 After months in a hospital, Patrick Deuel says he has learned a lot-and lost more than 450 pounds.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.--
His recovery was slowed because of an infection, but a man who once weighed a half ton might soon leave a hospital after loosing more than 450 pound.
 Patrick Deuel, 42, is scheduled to go home to Valentine, Nebraska, on Jan. 22. He is still receiving treatment for a staph infection he got in November.
Deuel said he isn't worried about returning to a former life style of overeating. He will have health aides at home, and a doctor will check on him regularly.
"I have learned a lot while I've been here", he said Tuesday. "I'll just keep doing what I have been doing, and I think things will be fine."
Deuel weighed 1,072 pounds when he checked into Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center in June. At the time, he was dying of heart failure. His doctor recommended gastric-bypass surgery, but Deuel wasn't healthy enough to undergo the procedure.
The hospital staff structured an exercise program and a 1,200-calorie-a-day diet. The 420 pound Deuel lost by late October helped control his heart problems and other health issues, including diabetes. The gastric-bypass surgery was perfromed Oct. 28.
Deuel, who relies on Medicine to pay his hospoital bills, can't stay at the center indefinitely. He now weighs about 610 pounds and hopes to slim down to another 240 pounds.
A tube that provides extra proten has slowed his weight loss. He has lost just 41 pounds since the surgery.
"He 's making progress", rehabilitation doctor Steven Guse said. "He's walking household distances ... but he's still got a big challenge ahead of him".
Deuel had tried many diets, but the pounds were slow to come off. He wouild get discourage and take comfort in over eating.By the mid-1190's, he was housebound.
(abstracted from CHICTRIBNEWS/Associated Press) |
