Posted on 09/15/2006 6:02:51 AM PDT by Risha
Pre-op patient chews the fat - Binges before biting bypass bullet By Jessica Fargen Boston Herald Health & Medical Reporter
Friday, September 15, 2006 - Updated: 08:19 AM EST
Chris “Tiger” Stockbridge is on a last-ditch quest to devour every last scrap of steak, bacon and home fries in sight as he counts down to the day when surgeons staple his ample stomach - a potentially lifesaving but bittersweet turning point for this Dorchester dad.
“I’m gonna go everywhere I wanna go. I’m gonna eat everything I wanna eat. I’m in full swing now,” said Stockbridge, a 325-pound, 5-foot-10-inch city worker who’s halfway through a two-week binge as he hits all his favorite local food haunts prior to undergoing gastric bypass surgery.
“I think I’m going to miss the buffets the most,” he added. “I always got my money’s worth on the buffets.”
Stockbridge, 33, acknowledged that he’s going “against medical advice at this point” as he valiantly tried but failed to finish off a 64-ounce prime rib ordered specially for him by the owner of C.F. Donovan’s in Dorchester. “Everyone I‘ve talked to says after the surgery, they don’t like food anymore.”
Come Thursday, Stockbridge meets with his bariatric surgeon, who’ll likely put him on a strict diet and set a date for the surgery, a procedure that will both shrink Stockbridge’s appetite and lengthen his life.
“It will be a while before I join the food circuit again,” Stockbridge, who works for Boston Inspectional Services and delivers pizza part time, said during an interview this week.
Bariatric surgery is a last resort, reserved for the most desperate obese patients. Last year, an estimated 170,000 people in the United States with morbid obesity had bariatric surgery, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery in Florida. Typically, patients must be at least 100 pounds overweight and have failed several diets.
Stockbridge once lost 48 pounds on the Atkins diet. But when he went off it, he gained 54 pounds.
The surgery itself is risky, with a post-operative mortality rate of about 3 in 200 patients.
After the operation, Stockbridge’s stomach pouch will be the size of a hard-boiled egg - about 10 percent its normal size. Rich, high-sugar foods such as steak and cookies likely will force him to throw up or cause diarrhea.
For Stockbridge, who has diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the surgery is worth it.
“I could be facing the possibility of loss of limbs if the diabetes continues, possibility of blindness, stroke and heart attack,” said Stockbridge. “I’m a father of four and I’m sure my kids are going to want me around for a long time.”
He’s not shy about his weight, nor is he ashamed of it, he said over dinner. But he also said he has moments of disbelief.
“Sometimes, I look in the mirror and say ‘Holy (expletive) how did I let this happen to myself?”’ he said.
bump
GET IN MY BELLY.......
Pork fat rules!!! He just didn't push away from that 64-ounce prime rib often enough...maybe 16 ounces would have been better in the long run.
It's like a alcoholic having one more binge before he goes to rehab.
This guy needs psychiatric treatment, not surgery.
Statistically, most people that are morbidly obese do not suffer from a thyroid disorder. His binges show there is probably an underlying personality disorder there somewhere. Even if he gets his stomach stapled, he could still gain or maintain his weigh. He will just have to eat more often because his stomach is smaller. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely hope this succeeds for him, but he needs to get some counseling as to why he overeats along with the surgery.
No kidding! Food triggers the pleasure centers in our brain, and like sex, we have become caught up in the view that we should never deny ourselves every possible pleasure regardless of consequences or impact. Sad.
I'm no expert, but this seems like a waste of a surgeon's effort. If he is unwilling to forsake any pleasure at all for the sake of his health then surgery will, at most, buy him a little time.
My guess is that the 64 oz prime rib dinners had something to do with it.
He does not qualify.
This guy is a human disgrace.
Need to hook him up with a woman I work with. Not sure exactly which procedure she had but she just had her 2nd surgery. She ate her way back to a normal sized stomach. Uses a handicapped parking spot and won't even consider walking around the parking lot at work for lunch. Smokes like a chimney. And is the first one to start an email each day for the lunch order to be delivered from some pizza joint or greasy sammich place.
I truly don't know why she bothers with the surgery. She's got no self control or self discipline.
Self-induced disabilities such as fork-to-mouth disease should not qualify you for a handicapped parking space.
What is this, a Simpsons episode?
I'm not sure what sort of fake illness got her the parking space. The really pathetic thing is that she then gives a ride across the street to our other parking lot to a fellow fatty who also had the surgery. I'm not the food nazi nor am I in top shape, but I've got no patience or respect for folks like this.
Oh - and she complains to anyone that will listen that she can't get a date. Ha! If I was a man I'd run fast the other way too!
FR member TexasFlower passed away on June 29th 2005 from complications from this surgery.
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