Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 20:34:47 -0500 (EST)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Jack Chalker in hospital - more
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

dicconf <dicconf at radix.net> wrote:

> Ted White wrote:

>> "Gastric bypass surgery"?  That doesn't sound like congestive heart
>> failure.

> There is such an operation, but it isn't for heart problems.  What
> the heck is going on?  For that matter, why are they meddling with
> Jack's trachea?

Tracheostomies are routine when the patient is expected to be
unconscious for a while.  Gastric bypass surgery is for weight loss
when diet and exercise have failed.  And with his heart failure,
exercise is no longer an option.  Not only will weight loss help his
heart problems and diabetes, but he may no longer have the cardiac
capacity to walk at all at his current weight.

(I am not a doctor, nor have I seen Jack's medical records, but I have
worked on medical software, so I do have some understanding of what
various procedures are for.)