__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

WLS Center.com E-Newsletter
A FREE publication by
http://www.wlscenter.com
Issue # 17
Circulation: 6,719

__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

From the Desk of Barbara ThompsonAuthor of "Weight Loss Surgery, Finding the Thin Person Hiding Inside You"

========================================
** In this issue **
* An Extra Special Announcement about Vitamins
* On The Radio: KGAB 650 AM
* New Research Article: Lap Band
* Recipe: Pea Bean Salad
* Request for Hospital Stories
* Success Story: Lisa Fandal Hart
* Spreading the Word in New Jersey, Virginia and Orlando
* Poem: Thoughts

========================================

Dear Subscriber,

On Sept. 5th I spoke in New Brunswick, NJ, for the practice of Dr. Andrei. I was so scared!!! Not because of the 400 people who came to hear me speak. They were wonderful and I enjoyed each and every one of them! But my 15-year-old daughter, Erin, was there, hearing me speak for the first time. I wanted to do such a wonderful job for her.

There she sat at the autograph table. She was the banker for the evening. So what would she think when she realized that one of my motivations for surgery was to be able to fit into Victoria's Secret lingerie? Would she object to my telling people that she is adopted? Would she find my jokes funny or have the teenage opinion that they are lame?

Our family - they have such a profound effect on our lives. They bring us our greatest joys and our deepest hurts. Throughout our surgery they can be our biggest supporters or make our journey harder than it should be. They can be there to remind us of the wonderfully positive reasons that we did this to our selves or make us feel stupid for trying. They can cheer our successes or mock our plateaus. They can look at us with wonderful appreciation or be resentful when others look at us with that same appreciation.

When all is said and done, we do what we can to make those we love happy, and do what we can to gain their approval, but in the end, we ultimately have to do what is in our own best interest.

By the way, Erin loved hearing me speak. She was so proud of me - almost as proud as I was of her. And she laughed at all my jokes! It was a great night!

========================================
** An Extra Special Announcement about Vitamins **

Vitamins have always been so important to me. They are such a vital key to maintaining the health that we have gone through so much to attain.

I have never been comfortable taking chewable children's vitamins. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something designed for a child will not supply us with what we need as adults. If we take a multivitamin pill, are we certain that it will completely dissolve in our pouch with no gastric juice present? There is no question that bariatric patients have very special nutritional needs

Then there is calcium. I just brought my mother home from the hospital. I watched her suffer for 5 weeks because she broke a leg as a result of osteoporosis. What an awful disease. Because there are no warning signs, we can have osteoporosis and not even know it until we break a bone. We, as gastric bypass patients, are so much at risk because to be properly absorbed, calcium requires an acidic environment that is normally provided by gastric juice. Since we do not have gastric juice in our small pouches anymore, we have to compensate by taking the correct kind of calcium in the correct form. Osteoporosis is a very preventable disease, if we just bother to take the right kind if calcium!

Then there is B12, which is mostly absorbed in the portion of the small intestines that has been bypassed by our surgery. It is necessary for gastric bypass patients to take B12 supplements. If you are lacking in B12, you will feel very tired.

I am so excited to share with you that I have finally discovered a quality line of vitamins that will solve these problems perfectly for us. It is a line of vitamins called Isotonix. Here is why they are so perfect for the bariatric patient:

* Do you hate to take pills? Are you afraid they will get stuck? Well, Isotonix comes in a powdered form that dissolves instantly in water.

* Have you tried liquid vitamins that taste so nasty that you can't take them? Isotonix taste great. They have a slightly effervescent citrus taste.

* With very little digestion going on in our new stomach pouch, pills have the potential to just sit there without dissolving. Isotonix supplements are dissolved even before we drink them, so they are instantly ready to be absorbed.

* The multivitamin is a quality vitamin designed for adults.

* The Isotonix calcium contains 5 different kinds of calcium compounds
(carbonate, citrate, malate, etc) and 3 different organic acids. When you mix the Isotonix Calcium with water, the organic acids cause a fizzing that releases the calcium from the compounds. The calcium becomes ionized and can then be instantly absorbed by the body. The calcium is delivered in an acidic form to provide for powerful absorption that is so important for bypass patients who are lacking in gastric juice. It is exactly what we need!

