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Surgeon Testimonial

Adrian J. Heap M.D.,F.A.C.S.,F.R.C.S.(C)
The following statements are MY OPINION based on my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Don't sue me because my outcome was complication free.

My initial interest in Dr. Heaps' procedure was the line on his website describing the "magnificient eating quality" of his post-op patients. Having seen friends suffer from dumping syndrome and gas after other types of bariatric surgery, I was motivated to find out more.

During the surgical consultation, Dr. Heap answered my questions thoroughly and without hesitation. After I finished, he began taking my medical history without judgement. He eventually said "you are a good candidate for this surgery and I will be happy to help you. I think you will do beautifully." About that time, a five-day-post-op patient came in to have her drain removed. Dr. Heap invited her into my room, and allowed me to ask her any questions, which I did without restraint. Since she looked almost NORMAL I asked if her result was typical. He assured me she was quite normal, and I could expect to do just as well. I felt reassured and confident in my choice of surgeon and procedure.

Joetta, Dr. H's sole office assistant, is a dynamo! She has always followed through on my requests for faxed info, and is a perfectly delightful woman to deal with. By the time I made my first appearance in the office, I felt I was meeting a friend.

What I like the least about Dr. Heap is he is a smoker. I understand having a habit that is hard to break and is life-threatening. I ate myself into diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea, for goodness sake. I can only hope he is one of those people who lives to 110 and smokes a pack a day with no ill effects. His accent is not hard to understand, but pay special attention to end of sentances, where he runs the last five words together into one. =D

If you are considering a Dr. Heap's Mini Switch, read about it, know your stuff. Understand the changes that will happen your body, KNOW THE RISKS and if you have any reservations, go on another diet. This choice HAS to be all you, you make the decision, you decide to accept all the risks. Be the best patient you can, follow the rules, take your vitamins, drink your water. Part of a good outcome depends on YOU. (Can I say that any other way? =D )

Because it IS all you, you are responsible for making sure your aftercare is in place.

Risks of surgery: Here is a cut and paste from a letter to a friend:
~~~~~~~~~~~start~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, I have a minute to address dying. =D It is something to think about. Dr. Heaps' statistics are about 1 in a thousand, typically it is 1 in 200. To keep from kidding myself about the seriousness of the procedure, I adopted 1 in 200 as my odds. When I asked Dr. Heap if he had any advance notice, if he could TELL if a person was not going to make it, he became very introspective. He remembered in a musing sort of way every patient, every detail, and exactly what happened. It seemed to me that he had mulled over each event, analyzing them, and I think they still bothered him. He sorta won my heart at that point. He cares SO much. I knew that whatever happened to me, it would not be caused by his lack of skill, or efforts to save me. But sometimes stuff JUST happens...freaky, unexpected, horrible outcomes from surgery. I can say in way of being positive, that even with my heart condition, diabetic condition, and my surprise sleep apnea discovery, my vital signs did not even blip out of normal even once during surgery, but you have to weigh it all yourself and decide what kind of risk you are willing to face. My health made it easier for me to decide.

~~~~~~end cut and paste~~~~~~~

Dr. Heap took his knowledge, his 35 years of experience, his competency and skill and developed a procedure unlike any other, which negates dumping syndrome and other unhappy side effects of other bariatric surgeries ... Personally, I have to give the Doc a 10. He figured out a way to do it better ... didn't accept the status quo. I think that takes bravery, brilliance and skill.

I found his surgical competence to be excellent. As for bedside manner, he is brisk, thorough, but very compassionate and positive. He is a unique person practicing a unique surgery with a unique personality.

Member Interests
  • Fish - Koi pond, water garden. 4,500 gallons, so therapeutic!
  • Dogs - Have a sharpei mix, Maris, from barksrus.org, rescue site.
  • Motorcycles - My bike is a vintage 1978 Hondamatic Hawk. DH drives Yamaha.
  • Adoption - Was YOUR mom's name Conna? Email me.
  • Bicycling - Hubby's dream: bike race. Now I won't be in the chase car.
  • Dancing - Can't wait to be light enough to take dance lessons!
  • Movies - Fav: Cyrano d'Berjerac, Hunt for Red October, Interpreter
  • Christianity - Saved the best for last!
  • Jewely Making - Beadbaker.com, lampwork, finished jewelry. Teach classes.
  • House Boats - Someday, after lotto win, I'll have a houseboat. =D

