Over-looking the beach in Carslbad, California

Two months ago, my family and I moved to California. I am working as a patent agent for a cool company called Obalon Therapeutics. Obalon is located in Carlsbad, CA, which is north of San Diego. I’m SO HAPPY to be here!

Obalon makes the coolest product, a swallowable gastric balloon (the Obalon Gastric Balloon or OGB). No surgery is required to implant it, because the OGB is folded up into a little pill that the patient swallows. A small catheter is attached to the OGB, for inflation. After the patient swallows the OGB, the pill opens up and releases it. The doctor then inflates the released OGB and then pulls the catheter back out of their mouth. The inflated balloon makes the patient feel full. How cool is that?

The patient can have up to three OBGs, for up to three months. While the patient has the OBGs in his/her stomach, he/she feels more full and eats a lot less food. As a result, the patient can loose a lot of excess weight. When the treatment time is over, the OGBs are removed from the patient’s stomach using and endoscope.

There is a video from our website.

While the OGB is not currently available in the US, it is available in the Middle East and Europe. Hopefully, the OGB will be available in the US soon. The Obalon Gastric Balloon will be a real help to those who are overweight, but do not qualify for weight-loss surgery. Be alleviating some of their hunger, the OGB gives the patient a little boost in resisting temptation!

I hope to get back to sewing soon. But in the mean time, I’ll leave you with a photo of something I see most mornings on the way to work.

A Beautiful San Diego Sky