Weight loss surgery may fix or prevent health problems

TAMPA, Fla. - Holly Stansbury is a happy woman.  The swelling that aggravated her is gone, her high blood pressure is down and her cholesterol is now normal.

"That's huge to me!" said Stansbury after viewing old pictures of herself.

She's lost 100 pounds.

Two years ago she weighed 240 pounds; she'd just battled through breast cancer treatment when she had an epiphany.

"All the doctors say weight has to do with it. It gets to a point where you don't even want to be weighed because you know they're going to get on to you," Stansbury explained.

After doing research, she decided lap band weight loss surgery would be her best option.  Doctor Dietrick runs the surgical weight loss program at University Community Hospital.

"The gastric bypass band is a plastic device that is placed around the top portion of the stomach and it is restricted.  It simply restricts the passage of food," Dietrick described.

"I eat three, one cup meals a day and I’m satisfied with that," Stansbury said.

"The lap band device includes this little piece which is implanted underneath the skin so the doctor can actually adjust the pressure or the size of the lap band through this without having to go through surgery again."

Doctor Dietrick says complications are rare but include, "One of the complications that can occur is called slippage and that's when the band changes position and the bottom part of the stomach will herniate up through the band. It's a fixable problem," Dietrick said.

Stansbury is down to 138 pounds and the slew of health issues that plagued her vanished with the pounds.

”The most common problems that resolve or improve are diabetes, hypertension which is high blood pressure, sleep apnea, which is when individuals stop breathing during sleep," according to Dietrick.

"I’ve never felt better.  My self esteem is through the roof and it's just changed my whole life," Stansbury told us.