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Surgeon: W. Christian Oakley, M.D., Boise, Idaho Most recent update: September 29, 2003
by Mike: My story is pretty much the same as many of the other patients listed on this site. I am 44 years old and have been over weight every since I can remember. Since I was the only one in the immediate family with a weight problem, my parents had tests run to see if there was a problem. The Doctors always said there was nothing wrong except maybe a slow metabolism. My mother was very supportive and we tried numerous diets starting at age 6. I would usually lose some weight one each diet, but eventually my body would figure out how to stop the weight lose, I would plateau, become frustrated and quit the diet. Even from an early age I loved to eat. Portion control has always been one of my main problems. While I was active and played football in High School, my weight was somewhat under control. I usually played around 225 lbs. After football season my senior year, I gained up to over 300 lbs. I stayed around there to around 350 for most of my adult life. I met my soul mate in college and we were married in 1984. Suzanne also has battled her weight most of her life, and together we rode the weight loss/ weight gain roller coaster, usually more up than down. We were very successful with Weight Watchers and both lost about 100 lbs. Suzanne then became pregnant with our son, and we have not been close to those weights since. About a year ago, two of the guys I worked with had gastric bypass procedures. I thought about it, but not too seriously. Then a close friend of mine said he was going to have the DS procedure. We talked about it at length; I researched it on the net (mostly this site) and decided to have the surgery. I wanted it right then, but it was two months before I could get an appointment with Dr. Oakley, my friend’s surgeon. I liked Dr. Oakley immediately and again wanted the surgery as soon as possible, but it was a three-month wait! By this time my friend Mike had lost 100 pounds and was feeling great. On the contrary my back and knees were killing me, my blood pressure was up and just taking a shower exhausted me. I had been laid off from my job about the time I started looking at having surgery, and was about as sedentary as you could get. I gained 15 pounds during the three months between my consult and the surgery, going from 404 to 419 pounds. I guess you could say I had a good "Final Food Tour". About the only positive thing during this period was the ease with which my insurance company approved the surgery. I made one phone call, found out the policy was written to allow the surgery with a letter of recommendation from an in-network physician. I saw my Doctor, who much to my surprise mentioned the surgery before I could. Two days later I had the letter and approval. Even though I was schedule for surgery it was pretty scary and I considered not doing it. I had a distinct fear of not waking up from the surgery. During this period I did a lot of soul searching and read every patient story on the page at least twice. I was as low emotionally as I had ever been. I hated the way I looked and felt, and knew I would die in the near future without the surgery. I finally faced my demon (food) and realized I could eat myself to death or have the surgery and have a chance to live. I chose to have the surgery came to peace with the fact that I would never eat a large meal again as long as I lived. The night before my surgery, I slept great until 2:00 am. I got up to watch some TV and found a program about obesity! It showed the story of two people and how they lost weight. The man went to Duke University and enrolled in a 6-week program to teach him new behavior. The woman had a gastric bypass procedure. The woman did far better much faster and kept the weight off. The man was only part way to goal a year and a half later. I then knew I had made the right choice and was ready to have the surgery. Suzanne and my son, Sean took me to the hospital at 6:00 am. I went from pre-op to the operating room about 7:30 am. Doctor Oakley had said it should take about 3 hours to perform my operation. He gave about a 15 to 20 percent chance for minor to major complication to occur, but said he was confident I would sail right through. I didn’t want to move the date any further back, even though this was my son’s birthday, and hoped it would not be a day he would hate to remember forever. My last prayer before I went under was for him and my wife. The Anesthesiologist said I would be asleep in 30 seconds. I think I lasted 5 seconds. Immediately I heard a voice above me, "Mike, Mike, wake up buddy". I don’t remember much of the first two days because of the painkiller. Dr. Oakley told me I might have to have an open procedure with a midline incision because I had so much of my weight in my stomach. I spent 6 days in the hospital because of the midline incision; it is much harder to come back from than a lapriscopic procedure. The only complication I have had is the incision became infected in a couple of places and has taken a few weeks to heal. Inside everything went perfect. I have not had any problems at all and went from liquids to solid foods a week early. As most everyone says, the only regret I have is that I did not do it sooner! Current weight/BMI - 285/43 I just had my 5-month anniversary on Sept. 29th and have lost 135 pounds! I can’t believe how good I feel already, hard to imagine what I will feel like after another 100 pounds. My wife had a gastric bypass procedure about three months ago and has lost almost 50 pounds. We are getting our lives back more each day. My incision finally closed about 6 weeks ago. I finally went out and bought a syringe with no needle and gently irrigated the hole with hydrogen peroxide several times a day. After a few days it stopped leaking and healed. It was very frustrating and got to be depressing. But I still felt fortunate to have had no internal problems. Until then I had not been able to exercise like I wanted to, out of fear of opening it further. After it closed, Suzanne and I joined a local health club with our 12-year-old son, Sean. We also bought one month personal training sessions. We really wanted to learn how to use the equipment properly and maximize our exercise time. It has absolutely been one of the best things we have ever done. We go to the club at least three times a week. Between the warm up, work out, and cool down, I now ride the bike ten miles and work out for about an hour on the weights and machines. I sometimes use the treadmill and can walk a mile in about 22 minutes. We also swim and play racquetball. Before my surgery I could not walk a hundred yards or stand up for longer than about 3 or 4 minutes. The 44-inch jeans I bought about three weeks ago are almost too big. I started with a 58-inch waist. My BMI is now 43, down from 64 before surgery. I still do not have much of an appetite, and struggle to eat three meals a day. Fatty foods still tear me up badly. In fact as I write this I am paying with frequent trips to the rest room for having bratwurst for the Packer game on Monday night and leftovers the next day. I also watch the amount of carbs and sugar I eat. I eat a lot of turkey jerky from a local meat packer and also Odyssey protein bars from GNC. My regular doctor believes I will be off of my blood pressure medication within a few months. All in all I feel better than I have in 25 years and would do this again in a heartbeat. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions, I am glad to help if I can.
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