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Surgeon: Dr. Michel Gagner, New York, New York Latest update: December 13, 2002 (updated story)
by Duffy:
I knew I had to do something, but I shuddered at the thought of one more diet, one more roller coaster ride of hope and ultimately, disappointment. So I logged on to my trusty PC and began to research weight loss surgery. All I knew about it is that rings and bands didn't work, long term. My cousin had been there, done that back in the 80s. No thank you. I almost immediately tripped on to information about the RNY, and didn't like the lifestyle changes, but figured it had to be better than the lifestyle I was currently enjoying (so to speak). At the time, I was planning to move to Ventura, Ca and would have the surgery there. In March 1999 I wrote to Tami Babcock to ask about her surgeon, and that is when I learned about the BPD/DS. As Tami told me about her life post-op, and as I did more research, asked more questions and learned more about the operation, I began to think that finally, just maybe, I'd found my silver bullet. The idea that I could eat normally, without having to worry about blockages or dumping, was too tantalizing to resist. By early summer I knew that I would not be moving to Ventura. Now the problem was to find my own surgeon. And it wasn't easy. At the time, the Onelist group consisted almost solely of Californians. Fortunately, that situation didn't last for long. Eventually, after an insurance foul-up of major proportions, I heard a rumor that there was a surgeon in New York who was beginning to do the BPD/DS laparoscopically. When I learned that Dr. Gagner was one of the foremost lap surgeons in the country, and that he normally operated on much larger patients, I was determined to meet him. Following my consult on 9-15-99, he agreed to perform the lap BPD/DS on me. Three months and several insurance hassles later, on 12-13-99, I was switched. That was just over 3 weeks ago. I've experienced very little pain, only minor complications, and can so far tolerate everything except for heavy breads and hard noodles. I've lost 35 pounds, and have begun to raid the back of my closet for clothes that were always just this much too tight. My rings are falling off my fingers and my feet no longer swell up after 30 minutes on the floor. I haven't for one moment regretted my decision, or even wondered if I was insane for doing this. This spring I'm going to Hershey Park, Pa to meet many of the friends I've made here and to ride a roller coaster for the first time in almost 10 years. I can hardly wait. September 2, 2001 Update: Then there's food. I'll be honest. My love affair with food is alive and well. I'm obsessed by it. I think about my next meal for a good hour before I'm ready for it. I'm already planning tomorrow's meals as I write this. At a restaurant, I can't decide what to order until I know what everyone else is having. But that was all true pre-op, too. What's changed is how I respond to food. While I still love it, I've finally, for the first time in my life, come to understand the meaning of the words "full" and "satisfied." Pre-op, I was either starving, not starving, or stuffed to the gills. Anything else was beyond my comprehension. I never told anyone this, but I only knew the meal was over when one of two things happened; the food ran out or everyone else stopped eating. I really didn't 'get' the physical sensation of satiety. The very first person I told was Dr. Gagner, during my consult with him. He said that I would feel full, that I'd feel satisfied. He promised. And he was right. That's why I never fear being obese again, because I finally 'get' how the normies eat. I'm one of them! While we're on the subject, let's talk about weight and scales. I weighed myself every day after surgery, once I lost enough for my scale to show anything but a big, ugly 'E' for ERROR. I loved my scale, still do. It keeps my clothes fitting perfectly. Some people will tell you to throw out your scale. Don't listen to them! If you want to weigh every day, do it. Normal people do, why shouldn't you? The only thing that's imperative for daily weighers is to log your weight. Let me repeat that; LOG YOUR WEIGHT! I learned to do this when I discovered that my 3 week plateau had actually lasted only 6 days. Your mind will trick you, so if you want to weigh AND keep your sanity, keep a record of it. No guesswork allowed. I still weigh daily. Now if I gain a few pounds, all I do is pass up dessert for a day or two and *poof!* the pounds are gone. That's one of the miracles of the DS. It enables me to behave the same way my normal friends do. There have been a few negative aspects of post-op life. The biggest of them involves my bathroom habits. I have two or three bowel movements every morning, requiring me to spend upwards of 30 minutes total in the bathroom. To compensate, I just allow myself the extra time. Problem solved. I do not, repeat, NOT have urgent or uncontrollable bowel movements unless I've ingested something tainted, just like a normie. I don't have excessive gas; I still control where and when I pass it, as I did pre-op. Just like a normie. The second negative thing about post-op life is that it takes me much longer to get dressed than it used to. I've got a closet full of clothes that fit and flatter me and the choices can be overwhelming, sometimes requiring four or five changes before I can decide what to wear. My husband swears I've gone into brain lock over it, staring vacantly at my clothes. The third negative is related to the second. I change clothes three, four, sometimes five times a day. And one more thing, I get cold a lot, which means lots of snuggling with my husband. There. I've said it. Now you know my darkest secrets. My co-morbidities (diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, back pain) have all disappeared and I have more energy than I know what to do with. My husband says I'm like the Energizer Bunny. When