Latest Surgery Support Comments

  • Comment by N::: A:::N:::O on 10/24/05 10:06 am
    ************** vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv ***I FARTED!!*** ^^^^^^^^^^^ ************** My surgery happened so fast, here is a bit of the back story. Since child number 2, I've had a weight struggle, and a passing relationship with every diet imaginable. A friend had WLS (weight loss surgery) and I felt sorry for her, because I was doing Adkins, had lost 66 pounds, and I was doing it the RIGHT way. (Oh, smug me!) I plateued for about 18 months on Adkins, and then started gaining, and then gave up. My WLS friend looked great. I gained back all but 15 pounds, felt horrible, and when I started checking my blood sugar, knew I was in trouble. Unable to achieve normal readings despite good diet and meds, I KNEW the next step was insulin, kidney damage, congestive heart failure, blah blah blah. All bad stuff. While searching for information on reversing type 2 diabetes, I found information on Lap band surgery done in Mexico. For cheap. Talked to Wally about it, and he was not dismissive, but worried about Mexico, and all the maintenance that happens with lapband surgery. I kept investigating and found a surgeon in a nearby town that does a modified vertical banded gastroplasty. After talking with the office, I felt that I had found a tool to give me another chance at a normal life span. It all came together SO fast. The money to do it, an opening, the time off work ... From the OK, let's do it till surgery date was five days. I was okay with that. =D My recovery has been miraculous. I can't even believe I had major surgery last week. The second day was the most painful, and I have been improving and gaining energy every minute since. I know that is because of the power of prayer and Jesus intervening and intercessing for me. I am so blessed. I have praying friends, and a merciful God. I'm keeping a food, meds, and weight diary. Today, five days post-op, I've lost 13 pounds. Someof that is excess stomach and intestines removed in surgery. Doc said I was built like a wrestler inside. .. massive stomach and yards and yards of intestine. He said I would never have lost weight any other way. My incision looks beautiful, and I drank two swallows in a row with no adverse effects. I feel like I could go back to work right now, except I am quite loaded from the hydrocodone. I take about half the prescribed dose, and am perfectly comfortable. I can breathe so easily, this is just ... a miracle. Thank you ALL for your support, prayers, and the benefit of your experience. =D
  • Comment by N::: A:::N:::O on 10/22/05 4:55 pm
    Hey you guys, surgery went perfectly. Dr. Heap and the entire staff at KGH were caring and professional. Got an acid-reflux fix as a bonus. I'm still heavily pain medicated, but so happy that my lifespan will soon be that of a "normal" person. It has been four days, and no gas or BM. I expect that WILL happen. When did you guys finally foof?
Click here for the surgery support page

Hello!!  Since child number two, I've had a weight struggle, and a passing relationship with every diet imaginable. While searching for information on reversing type 2 diabetes, links to WLS kept popping up. I investigated and found a surgeon in a nearby town that does a modified vertical sleeve gastroplasty called the "Mini Switch**". After talking with the office, I felt that I had found a tool to give me another chance at a normal life span.Today I am off all meds for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, off a beta blocker for my heart, off all meds for diabetes ... it is a MIRACLE. I've lost 137 pounds, and God willing, will enjoy my new-found energy and zest for life for as long as He wants me here on earth. =D  **Mini Switch:  It is a vertical sleeve gastroplasty, with small bowel resection, omenectomy (fat pads around lungs, liver, are removed), and silastic ring placement. The ring is a little less than quarter-sized ...  looks like a curtain ring ... and is sewn inside the lower third of the esophagus. It prevents gulping of food. Because of the small bowel resection, I think my stomach could handle 3.5 oz. of food from the start.

My Story

B E F O R E  Morbidly Obese, BMI 44    
A F T E R Normal, BMI 24.9
    

Here are my first few posts here about the first few days post-op


10/17 06:35 AM

Hello and good morning. I'm starting out this a.m. at 270. I'm on meds for blood sugar, high blood pressure, fluid retention, a beta blocker, a seratonin reuptake inhibitor. Am looking forward to perhaps NOT taking those every day. Seems impossible. =D Woke up this am with an infected ear piercing, I think. I'm SCARED that might put off my surgery date! Dang. What do you think?? Looking forward to my first support group meeting. I've talked to Vicki by phone and am awed by her success. See you guys soon!



10/18 05:52 AM

Today at 11:30 my hubby and I will leave for Richland. I've been packed for three days,with a costco 24-pack of Glucerna chocolate shakes. I think I will repack, because I think with the final stomach capacity, one shake will last me all day. =D 2:00 is meeting with Dr. Heap, then to KGH for preadmission stuff. TOMORROW at 7:00-ish I'll have a VSG. After doing some calculations, I see that losing 65% of my excess weight will result in an end weight of 180 pounds. Higher than I had hoped, just out of vanity (hey, who knew I had any left??), but out of the morbid category, which this is all about really. =D


10/22 04:55 PM

Hey you guys, surgery went perfectly. Dr. Heap and the entire staff at KGH were caring and professional. Got an acid-reflux fix as a bonus. I'm still heavily pain medicated, but so happy that my lifespan will soon be that of a "normal" person. It has been four days, and no gas or BM. I expect that WILL happen. When did you guys finally foof?


