Columnist Susan Snyder: Couple shed conventional approach

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001 | 8:12 a.m.

A total of 346 pounds, to be exact.

It's a lot to lose, even when divided between two people. But the Las Vegas couple figured they'd lose it together with gastric bypass surgery -- same day, same surgeon.

"It's not so common that the husband and wife have it at the same time," said Milton Owens, the couple's surgeon and medical director at California's Coastal Center for Obesity at Chapman Medical Center.

The procedure involves surgically closing off all but a thumb-size portion of the stomach and attaching a section of the small intestine to this pouch. Food bypasses most of the stomach and part of the small intestine before mixing with digestive acids farther along in the digestive system.

Nikki's stomach pouch holds 1 ounce of food at a time, and George's holds 2 ounces. It is a drastic solution reserved for those who are at least 100 pounds overweight and for whom conventional weight loss plans have failed.

"Half of us (in the United States) are overweight, and a third of us are obese," Owens said. "A person who is 100 pounds or more overweight has a life expectancy that's 15 to 20 years shorter. It's a serious illness."

Nikki says she and George tried the fads, the pills, the groups and the canned shakes.

"You name it, we've been on it," she said.

Before the Sept. 7 procedure George weighed 408 pounds and Nikki, 333. She needed an electric scooter to get around, as her knees were too weak to walk.

Nikki says her weight gain started after her sons were born. George says he has always battled the scale. He weighed 13 pounds at birth and spent his childhood in "chubby clothes."

Being so overweight is hard for so many reasons, they said. George recalls asking for seat-belt extensions on airplanes and using a meat-packing scale to weigh himself because doctors' scales don't go above 300.

"It's little things like that that you have to live with," he said.

The hardest day came just before the surgery. George walked his grandson to school and became lodged in an opening of the schoolyard fence. His voice cracked with emotion at the memory.

"I was so embarrassed," he said. "Nothing's ever beaten me before."

The big day couldn't come soon enough. And George and Nikki were quite the item in the Chapman intensive care unit.

"We were in the ICU right across from each other. All I had to do was lift my head to see her," George said. "We'd blow kisses at each other."

They now count calories and fat grams together. They split one dinner salad instead of ordering two when eating out. George walks every morning. And Nikki, who finally parked the scooter, will exercise inside until her knees work better.

Six weeks after the procedure, Nikki had lost 42 pounds. George had dropped 56. They expect to lose about 20 pounds a month until they reach their ideal weights.

George hopes to maintain 270 pounds on his large, 6-foot-2 frame. Nikki, who stands 5-3, is shooting for 125.

"When she gets down to her ideal weight, I'm going to buy her a pair of Levis," George said.

"Black," Nikki added, "with rhinestones and everything."

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