I was just about six months post-op, he told my best friend that I never stopped moving from morning till night, and that he just couldn't keep up with me. When she later related this me, I cried. For so many years I'd been holding him back, and for him to say this was a compliment of such magnitude that I was stunned. To go along with my amazing physical changes, there've been incredible mental and emotional changes, too. My marriage is stronger than ever but not for the reason you suppose. During my recovery, I received such care from my husband, I knew that only love could prompt him to do the things he did for me. We're now closer than we've ever been before, because the knowledge of how much he loves me has given me the confidence to strive for ever more intimacy, on every level. And my newly tucked and lifted body doesn't hurt, either. This spring I had a hernia repair (yes, you CAN get a hernia with a lap DS), tummy tuck, brachioplasty (batwing reduction) and breast lift. Plastic surgery was the icing on the cake of my tranformation and provided the biggest mental boost of all. At 5'9" with an "ideal" weight of 145 (that's for a normie, NOT someone with the dense bones that we M.O. types seem to have), I've lost 185 pounds and over 91% of my excess weight. I did make it to Hershey Park in June of 2000, along with a bunch of my online DS pals. I rode every coaster in the park and had no problems fitting into the seats. When I needed a new car, my husband treated me to cute little roadster, and it fit! Last weekend I went bowling for the first time since 1984. I haven't gone sailing yet, but we did go to a boat show recently, where I spent the day happily crawling all over the boats, walking straight through hatches, etc... So, my life has been in a state of near-constant change. And there are more to come. I'm still losing weight, albeit slowly. I'm learning to gauge sizes all over again and finding that no, a medium top is not too small, size 12 jeans really do fit, and if it has an elastic waist it should always be a size small. Who knew? And one last thing. We finally moved to the Ventura area (city of Oxnard) one year ago. Having grown up in Huntington Beach and spending most of my adult years in San Diego, moving here was like coming home. I'm healthy, I'm happy, I'm slender and I'm a beach chick tooling around the marinas in a red roadster, with a man who loves me by my side. Who could ask for anything more? December 13, 2002: Along the road to here I never worried that I'd fail, that I'd regain my lost weight, never suffered depression or anxiety. It just wasn't in me. This was my shot at a normal life, plain and simple. I gave it my all and never looked back, never questioned my decision. When I reached 230 pounds and a size 1X, I realized I was healthy, completely mobile and agile, and most of all happy; I knew I could LIVE happily at that weight, that anything more was gravy. And it has been. There is simply no downside for me, no trade-off that I made. I maintain my good health by taking my vitamins, weighing daily and adjusting my chip/dessert consumption as I see fit. How wonderful to know that simply cutting out a single late night snack will produce a loss of at least one pound the next morning, more often two. Then it's back to snacking as usual. I don't restrict myself in any way, and eat whatever my little heart desires, including all those high-fat fried foods so dear to me, things like Pizza Rolls, taquitos, popcorn chicken and the like. The freedom to live this way, as normal people do, perhaps better than many, is something I never could imagine before surgery. I've just turned 49 and feel more like 29. The aches and pains of carrying almost 350 lbs. have gone the way of diabetes and high blood pressure. They're part of the past and something I no longer concern myself with. I'm not that sick, sad person anymore. As I'm writing this it's just past midnight on the 13th, my anniversary. In the morning, we're taking our son, DIL, and 2-yr-old grandson to Disneyland and California Adventure, where we'll stay long after dark. From past experiences this year, I know that I'll be the only one whose feet won't be sore at the end of the day. On the 21st we sail on the Star Princess to Mexico for the week, spending Christmas with 18 friends and family, dressed to kill in a glittering red evening gown that hugs me so perfectly the only thing I'll be wearing under it is my husband's favorite fragrance. I cannot think of any better ways to celebrate this amazing, and it appears permanent, transformation. Best of all, I'm not alone, not an unusual case at all. It does my heart a world of good to know that the vast majority of DS patients enjoy similar good fortune. I feel amazingly lucky to be in their number. |
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I wasn't always obese. Throughout childhood and my teenage years, I carried an extra 5-10 pounds. No big deal. When I joined the Navy at the age of 18, I weighed 145 pounds, well within the normal range for my 5'9" frame. I even lost weight in boot camp, and came out weighing 135 pounds. That all changed with pregnancy. I ballooned up to over 185 pounds and couldn't seem to lose the weight. Over the years, the weight just kept creeping up, despite all the diets. I'd lose 25 pounds and gain 30, lose 50 and gain 80. Like so many people, I was looking for a silver bullet. On it went, in typical fashion, until I found myself at the age of 45, weighing over 325 pounds, with diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis and unable to do the things I loved. I'd long ago given up bowling, something my husband and I had always enjoyed. My back couldn't take the strain. No more day trips to amusement parks, either, because I could no longer fit on most of the rides. But my biggest disappointment was giving up sailing. We love to sail, but it's not fun when you have to turn sideways and squeeeeeeze through hatches. Using the head? Forget about it!