Change your life with weight loss surgery
At the Northwest Houston Surgical Association, there's a reason that in addition to offering minimally invasive and robotic general surgeries we chose to focus on providing minimally invasive bariatric surgery. That's because whether it's a gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, LAP-BAND or duodenal switch that our patients undergo, we know these minimally invasive weight loss surgeries change lives. We are privileged to be able to help the men and women of Houston, TX and Cypress, TX reclaim the healthy, happy and active lives they're meant to be living.
A wide variety of bariatric surgery patients
The people who come into our offices to talk about pursuing weight loss surgery come from all walks of life. They all have different lifestyles, different goals, and different reasons for wanting the freedom that comes from weight loss surgery. This next video provides an excellent look at the variety of people who benefit from bariatric surgery. It tells the stories of a Stanford Hospital nurse, a Navy veteran and a former NFL football player who are all living their best lives thanks to their decision to seek medical treatment for obesity.
Weight gain as a side effect
Some of you out there will relate to Teresa, a nurse at Stanford Hospital. At the age of 40 she decided she wanted to have a child. She began taking fertility medication to achieve this, and gave birth to a beautiful son. However, it wasn't all good news as the fertility medication and ensuing pregnancy caused Teresa to gain weight, and she found herself unable to get rid of it.
Like so many people, including so many people around us in Cypress TX and Houston TX, Teresa didn't want to admit to herself or anyone else how heavy she had gotten, nor did she want to admit that she couldn't get her weight under control by herself. This is so common. The reason weight loss surgery exists is because obesity is so difficult to treat. Teresa underwent a physical and because she is a nurse, she was able to recognize that she was on the path to diabetes, high blood pressure, and congestive heart failure. She risked not being able to see her son grow up, the one she'd wanted so badly. That's when she decided to make a change.
Weight gain following a change in lifestyle
Elliot is a US Navy veteran who served our country for most of his young adult life. He was active, used to strenuous workouts and healthy meals. However, after he left the service his lifestyle changed dramatically. He sank into a depression, stopped exercising and stopped taking care of himself. Within five years of leaving the service he went from weighing 180 lbs to 300 lbs. Elliot also suffered from sleep apnea and diabetes.
Jamie Dukes is no stranger to what a change in lifestyle can do to a person's health. Jamie played in the National Football League for ten years, playing center for the Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons. As a professional football player, Jamie worked out 7 hours a day. In order to stay strong and healthy with that level of training, Jamie became used to consuming 3000-4000 calories per meal. When he retired from football, the exercise went down to one hour per day, but the food consumption stayed the same.
The realization that a person needs to make changes in their lives can come from a variety of places. In Jamie's case, fellow football retiree Reggie White died of a cardiac event. This was Jamie's wake up call. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving behind his wife and children.
Happy endings
""If you have a headache, what do you do?"" says Jamie Dukes. ""You take an aspirin. Weight loss surgery is just a procedure to get you where you need to be.""
Truer words have never been spoken. Teresa, Elliot and Jamie all underwent bariatric surgery and are all living healthy, happy and active lives with their loved ones.