Baritric surgery? Do you know anyone who has had it? How long ago?

Hi

What do you guys think about the baritric surgery (Bypass)? Do you know anyone who has had it? How long ago?

 

If you mean bariatric surgery I saw a special on t.v. not too long ago on it and this surgery is very risky due to the side effects.

 

I was talking to my literary agent last month about the trouble she was having finding a publisher for the book Allen Ezell and I are doing on degree mills.*

As an example of how unpredictable the field of publishing is, she said her biggest sale so far this year was of a consumer book on stomach stapling. No, not a Klutz how-to-do-it book (with the stapler in a little mesh bag), but a book for surgeons -- which several publishers were bidding on, believing that the general public would want to know what surgeons are being told.
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*We finally have an offer, this week, from one of the 'big guys.' No, not Ten Speed. So it looks as if it will happen, which is quite a relief.

 

Dr Bear: Glad to hear it! Nothing better than a "Bear" to stem the swelling tide of blatherskite.

 

I assume this is the same as gastric by-pass surgery?

IMO, a very bad idea. A former colleague of mine (Detective Larry Celester of the Boston Police Department) died from complications from this very operation. He never even regained consciousness after the surgery, and died.

My sister-in-law is planning to do this, in spite of my vehement objections. This operation is fooling with nature, and it's not worth it, IMO.

 

I'm sorry to hear this terrible news. I recall that your book on degree mills is to be published posthumously, and was originally scheduled for 2034.

See end of the following message: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22john+bear%22+posthumous+degree+mills&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=39F723F1.9AC23B99%40ursa.net&rnum=2

 

Oxpecker: I'm sorry to hear this terrible news. I recall that your book on degree mills is to be published posthumously, and was originally scheduled for 2034.

John: No, no, it's OK. There are two separate books here. The new one is serious and will name lots of names, although not quite as many as I might wish.

The posthumous 2034 edition of Bears' Guide is where I get to tell about the things that I know about, but could not go to court with, such as . . .

What the president of one California-approved school hid when he learned that a high state official was on his way for a visit.

The president of a well-known school who added four names to the diploma-printing list, extracted the diplomas from the pile, and made a 'secret' visit to a midwestern city, where four wealthy foreign exchange students who had flunked out of their school desperately needed diplomas to bring home to their own country.

The regionally accredited university, desperate for funds, that sold a degree for $50,000.

The connection between a university president and a 'bottomless' club in San Francisco.

 

1) His jockey collection.

2) Beats me.

3) Beats me.

4) That would be John Bear.

 

In my role as a healthcare risk manager, I have educated myself on bariatric surgery, since many of my clients now offer it and we had to figure out how to best cover their malpractice exposure for this high-risk area of medicine.

Some selected patients get good results eventually. It is best reserved for the truly morbidly obese patient for whom obesity is threatening their life. Also important is to select a patient who can abide by the dietary restrictions for the rest of their life. Most patients who fail the procedure do so because they eventually discontinue the dietary restrictions.

Some of the procedures have truly significant side effects, that can either eventually resolve or persist for the remainder of your life. With the advances in technology, many contemporary procedures are now more reversible than previous, which can make it easier to alleviate some of the side effects.

Bariatric programs that get the best results include careful patient selection, to include evaluation by a psychologist, experienced surgeons, and long-term followup and behavioral health counseling.

Unfortunately, many surgeons and hospitals have seized upon this as a good way to make money, and they are not as diligent as they should be on the areas mentioned in the above paragraph. A particular area of concern is offering the surgery to those who are not truly morbidly obese or have other comorbidities.

And finally, any bariatric surgery can be clinically risky, some procedures far more than others, and many patients eventually have the surgery reversed, for clinical or lifestyle reasons.

But many patients praise the surgery for saving their life.

Regards,

Michael Lloyd
Mill Creek, Washington USA

 

The company I work for offers health insurance that pays for this surgery. So, there are a lot of thin people in my office. I've known several people who have had this surgery and only one has had problems with it. This person no longer knows when she needs to urinate so she has to remind herself several times a day to "go." Also, she had a lot of trouble with holding food down for a long time after the surgery and was constantly throwing up. I would advise checking into various surgeons and if possible, join a discussion forum the specializes in this surgery. Usually, there is a wealth of good information that can be obtained from these forums.

 

You may wish to check out http://www.obesityhelp.com for information on WLS. Also, do searches on google for weight loss surgery, bariatric surgery, ect. You will find lots of page. Many people put their experiences online. There are major risks to this surgery as in any other. You must be prepared though to change your lifestyle if you do not then the surgery will not be successful in the long run. At the above site you can ask all sorts of questions and read profiles of thousands that have had the surgery. I wish you luck and urge you to think long and hard about any decision to proceed.

 

Over a year ago, I had Gallbladder surgery and everytime I would visit my surgeon's office for a follow up, I was surrounded by severely and morbidly obese people (I was really skinny compared to them). While waiting in the office one day, a few of these individuals were speaking about my surgeon and how he was the best at what he "does" it turned out that he did gastric bypass surgeries on individuals, and specialized in laparoscopic bariatric surgery! He charged $35,000 a pop for each (unless the insurance covered it). I have to say that he is a very good surgeon and I had no problems with my surgery since.


You can find his website here:


www.stopobesityforlife.com

 

I have an associate of mine, who is also a DL student, who had a gastric bypass procedure (sorry, I can't remember the specific type, or if it was done in the new larparoscopic manner) in the spring. To prepare for it, he was required to eat like he would after the operation to be totally sure that he could cope with the lifestyle changes. I'm happy to report that he's doing very well so far.

For him the risks of not having the operation more than exceeded those of having the operation. This is not a decision to be taken without much research on the part of both the patient and the surgeon involved. Family members should be consulted as well, in order to gauge their opinion, and their willingness to offer support to the patient after any operation is undertaken.