Genesis Health System Blogs - Bariatric Surgery
Brenda Barnhart
Let me introduce myself. My name is Brenda Barnhart. Since January, 2011, I
have been a patient of the Genesis Center for Weight Management. My weight has
always been an issue for me. As a child I started gaining weight at the age of
six, by eleven my mother dropped me off at my first weight loss meeting. Weight
Watchers in the 1970’s wasn’t much fun, especially for an eleven year old child.
The weight loss program at that time required you to make your own ketchup and
eat liver two or three times a week. Everyone in the program was very nice but
believe me when I say no one was even close to my age. And at eleven I wasn’t
going to eat liver no matter how much my mom tried to tell me it was good for me
and tasted great.
I did lose weight on Weight Watchers but shortly after stopping the program I
gained that loss back and put more on. From that diet program I moved on. I
tried the Carnation Instant Breakfast diet, this diet was my own invention. It
was my answer to Slim Fast before Slim Fast. I would drink one instant breakfast
a day and that was it. It worked, but again I lost weight, gained it back plus
some. I went on to try Slim Fast, Jenny Craig, the Beet diet, Richard Simmons,
and so many more the list could go on forever.
You may ask, did I ever have any success, yes I did. I was able to lose 80
pounds with Weight Watchers in 1992. It was awesome, I was a size 8 which I had
never been. I was very happy and so was Weight Watchers, in fact they offered me
a job as a leader. I did this and for 2 years I was able to keep the weight off.
Then I went back to school, stopped attending meetings, gave up my job and
before I knew it, I was tipping the scales at over 200 pounds on a 5’3
frame.
Like many of us, I continued to try other diets. I even went back to Weight
Watchers after years of feeling ashamed of what I had done to my body. Of
course, I waited long enough that all the people I knew when I worked for them
were either dead or had moved on. I didn’t want to take the chance of seeing
anyone that had known me when I was thin. The shame of the weight was more than
I could deal with and it kept me from getting the help I needed for several
years.
I have tried and failed at more diets than I can count. I am tipping the
scales at 255 pounds. I feel like a failure. I had to purchase more clothing
because the clothes I had no longer fit me. I am wearing a size 22 jeans and
looking at 24’s. I am in a 3X top which is getting tight and wondering where I
am going to get a 4X because Wal-Mart only seems to go up to 3X’s. I am
depressed, out of breath when I climb stairs, can’t walk very far without my
back and knees hurting. I am 50 years old. I have sleep apnea, acid reflex,
high blood pressure, border line diabetes. Sugar is my drug of choice. I eat
sweets instead of meals, I love all sweets; pies, cakes, candy, chocolate, white
chocolate. I do not care about myself or what I am eating. I want it all and
there is never enough of it. My other diet plan besides living on sweets is fast
food. I no longer order food, I order numbers, my favorite is #3 at McDonalds,
add a chocolate shake to that and life is wonderful. Of course, until after I
eat it, then the guilt comes and I feel like crap and will add a candy bar just
to feel better. I feel as if I am belly crawling at the bottom of the pit.
I have been working with my regular diet and attending Weight Watchers
meetings. My doctor weighs me once a month and we talk about what is going on
with me. Weight Watchers gives me great support; there are several members I
have become good friends with. The problem is, I kept losing the same 10 pounds
over and over again.
Until January, 2011, I was not willing to give up the foods I had grown to
love and depend on. I could not imagine my life without sweets, without
McDonalds, without Culvers, I couldn’t see beyond the food. That was when it hit
me, if I continued the path I was on I wasn’t going to have a life at all. I was
already developing medical problems due to my weight. I had to stop the denial
and deal with this problem. I needed help, I had thought about checking into
surgery in the past and that was one of the reasons I had my doctor start to
document everything concerning my weight. I knew from research that I had to
have good documentation if the insurance company was going to approve me for
weight loss surgery.
I began attending Overeaters Anonymous. I really believed I had a problem
with food as if I had a drinking or drug problem. I knew it was bad for me but
continued to eat. It was through OA that I began working on the issues of why I
ate, which led me to believe that surgery was going to be the help I needed. I
felt as if I finally was going to get a handle on the weight problem before I
killed myself with food.
I mentioned earlier that sugar was my drug of choice. Like a drug addict or
an alcoholic when I was sad or even happy, when I needed that fix, sugar was it.
I knew that I wouldn’t overeat carrots or green beans, it wasn’t all foods that
I had a problem with, just sugar and anything that was ‘bad’ for me. With the
help of OA I worked eliminating sugar form my diet. I also made a decision that
with OA and weight loss surgery I was going to be able to finally find some
peace in my life and stop the madness that yo-yo dieting and sugar was causing
me.
In January, 2011, I called Genesis and requested an appointment. I was
directed by Kim ( by the way if you haven’t met her yet, she is awesome) to
attend the upcoming orientation. She informed me this was the first step to many
more ahead of me, hmm, I thought, one step at a time, one day at a time.
Check out my next blog to find out where I went from there.
I hope that my story can be some help for anyone who is dealing with weight
issues and is on this same path as I was. Write to me, I will try to answer your
questions and I will help you in any way I can. I am looking forward to helping
you on your journey to a new life.
Take care of yourself, your are the only one of you that you have.
Brenda Barnhart
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Beth K
Beth Kerkove
Hi! My name is Beth. All of my life, there have been several words others used to describe me: gregarious, upbeat, optimistic, organizer, social, fun, and friendly. There has always been another word that most people didn’t have the guts to use to my face: fat. I can’t remember a time in my life where I have been a “normal” size. It seems like my weight has always been central to my life. From the time I was 13, I have been on and off diets. Nothing has ever worked for me. To be honest, even as a fat person, I consider myself an expert on diets/nutrition.
