Life Before Surgery
In life before surgery, I had absolutely no energy. I was a mom to two very active little ones and I had a high-energy job. At the end of the day, I would order a pizza and sit on the couch while my kids watched cartoons. I didn’t have the energy to play with them and I didn’t have a good quality of life. I tried all of the fads and diet pills including the cabbage soup diet and high protein diet. I had the best results with Phentermine but within three weeks of coming off the medication, I had already gained 16 pounds back. It was just like a yo-yo spiraling out of control. I would lose 30 pounds and then gain 40 after getting off the medication.
People tend to think that surgery is the easy way out, but it isn’t. You have to change everything: everything about the way that you perceive food and your relationship with it. Since I work at Dr. Marvin’s office, I tell patients all the time while getting them ready for surgery, the physical part, the healing part after surgery is nothing compared to the psychological part of it, and getting your mind right and knowing that you’re going into surgery to change things is the most important thing. There’s still an adjustment period afterward where you’re trying to find your new normal.
A Commitment to Change
I made a very sound decision post-operatively to change everything, and I did. I changed the types of food that I cooked my family and I cleaned out the high processed sugar foods in our house. I lost 125 pounds and my husband ended up losing lost 80 pounds just from the way that we changed our eating habits. Keeping the weight off is definitely a lifelong commitment.
Dr. Marvin is a very good doctor, a lot of people don’t realize that he’s triple board certified in head and neck, he’s board certified in critical care, and he’s board certified in general surgery. I watched a lot of the post-operative patients go through the gastric sleeve, have surgery, see the post-operative outcomes, the minimal, if any, complications that came from the gastric sleeve, and I watched it for a long time before I decided to have surgery. I knew Dr. Marvin, even before I had surgery with him; he operated on at least seven of my family members. To me, that’s an even bigger statement because of how important family is to me. For me to say, “Here’s the people that I love and care about the most in this world, fix them and they’re in your hands,” that’s a bigger statement to me than letting him operate on me, because, I love them that much. I’ve seen him fly in from family vacations and postpone personal plans to take care of patients. He’s very down to earth and ultimately, people end up having an immense respect for him because of that.
Feeling 100% Better
My life is really different now. I go to the gym and I’m nonstop all the time. Both of my boys play football and swim. Now, we also have a new addition to our family! Three years post-op I got pregnant with my daughter and she’s awesome. She does dance and gymnastics. When I think of how different my life is now, it’s unbelievable. I used to drive home and just pray I could hit the couch as soon as I got home. Now I get off work and rush around trying to get things done and my kids are like, “Mom, slow down,” So it’s not me just keeping up with them, it’s them keeping up with me. My only regret is that I didn’t do the surgery sooner. I feel 100% better, and now I have the energy to keep up with my kids. I’m no longer embarrassed about the way that I look, and so I would recommend the surgery to others, but do it knowing that this isn’t an easy fix. This is a tool that will help you to help yourself.
