Qualifying for a gastric bypass is not as difficult as some would lead you to believe  and you certainly don’t have to be terminally obese to qualify for it. On the other hand it is not as simple as just consulting with a physician and requesting one for it is only for those that are morbidly obese or super obese and even then you may not qualify. There are several guidelines that limit the administering of a gastric bypass procedure to someone. Some of the more common things that restrict any prospective recipient of the procedure are the following: the patient must have been obese for more than five years; the patient must not have a history of alcoholism and psychological disorders.

With gastric bypass surgery there are age restrictions. Commonly the person should not be younger than eighteen years of age or older than sixty-five years old. Even age requirements are changing all the time and do differ among surgical centers, physicians and your physical health, as an example, I was one week short of my 67^th birthday when I underwent gastric bypass surgery.

Most surgical centers and surgeons also require that you have exhausted all other weight-loss measures for yourself. You go under a psychological examination to make sure you are a good candidate for the procedure. You will also undergo a thorough physical not only to determine if you have qualifying conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea or high blood pressure but also to make sure that you can handle the surgery for gastric bypass is still a major operation and cannot be taken lightly.

If you do pass all of these tests and have either the insurance coverage or money to cover the surgery you will usually be set up for the procedure. The good news is that many insurance companies along with Medicare do cover much of the cost of gastric bypass surgery for qualified patients.

Here’s a simple explanation of gastric bypass surgery: Gastric bypass surgery is essentially, having your stomach capacity lessened and making your digestive tract skip a part of your small intestine. The procedure creates a small pouch in the upper part of your stomach, usually via surgical staples or a plastic band. This stomach pouch is usually small – it can get to the size a walnut for some procedures. After this pouch is created, the middle of your small intestine, the jejunum, is connected to it. This means your food will skip the main part of your stomach and your duodenum, the upper portion of your small intestine. The result is lower stomach capacity and a lower calorie intake. You will be able to satisfy your appetite more quickly and have fewer calories inside your system, creating a consistent and quick weight loss for you until your body has adapted to it. Over time you will find yourself starting to eat larger amounts than when you first had the surgery so you must continue to be careful for even with surgery you can gain your weight back.

It may sound easy but still it’s a long road after a gastric bypass. After about a four-hour operation you will be under observation for the next few days, while being limited to liquids only so that your stomach can heal. Some people stay in the hospital for up to a week after surgery. My stay was 2 days and 4 days later on my 67^th birthday I was already walking over a mile.

Following surgery you will spend the next several weeks on liquids and soft protein foods. As your new pouch gets use to the strain you will progress to more solid food. The length of time nor the prescribed diet will not be the same for all. You will also be taking many additional vitamins and nutrients for life.

Some individuals will continue to experience side-effects for their whole life. You must still continue to exercise for lower energy intake can be detrimental to your health. Over-eating or eating the wrong foods can cause you to vomit or feel great pain. Gastric bypass is a great tool but not the best tool for all. As a gastric bypass surgery patient that is happy they had the surgery I do here stories of those that are sorry they had it and some say that they would go with the gastric band if they were to do it over. Each and every person considering any type of weight loss surgery should first try diet and exercise, and gastric bypass surgery should be a last resort for anyone who’s suffering from obesity.

For me, I am a person that states it like it is. I am fat in fact I am morbidly fat at my present weight of nearly 300 pounds. Like it or not, after we gain enough weight we are morbidly obese and while obesity may be reversible it can be difficult to permanently reverse and is a killer. Terminal obesity is not a label that is routinely used by the medical profession or insurance companies. Terminal obesity and mortal obesity are statements of fact. While obesity itself does not generally kill us it does result in a shortened life span. Those of us that are obese are more prone to diabetes, heart disease and even cancer among other diseases that kill.

Speaking for myself, I am fat and want to live. I do not smoke, drink excessively, live or drive recklessly. Unfortunately I have not consistently respected my body and have spent my life gaining, loosing and gaining weight back. Most of my life I have been morbidly obese even though I have had periods where I was of normal weight. I lost my wife to diabetes and many family members to heart disease. I want to live a long life and if the shock value in morbid obesity, mortal obesity or terminal obesity describes what I am or can end up being, so be it. In the mean time I will continue to fight what I call the “Obesity Demon” and do something about once again bringing my weight under control and not dwell on what someone else may have labeled me.

A second lady that was at the show weight about 450 pounds. She wanted a gastric bypass but the insurance company would not cover it. She spoke of how difficult it was for her to go out in public as people stared at her and laughed. Her knees had given out on her and she need surgery on them but that could not be performed until she got under 200 pounds.

