Some anxious moments as Judy Oliver and her husband wait for the surgery that will hopefully change life as she knows it.
"Well I wanted to be sure that I could be with my grandchildren and keep working and be active and I didn't feel like I was able to do the things my body wanted to do."
Judy felt that by losing at least 100 pounds she would be able to accomplish that. So she educated herself and found there were three options gastric bypass, a restrictive surgery that makes the stomach smaller and bypasses the small intestine and the majority of the stomach.
A lap band, a noose that restricts the size of the stomach and a gastric sleeve. The sleeve is an operation that has been designed to cut about 75 percent of the stomach out. You go in and use staplers and sealing device to cut a portion of the stomach out so instead of the stomach being round and globular now it is a banana shaped or sleeve shaped stomach.
The gastric sleeve is fast becoming the surgery of choice for those hoping to lose 100 pounds or more. The procedure takes approximately one hour and recovery is quick. Judy should be back to work within a week.
Unlike the lap band the patient will not be tied to a doctor after receiving this surgery. "So people like it now because it's one operation, you don't have to have adjustments, you don't have to have a foreign body and the weight loss is greater."
Dr. Hormuz Irani has performed 40 to 50 gastric sleeve operation over the last nine months. The average patient has seen a 65 to 75 percent weight loss over a two year period.
There are some risk factors including problems with anesthesia, bleeding and leakage but the problems are rare somewhere around 3 to five percent.
