Success Stories

Mike Wise
Address: Wichita, KS
Surgical Procedure: Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass
Total pounds lost: 130

Body Mass Index before HMR: 44.4
Body Mass Index after surgery: 26.2
Percentage of excess body weight lost: 89%
Physical activity before surgery: 0
Physical activity after surgery: 5950 burned per week
Triglycerides before surgery: 169
Triglycerides after surgery: 75
Blood pressure before surgery: 116/52
Blood pressure after surgery: 108/62

"It has been a year for me since I had bariatric surgery and I am aware of the life that has changed. The loss of weight is profound, but the changes are major. And it isn’t just the things that everyone notices that make up the life that has changed, but more the little things. There are so many things that we take for granted and seem so very insignificant to most people, but they are the things that matter more to me:"

• I can cross my legs.
• I can tie my shoes and the knot is in the middle of the shoe and not on the inside edge.
• I can pick up the change I drop.
• I can walk like the energizer bunny.
• I do not sweat like a yard sprinkler.
• I do not have to pull at my t-shirts to make them fit better.
• I can see my feet.
• I tuck my shirts in.
• My socks stay up.
• The waist band of my gym shorts does not roll over.
• I like to buy and shop for clothes.
• I am not hot all the time.
• My grandkids think I have shrunk.
• I can’t use my stomach to set a bowl on anymore.
• I love to look in the mirror.
• I don’t have a shelf in the refrigerator for insulin.
• I don’t have a self in the medicine cabinet for pills.
• I got a call from Dillon’s Pharmacy wandering if I had died. They miss me!
• My watch band is loose. My wedding band is loose.
• I can close my hands.
• My feet do not swell.
• I can sleep on my stomach.
• My wife can put her arms around me. My kids can put their arms around me, and my grandkids can put their arms around my neck... all the way around.
• I don’t take five shots of insulin a day.
• I don’t take eight pills a day.
• I don’t draw blood to test three times a day.
• I don’t make three trips to the buffet line.
• I don’t eat two double cheeseburgers, a hot dog, onion rings, and a chocolate shake from Dog’ N Shake. They called. I guess they miss me.
• I can clip my own toe nails.
• I like to get on the scales.
• I can see the bottom of my feet without using a mirror.
• I moved the seat in my car forward.
• I can ride a bike without being impaled by the seat.
• I can sit in a booth. Did you every notice that Golden Corral has no booths?
• Angelo’s Italian Restaurant went out of business... they missed me, too!

"At the time of surgery I suffered from diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, arthritis, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, depression, and morbid obesity. In an effort to treat these conditions I was taking five shots of insulin (260 units) and two pills for diabetes, four meds for the blood pressure, one med for the lipids and cholesterol, one antidepressant, and I was using a CPAP machine to sleep. It was a part time job just keeping up with the treatment. Since surgery I take one med for blood pressure and the antidepressant. My hemoglobin A1c is 5.7 without medication. My medical condition would have been reason enough to have surgery. To say that the surgery has saved my life would be an understatement."

"The restrictions that morbid obesity and health conditions put on me are gone. The things that I can do since surgery are unlimited. I can do anything I want to do. I am not limited by my size or my health. My surgery was like opening the door to a different world. It allowed me to enter into a world that before I was only able to observe. The changes are hard to describe. I would imagine it may be like regaining your sight or some other equally amazing miracle."

"I am not alone. I am but one of many who have enjoyed the life that has changed. Every Tuesday at post-op support at Solutions for Life I have the privilege of meeting with common people who have accomplished extraordinary goals. They inspire me."

"My family enjoys the life that has changed. I live the life that has changed. And did I mention that I can cross my legs?"