Brenda

My name is Brenda. I am 53 years old and have 3 grown sons and 2 grandchildren. I just celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary with my fantastic husband.

My weight problem started in high school when I tried diet pills, weight loss programs and just about every gimmick for weight loss. I spent all my life like a yo-yo, with my weight constantly going up and down. I never got too worried about it until the spring of 2004 when my weight had gotten completely out of control. It was humiliating enough, wearing size 24-26 clothes. But the day came when I stood on the scales and couldn’t tell what I weighed anymore because the scale only went to 300 pounds. That day, the last ounce of self-respect died in me. At that point, I became so ashamed of how I looked that I gave up a lot of things I did with my family and friends because I didn’t want to be an embarrassment to them. Of course, no one else felt that way, but I thought they did.

One day, I ran into an acquaintance who had also been struggling with her weight. I noticed right away that she had lost a considerable amount of weight. She told me Dr. Hoehn had performed the Roux-en-Y surgery on her and how it worked. I was so impressed! First, I called my insurance company to see if they covered it and they did! I started going to support meetings and seminars with my friend and learning all about it. It was a great thing to hear people talk about their different experiences with the surgery.

I asked my husband if we could do this and he agreed. We met with Nola and Dr. Hoehn and decided I would be a good candidate. It only took about a month to get everything in order. My insurance company gave the approval THE day Nola sent it in and there was an open date in six weeks later for my surgery. I had my surgery on July 7th and other than some mild bleeding, things went just fine. I had very little discomfort at all. Two days after I got home, I was walking 3 miles a day again and upped it daily.

Now I average 6-7 miles a day. I also went to Curves 3-4 days a week. I weighed 298 pounds when I decided to have the surgery. By Christmas I had already lost 100 pounds, and now close to my one year anniversary, I am down a total of 140 pounds from where I started!
Needless to say, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life! I am proud to be seen with my handsome men and friends. I allow pictures! I have no problems at all with eating and have never once been hungry since surgery. I am truly blessed and credit my new life to my fantastic doctor and staff – by mostly to God for allowing this to take place in my life, because it truly is an answer to years and years of prayer!

Back to Success Stories »