Gastric Bypass Surgery News Links

Lumberton, NC

Bernice Wilson sits in a hospital bed, listing the names of the diets and pills she’s tried in attempts to lose weight over the years.

The words trip off her tongue as though she’s naming her children: Slimfast; Weight Watchers; Atkins; South Beach; D-12; Adipex; Phen-Phen; Xenacal.

She’s sure there are more, but she can’t remember them all.

Now she’s trying something else — the laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding procedure, or lap-band — in which a band is wrapped around the upper part of her stomach to control the amount of food she can eat.

Wilson, who is 54, was the first person to undergo the procedure at Southeastern Regional Medical Center on Aug. 15.

Dr. Barry Williamson, who performed the laparoscopic surgery, said 30 patients are already lined up to receive it. He expects to do about three surgeries a week, or more than 150 a year.

The surgery is not cheap. At Southeastern Regional, lap-band costs between $15,000 and $20,000, depending on the length of hospital stay and other factors. It also doesn’t include the surgeon’s fees, said Faith Ferguson, bariatric program coordinator at the hospital.

Weight-loss surgeries, such as gastric bypass and gastropexy, can cost $30,000 or more in the United States. In some cases, insurance will pay for a portion. Medicare will pay when a hospital has been approved as a Bariatric Center of Excellence, Ferguson said.

Being obese can be even more costly.

Williamson estimated that it costs about $18,000 a year, per person, in doctor and hospital visits, diet plans and dining out, as well as the side effects from diabetes such as long-term dialysis resulting from kidney failure.

Fresh start

For Wilson, health concerns were only part of the reason she decided to have the procedure.

Mostly, she just wants a fresh start — a chance to try for a better life.

Wilson has been overweight for more than 30 years, since she had her twins. As she’s gotten older, it has been harder to lose weight, she said.

“When you hit your 40s and 50s, man, this stuff is like glue,” she said.

The excess weight has caused health problems such as high blood pressure. Wilson said she worries about developing diabetes like her grandmother, who eventually went blind after her kidneys failed.

“I want to get off the blood pressure pills,” Wilson said. “Stuff really hides in this fat — diseases, illnesses.”

But she also wants to lose weight and experience the little things about life that she quit enjoying years ago.

“I want to walk up steps and not be out of breath,” she said. “I just hope I keep losing forever and ever. As long as I’m maintaining that healthy weight, I’ll be satisfied.”
Staff writer Jennifer Calhoun can be reached at calhounj@fayobserver.com or 486-3595.