Patient Stories: Weight Loss Surgery

Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center

Smith, Weight Loss Surgery
Better in So Many Ways

Like most bariatric surgery patients, Smith’s story began many years ago – with a slightly different twist. It was back pain that started him on the path to weight-loss surgery.

Smith suffered from arthritis of the spine for nearly 10 years before being diagnosed with spinal stenosis in 1999 at the age of 54. To relieve the pressure on the root nerves in the lumbar region of his spine, he underwent a decompression laminectomy that same year. At the time he was living in Mexico on assignment for his company, but he elected to have the surgery done in Houston. He returned to work in Mexico a few days later. Because of the inconvenience of traveling to Houston for follow-up visits with his orthopedic surgeon, he continued his post-surgical recovery alone.

In 2001, Smith moved to Houston and began a new assignment to start up a subsidiary company in Jamaica. Rather than relocating to Jamaica, he made Houston his home base and traveled back and forth as needed.

The commute took its toll. “All my life I’ve been a little overweight but in recent years, it went from bad to worse,” he said. “My diet was horrible. I was traveling almost constantly, dragging computer bags and suitcases around airports. Because of my travel schedule, I ignored some health problems I should have taken care of.”

In 2004, Smith’s back problems returned in a big way. In June of 2005, he underwent another decompression laminectomy. “At this point I weighed around 280 pounds,” he said. “I was commuting to Puerto Rico – too much travel and a bad diet made matters worse. On top of everything else, I injured my foot, which prevented me from exercising at all.”

The injury took nine months to heal. Because he’d stopped smoking prior to his second laminectomy, Smith began eating more, and during the next year he gained about 50 pounds, topping out at 330.

“I knew I was gaining weight but instead of doing something about it I just kept buying clothes in larger sizes,” he said. “Finally, my orthopedic surgeon told me that I needed a spinal fusion to remedy my back problems.”

By now, Smith was having trouble walking more than 100 yards without stopping to rest. He had developed a host of medical problems, including high blood pressure, high triglycerides, high cholesterol, asthma and sleep apnea.

“I was seeing five or six doctors on a regular basis and taking nine prescription drugs daily,” he said. “Then my orthopedic surgeon told me that in order to perform the surgery, he would have to enter from the front and that I needed to lose a lot of weight before that could happen. So he suggested that I talk with my primary care physician about the possibility of weight-loss surgery.”

Smith’s family doctor agreed that he was the ideal candidate for bariatric surgery and referred him to Terry Scarborough, M.D., the bariatric surgeon who performed Smith’s roux-en-y gastric bypass at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center on Oct. 2, 2006.

Since his surgery, Smith has lost 95 pounds. “The weight loss is great but perhaps even more important is the fact that my spinal fusion surgery was canceled,” he said. “I no longer take any prescription drugs. All of my problems – the asthma, sleep apnea and high blood pressure – are gone.”

To stay in shape, Smith works out at the Memorial Hermann Wellness Center three times a week. “Eight months ago, I couldn’t walk 100 yards. Now I’m doing a mile three times a week on the treadmill. I feel better in so many ways."