January of 2010, I finally made the decision to have weight loss surgery. I felt like I was admitting defeat. I called the Genesis Bariatric Clinic and set up an appointment for a group consultation. When I got to the meeting, I was sold on the surgery option. At the end of the program, the presenter dropped a bomb: there was a weight limit for the surgery at the clinic. I left in tears. I was too fat for weight loss surgery. I felt like I was trying to make good choices and stifled at every turn. Frustrated and angry, I began emailing my contact at the clinic. She convinced me to come in for my appointment that was scheduled in the next month.
When I arrived at my appointment, my first step was on to a scale. When the numbers kept creeping higher and stopped at a staggering number, I almost turned and ran. But, a curious thing happened: the nurse did not seem to give me the look that I expected from someone who just saw that massive number. I was thoroughly encouraged by my visit and began a journey of a thousand miles with just one step: start a strict diet to drop the nearly 100 lbs that I had to lose before surgery.
Well, today, I sit before you nearly 80 pounds lighter and have not made it to surgery—almost a year to the day of my first visit to the clinic. These last months have not been easy. If I said that I had stuck perfectly to the diet, I’d be a liar. If I said that I have always lost weight and never gained, still lying. If I said that I felt completely different, it would only be a half truth.
I am just about 90 days out from my scheduled surgery date with about 20 pounds left to lose. It’s a day to day struggle to stay motivated and avoid discouragement, but I am trying! I hope that in this blog you can see that, though it’s not easy, a weight loss journey—no matter how long it takes or obstacles are thrown in your path—is always an adventure and worth it in the end.
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Tammy S
Tammy Shipman
Last post was Tuesday, December 11, 2007
After years of battling her weight, Tammy Shipman, a nurse and supervisor for Great River Home Health Care and Hospice in West Burlington, Iowa is hoping that the life-changing surgery will give her a new lease on life and restore her to good health.
Shipman, who is married with two teen-age daughters, has been researching gastric bypass surgery for five years. Her interest in the surgery increased, however, after she attended an informational meeting at the Genesis Center for Bariatric Surgery. She liked the center’s multidisciplinary approach and the fact that it offered laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.
“Last November, I stopped smoking and gained 30-40 pounds,” Shipman said. “It just put me over the edge, and since then, I’ve been overwhelmed with physical symptoms because of my weight. For years, I had never seen myself as a heavy person, but now the effects of my weight were in my face. I have sleep apnea; horrible back and neck pain; extremely high cholesterol; and high blood sugars. I haven’t been feeling well.
“Last June, I went to a pulmonologist for shortness of breath even though I had stopped smoking. When I got on the scale, I weighed 347 pounds and was horrified. It was a deciding factor.”
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Robin S
Robin Schneiderman
Last post was Friday, September 14, 2007
Robin Schneiderman has been overweight most of her life, especially her adult life. Yet, despite chronic arthritis, high blood pressure and sleep apnea, she refused to admit her problems were weight-related. But it’s easier to confront your own health issues when your younger brother is diagnosed with cancer and your father dies of a massive stroke. A 50th birthday and frank talk from your physician don’t hurt either.
“My doctor asked me, not quite so bluntly, if I was trying the kill myself,” says Schneiderman. “She wanted me to go for a bariatric surgery consultation.”
Schneiderman, who carried 295 pounds on a 5-foot-2-inch frame, made up her mind to at least learn more about weight loss surgery. Her visit to a Genesis Center for Bariatric Surgery education session in May sold her on the idea and put her on a path that will culminate with surgery August 21, 2006.
“If I can just help one person realize their dream of getting healthy,” says Schneiderman, “I’ll have felt like sharing my experience is worth it.”
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Ellis K
Ellis Kell
Last post was Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Local blues musician Ellis Kell, whose weight-loss journey has been chronicled in “Genesis Today,” has decided against having gastric bypass surgery. Energized by losing 40 pounds, he says he will continue to pursue weight loss through proper diet and exercise.
Kell, who has lost about 40 pounds on the OptifastTM meal replacement program and is down two pants sizes, said: “Gastric bypass surgery is a wonderful procedure that has helped hundreds and hundreds of people. Right now, I just wasn’t ready for it,”
Kell added, “I feel like a different person already. The Genesis Center for Bariatric Surgery has provided me with the confidence and initiative to continue to lose weight through proper diet, nutrition and exercise.
“Before I started out with the Genesis program, I didn’t want to get out of the easy chair to walk around Sunset Park with my wife, daughter and grandchild -- and now I do. I didn’t want to tag along with them to the mall, but now I go along because I actually enjoy walking again. I use the stairs instead of the elevator, and I park farther away to fit a few more steps into my daily regimen wherever I go. I seriously doubt I would have ever gotten to this point on my own – without the help of the Genesis Center for Bariatric Surgery.”
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Yvonne W
Yvonne Wigant
Last post was Friday, March 11, 2005
Read about Yvonne's journey through weight-loss surgery. A registered nurse who is concerned not only for her health, but the health of others who are severely overweight, Yvonne was willing to share her weight-loss surgery experience in this unusual way with the hope of motivating others to reach their own decisions and feel comfortable with them. Yvonne's entries cover a period of time from February, 2004 to her surgery anniversary date of March, 2005.
Read Yvonne's blog.
