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Surgeon: Dr. Robert Rabkin, San Francisco, CA
Surgery date: April 1998 (after previous VBG)
Pre-op weight/BMI: 302
Current weight/BMI: 138
Personal web page: http://members.tripod.com/~all_about_michelle

 
Left: At my heaviest (342lb.); Right: Post-op (138lb.)

by Michelle R:

I've been fat ALL MY LIFE. I was a "pudgy" kid and a "fat" teen. It has been hell living as a fat person. When I was 14 years old, I weighed 242 pounds. When I graduated high school, I weighed close to 300 pounds. By the time I was 19 years old, I weighed 342 pounds which was my all time highest weight.

Some people say they would rather be dead then fat. At times in my life, I wished death. Not anymore, thankfully. I have battled years of depression, low self esteem and extremely low self confidence. I sometimes wondered why I was cursed as a fat person but I will never know.

In 1992, I had a Vertical Banded Gastroplasty with a siliastic ring. It's sometimes known as a VBG. I weighed 342 pounds at the time and I was desperate!!!! I didn't do much research on weight loss surgeries and I thought this was the answer. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I picked a bad surgeon and I had the wrong type of weight loss surgery. I did lose 100 pounds but I began to have complications. My surgeon put the silastic ring in too small and when adhesions began to form around the ring, I could barely eat or even drink anything. I survived on an ice cream and chocolate diet until 1995, when I finally had the surgery reversed.

In April of 1998, I went in for a Distal Gastric Bypass with Duodenal Switch. I knew I was risking a lot since I had already had the VBG in 1992 and the reversal in 1995. But, once again, I was desperate.

I weighed 302 pounds and my knee was giving out under all the weight. The difference this time was I did my research. I picked out an awesome surgeon (Dr. Rabkin) and picked out the right surgery for me. I have not regretted this surgery for one day.

There are times when I eat too much high fat foods and I get lots of gas. Then there are days when my intestines sound like a WWIII battle with all the churning and rumbling but they are so minimal, I don't even consider them a bad side effect to the surgery. The positives with this surgery are tremendous. Since having this surgery I've...

• rock climbed
• went white water rafting
• danced from 11pm until 4am NON-STOP
• went tubing on the river
• slid down a waterslide (a few hundred times)
• fit in everything from a booth to an airline seat.
• rode a horse without feeling like his back was going to break
• ran fast enough to save the life of my Godson who almost got hit by a car.
• finished my first year of law school
• took an impromptu trip to Hawaii
• surprised my sister in the airport because she didn't even recognize me and walked right past me.
• fit in a size ten pants and a medium top.
• lost more then half of me. I weigh 149 pounds and I've lost 153 pounds.
• learned to enjoy life again!!!!!

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