A third lady had weighed over 850 pound and had so far lost about 500 pounds. She spoke of how she had to be weighed at a truck scale, as she started to loose weight she was able to go to the hospital where they weighed her on the scale they used to weigh people in wheel chairs in. She spoke of her thrill the day she went to the doctor and they were able to weigh her on the regular scale at the doctors. This lady was at the show to offer her encouragement to the other ladies not only that day but on an ongoing basis.

A follow up was shown and the first lady had lost over 450 pounds and was now home. The second lady was doing better but still waiting for surgery. The third lady had been keeping in touch.

1/10/2001

Here I was, possibly suffering a hear attack and I was embarrassed because I had to stop before completing my job and was leaving the job in an ambulance. Embarrassment was an idiotic reaction under the circumstances but that is what I felt. Within minutes medics from the fire department arrived and were giving me oxygen and treating me. Within a few more minutes an ambulance crew arrived. On the way to the hospital the medics on the ambulance were finding symptoms that indicated to them that I had experienced a heart attack and were treating me as they could.

Arriving at emergency I was immediately moved into a room and test were started. This came as a big surprise to me for a few months later I had driven my wife to emergency as I felt she had experienced a stroked and it took them two hours to see her. What I learned from this, if you think you have an emergency call 911.

At emergency an EKG was performed, blood test taken, a chest x-ray was made, constant monitoring, nitroglycerin patch applied. The testing went on for an hour or so and the doctor stated that I did not have pneumonia and that they had not found any positive indications of a heart attack. I have a hyatal hernia and the doctors stated that they thought I was experiencing a gastric reaction but they were going to keep me overnight for more testing and monitoring.

I was moved into a hospital room. I asked the nurse to bring me some pajama bottoms and she brought 3 pair but none were large enough to go around my waist. A bit later I called home to speak with my wife Lynda. Lynda had been hospitalized recently for a stroke and they had inserted a catheter as she was confined to the bed and could not get up to use the bathroom. Lynda asked me if I had been castrated? Now I knew that this was a slip of the tongue and she meant catheter, but I still kept my legs crossed the rest of the night.

During the night I require oxygen off and on. A 24-hour monitor was attached to me, A variety of heart test were performed that night. They also rolled a huge scale into the room to take my weight (301.1 pounds) Three hundred and one was bad enough, why did they need that point one?

The next morning I saw a doctor who stated that all of my test for heart problems had been negative but they were going to perform an echo-ultrasound and if that was negative a treadmill test. The echo was negative and I was taken downstairs for the treadmill test. Now this test is embarrassing in itself. Here I am a bloated whale with globs of fat hanging around my midsection. Wires are hooked up to me and I am gasping like the totally out of shape person I was. Still, I was going to do my best to hit the maximum on the treadmill, as I don’t quit easily. Huffing and puffing through this test I keep saying continue. Finally the doctor tells the technician to stop the test. The doctor then says to me, “You looked down and when someone looks down I figure they are about to get off so I stop the test.” While I was tired I was disappointed as I felt I could have gone a bit longer even if it killed me. The doctor informed me that he had stopped the test at 86% of a normal heart range and he saw no indication of a heart problem.

Back in my room my doctor comes in and informs me that I don’t have a heart problem at this time but if I don’t do something about my weight and exercise he can not guarantee that I wont. I was told that I could go home. The nurse removed the i.v. from my arm and left the room. He had not removed the heart monitor so I figured no problem I will remove it myself. Just as I took it off the nurse enters back into the room and says what have you done they will think you died. I said what do you mean, wasn’t the monitor turned off? No he replies as he runs out of the room to inform them that it was all a mistake and I was still alive. When the nurse returned to the room I asked why they had not ran into the room to try and save my life. The nurse replies, “Sometimes they fall asleep at the controls.” While I hope that he was kidding, I certainly don’t want to find out at some later date.

This was my wake up call. I had been given a scary and expensive warning. I had suffered embarrassment at the clients, my wife had asked if I had been castrated, I had exposed my flabby fat for all to see, and had flat lined (accidentally thank you). I do not want to face these experiences again and the best odds I have are to get and keep the pounds off and get some exercise. My doctors and many others had warned me but it took hitting close to bottom. Bottom is six feet under and I do not want to hit it.

My wake up call was also a wake up call to my wife. Lynda has a lot of problems of her own and was in and out of the hospital twice this past year. Even so, she had difficulty controlling what she ate and drank even when I would try to control what I ate. These changed things, we were both on a diet now realizing that if we want to reverse any terminally it would have to be now.

Back home we started our diet. We also gave up coffee, which for me was difficult, as I looked forward to its jolt. The doctors had previously encouraged me to give up coffee as they felt that it was contributing to my prostate problems, high blood pressure and hiatal hernia problems. Withdrawal was not as bad as I had figured it would. While we did switch to decaffeinated coffee I was still getting some caffeine through ice tea and an occasional diet soda.

01/06/2001