Dear Prez. Bush....sans attachment

[Guest guest]

whooops....forgot the attachments were off on Grad.OSSG. Hereyago.

Dan T

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June 23, 2002

President W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

Re: Fighting Fat/Battle of Obesity

Dear President Bush,

I was encouraged to read your remarks and ensuing commentary dealing with

your intent to wage a war on unhealthy lifestyles and weight. For many

years it was never an issue with me as I was morbidly obese but couldn’t

find the necessary methods and lifestyle change to reduce my weight and body

size to realistic or healthy proportions. Making matters worse, my father

and his mother were of the same body style and unfortunate health problems

that plagued their final years and final illness. It wasn’t anything that I

looked forward to in later life.

I chose the surgical procedure called the “Roux n’ Y” gastric bypass after

unsuccessful attempts for decades with diet, exercises and FDA approved

weight loss methods…such as liquid style supplement fasting. Short term

successes…long-term failures, until the “roux n’ y” which proved out to be a

stunning success both in physical and moral health. I couldn’t begin to

consider wasting your time with the issues that go along with being 6’5”

tall and 400lbs., suffice to say…like you…no matter where I would go,

someone was always staring and making remarks. Unfortunately, I was a

“public figure” for all the wrong reasons.

The procedure is the most successful method for morbid obesity control ever

put forward. The surgeon in Atlanta is Waits, MD with a spotless

track record and a long, long list of patients who have come to praise the

man for saving their lives and mental health. I attend monthly meetings for

the past 3 years with new faces every meeting. These new faces are new

pre-and post-surgery patients…but also, post patients that continue to lose

and maintain their weight loss by the basics involved in the procedure.

The roux n’ Y is in essence a reduction of the stomach size (by varying

means via various surgeons) that fast tracks the stomach contents to an area

well below the old stomach/small bowel that allows most foods to bypass the

capacity of absorption that makes up the various body styles. By bypassing

the ileum (up to 15% of the small bowel), food matter is routed through

while still allowing some absorption to take place, the less digestible are

passed into the large bowel. Without the aid of the stomach gastric juices,

the foodstuffs are equally as undigested and pass along and through the

system. This appears to be the key element in the weight loss surgery. Dr.

Waits performs his procedure in an open surgery…a hands on review…rather

than the laparoscopic method…that allows him to determine how much small

intestine to bypass.

My weight loss from surgery began in October 1998. I began at 450lbs. I

presently weigh in at 260 lbs. I have weighed in at 235 lbs. But since

getting to a low weight point, I began to work out in gyms and treadmills

and have replaced fatty tissues with muscle. I am not much of a success

story in comparison to others that have lost in excess of 300 - 400 lbs, now

maintaining their weight with exercise and the control brought about by the

surgical procedure.

The control from the surgery is in multiples. Foremost, the reduction in

stomach size does not allow the patients to gorge themselves. What was a 32

oz stomach has been reduced to 2 to 4 oz in capacity with a direct

connection to an outlet to bypass part of the small bowel. Secondly, there

is a reaction by those of us that indulge in high fat content or high

sugared foods. Since the bypass takes un-digested foodstuffs directly to

the system (bypassing the gastric fluids in the stomach), the body reacts to

sugars and fats…almost as a toxin that is being dumped into the system. The

reaction is one in which the by-pass patient becomes weak and nauseous along

with digestive tract situations that makes the entire experience unpleasant

enough that the Roux n’ Y patients usually lose interest in sugars and fatty

foods. I can personally attest to the occurrence commonly known as “the

dumping syndrome” as the body sends all the available fluids to the site of

the “toxins” to eliminate the source….thus dropping blood pressure and other

issues from such an event that helps to re-train the patient.

As someone that now has the second chance that I would hope everyone could

have, I write to you in response to your Battle with Obesity. My insurer

chose NOT to cover my procedure; but finally did with just the right amount

of lawful persuasion. It made no sense that they would be more than happy

to pay for joint replacements, diabetes treatments, cardiac issues and

everything else involved with the morbidly obese…but chose NOT to be willing

to put up the $17,000 for my roux n’ y surgery. Compared to other surgeries

for any of the obesity related health issues, the roux n’ y procedure was

cheap by comparison…and cured all the problems that could be forthcoming in

the next 10 to 20 years. The insurers got quite a deal and I reaped a

benefit that I couldn’t begin to thank my surgeon for.

There are too many instances of bad lifestyles and bloodline induced obesity

problems that can be seen anywhere and everywhere. Like me, most of these

men and women don’t wish to live like this, but there’s not much hope to

resolve such problems without drastic actions. As someone with the

mentality and willingness to do almost anything in life, obesity was

something that I could not overcome. It’s not simply a product of our

current generation of fast & fatty foods….my father and his mother both had

the same issues that they fought all their lives to control but could not

overcome.

I made the attempt to not live the end of my life like my father and

grandmother after successfully losing weight too many times…only to see it

come back on much too fast and beyond my physical and mental control.

“Stoking the furnace” to maintain my everyday routines in trying to carry

450lbs on a frame with an actuarial table that allows that I should only

weigh 220lbs is basically asking me to walk about all day with two bags of

concrete on my shoulders. The same would apply for every morbidly obese

person that can only carry those sacks only so far on a physicians diet of

less than 1,000 calories. Effective weight loss happens in finding the

basal metabolic stability; reducing intake by 250 calories per day while

increasing calorie burning by 250 calories per day equates to about 1 pound

per week. A morbidly obese soul would still be morbidly obese if that

person could possibly maintain such a regimen for two or more years. I

became non-morbidly obese within the first six months of my surgery.

I realize that this letter has gone on much too long. The procedure and my

personal thoughts to attempt to pass along the facts of the matter dictated

this note, and I do apologize for taking up this much time. But, there is a

successful track record taking place and it would behoove the insurance

groups to recognize this procedure for what it is and what it has done for

the morbidly obese. We can find a method to reduce health costs, but it’s

up to the insurers to decide whether they want to spend the money now for

this procedure…or treble the same amount for an obesity related illness that

will follow behind the morbidly obese. Thank you for your incentive in your

plan of action in this matter and thank you for your time in this letter.

Please don’t hesitate to call upon me if I can be of any assistance in

communicating this point to anyone at anytime.

Best regards,

Dan