Joel Enbom
I'm a 38-year-old Washington native, currently residing in Granite Falls, appoximately 45 miles northeast of Seattle in the Cascade foothills. My Trophy Wife Sandi and I are the parents of four daughters, Madison (11), Rylea (8), Amber (5), and Mara (2). I work in the Policy office at the Monroe Correctional Complex.
I started off as "husky" when I was 5-8 years old and proceeded to obese over the following years. I was active enough through high school to keep my weight fairly well in check. I was usually described as "big" instead of "fat." I was a decent athlete, playing soccer for over 11 years and dabbling briefly in basketball as well. After school, however, work made a sedentary lifestyle much easier to maintain and my weight ballooned. I graduated high school 6'2" and 250lbs but gained over the years until I reached my highest weight the day of the surgery at 410lbs (gasp).
I first looked into bariatric surgery a few years ago, discovered (via ObesityHelp postings) that my insurance didn't cover the surgery, and quickly gave up on the idea, checking back every six months or so to see if there'd been a change in insurance company policy that'd allow the surgery. The change, sadly, never happened.
My angelic mother, who lost her husband to a heart attack when he was only 45-years-old, however, had also been looking at bariatric surgery as a potential solution to my health issues. As a gift for my 38th birthday, she offered to finance the cost of the surgery. At first, her generosity was too much for me to accept. I wasn't ready, despite my belief that the surgery would help me, to accept her gift and I stalled for months until she started reminding me of her offer. She also reminded me that I have a young family that needs me around and made a compelling case for me to start the process.
In June, I restarted my research into the various procedures available to those interested in WLS. It didn't take long to identify the duodenal switch procedure as the most desirable, by far. The heightened success rate (versus RNY and lap-banding) and the absence of dumping and other nasty side-effects made it clear to me that this was the procedure I needed.
Unfortunately, because the DS procedure is typically the most expensive, options were limited. I did not want Mom on the hook for a $30,000 WLS bill if it could be avoided. I discovered that Dr. Marchesini in Brazil was an excellent surgeon specializing in the DS and that his fee was less than half of what I expected--even with airfare included. Still, the thought of an 18-hour flight home shortly after surgery was enough of a disincentive that I quickly let go of the idea and, maybe out of disappointment, stopped my search for a DS surgeon.
Mom continued to ask about my progress and I finally ducked my head back into Google/ObesityHelp and spotted Dr. Heap, who does a variation on the DS/VSG that seemed equally effective and had even fewer side effects than the DS. When I discovered how low his fees were for private pay patients, I immediately sent my mother an email with the subject line, "Eureka!"
Two days later I had an appointment with Dr. Heap and a month later I had a surgery date of October 5, 2006. Serendipity, indeed.
Oh--almost forgot--the state medical plan that I subscribe to announced, less than a week before my surgery, that they were including limited WLS benefits starting in 2007. Go figure. :)
