"This is absolutely the best thing I have ever done. I want to be that 81-year-old that is running marathons! And this will help me get there.”
Weight loss surgery helps a Nutley woman conquer lifelong obesity.
Lisa DeFabbi, 53, has been heavy for most of her life. “From the time I was a child, weight issues were always with me,” says the Nutley resident. “I had tried the lap band [an inflatable band placed around the upper part of the stomach that decreases stomach size to limit food intake] That didn’t work. Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers: Nothing kept the weight off.”
Last year, she made a decision. “I’m a grandmother with a 3-year-old granddaughter, and I felt, enough was enough. I decided I wanted to go in for weight loss surgery.” Lisa got to work with the bariatric team at Clara Maass Medical Center (CMMC), which has a comprehensive program to support patients before, during and after surgery to provide the best possible chance for long-term weight loss.
Who is a candidate?
To be a candidate for bariatric surgery, a person needs to have a body mass index, or BMI—a calculation measured using the patient’s height and weight—of greater than 40. Alternatively, the person can have a BMI of 35 or higher, along with one or more obesity-related conditions.
“Often, patients at that number suffer with a number of medical conditions: diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, reflux disease, osteoarthritis,” explains Harvey Rainville, MD, Medical Director of Robotic Surgery at CMMC. “In addition to helping a patient lose weight, bariatric surgery allows the majority of patients to get off many of the medications they are taking for obesity-related conditions.”
Bariatric surgery, in the simplest terms, involves surgically reducing the size of a person’s stomach so that they consume less food than they’re used to eating and have a much smaller appetite. “The surgery has come a long way in the last couple of decades,” says Dr. Rainville, who performed Lisa’s surgery. “The newer procedures are minimally invasive. We make smaller incisions, and there is quicker recovery time: The patient spends less than 24 hours in the hospital and often, there is full recovery within a few days of surgery.”
A big commitment
“I knew going in that the surgery would change the way I would be able to eat for the rest of my life,” Lisa says. “When they take out more than half your stomach, it can be nerve-wracking, because you know this is an irreversible procedure.” Before the procedure, Lisa was on a two-week diet, after the operation, she was given a diet protocol that was explained to her by the team of dietitians in the bariatric program. This postoperative diet lasts for a duration of six weeks and gradually progresses from primarily liquids to normal solid foods.
A little over a year post-surgery, Lisa has lost 85 of her 282 pounds, and says she has never felt better. “I eat smaller amounts now, and a mostly healthy diet: fruits, vegetables, lean proteins. But I do allow myself things like pizza and wine on the weekends and some chocolate—just smaller amounts.” And the end result? “This is absolutely the best thing I have ever done,” she says. “I want to be that 81-year-old that is running marathons! And this will help me get there.”
Clara Maass can help
To learn more about bariatric surgery at Clara Maass Medical Center, attend one of the monthly “Surgical Options for Weight Loss” seminars (which are also offered in Spanish) led by one of CMMC’s bariatric surgeons. To register, call 888.724.7123.