Bariatric
Surgery Program
Patient Success Story
Feeling Free:
One woman’s weight-loss surgery
success story
Lisa Jacobsen, of Potomac, Maryland, used to have diabetes,
high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She also used to weigh 280
pounds.
“As
I approached age 50, my life expectancy was estimated to be only five
more years,” Jacobsen says. “I knew I needed to do something
drastic.”
That “something drastic” was something life-changing:
weight-loss surgery. “For Lisa, the risks from her diabetes, poorly
controlled high blood pressure and high cholesterol far outweighed
the risk from the weight-loss surgery,” says Jacobsen’s surgeon,
Brian M. Cantor, MD, medical director, Bariatric Surgery Program, Holy
Cross Hospital.
This information convinced Jacobsen, and she had
gastric bypass surgery on July 17, 2006. Today at age 52, Jacobsen has
maintained her weight at 135 pounds, wears a size 4 and has none of
her previous health conditions. “The only pills I take are vitamins,” she
says.
A surgical solution
Weight-loss
surgeons at Holy Cross Hospital specialize in minimally invasive
laparoscopic surgery, which means they make only small incisions
and use specialized instruments via these incisions to perform surgery.
This approach results in less pain, a shorter recovery period and
fewer complications than a patient might experience in traditional surgery,
which requires larger incisions.
Our bariatric surgeons perform the
two following weight-loss surgeries:
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
surgery creates a shortcut around the portion of the small
intestine to bypass the nutrient-absorbing area. This surgery helps
in two ways. First it restricts the amount of food that the patient
can eat. Second, it alters the patient’s ability to digest food.
- Laparoscopic adjustable
gastric band surgery involves implanting an adjustable gastric band
that reduces stomach capacity without stapling the stomach or changing
normal digestion. The band is filled with saline on its inner surface
to create a new, smaller stomach pouch that can hold only a small
amount of food. Saline may be removed from the ring to increase the
size of the stomach. Weight-loss surgery patients may lose a large
amount of weight quickly after surgery. For about half of the patients,
the rapid weight loss results in excess abdominal skin. These patients
may be candidates for body-contouring plastic surgery to remove the
extra skin.
Around-the-clock expertise
Surgeons at Holy Cross Hospital
have been performing weight-loss surgery since 1988 and perform more
weight-loss surgical procedures than any other hospital in Montgomery
or Prince George’s counties. Clinical evidence
shows the most experienced and best-run bariatric surgery programs
have by far the best outcomes.
“Our program provides comprehensive
support and education before, during and after surgery, including
support groups and exercise programs,” Dr. Cantor says. All of
the laparoscopic bariatric surgeons at Holy Cross Hospital meet the
qualifications set forth by the American Society for Metabolic and
Bariatric Surgery. And the hospital has more than 20 years experience
helping bariatric patients with an outstanding team of cardiologists,
anesthesiologists, pulmonologists, gastroenterologists, interventional
radiologists and nutritionists.
“The
most important aspect of an excellent bariatric program is the staff
and its experience,” Dr.
Cantor says. “Our staff and their collective experience are phenomenal.”
Physician
assistants work hand-in-hand with bariatric surgeons during and after
surgery. They are available 24 hours a day to help make each patient’s
hospital stay as smooth and comfortable as possible.
Continuous support
For Jacobsen, the support groups at Holy Cross
Hospital were an invaluable resource. “At the pre-operation group, I learned
all about the surgery, but the post-operation group was very beneficial
to me,” Jacobsen
says. “I needed to hear from folks who had the surgery what life
was like afterward.”
“The folks in the support group are
a true inspiration and have taught me that if you are totally committed
to the program and changing your life, you will be a weight-loss
success,” Jacobsen
says. “When you wear a size 2X, you don’t feel like dancing
at a wedding. Now I participate in life without being self-conscious.”
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