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Surgeon: Dr. Ara Keshishian, Delano, CA
Surgery date: August 2001

by Kelly:

My name is Kelly Ranberg. I am thirty two years old, I have two beautiful children, my daughter Jaime is 5 and my son Cory is 3, and my wonderful husband and soul mate Mark. We have been married for 6 years in February.

Let me tell you a little about my life so that you may better understand why I am here today and why I have made the decision to have the Gastric Reduction/Duodenal Switch, this operation is also known as Distal Gastric Bypass Duodenal Switch.

As a young child I was very active, But, I was always " Chunky" . I come from a family that in one form or another always dealt with some form of addiction. My father was an obese man, my mother has always been physically fit and none of my siblings dealt with weight problems, then there was me. At the age of 10 my mother became very concerned with my weight problem and began to seek help from professionals. That was the beginning of a lifelong struggle that I have fought for 23 years.

I have been on every diet known to mankind. Some very rigorous. I went on the opti-fast diet at the age of 17, I have to say that had to be the hardest one I ever did. I ate not one bite of food for 6 months. I lost 100 pounds and felt so horrible because my body was shutting down. Needless to say, like most all the people that went on this diet, I gained all the weight back and more! I tried weight watchers, nutri-system, phen-phen, to starving myself. It has been a battle that I have not been able to beat.

When my husband Mark and I got married I weighed 211 pounds. I look back at pictures of me then and think WOW if I could only weigh 211 again. I have doubled my weight in 6 years. My life has virtually slipped out of my grasp and I began to search for help in every direction.

I have an aunt that had the RNY surgery done approximately 7 years ago, so my Grandmother had gotten a hold of her and she came to California to see me and to talk to me about having the surgery done. When I saw her I was so amazed at how she had changed and I just began to cry, because, I remember the "Big" women she used to be, I use the word big because I hate the word Obese. She looked awesome!

After that visit with her I began to do a lot of research and studying about all the options I had. But, there was one problem I faced. My husband had just transferred jobs and we lost our medical Insurance, and we were forced to apply for medi-cal. So, trying to get someone to help me with medi-cal was just impossible. A lot of Doctors will not accept medi-cal regardless of your health situation, but, there was a ray of hope when U.C. Davis Medical Center told me that they would accept me but I would be put on a waiting list. That waiting list is 2 years long and that is just for a consultation, no telling how long for a surgery date. Well in the meantime I am diminishing in health issues everyday. I am unable to walk because it is so painful on my back I can not hold up my weight.

I began taking aqua-aerobics 3x a week. One night I met a friend that I had worked with and she had just had the surgery, she gave me some information. I decided to call the doctor that did her surgery out of Delano California by the name of Ara Keshishian. Thank You Jesus! for that man and his staff!!! That day, I made an appointment for July 20th and I have an August surgery date.

First off all I want to let anybody who reads this know that you are not a failure because you have to resort to surgery to help you. I have felt like a failure all my life because I was never able to win this battle. I cried out to God many times asking him to forgive me for destroying his temple (My Body). But He has given me peace and understanding. And He has givin me another chance at life. I want to thank Dr. Keshshian and his staff for everything! I want to most of all Thank Jesus for allowing this to happen and I want to thank my Husband Mark for never giving up on me and always loving me for who I was not what I looked like. I asked him, "What are you going to do with a 150 pound wife?”, and he laughed and said, “I don't know, I have never had one!" Well honey you will!!

I can't wait for the day that I can run and play with my babies. I Love all of you more than you will ever know. I will keep you updated as to how I am doing. I will send some pre-op pictures and pictures as I am shedding those pounds!!

send email to Kelly

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