billblough
Hello all,
My name is Bill Blough I am now a 55 year old man with a very normal life. I think I owe it to my choice to have bariatric surgery.
Let me start at the beginning. (June 24, 2003) My present weight is 434 pounds, I am 5'-11" tall and have had a heart attack, I have
asthma, low thyroid, edema of the lower extremeties, copd, diabetes and several others that I now can't remember. I am on 12
medications a day.
I decided to check into weight loss surgery after my pulmonologist told me that unless I lost weight that I would continue to
deteriorate in health until my body just gave up. Getting to the mail box and back to the house was a major task for me. The
majority of my life was spent sleeping. I slept usuallly 18 hours a day.
I went on this site to investigate gastric bypass surgery and looked up the doctors in my area that performed the surgery.
It took me about a year to complete my homework on what I needed to know and decided to have Dr. Michael Butler do
my procedure. That is when the nightmare started. The nightmare was not with the Doctor, it was with the insurance
company. I finally decided to pay for the surgery myself and to forget about the insurance company, I finally realized that
they did not care if I lived or died, they only cared about the money that they would have to pay out.
The surgery went well and my recovery was slow but complete.
I am now 175 pounds as of June 24, 2007. I have lost a total of 248 pounds. It is my true feeling that if I would not have had
the surgery that I would not be living right now. I thank Dr. Butler and Palms of Pasadena Hospital for my good forturne.
I no longer have any of the problems that I had before surgery. My other Doctors are amazed.
June 25, 2008: It has now been 5 years since my surgery. I went to my PCP last week and weighed in at 162 pounds. He asked me not to lose any more weight, he would like to see me at 170 pounds. Do you know how long it has been since I have not been told I need to lose weight. ( Close to 40 years)
If I had plastic surgery I would be even less. Maybe I don't need to lose any more.
I have had problems with food and have had to limit my choice of foods and have just started being able to eat bread again.
I would still do it all over again if I had to.
Nov. 7, 2009: It has been about 6-1/2 years since my surgery. I went to my pcp and weighed in at 129 pounds. He is worried and wants me to see a surgeon to have my procedure revised. My band has eroded and has caused a blockage. According to the assistant surgeon that did my surgery I have a dilated esophagus and delayed emptying of the pouch. I asked him about the size of the opening from the pouch into my stomach and he said 5mm or less.
His idea is to remove my silastic band and to dilate the restriction and install a larger silastic band.
I know I need to be heavier but I am also afraid of regaining my weight.
Nov. 20, 2008 I went to a different surgeon today and have decided to have surgery at Tampa General Hospital. Dr. Gallagher will be my surgeon. He suggests we remove the Silastic banded gastorplasty and proceed with the original idea of the RNY gastric by-pass. It will be a 4.5 to 5 hr. procedure and he said to expect a 7 day stay in the hospital. I am now down to 126 pounds. My pcp wants this done ASAP. I just worry that insurance won't cover it, AGAIN.