Help !!for man weighs 590lb!!

Please help!!! I met a young man on OH lap band forum recently.... he is 6foot 5 and weighs 590lb.. he is searching for a surgeon and hospital thats accepts medicare and will accept the risks involved with his weight I found a Surgeon and Hospital in his home state of Missouri( He lives in Farmington Mo) that accepted Medicare but ..they said their equipment would not hold him!! He is so frustrated and thinks there is No hope for him I think this was the only Dr and hospital that accepted medicare for weight loss surgery in the entire state of Missouri!!!! I told him not to give up there must be some help somewhere!! any help would be greatly appreciated Thank you .. Arianna

I can't help with a surgeon for the Lap Band. You might want to have him post on several of the forums (i.e. main board, RNY board, and DS board, plus the one for his state). Those boards have a lot more activity then this one, and someone might have the information that he needs. Scott

I don't know if your friend is interested in coming to Kentucky but Bluegrass Bariatrics in Georgetown, Ky did my lap RNY(I was 408) and said they have even done it on a 800 pound man. I'm not sure about the lap band. But it may be worth a try. And I think they take Medicare. Sandra A.

Hi Arianna, The reason you could only find one facility that takes Medicare is because Medicare is requiring all surgeons and facilities to become accredidated before they'll pay for the surgery. This nightmare started in March. My surgeon has been waiting since then. We're hoping they'll be approved by early next yr. Tell him to hang in there and there will be more accredidated surgeons and facilities to contact. Don't give up looking.. there are places that take high risk high bmi cases all of the time. Has he considered OPEN RNY? For someone that size I don't know the effectiveness of the banding. Good Luck!!

You need to post this to Amy Williams. She seems to have lots of resources for getting things like this accomplished or at least pointing people in the right direction.

I had surgery at 530 pounds. I had RNY. Personally, I don't believe lap banding will be agressive enough for someone who needs to lose 400 pounds. I think it's a great option for people at lower weights, but the lack of malabsorbtion makes a huge difference when we're talking about losing more than 150 pounds. I know how committed people can be to whatever surgery worked for them, so I don't say this lightly. My surgeon does offer lap banding as well, but the fact that your friend is only considering that form of surgery suggests he still has some denial going about his situation. He may still be hoping he'll be able to eat hearty some post-op day. He needs to start with pyschological counseling before he meets with a surgeon. That said, my surgeon has operated on people over 600 pounds, and she takes Medicaid (which is probably what your pal has -- only people over 65 get Medicare. Disabled people -- myself among them -- have Medicaid). Have your friend check into Dr. Kira Schofield and the Bariatric Wellness Program at Middletown Regional Hospital in Middletown, Ohio. Another surgical group (closer to him, in fact) that operates on people over 600 pounds is the WISH Center. The WISH branch in Illinois is headed by Dr. Rosen. He was the second surgeon on my RNY. WISH used to have a clinic in Middletown, but they closed it and Dr. Schofield decided to head the hospital's own bariatircs program. Either of these surgeons would be good. Both take Medicaid. The Illinois hospital is only about four hours from St. Louis. I had to travel 3 hours for my own surgery, and it wasn't bad. If your friend is serious about taking control of his health, he should take some steps on his own to start with. He can't control whether or not this surgeon or that will operate, or whether Medicaid will approve him, but he can stop eating fast food and drinking pop (if he still does thos things) and he can do seated exercise every day. If you have a rear end and a sofa, you can do seated aerobics at home for free. If I could exercise and change some of my eating habits at 571 pounds (I lost 41 before surgery), this demonstrates that such changes are possible. I didn't know if I would find a surgeon. I didn't know if Medicaid would approve surgery. So I had to make the changes I was capable of making myself. I'm not saying I could've lost 400 pounds (I highly doubt I could). But the changes I made before surgery really improved my depression and made my body healthier and stronger so I could withstand an operation. I've lost 187 pounds so far. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If your friend wants advice from someone who weighed nearly as much as he does (and I'm 5"7, not 6"5, so my BMI was probably a lot higher than his is now), he should feel free to contact me through my profile. Tell him I wish him luck. None of this is easy. It's hard to find the strength to face such an overwhelming health problem.