Can any doctor answer this?

hi, to have an operation for a gastric band fitted is done by key hole surgery, which patients heal very fast and is not as life threatening, to have a gall bladder removed it requires a procedure called an laparotomy, which i large cut is made in the middle of the abdomin wall, longer healing time, increased risk of infection and blood lose, thats why she needs the other one first x

I'm not a doctor, but you need to discuss this with the surgeon who turned her down as to why they could do one and not the other. I agree that it does seem odd they can do the one but not the other. They must figure the risk is too high for her to undergo the gallbladder surgery. Maybe her weight is preventing them from doing it laproscopically to where they will have to do it the old fashioned way. My mom had to get hers out the old fashioned way a few years ago since they couldn't do it the easy way for some reason. It had something do do with the numerous gallstones in her of which one was blocking a very important bile duct. It's a much more serious intrusive surgery if done the old way.

I mean no disrespect towards you, but I think you are in denial as to why your wife is so overweight. There are meds that can cause a person to gain weight, but it is never enough to make one so large that they could not do a surgery. If your wife doesn't eat much and is still quite large, then a gastric bypass will not work for her if eating is not the reason for being large. All the gastric bypass does is stop a person from eating so much and you think she is not eating that much in the first place. I think she is eating a lot more calories than you realize even though other conditions can add to the problem. Inactivity can have a lot to do with it too since I'm sure she is not doing a lot of activity due to her size. She will either have to lose some weight or keep going to doctors until you find one willing to do high risk surgery on her. Gallbladder problems can be quite miserable with causing a lot of pain and nausea and just not feeling well at all. I hope she can get help very soon.

By the way, you are in the right category. I have no idea of what that other person is thinking. Maybe it should be car maintenance since that's what I feel like sometimes when I go to the doctor for a check up, like they are checking under my hood. I just don't like it when they have to use any dipstick to check on things. LOL.

Find a different doctor if you can. Apparently this one does not like large people. I know sometimes one can not choose who their doctor is but try. Gastric bypass is a major operation and has a lot of side effect, a lot of them not very nice. My daughter, at age 24, had her gall bladder out when she weighed about 300 lb. though they tried the keyhole procedure and couldn't get it out that way, they did have to make a large incision about 5-7 inches long.

A good doctor will be able to your wife's gallbladder out whatever her size is. Gastric bypass should be the last resort of any kind of surgery. Seems like doctors think if someone is obese they need to lose weight any way possible...

Gastric bypass can be done by using a tiny camera, called a laparoscope - laparoscopic gastric bypass. Perhaps her doctors are considering this method?

As you have found out they want her weight reduced before doing a cholecystectomy.

Two doctors have said the same thing, why not ask them, or one of them, to explain why.

Would your wife consider trying to reduce her weight herself? It would cut out one invasive procedure.

In case it helps, daily you need... http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-burned.p...

About 3,500 calories adds up to about 1 pound. This applies whether they are food calories coming in, or calories (burned by exercise) going out.

Eat 3,500 calories more than the body needs, you put on about 1 pound. Use up 3,500 calories more than you eat, you will lose about 1 pound in weight.

To burn calories...

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

I know this would take time, perhaps her doctor/s would help, assist, advise.

I wish her good luck whichever she chooses.

I don't think this is the right place for asking about this.