Puget Sound Surgical Center

Philadelphia Eagles Lineman Max Jean-Gilles

Bigger is not always better, even in pro football.  Just ask Philadelphia Eagles lineman Max Jean-Gilles.  Max has always been a big guy, even as a youth he was uncommonly large. However, his size allowed him to excel in football since he was quick on his feet as well.  

Fast forward some years later and his bigness continued to get bigger, and not in the best possible way.  After a successful career playing for the University of Georgia, Max was picked up by the NFL which landed him with the Philadelphia Eagles.  Unfortunately, he began to get injured, as a result of his weight.  He was continuing to put on more and more weight which was having it’s affects on his ability to play.

He had reached a pinnacle of 400 lbs and was quickly  being removed from any plan the Eagles originally had hoped for him.  In desperation, he knew he had to do something or risk losing his career altogether.  However, diets didn’t do it for him, no matter how much he tried he just couldn’t take off the additional weight.  Then one day his wife, Maggie, suggested that he look at surgical weight loss options.  This ended up saving his carreer and possibly his life.

Max chose a minimally invasive procedure using a gastric band.  An adjustable gastric band, also marketed under the name of  Lap-Band, is surgically inserted around the upper portion of the stomach which, when properly adjusted, restricts food intake helping people to curb their appetite and eventually lose weight.

According to Max, food had always been his weakness.  He would love to eat a whole bucket of chicken throughout the day.  Now after surgery he quickly fills up and has lost his ability to gorge himself.

Now three months later after surgery and 50 lbs lighter, he just completed Eagles summer training camp  surviving the cut and is ready for the new season.

The original article can be found here on Fanhouse.

Hey y’all!   I am one week post surgical and have my good days and bad days – mostly good.  I never thought that finally being able to have pureed potatoes would excite me more than a new pair of shoes but here I am!

So let’s have some fun!  What are some habits that make you a “Gold Star” earner as a Lap Band-ite? What are some that might put you in detention?  With school starting soon it makes for a fun game.  I’d love to hear from y’all – I would hate to think I am alone on this board!

Go Hawks!

Jill

I have lapband surgery almost a year ago.  While I lost 35 lbs during the first 6 months, I did not lose more weight from months 7-10  As I’m sure many of us know, the nutritionists are very conservative in their approach to fills, and we understand why.  However, at 10 months I was only at a fill of “2″.  A friend of mine who had the same procedure done in Olympia talked to me about the bariatric xray that she’d had and how you could see what was getting through and when a fill was enough.  One of our nutritionists suggested that I go to a 2.2 fill.  I went ahead and scheduled the X-ray prior to the fill and Dr. Billing found that it wasn’t until 2.9 that I personally (and I know this is a personal situation for each of us) was getting any type of true restriction.  Now I can actually feel fuller yet still get enough protein through to be healthy!  Thank heavens for modern science and equipment that helps us “know” where the restriction works rather than have it based on guess work.  I’m now starting to lose weight again. Good luck to you all in your journeys- Jan Schiffner

Hi!  I just found the new weblog site.  This is so great!  We now have our own surgical center blog!  I was at a seminar at the clinic this evening and Dr. Billing told me about this.  The seminar was really fun and informative.  It brought back memories of a year ago January when I was one of those people sitting and gathering info, trying to make one of the biggest decisions of my life.  So glad I did!  I think at least 5 people asked me if it hurts to get a fill and I, who am deathly afraid of needles, said no, it doesn’t hurt a bit…and it wasn’t a lie!  There was one woman there who said that two of her friends had lapbands inserted last year and neither one is doing very well with the band.  She said they have no support system, no nutritionist, nothing… It’s sad that there are places out there doing this surgery and then just kind of “throwing” the patient out there with no support to help them along.  We’re so blessed… Anyway, glad I found the new site.  Have a great rest of the week!  :0) Allison

With this latest medical report from CNN, gives a personal testimonial of how bariatric surgery is making a huge difference in people’s lives. The emotional and psychological healing that comes as a result of the physical transformation is a life saver.

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We had our first committee meeting this week.  Anyone who wishes to participate should contact our office.  We are planning for the walk to be at the end of September.  Anyone struggling with obesity should come and lend their support.

Regards,

Peter Billing

When is it time for a fill ? The reason I ask this, is because now that I have been feeling all the signs, I finally bit the bullet and went in for the fill.

Funny how subtle it is. Hunger … suddenly it bothers me when other people are eating.  Taking a risk, eating some bread, and it goes down without a problem…danger signs for sure..  so today, I went in and Joy gave me some happy juice… we will see how the next couple of days go… and hopefully a few lbs will go away…!!

Denise

Hello everyone,

We hope the new website and blog will create greater communication and community for those who are in our program.  If you have a question that you want me to answer, you are welcome to use this site or send me an email.  Our other staff are also open to questions, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Most of you who have been with us for the past 2 years have seen the tremendous growth to the program.  As the program grows we want to maintain that personal touch that you have seen.  We are open to hear any concerns you may have and if you have ideas for solutions, that would be appreciated as well.  Periodically, you will be receiving updates regarding new services at PSSC.  This site will be an opportunity to exchange ideas and hear about upcoming events/news.

Many of you know we have an office and program in Bellingham.  Our office is located next to the Bellwether Hotel at the Harbor in Bellingham.  It has many of the components that you see in our Edmonds office.  Cincy Tobiason, RN is our nurse coordinator there.  We also provide dietary and psychological support locally and of course provide a place to have gastric band adjustments.  We are doing our surgeries at Pacific Rim Outpatient Surgery Center next to St Joseph Hospital.  If you know people in B’ham who are wanting weight loss surgery, I hope they would consider coming to PSSC.

I want to let you know about the Walk from Obesity march this September.  This is to help create awareness about obesity by raising support for education and research.  You can go to the website at walkfromobesity.com to learn more.  We will need lots of volunteers to make this successful and those who are interested in helping will need to let us know soon.  We are putting together a committee in May.

I hope to hear from many of you soon.  It has been a wonderful experience seeing you get your life back.  I never imagined that with one operation that we could treat so many diseases.  More importantly many of you are doing things that you never could imagine doing.  I am glad to be a participant with you in that. 

Take care,

Peter Billing MD

Hi everyone, I see we now have about 8 people in here, let me know if you find or receive this post ?

Denise