Testimonial Robotic Gastric Bypass

Tom Cocran had a robotic gastric bypass operation 4 months ago. He is 6 ft 4 inches tall and weighed 356 lbs. He lost 60 lbs in the Fresh Start Bariatrics program prior to surgery. He has now lost a total of 114 lbs. He no longer has type 2 diabetes with a normal HbA1c. He is no longer on diabetic or blood pressure medicine. He also no longer is on his CPAP machine for sleep apnea.

Tom shared this at the Fresh Start Seminar on April 16, 2011.

Testimonial Robotic Gastric Bypass

Chest Pain after Gastric Sleeve Operations

Heather explains symptoms of chest pressure just 6 weeks after her gastric sleeve operation.

Testimonial After Gastric Bypass

Jennifer Albalakousy has lost 96 lbs just 8 months after her laparoscopic gastric bypass operation and now wieghs just 175 lbs!

She has two children, Zahn who is two years old and Mazin who is five. "I can now keep up with them and play outside with them. We recently went ot Disney World and I had no feelings that I am too large to ride the rides. I would not have been able to do this before because I was too embarassed.

Congradulations! You should be very pleased with what you have accomplished and it has been great to see how supportive your husband has been throughout this process.

Bariatric Surgery and Kidney Stones

Stephen Vijan, MD, Urologist

I was sitting at the nursing station at Riverside Methodist Hospital today after making rounds on my patients and noticed Stephen Vijan, MD, a urologist, sitting next to me writing a progress note on one of his patients who was on the same nursing floor. I told him I had noticed that not infrequently my bariatric surgery patients have kidney stones in the first year after their operation but I rarely heard about kidney stones thereafter. He thought it was probably because of 2 reasons:


1). They may have more difficulty drinking as much as they should for a few weeks or months after a bariatric operation.

2). They are probably breaking down muscle as well as fat as they lose weight rapidly. Breaking down muscle increases the amount of uric acid in there blood steam and in the urine as it is cleared from their system. Increased uric acid in the urine is known to increase both uric acid stones and more importantly it increases the development of calcium oxalate stones which are the more frequent type of kidney stones.

Dr. Vijan went on to give 5 suggestions for my patients to help prevent kidney stones:

1). Drink as much as possible up to 2 to 2.5 liters. (I am fully aware that this is not possible early after bariatric surgery but do your best.)

2). Take the recommended calcium citrate with meals. This way the calcium will bind the oxalate keeping it in the intestine and away from the urine. Also, the citrate in the calcium citrate will be excreted in the urine and will decrease the acid milieu in the urine making it more difficult for kidney stones to form.

3). When possible avoid oxalate rich foods. This includes cranberry juice, nuts, chocolate, and colas.

4). Be careful not to take too many dairy products such as milk and cheese as they can contain too much protein. (Of course we wnat you to take 60 grams of protein a day for women and 75 grams of protein daily for men. Early on this is challenging and your first priority after keeping hydrated.)

5). Finally, taking other citrate products can help. He suggested that Theralith pills. This is medicine you can order over the internet from Therologics.

A water pill like hydrochlorothiazide can help but since it is likely to cause dehydration in our bariatric patients I would not advise this medicine for most patients.

Dr. Vijan agrees that this problem is likely to be temporary and will not continue to be at risk for kidney stones after they are able to drink 2 to 2.5 liters of liquid a day and after they have lost most of their weight.

Many thanks to Dr. Vijan for taking the time to explain this to me. I am sure it will help many bariatric surgery patients from all over the world.

Testimonial after gastric bypass-Christina Dillman

Before her laparoscopic gastric bypass Chistina Dillman She felt out of control and had difficulty taking nature walks with her students. Now since she has lost 128 lbs she feels much better about herself and she is the one that starts the day by exercising for 10 minutes with her preschoolers!
Shopping is fun again since she has dropped from a 5X to sizes 18 or 20.

She is much happier and her children have lost weight too since mom is making healthier choices.

Great job Christina. You deserve many fun days shopping!