Michelle R.
As a child I grew up with a family of morbidly obese individuals. I was the baby of the family, when I was born my oldest Brother was 17, my Sister was 16 and my other Brother was 13. Huge age difference so it was like growing up as an only child. My parents were older than most other kids, My Mom was 39 and my Dad was 37 when I was born. Life was full of eating fatty foods, I watched my Dad eat 6 fried eggs and a dozen strips of bacon for breakfast every morning and the rest of the family followed suit. I was a "picky" eater which meant my Mom always cooked me special foods from my limited menu of things I would actually eat.
My Father loved to go camping in Door County Wisconsin and he drove up there every weekend. My Mom and I usually went with but this particular Friday night we opted to stay home, although my Brother did join him that evening.
Later that night we received a phone call from the campground that my Dad suffered a massive heat attack.
I stayed home while my Mom and my Brother flew to the hospital they transported him to.
My Dad passed away just before they began operating on him.
When this happened I didn't know how to deal with my feelings. I became withdrawn and stopped eating.
Back then there wasn't much information on Anorexia but after a year of starving myself some counselors from school contacted my Mom and told her to get me medical attention and psychiatric help.
I got the medical attention and started eating again but I never got to the root of the problem with any psychiatrist.
My weight fluctuated in a 20 pound range, up and down throughout my 20's and during my marriage.
On the low side I was considered underweight but according to my ex husband I was fat no matter how thin I got.
He constantly compared me to other women and how he found thier bodies much more desirable...which really made me feel like a hopeless piece of crap.
I constantly was careful not to overeat and not let myself become too fat because my husband at the time "hated fat people." He was very mean and controlling...this issue is another story but it contributed to my weight problems.
Our marriage fell apart after 13 years and 2 wonderful sons. I found myself a single Mom at the age of 33.
Although single, I wasn't alone, I had the support of my best male friend (he is now my fiance) who was a tremendous help through the Hell I was about to endure with my health situation.
I lived with my Mom and at the same time as the demise of my marriage, her health declined rapidly.
She was diagnosed with Leukemia which she went into remission from after successful Chemo and radiation therapy.
But she was diagnosed a couple years later with stage 4 Uterine cancer and that rapidly ended her life in 2001.
At that point in my life I began "feeding" my pain. Everything became an excuse to overeat. I stopped caring about myself and what I looked like. My weight ballooned over 250 + pounds and my health issues came into light.
I had severely High Blood pressure for a person my age and I started having problems with severe acid reflux.
I had a endoscope done...the first of many in the next 10 years.
2002...They found a Hiatal Hernia and had me consult with a surgeon, Dr. Heydari. He was very kind and suggested an operation to fix the hernia. He also warned me of this problem recurring if I didn't lose some weight. The following year after surgery I continued to pack on the weight resulting in even more reflux problems.
2003...I had numerous medical problem piling up and many hospital stays. I was hospitalized for anemia (had to have blood transfusions) IBS which caused horrible stomach pains.
Then they discovered my Gallbladder wasn't working so they removed it after going through an abundance of pain in the ER.
A month later I passed out in a store while shopping for a Christmas outfit. I ended up in the ER with hardly a blood pressure reading. The found a Pulmonary Embolism and I was in the ICU and put on Blood thinners.
2004...continuing problems with reflux and food getting stuck in my chest.
Once again I was referred to Dr, Heydari where he decided a 2ND Hiatal Hernia surgery was in order.
He did a more extensive surgery and tightened my esophagus to prevent anything from coming up my throat anymore.
He also put in a balloon in my stomach to try to hold my stomach down in place.
He also stressed I needed to lose weight, which I continued to ignore and gained even more weight.
2006..I did really well and lost 70 pounds, I looked and felt great.
2007...My brother had a heart attack at the age of 58 and passed away. I started my emotional eating once again.
within 6 months I packed all that weight back on.
2008...I had an awful bought with Bronchitis that landed me in ICU for a week.
One month later after eating a huge dinner at a restaurant my entire body froze up, I couldn't move, bend, severe pain shot through my body. In the ER they determined that I had ruptured a whole in my stomach and the acids were going all throughout my body. I needed emergency surgery right away.
Once again Dr. Heydari was called upon, this time to repair the whole in my stomach at 5am on a Sunday morning.
This put me back in the ICU for another week.
Later in 2008 I was hospitalized for severe chest pains and difficulty swallowing. I was treated again for IBS but the pains continued.
2009...March I made an appointment with Dr. Heydari and he had an upper GI done. He found my Hiatal Hernia back but this time it was all the way up in my Esophagus and twisted. Food was moving VERY slowly through my body and I could hardly breath when trying to move around.
Dr. Heydari explained to me that I needed surgery to correct this but because of all my other medical problems he was apprehensive but it had to be done.
The type of surgery he said I needed done was the VSG. He needed to remove my stomach because my diaphragm muscles were obviously too weak to hold my stomach down in it's proper place.
But with the VSG surgery came the other thing I needed to become healthy again...weight loss.
He set me up with consultations with a nurse and a nutritionist who explained to me the bariatric diet I needed to follow both before and after surgery.
My surgery date was set for 4/29/2009 at Centegra Hospital in Woodstock IL. I stayed a total of 4 days, a little longer than most because of my previous health problems.
I have done pretty well since the surgery. The best thing is being able to walk my dogs again without being out of breath or having chest pains. I have become more active and I have a whole new perspective on the second half of my life that I have never had before.
I lost weight very rapidly, I lost 62 pounds so far and I'm only 2 1/2 months out of surgery.
I still have another 40 to go but I feel amazing.
Dr. Heydari is the best surgeon in the world, the man saved my life!
