Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/70907
An Unexpected Bariatric Discovery When 60-year-old James Langan attended a bariatric surgery seminar by Seun Sowemimo, MD, board-certified bariatric surgeon and general surgeon with Central Jersey Bariatrics and Prime SurgiCare and on the medical staff at CentraState, he decided to change his life by undergoing sleeve gastrectomy weight-loss surgery. Weighing more than 400 pounds at the time, James expected to lose weight as a result of the surgery, but couldn’t have imagined what else his weight-loss journey would reveal. “Prior to surgery, James underwent a routine battery of tests to ensure he was healthy enough to undergo anesthesia and the surgery,” Dr. Sowemimo says. “However, during a colonoscopy, a cancerous tumor located on right side of his colon was discovered.” According to the National Cancer Institute, men with a higher body mass index are strongly associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer. “The distribution of body fat appears to be an important factor, with abdominal obesity, which can be measured by waist circumference, showing the strongest association with colon cancer risk,” Dr. Sowemimo points out. The Centers for Disease Control has issued several reports warning that obesity is also associated with several other types of cancer including breast, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gallbladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, prostate, multiple myeloma, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “Dr. Sowemimo took complete control of my cancer diagnosis and helped guide me to all the right people,” James says. “He is down to earth. He sits with you and answers your questions, and doesn’t rush you in and out of there—which, for a specialist, I think is very rare.” Dr. Sowemimo explains that bariatric surgeons are often recommended to perform surgery on very obese patients. “They are specially trained to operate on larger patients with excess body mass while optimizing their safety and keeping the length of surgery as short as possible,” he says. Last September, one week after James’ cancer was discovered, Dr. Sowemimo was successful in the laparoscopic removal of the cancerous tumor. “Dr. Sowemimo said he completely removed the tumor, but recommended I get a second opinion from an oncologist,” James recalls. “That really earned my confidence.” Dr. Sowemimo recommended Bhavesh Balar, MD, board-certified hematologist/oncologist with Monmouth Middlesex Hematology-Oncology and on the medical staff at CentraState. “Fortunately, James’s cancer was in the early stages and had not penetrated any muscle or moved into other parts of the body,” Dr. Balar says. “So a successful surgery would help eliminate the cancer completely.” Moving Forward The surgery was a triumph, and James, now cancer free, was able to undergo his bariatric procedure just six weeks after his tumor was removed. The sleeve gastrectomy was also a success, and James was able to lose 76 pounds in less than three months. “James has already eliminated or reduced all the medications he was taking for various obesity-related health conditions,” Dr. Sowemimo says. “He is exercising and continues to make exceptional progress.” James has lost more than 140 pounds since the end of October and says he has encountered no further physical problems. “I’d like to get rid of 200 pounds altogether,” he says. “I’m going to England and Ireland at the end of August and would like to walk around with no pain.” James says that he couldn’t be more pleased with his experience with Dr. Sowemimo and his group, and would recommend them highly to anyone. “It was the best move I ever made, and they were the best doctors I’ve ever picked,” James says. “I was treated like royalty at CentraState. The nurses are excellent. They seem very caring, and do such a tremendous job.”