I recommend that you try these supplements. After you drink your vitamins and calcium, you will NEVER go back to pills.

For more information, go to http://www.wlscenter.com/Vitamins.htm

Call our office toll free (877) 440-1518 today for this special price. Individual items can also be purchased at regular prices.

Remember, you may pay a little more for these vitamins and calcium, but you are buying a supplement that has a far greater chance of being absorbed than regular pills. Besides, you, and you're health, are worth it!

========================================
** On the Radio**

For those of you in the Southern and Central Wyoming area as well as Western Nebraska and northern Colorado including the metro Denver area, I will be interviewed on KGAB radio, 650 AM on Wednesday September 25th at 7:00 AM MDT on the Morning Zone with Dave Chaffin and Amy Richards. If you are in that area, I hope you tune in.

========================================
** New Research Article: Lap Band **

It seems that more and more I am being asked questions about the lap band surgery. Before now, the only US study I could site was an done by Dr. Eric DeMaria of the Virginia Commonwealth University.

Another study has just been published in the journal, "Obesity Surgery," June 2002 issue. In this study, Dr. Richard Rubenstein of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, reports more favorable results.

His study involved 63 patients who underwent banding between March 1999 and June 2001. Of the 63 patients, 18 had complications, which were relatively minor (1 gastric perforation which was resolved, 5 port problems, 9 band slippage, and 3 infections).

What was especially interesting was the way people lost weight. With RNY gastric bypass surgery, patients lose their greatest amount of weight during the first 12 to 18 months, stop losing and then tend to regain 10 or 15 pounds over the next 3 years until they stabilize.

With the lap band, the weight loss was gradual over the 3-year study. Patients averaged 27.2% loss of their excess weight at 6 months, 38.3% at 1 year, 46.4% at 2 years and 53.6% at 3 years.  This is nearly comparable to the gastric bypass results in the long term.

========================================
** Recipe: Pea Bean Salad **

Pea Bean Salad by Sulinn Mathews

Barbara, I took this to the WLS Picnic today and everyone raved over it. It's very good and low calorie.

1 can baby peas (16 0z.)
1 can white shoepeg corn (12 oz.)
1 can French style green beans (16 oz.)
1 med. onion chopped
3/4 cup celery chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 small jar pimentos chopped
chopped garlic, if desired

Drain all veggies well while preparing dressing.

DRESSING
1/2 cup salad oil
1/2 cup tarragon vinegar
3/4 cup sugar (I use the equivalent in artificial sugar instead)
1 tsp. salt, if desired

Combine all dressing ingredients; heat to boiling. Cool. Pour over mixed veggies. Refrigerate 24 hours or longer to allow flavors to blend.

If you have a recipe that you would like to share in future issues of this newsletter, please send it to me at Barbara@wlscenter.com

========================================
** Request for Hospital Stories **

I am looking for stories regarding your stay in the hospital for your weight loss surgery or for any other surgery you might have had. I am looking for anecdotes about how you were treated as a morbidly obese person by the staff or in terms of hospital equipment not being size friendly. The stories can be funny or disasters. Don't worry about the quality of writing. I would just like to have the stories. Thanks so much!!!

Just email them to me at Barbara@wlscenter.com

========================================
** Spreading the Word in New Jersey, Virginia and Orlando **

On Thursday September 5th, I spoke for the practice of Dr. Valeru Andrei of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick, NJ. There were 400 people there. Amazing!!! For pictures of Dr. Andrei and the staff,

Everyone told me how handsome Dr. Andrei is. They were right!

========================================
** Poem Corner **

Thoughts by Cali

The days march inexorably forward
Closer, closer the day looms
Sometimes, I can't wait.
Hurry, hurry, oh day of my new beginning
Then, my fears well up
And too, my anger...
Why, why must I do this?
Why must I suffer more pain?
There is a difference, I say
This pain, I choose.
This pain will lead me to health,
To the potential of new happiness
So, march on, days,
I am waiting with eyes open.