Bengaluru: A 41-year-old homemaker, who was suffering from more than 10 different life threatening ailments, recently underwent bariatric surgery.
She has been a suffering from juvenile diabetes or Type 1 diabetes (a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin) since she was seven years old.
The patient, Deena Vumshi, had also developed morbid obesity over the years and was suffering from multiple ailments including hypertension, hypothyroidism, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and sleep apnea.
After her evaluation and assessment, the doctors suggested that she undergo bariatric surgery to improve her quality of life. Before the surgery she suffered from swine flu, acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and deep vein thrombosis.
When doctors took her up for surgery, they detected that she had tracheal stenosis (due to a previous tracheostomy) and so had to undergo another tracheal stenosis correction surgery in the first sitting, in order to make ready for bariatric surgery after two months.
Dr H.V. Shivaram, Chief Surgeon, Aster CMI Hospital said, “Deena’s case demanded bariatric surgery as this would bring her weight in control and simultaneously improve her other conditions.
“Her weight at the time of consultation was 115 kg, which has drastically reduced to 70 kg after her surgery. Her dependency on medication for her other conditions has also reduced since then.”
About her experience, Deena said, “We should take life as it comes and despite having gone through so many health crises, even now I enjoy my life every day and I take life as a short but sweet journey that must be lived to the fullest. There is a lot of stigma around bariatric surgery but I am happy with the outcome. I am now able to do so much more that I was unable to do earlier and participate more in my daily activities. I can take the stairs and walk at a stretch for an hour without getting tired, which I was unable to do earlier. I still enjoy eating my favorite foods now and then.”
