Bariatric Surgery

Success Stories

Bob Hagy

For Bob Hagy, of Pine Hill, losing weight followed a familiar pattern. Though he had managed to lose weight through a variety of diets, the pounds “always came back, plus more.” Finally, it was his six-year-old grandson who convinced him it was time to do something serious.

“It was about a year ago,” the 63 year-old former marketing executive recalled recently. “My weight was ballooning beyond belief and my grandson said to me, ‘Pop-pop, if you eat one more forkful, you’re going to explode.’ That kind of hit home.”

My spirits are high. My energy is high. I just can’t say enough about the benefits of this,

After researching the different options available for weight-loss surgery, Hagy decided on having a lap-band procedure because it seemed to him like the least invasive type of surgery. The lap band procedure involves the surgical placement of an adjustable band around the stomach. The band restricts the size of the stomach thereby limiting the amount of food it can hold at one time.

A short time before he was to have the surgery, though, Hagy saw an advertisement in the Courier-Post for an information session on weight loss surgery with Dr. Alex Gandsas, the chairman of Department of Surgery at the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine. At that session, Dr. Gandsas explained another procedure, a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. This

Left, Robert Hagy at 331 lbs. before surgery. Right, Dr. Gandsas and Robert, who has lost 60 lbs. in four months since his surgery.

procedure removes 75 percent of the stomach and is done through six small incisions in the abdomen that allow the necessary surgical instruments to be inserted, as well as a special camera to view structures inside the abdomen.

Hagy came away from the seminar convinced “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that the sleeve gastrectomy was a better option for him, and, on November 16, 2010, Dr. Gandsas performed the procedure on Hagy at Kennedy University Hospital in Stratford.

Since that time, Hagy says a lot of things have happened. He’s dropped 60 pounds from his pre- surgical weight of 331 pounds and is working towards an ultimate goal of losing about 60 more. But just as important has been the impact on his health.

“Before the surgery, I was taking a lot of medications. Now, I am no longer taking the medicine I was on for a pre-diabetic condition, and I only take half the medicine I used to take for high blood pressure,” he said.

He’s able to exercise more, too. He began a month after his surgery with 15 minute sessions on a treadmill. Two months later, he can easily do 30 minutes at a faster pace and with the treadmill set at an incline.

“My spirits are high. My energy is high. I just can’t say enough about the benefits of this,” he said. “I feel absolutely great. I haven’t felt this good in a while, a long while.” Hagy’s family has noticed the differences, too, especially one precocious six-year-old. According to Hagy, “My grandson isn’t asking me to stop eating any more.”