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VIDEO: Amelia Barcenas - Bariatric Patient Success Story, Which One Is Your Favorite?

Patient coordinator Amelia Barcenas shares her favorite bariatric patient success story.

Amelia:
I have a patient that weighs 750 pounds. He works for Circuit City. The time he came into the office, this patient, we were trying to have him approved for surgery. It was always being denied, denied, denied. I mean, thinking that this patient had passed all the criteria for weight loss surgery, they keep on denying this guy. At the end of a year of dealing with this patient, his insurance dropped him, meaning there’s no more options for him, and so what happened was, he appealed and was able to get this insurance back and after two years of working with this patient, finally he had the surgery and I feel bad for this patient because the family is so close to me. We have become friends at the same time. They talk to me about their issues on how to deal with their dad when you are 750 pounds. I mean, “Will their dad be able to attend a football game of the eldest son?”

That’s why, you know, it really, like touches me when after all this hard work, fighting with insurance, making sure that this one gets an approval, and when I saw him in the surgery table I said, “Well, there’s no other way you are going to lose the weight and be able to attend all those little things that you have been thinking of, riding a bike with your son, walking to the park with your wife.” And I think that’s something that, you know, really, really will make you feel good when you see a patient in that table after all those battles and hey, we’ve done it. And I think, you know, it really touches my heart, not just my heart but the staff here in our office.

At this time I think the patient has lost 285 pounds, his wife - so happy. They come to the office every month to be weighed, of course, they attend support group meeting and now they could ride in their car, just a casual family. Before they used to like, okay three person comes in. The rest stays home, because, you know, we can’t get into the car because, you know, dad is this big.

Now they are like happy. Everybody was here for an appointment, even the little girl that, you know, the youngest girl that he has, is in the office. So I said, “Why, do we have a family reunion?” He says, “No, because we could fit in our car now.” So, actually he is really a success story. I am so amazed of his weight loss and his compliance and of course the beauty of this bariatric surgery.

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