"I was a laparoscopic gastric restrictive patient of Dr. Wongsa in 2004 and conducted a Google search to see if he was still practicing. I am occasionally asked if I have any Doctor or process that I can recommend to help mitigate obesity. I use the words “help mitigate” because this surgery should not be considered a panacea to be used as the sole solution to obesity. This surgery requires the recipient to perform due diligence in their diet and exercise to produce the desired/expected result.
Speaking to a related, but different topic, I believe it difficult for anyone to judge another when it comes to someone’s behavior based upon their personal philosophy. For example, one of my philosophies, which greatly affected my eating habits was, “Purchase and consume as much mass for the least amount of cost possible”. This philosophy was driven by a childhood affected by poverty. It astounds me to recall how poor we were. I remember standing next to my mother in the checkout line where she paid $37 for a week’s worth of groceries. I know it was a week’s worth because she didn’t have a driver’s license, didn’t make mid-weekly trips to the store and we drove as a family to the grocery store every Friday night after my father received his paycheck. When I began to pay for my meals, I would find the biggest bang for the buck buffet and get my money’s worth. Man, did I gain some weight.?!?
All that said to say this. When Dr. Wongsa first met with me, he stated that he wanted me to lose 5 lbs prior to the surgery. My logical assumption was that he wanted to see if I was willing to do my part in exercising some control, so that when the surgery had been completed, my continued effort would harmonize with his effort to “help mitigate” my obese condition. In other words, he wanted to know if I was willing to commit to the objective, as he was willing to commit to the objective. He told me of a patient who promised their commitment to the process and then proceeded to eat a gallon of whole milk ice cream every day. He said that patient lost no weight and the surgery was of no value.
Was he condescending when he spoke to me? Yes. Did he raise his voice? Yes. Did he treat me like I was somewhere lower on the human hierarchical scale than he was? Yes. And allow me to say, I am sorry to all of those experienced these same attitudes from him, but (from my perspective) if that is the worst price required of me to pay for this process, it was well worth it. My life was forever changed for the better as I flushed my mind of my buffet philosophy and joined efforts with Dr. Wongsa for the remainder of my life. Hopefully, this process may provide you the same result. "
