"I hate to sound cheesy as you always see those diet commercials with "This diet or that changed my life". The truth of the matter is, I changed my life but the gastric sleeve Dr. Bonner performed gave me the quality of life I needed to make the difference. I had been working for the past three years 60 hours a week, under high stress in the office. With this regiment, I had gained approximately 47 pounds on top of the 230 pounds I already weighed. I was on high blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, had sleep apnea and a snoring problem that was impacting my marriage. In addition I had lost my edge in the work place always being tired from dragging all the extra pounds around. I had my surgery on September 11, 2012. I immediately began losing weight and was off my medications. Within 2 months my snoring almost quit altogether. The surgery was a huge blessing as it wasn't long after, December, I lost my job. By the end of December though I had already lost about 40 pounds. This was a crucial time for me for self esteem, but the weight loss countered that feeling of despair. Of all times to be back on the job market, the timing was awesome. I was looking half decent again, had more energy and was inspired to conquer the world. I had already lost 2 suit sizes so when I went for interviews I wasn't the fat guy that often gets stereo-typed by interviewers as lazy and lacking motivation. I had several interviews, was confident and landed another job in a couple of months.
By March, I had lost about 80 pounds. I was exercising regularly, eating right and continued to lose weight. I can't tell you how many times people I knew and hadn't seen for a while literally didn't recognize me. We bought a house in August 2012, 1 month before the surgery. I saw our sales representative and she came up and introduced herself to me. What a rush!!! I have lost 98 pounds so far and surpassed my original goal to get below 200 pounds. I set a new goal of 175 which puts me in my healthy BMI range. I am about 3 pounds from that goal at 178 and am confident I will hit it.
Thanks to Dr. Bonner I have the energy to enjoy my family again and a fantastic job. I have recommended a couple of people to Dr. Bonner and sing his praises any chance I get. Why anyone wouldn't want to do this especially if they are having health problems from being overweight. I went for a checkup to my family physician. He checked my cholesterol, sugar levels and along with my blood pressure he said he was so impressed, that is the best health he had ever seen me in and the lowest my blood pressure had been even on medication in years. Thank you all so much and if you ever need anything from me, please don't hesitate to ask. I owe you my life, seriously.
Sincerely,
Kirk Shreffler
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