My story is probably typical. I’ve spent my entire adult life struggling with my weight. I have tried every diet in the world. Purchased multiple pieces of exercise equipment. Joined and unjoined several fitness centers in my city, multiple times. Read More

Last year my life was taken away from me. I underwent a surgery that was sloppily done by a different surgeon. For eight months post-surgery, my life consisted of chronic pain. At just 26-years-old, I felt stripped of my life. Read More

Having been fighting prostate cancer since 2005, the last thing I needed was more problems. In the fall of 2010, I started to have a bad taste in my mouth as well as foul belching. These two symptoms were very strange to me and I had never experienced anything similar. Read More

My story starts September 19, 2009. I developed severe abdominal cramps, which continued up through September 21, 2009 at which time I presented myself to the Advocate Immediate Care Facility in my local area. Read More

It’s been a year since Dr. Frantzides performed my surgery on January 22, 2010 and I’m feeling wonderful. I went to him when I had lost all hope of improving my quality of life. I had previously had an open hiatal hernia repair that failed and I was diagnosed as morbidly obese. Read More

My GI system ceased to function properly in April 2006, after the removal of a football sized, benign tumor from my abdomen. It was in the back of my organs so the abdominal incision went very deep. I was cut from sternum to pelvis and from my bellybutton to my back. Read More

My medical problems began several years ago because of diverticulitis which I dismissed as abdominal pain due to having wrong food. However, during June of 2010 the pain became unbearable and it was clear to me that I had a serious medical problem. Read More

The “Swiss Cheese Abdomen” describes my abdomen. This is the term commonly used by physicians to describe an abdomen with many weak areas. It must be stressed that my hernia repairs were complicated due to the scarring and the location from previous incisions. Read More

For Kathleen Kahn, meeting Dr. Frantzides was a lucky coincidence. Kahn, who had suffered with diverticulitis for six months, was told by her gastroenterologist to make an appointment with Dr. Frantzides, but she ended up in the hospital before that time. Read More

Nancy Valentine spent many years suffering with severe acid reflux disease and ulcers. She endured two surgical procedures, each providing only temporary respite, but ultimately both failing, as her symptoms continued to return. Read More

The diagnosis came in January 2007 after a colonoscopy procedure. After months of excruciating abdominal cramps, random episodes of upset stomach, weakness and fevers, I finally had a diagnosis: Crohn’s Disease. At the age of 17, I was unable to grasp the true meaning of a chronic disease. Read More

I’m a retired commodities broker living part time in Del Ray Beach, Florida. In April of 2007, I began having terrible stomach pains and went to the emergency room of the local hospital. I stayed four days, was released and came back to Chicago one week later. Read More

I started having sharp pain in my stomach area. In the past I had dull pains from time to time but did not think anything was wrong with me. I called my personal physician for an appointment and he ordered a CT scan. After reviewing the results, he diagnosed me with several hernias. Read More

My name is Maria Doumas and my problems started 45 years ago. I had been having recurring abdominal pain and was diagnosed with constipation and bloating. I was treated with high fiber diet modifications, and over the counter laxatives. Read More

My name is Christos Adamo; I live in Zurich, Switzerland, and was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, which ultimately resulted in kidney failure and a need for kidney transplantation. Because I feel medicine is superior in the United States I flew to Chicago in 2000. Read More

The patient, James Spitzer of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, had seen numerous physicians in the Boston area, all of whom recommended against in situ repair of the perastomal hernia, instead recommending that the ileostomy stoma should be relocated to his other side. Read More

After suffering with Crohn’s disease since childhood, Michael Vassolo sought the newest treatments. Although Vassolo had major surgery previously, physicians at Weiss Hospital were able to perform a new minimally invasive surgical technique. Read More

My first awareness that I had developed a problem that would become a virtual nightmare and leave me in some kind of medical limbo happened to me while vacationing in California in May 2002. In an emergency room I was diagnosed with a partial bowel obstruction. Read More

I have struggled with my weight for my entire life. From the earliest time I can remember, I was overweight and constantly on a diet trying to fit in. Trying to lose that extra weight. As time when on, I began to despair that things would never change. Read More