10/23 02:49 PM

Still trying to coax out the tiniest of gas expulsions. I was told to listen to running water to get my bladder moving, should I listen to a popcorn popper to get the last little inch of my colon functioning? Frustrating, but since I am enjoying the HECK out of beef broth and jello, everything is okay. I'm just impatient 96 percent/worried 4%.



10/26 09:27 AM

Good morning! I truly feel much better today. Began soft solid food yesterday, and whoooh hoooooh! what a difference. Yesterday I stepped on the scale and was 16 pounds lighter in one week. I checked my BMI, and it is 40.3. I am now only Extremely Obese. LOL! I have a fundraising project that needs to be finished by November 25th ... I am halfway there. Made three more snowflake beads this morning, and chopped a bunch of clear glass to make frit. It was just enough activity. I'm inside now, sipping water and thinking of a nap.


11/15 08:49 AM

Hey yall, I am merely OBESE now. I've gone from Morbid, to Extremely, and now I am just PLAIN old fat. My BMI is down from 44 to 38.2. Hooooh HAH! Nice meeting many of you at the support group meeting. I'm bringing two outfits, size 26-28, that may be considered holiday wear to the December meeting. Hope someone can use them!


12/28 01:22 PM

I read something in a post here ... that it takes about six months for ALL the swelling in the pouch to disappear. So, although it may seem like your pouch gets bigger, it really is just the healing becoming complete. EVEN if this is NOT true, I am going to hang on to that thought. It makes me uncomfortable to think that my pouch might arbitrarily enlarge one day ... you know? I'm almost 2.5 months out, and cottage cheese and soup are still my buds. I don't count calories, just try and get all supplements and water injested. My dogs get my leftovers too. My surgery has been the best thing that has ever happened to them. =D In other news ... Back in the olden days when my weight started with a one, I loved Jazzercize. After my daughter was born I took it up again ... but then one day, during the abdominal crunch floor exercize I passed gas quite loudly and unexpectedly, and a lady downwind got up and left. I was so humiliated, I didn't go back. In retrospect, I should have bucked up, everybody farts, right? Anyway, I've done some pilates lately, and they are just not my style. I'm a WHOOOOOH movin', dancin' kinda gal, and I'm SO looking forward to giving it another go. (Now ... where's my beano ... )


12/29 12:51 PM

Yay! Everyone is having a good day!! It just gets better and better, doesn't it?? I made a cheese sandwich with two mini-slices of baugette bread and some very moist cheddar, and HEY!! It didn't stick or feel weird!! My first good bread bites! Jazzercize. It WAS fun and surprisingly, the group was friendly. During the end of class where there was a random walking / skipping segment, the instructor said to say HI to someone you don't know, and about five people smiled and nodded to me. I felt very welcome and completely charmed. Hovering just around the edges of my mind was a little self-consciousness because the routines are peppy with a lot of bounce, and my jiggly butt cheeks were half a beat behind my main body. I bounce up, and I meet my rear end as it is just getting moving, on the way down. Ah ... BUT, hey ... I'm moving, dancing, going at a safe pace, and having fun augmenting my weight loss tool. AND ... I just got back from a long walk on the Greenway, which included three little hills. My word, I feel invincible!!


3-17-06

I posted this story on every OH forum I visit, I think it is my most heartfelt WOW-WEEEEE! moment. Three years ago, I ebayed a denim "kangaroo" skirt. It was SO cute on the monitor, it had a pocket like some sweatshirts do in the front, and a pocket on the side seam. PLUS, it was a 3X. A 3X with some style! Pretty jazzed about it, I ordered it and waited. When it came, I pulled it on ... to right above my knees, and I'm not kidding. Knees. In horror I checked the tag again. Yep, it said 3X. Was I a 3X? Yes. Was this a 3X? Maybe. Like 3X toddler, or 3X from a country of stick people. It made me feel ... hopeless. Totally deflated, I threw it in the back of my closet. A couple of months ago when I did my big closet clean-out, I excavated the 3X from the dusty depths. I tried it on again, and it went to the hips, but no-where near close to zipping. Can you imagine my delight, when I tried it on this morning (along with my lime-green striped silk shirt and my lime green fuzzy socks) and it fits like a glove? People at work are sick of hearing about how great I feel, so I resist sharing happy things, but DANG you guys. I feel like ... TAKE THAT, you mis-labeled denim skirt!! Who's the WOMAN now? Huh? I SIT on you, in complete comfort. HA. HAAAA!!!!


