Gwen - A Successful Gastric Bypass Surgery Patient
Life renewed and diabetes-free after bariatric surgery at NewStart
Gwen says she did more than lose weight following her gastric bypass surgery on April 8, 2009. "I feel like I turned back the clock 30 years and renewed my life. It's such a great feeling! I want to shout it from the rooftops."
She began having problems with her weight in 1977, after the birth of her first child. Before her pregnancy she weighed 125 pounds but by the time she delivered, she had jumped to 299, a weight she maintained during her second pregnancy and delivery in 1978.
"And then 23 years passed" she says. "I stayed really heavy, around 250 pounds. During all those years I gained and lost weight. I was on all kinds of crazy diets. I tried everything that came out, and they worked while I was focused on them, but when I stopped focusing, I'd gain back all the weight I'd lost, plus more."
Overweight Health Problems
In 2000, she lost 60 pounds on a popular high-protein diet. Then, at the age of 43, she discovered she was pregnant again. After she delivered in 2001, her weight problems remained constant. She developed type 2 diabetes, urinary incontinence and intermittent dizziness, and at one point began suffering episodes of vision loss.
On November 14, 2008, she suffered a mild stroke while sitting at her desk at work. When her neurologist told her she was a candidate for a major life-altering stroke, Gwen made an immediate decision to have bariatric surgery.
"I decided my health was too important to jeopardize," she says. "I wanted a 'do-over,' an opportunity to take good care of my body and put myself first. The stroke gave me a real sense of urgency. I didn't ever want to go back to the stroke unit."
After Gastric Bypass Surgery
Before her surgery, which was performed by bariatric surgeon Garth Davis, M.D., who is affiliated with Memorial Hermann Memorial City, Gwen weighed 279. Today, she weighs more than 100 pounds less and says she feels great.
"When I awakened after the surgery, I felt like a 30-year-old woman. Every day since then I've been getting better and better and better. The weight loss is just icing on the cake. I have no problems with incontinence or my vision, and no numbness in my arms. I'm not afraid to drive my car. I don't have to worry about every single bite of food I put in my mouth."
Gwen says she walked out of the hospital diabetes-free. "I have not had insulin since the day of my surgery, and I've not taken one sick day from work either. I never had any serious complications. I'm very, very, very happy with the results and the experience. When you're obese, life is very difficult. If I could do something for everyone who reads this, I'd say, "Just ask your doctor a simple question: 'Would bariatric surgery help me?'"
See Dr. Davis and Gwendolyn Newton Video
"I decided my health was too important to jeopardize," she says. "I wanted a 'do-over,' an opportunity to take good care of my body and put myself first."
-Gwen