Patient Stories

Weight Loss Surgery

Memorial Hermann Memorial City

Donna, Weight Loss Surgery
Beating the Food Demons

In 2002, Donna was a 54-year-old diabetic with high triglycerides, high cholesterol, out-of-control blood pressure and chronic back and knee pain. She was convinced she wouldn't reach the age of 60. "My sister said I was a heart attack waiting to happen. I knew I wouldn't survive another decade, or if I did I would be dependent on other people or living in a wheelchair."

That was another life altogether. Today, Donna's blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides and cholesterol are normal, and she can hike the Las Cruces Mountains in New Mexico with her sister without getting out of breath.

Donna is an astonishing success story. "Within three months of my gastric bypass, I was off my diabetes medications, and that included four oral medicines and insulin," she says. "I cut my blood pressure medication in half. I lost 55 pounds in the first six weeks, and I'd dropped 85 pounds by Thanksgiving."
   

At 5'8" Donna weighed 350 pounds before she had her roux-en-y gastric bypass on August 7, 2002. "You name it, I'd tried it – from liquid protein to Weight Watchers to prescribed amphetamines. Nothing worked for any period of time."

Prior to surgery, in addition to her health problems, she had to deal with profuse sweating that made daily life almost unbearable. "My health problems were bad enough," she says, "but the sweating was beyond anything anyone could imagine. I would get up in the morning and be sweating so much that by the time I was ready to leave for work, my makeup had run off."

Once she'd made the decision to move ahead with surgery, everything else fell into place, she says. "I had my doctors' approvals and evaluations completed between the second week of April and my surgery in August. I knew I was doing the right thing."

She lost weight rapidly following her surgery. "I dropped 35 pounds in the first 10 days, and the sweating stopped."

Today, Donna is 135 pounds lighter and continues to maintain that weight loss. "I'm healthier now, and I'm actually starting to lose again. It's not as easy as it was in the beginning. We joke that during the first six months after surgery, all you have to do is breathe to lose weight. But after about two years, your body adapts to the pouch and you don't lose as rapidly. Now I'm like everyone else – I have to work at it."

For Donna, the weight-loss struggle continues. "I would like to lose another 40 pounds," she says. "You can have the physical surgery but they don't operate on your head. You still have to wrestle with your food demons. The time of easy weight loss is over. I was wearing a size 28 before my surgery and now I'm wearing 14s and 16s. That's not too bad for someone who's 5'8". My goal is to weigh 175 and wear a 12. I'm getting there."