7 News Belize

The End of A Balloon In The Belly
posted (June 11, 2010)
One year ago, we introduced you to Jennie Staines, the 41 year old obese woman who was among the first in Belize to try a new procedure called the gastric balloon - a specialized balloon which is placed in the stomach as a sure fire weight loss remedy. We have been following Jennie over the year long period and have seen her ambitions become larger as her body became smaller. On Wednesday she was ready to take out the balloon and 7 News was there.

Jennie Staines - patient
"I am a 100% into it and its going to be a new life for me."

When we first met Jennie in June of 2009, she was getting prepared to undergo a medical procedure called bio-enteric intro-gastric balloon placement, which simply means putting a balloon in her stomach. The balloon gave her the illusion of always having a bellyful of food, and so curbed her hunger, which made her eat less…and ensured that she loss weight.

The procedure made a huge impact on Jennie's life. When we visited with her two and a half months later - she was at work visibly smaller and with a renewed, confident outlook.

Jennie Staines
"My weight dropped from the first week. I lost ten pounds in one week but then it slowed down and when I started going to the gym, the weight fell drastic and when I weighed myself I had already lost 22 pounds."

Fast forward ten months later and she has lost 52 pounds and has gone from a size 22 to a size 12. And with that, her target was realized and it was time to remove this foreign object from her body. We caught up with Jennie as she was ready to take out her introgastric balloon.

Jennie Staines
"I hope that I could keep on being strong for the time that's going to come for me I know it's going to be difficult because the ball really makes you not hungry. "

And then Jennie was sedated. And it came out pretty much the same way it went in. Doctor Ervin Gabourel slid an endoscope in through her mouth which allows him to see her insides with clarity and precision

Dr. Irvin Gabourel - Gastroenterologist
"We went in through the patient's mouth, we pass into the oesophagus which is tube that you see that connects the mouth to the stomach and in the stomach you guys saw a ball, basically it turned brown that because it was exposed to gastric acids for a long period."

Once the position of the balloon was identified, the tube was inserted with a needle on the tip.

Dr. Ervin Gabourel
"Through that needle we were able to pierce or bore the surface of the balloon and we started then extracting the saline solution, the liquid that the balloon had inside to get it to a point where it was more easy to pinch the surface of it in order to tear it. Having achieved that then it was easier for us to empty the water that was occupying within the balloon. After that was achieved then I captured the balloon with a sneer and then I proceeded to extract the balloon. All this time the patient can tell you herself she did not feel anything. The extraction of the balloon is a little bit longer because it's more time consuming."

Jennie Staines
"No pain no discomfort. The only thing with the anesthesia I feel sleepy but besides that everything feels normal."

The removal took about an hour but the process took exactly 53 weeks. In the end, the balloon enabled her to lose the weight she has been struggling against since she was 18.

Jennie Staines
"I made a commitment with myself this morning that I will be better disciplined now because I won't have the help of balloon of not being hungry and I am going to do extra exercising and just continuing eating healthy and practically I hope everything goes well. I think it will go well and maybe in 2 months time I will make a point that you or Jules or anybody sees me that I have kept on the weight cause I would really recommend this procedure to people who have had struggles because even like me I had - I don't have anymore - a very slow metabolism and with the help of the balloon and the nutritionist and exercise the eating was the problem that slowed the metabolism. I was starving myself; I ate like one meal a day, that's not a good thing to do but with the balloon I learnt how to eat properly and that boosted my metabolism and now it's better and I think that with the same program that I was doing I'll be fine and people out there should really consider it because my life changed completely."

And while she has had substantial weight loss, losing the weight was the easy part, keeping it off, is going to be the challenge. In her year with the balloon, Staine has developed the lifestyle habits which should enable her to do this.

Dr. Ervin Gabourel
"I don't want the public out there to think that if I put in a balloon automatically they will lose weight no, they will have to exercise they will have to eat right ok so they will have to do a lot of changes in their lives that will have to include some disciplining in them."

Monica Bodden
"Now in a nutshell, how does it feel today looking in the mirror at yourself."

Jennie Staines
"I am very proud of myself. I look younger and i feel younger and it is a different person."

We've witnessed the transition from insertion, to her interim period, to the final stage, but not the final chapter, as Jenny Staines will fight the rest of this battle of the bulge without the balloon.

Reporting for 7News, Monica Bodden.

The entire package from insertion to extraction costs an average of $7,500.00.

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