4-5-05

In my Photos, you'll see a before picture of me dressed in white ... as Matron of Honor at the wedding of my beautiful friend, Joan. I'm hot, flushed, I've sweated off my makeup hours before, my thighs are sticking together, my hair is plastered to my head, my back, hips and feet are killing me. At 285 pounds, my blood sugar was a trainwreck, blood pressure too high, cholestrol too high, my heart was straining to keep up. I thought weight loss surgery (WLS) was crazy and dangerous. =D

    
10-19-06

At one year out, I'm having a beautiful, happy, heartwarming day. I'm down 134 pounds, size 10 top and bottom, and for the last few months my weight has been stable. I think I am finished losing, and I'm so SO so delighted. I would have been happy to lose 100 pounds, thrilled to lose 120, but 130+ is just a BONUS!! Thank you GOD!


7-17-06

On my wedding day, September 17, 1983, my MIL (we call her Gramma since the kids came along) gave me this jade and gold bracelet and necklace set. I loved it and wore it on MANY happy occasions. After gaining quite a bit of weight, the delicate clasps strained to close over my fat wrists, and just the tip of the pendant stuck straight out between two rolls of chin fat. I couldn't stand to see them in my jewelry box ... little reminders that at one time I had been comfortable in my own skin, and was no longer.

I knew that I would be fat till the day I died, so I gave them back to Gramma to put in the safe-deposit box along with my will.

Today we stopped at the safe-deposit box, and I tried on my jewelry ... and they fit again. Beautifully. They are truly sentimental pieces for me ... I am so happy to have them back. Just a year and a few months before my 25th anniversary. =D


7-21-06

To my surprise, The Wall was right next door this morning when I tootled into work. Several coworkers and I took a walk while it was still cool. It was a painful, sobering moment.

Shortly afterwards as I shared some Rainier cherries with a homeless man, he told me I had a damn fine figure. =D I can say it has been 20 years since I've heard that. Well ... put that way at least. Wally says I look very "curvy". =D



8-11-06

155 pounds this morning. Words fail me at the wonder of that number. I'd cry, but I have to leave for support group this morning, and out of vanity, want to preserve my eyes and nose. I'm not a pretty crier. =D Such a wave of emotions are in my chest, it almost hurts. Interestingly, among the all the feelings you can imagine, there is a little touch of survivor guilt. I don't have the wherewithal to examine that now ... I might post it to the forum for observations ...


10-19-06

Happy WLS Anniversary to ME!! I feel like a million bucks in brand new bills today. I've taken a so-so pix, in pants that are way too big, just to mark the day. I weigh 151 pounds, weight has been stable for the last few months. I think I'm done, and I could NOT be happier. I am in love with the whole stinkin' world today!! =D {{{{{WORLD!!!}}}}}

 
2-24-07

I've been shopping at thrift store again, since I've officially shrunk to a size 10. I know I'd be much smaller without the excess skin. OH ... skin! Here is what I wrote recently to a fellow sleevester:

" Thank you for asking about my skin,and I don't mind sharing at all.

First, let me say I thought I had bad skin issues, till I went to abutterflyemerges.com, and read the story and saw the pictures there. At that point, I realized I had nothing to complain about. Genetics play a part in how well your skin snaps back, and the sweet woman who was so brave to have her photos taken didn't get one single break in that department. Take a look when you get a minute.

If you can imagine a latex party balloon that is deflating...it makes sorta ribbed wrinkles and sags? Well, that is my body. Under the arms, biceps, belly, butt, thighs, neck. I'm deflated! LOL. I made peace with most of my excess skin. Except for my TURKEY NECK. Dang. I'm looking into a Lifestyle Lift. AND ... maybe some work on my eyes. People are asking me if I'm tired because of my baggy eyes. Creme helps both those areas.

Some lucky people have physical problems with their excess skin, which might help them with an insurance-funded plastic surgery to correct that issue. Sadly, or happily, I don't have one tiny problem. Not one rash, not one weepy sore. I can stuff my skin into my clothes, and hide it pretty well. I expect that if I had a lower belt lift I'd be a size 6 - 8, instead of size 8 - 10. And...what will that accomplish, I rationalize to myself? So I'm one size smaller ... pfft. I am healthy, and happy. And so lucky to have the excess skin instead of excess fat. The fat kills, the skin ... is a trophy.

Don't misunderstand, I'd LOVE to have it removed. Truly. LOVE it. But I don't think I'll be able to afford it. Ever. And ... yeah ... it's all good, =D"

~~~~~~~~end of cut-and-paste note~~~~~~~~~

Hey, so ... I've lost 139 pounds. 139 pounds. That is like carrying around two 50-pound bags of dog food, plus four ten-pound bags of flour, and then suddenly being able to put them down. I feel ...weightless. LOL.

Blood sugar is good, cholesterol is good, blood pressure is good, blood chemistry is excellent ... I'm going and doing and living. I lost so much time to obesity, this last half of my life is going to be action-packed. =D