bars a day (Atkins Advantage bars <expensive little suckers>, Biochem Ultimate Protein Bars, Twinlab Metabolift Thermogenic high protein, low carb bars)(can't stomach the liquid..... puke....) and then concentrate on the meats for regular meals. (I eat 5 times a day - so I'm never hungry.) My general health remains robust. Never get the sniffles; sleep nearly perfectly; can just do anything it seems - with little or no effort - just like when I was 20 years old...; my bowels are very regular - just pretty soft; I have no gas problems or other strange odor problems you sometimes hear about; oh - and maybe the best part - I'm going broke buying size 16 clothes in the "MISSES" section of all the stores.... I almost cry when I write that - I remember size 32's too well...... And if I never get to a size 10 - who cares??? I LOVE my body - and that's something I never, ever said before..... Even with the wrinkly thighs and floppy arms - and my baggy little tummy - I think I look GREAT! Nobody ever sees that stuff but me anyway (well - the Lord - but He sure doesn't care..... and I know HE always thought I had a beautiful soul....) So what are my goals? My immediate goal is to get below 200 before I go on my vacation down to San Diego in September to see bunches of old friends (who won't recognize me for sure....) but that's just ego talking.... It won't matter to them - they loved me at 407!!! My long term goals have nothing to do with my weight - losing or gaining it. Except they'll all be easier to achieve at 160 pounds rather than 407 pounds.... So once again - to anyone reading this missive who is still trying to make the decision about whether or not to take the GIGANTIC step.... read everything you can - talk to as many post-ops as you can - and make people tell you the truth.... and then make the decision that's right for YOU. (Oh, and don't forget to pray about it - it really does help - I'm proof of that - every day.....) (One of my favorite Bible verses: "Pray without ceasing". 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
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