An obese one that does lean more will still be operated

Photo Martin Alarie
After losing 275 lb, Martin Lavoie has reached a plateau and has not seen a single book melt for the month of April last. Man of 45 years old from Boisbriand think now need to undergo a second operation to start to lose weight.

Héloïse Archambault

Sunday, 27 August, 2017 08:00

UPDATE
Sunday, 27 August, 2017 08:00

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A year after he underwent bariatric surgery, an obese morbid 369 lb who can no longer lose weight for the past four months, afraid of having to undergo a second operation to the far-reaching consequences.

“It is very depressing,” said Martin Lavoie. I have reached a plateau. The determination is there, but my body does just not want to lose weight. “

Age 45 years, resident of Boisbriand is obese, morbidly for a long time. To heavy, in 2015, he weighed 644 lbs.

After several years of hesitation, this father of a family has undergone a gastrectomy in march 2016 and is done to remove 80 % of his stomach.

At the time, his doctors told him that it was his last chance to hope to live old.

The surgery was a success and the man has lost 275 lbs in the following months. Last April, he weighed in at 369 lbs. And since then, the balance is stagnating.

Archival Photo Chantal Poirier

In December 2015, Martin Lavoie was waiting for a gastrectomy. To heavy, in march 2015, he weighed 644 lbs.

“I am exactly the same weight ! There is nothing to do, I have a nice walk or to sweat like a pig, ” says this lover of food has already been ingested up to 6000 calories or more per day.

In light of this ” depressing “, Mr. Lavoie came to the conclusion that he will likely have to undergo the second operation that he feared.

Vitamins for life

Called the biliopancreatic diversion, this surgical intervention aims to reduce the amount of food eaten, and requires patients to take vitamins for the rest of their days.

Since the digestion is very fast, they must go to the toilet only a few minutes after eating.

Serious consequences, and this is an additional option for patients who do not, making weight loss more more. It is sometimes proposed more than a year after a first intervention.

Although Mr. Lavoie is not yet convinced of wanting to go under the knife, he knows that this is the only way to reach his ideal weight of 275 lbs.

“I will not live up to 80 years with this weight, that’s for sure,” says the one who will discuss this with her doctor in October next.

“I’m disappointed because I really wanted to avoid it [the operation]. I have read so many bad comments on the impact, that I écœure a little to have to do that, ” he said.

Another disappointment, this factor of profession makes it clear that he will not reach his goal of weighing less than 300 lb in the fall.

No regrets

In spite of everything, Martin Lavoie does not regret his choice and finds that he has much more energy than before. This fall, he intends to start training in the gym regularly.

“I have no regrets. Without the surgery, I’d be dead ! I might not be able to work or I would have taken another 30 or 40 lbs. “

A few figures about Martin Lavoie

• Size of shirt : 3 XL or 4 XL (10 XL*)
• Size for pants : XL (5 XL*)
• Calories per day : 2000 (instead of 6000 and more*)

*At his heaviest in 2015

Its weight loss in the time

• March 2015 : 644 lbs
• March 2016 : 539 lbs
• July 2016 : 437 lbs.
• October 2016 : 408 lbs
• December 2016 : 384 lb
• April 2017 : 369 lb
• Today : 369 lb

What is the biliopancreatic diversion ?

Goal : to reduce the ability of food absorption. It is a major surgery. To reduce the risk of complications, the operation is often offered to very obese patients more than a year after undergoing a sleeve gastrectomy vertical.

The operation aims to reduce the path travelled by food in the intestines, at the exit of the stomach. In fact, the food travels 2.5 meters of intestines, rather than the normal 5 to 7 metres.

The secretions of bile and pancreas are derived to create malabsorption, especially for fat. Often, the gallbladder is removed.

Risks :

• Wound Infections, pneumonia, thrombophlebitis, death

Consequences :

• Stool semi-liquid and foul-smelling, 3 to 4 times per day (as a result of the food improperly digested).
• Taking vitamin supplements every day for life (iron, calcium, vitamin A and D).
• Fatigue in the first three months due to a calorie intake inadequate relative to the weight to move.

Sources : university Institute of cardiology and respirology of Quebec, and the Internet site of the specialist physicians of the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal

Not a surgery for everyone

Very effective for weight loss, biliopancreatic diversion requires a great discipline, and it is not everyone who can obtain it, warns a specialist.

“Many patients can’t undergo it,” insists Dr. Simon Marceau, a specialist in bariatric surgery at the university Institute of cardiology and pneumology of Quebec (IUCPQ).

Photo courtesy

Simon Marceau, surgeon

“The risks are greater if people do not follow the instructions as it should be. […] It takes a very responsible, reliable, that it is not thought likely to décompenser and who will stop following the instructions. “

Discipline

Vitamins for life, limit consumption of alcohol and tobacco, strict regimen : patients must demonstrate a great deal of discipline.

To note that some patients have surgery for the biliopancreatic diversion at the same time that sleeve gastrectomy [surgery the most common].

However, for the people to be very obese, it is often proposed in a second time, 18 months after the gastrectomy. An option that reduces the risks, since the obese has already lost a lot of weight.

Without pronouncing itself on the case of Martin Lavoie, the surgeon stressed that all patients must be met before being approved for the operation.

“It is not self-evident. It is necessary that the conditions be fulfilled, ” he said.

Normal

In addition, Dr. Marceau ensures that it is quite normal to reach a plateau of weight loss, after the surgical operation.

“Nature is so made that it fits. By restricting the calorie level, the body slows down its metabolism. After a few months, it fades and most people are going to see that it stops down on the scale, despite the same effort, ” he explains.

Thus, the biliopancreatic diversion allows you to start to lose weight.