A year after undergoing experimental surgery, country music legend Dolly Parton appears to be wasting away to nothing!
Sources say the beloved “Jolene” singer may have dropped as much as 30 pounds from her tiny 5-foot-1 frame, plunging to barely 80 pounds and sparking fears she may be hiding a life-threatening illness from fans.
“Dramatic weight loss like this is not a good sign,” Dr. Stuart Fischer, who has not treated Dolly, told The National ENQUIRER. Dolly checked into Florida’s Mayo Clinic in June 2013 to address her weight loss.
At the time, the singer’s close friends told The ENQUIRER that Dolly was “terrified” her weight woes were cancer related.
Those fears were temporarily set aside when doctors determined Dolly was suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease – or severe acid reflux – and implanted an experimental device called LINX to address the problem.
But after viewing images of 68-year-old Dolly’s continuing weight loss, Dr. Fischer told The ENQUIRER: “Either the procedure was minimally effective or another illness has developed.
The experimental procedure was only supposed to take two hours, but complications during the difficult operation stretched it to a tortuous five hours.
Surgeons made five incisions in Dolly’s abdomen then implanted a ring of tiny magnetic titanium beads around the junction of the stomach and the esophagus. The beads allow food to be swallowed, while blocking the flow of acid back into the food pipe. The most common problem triggered by LINX is “difficulty swallowing because it narrows the passage,” says cosmetic surgeon Dr. Yoel S. Shahar, who also has not treated Dolly.
If such difficulties persist, they could “lead in the long run to cancer of the esophagus,” he added.
