Gastric bypass changes woman’s life
When Patricia Patton made her decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery, she began writing a journal to uncover the hidden emotional reasons of why she sought comfort and refuge in food. “My story is not unique and I hesitated even writing it, but I have encouraged so many others to express themselves through journaling to find the hidden reasons why we as obese people eat and why we take such comfort and refuge in it. I needed to do it myself,” said Patton, who works as a registered nurse at Fayette Home Care and Hospice.
The following quotes and details about her longtime struggle as an obese girl and woman were taken from her journal.
“I did my story privately when I made my decision to have the gastric bypass in October 2006,” Patton said. “I shared it (my story) with my two daughters who cried to see what pain obesity had brought me during my lifetime struggle, and it indeed has been a lifetime.
“My upbringing has certainly been key in how I used food over the years to comfort and console myself or to celebrate and socialize with others,” she added.
As a child, Patton said she remembers falling and skinning her knee. Her mother’s solution was “here’s a cookie.” If she brought straight A’s home on her report card, Patton said her mother moved up to the big time by offering her an entire cake.
“My mother was a fantastic cook, and we ate heartily and we hardly ever had leftovers,” she said. “All four of my parents’ children are obese. My mother herself never weighed more than 100 pounds, and my father is a small man as well, never tipping the scales over 160. So, where in the world did they get us from is the question I have?”
Patton said it was very difficult for her being a disappointment to her very petite mother, who could not dress her only daughter in the frilly dresses a mother wants for her daughter.
“It was hard to hear my mother say after I had my first daughter, ‘You’re the little girl I waited for…’ I do not think she ever knew how that cut me to the quick and (how I still) live with that ringing in my ears.”
Just like every other obese person, Patton said she could write a book on dieting, exercising and weight loss.
“I have successfully lost 100 pounds and gained it right back within a few years,” she said. “But, my gastric bypass was done for more than a cosmetic reason, although honestly it played a big role in my decision. But, seriously my health was the biggest issue at age 51, when I decided to go through with it.”
At 170 pounds overweight, Patton said mobility was almost non-existent, fatigue was her middle name and her looks were undesirable.
Another very important issue to Patton was how she was being hypocritical to her profession as a nurse.
“I would have to counsel people concerning their weight and eating habits, and here they were looking back at an obese nurse not taking her own advice,” she said. “I think that played a tremendous role in my exploration of having the gastric bypass done.”
The final straw for Patton came when she and her husband, Richard, took their two granddaughters, Amelia, now 4, and Ava, now 2, to Idlewild Park in Ligonier for their first amusement park experience.
“I was forced to sit on a bench pretty much the entire day because of the inability to keep up and the fatigue,” she said. “They (my granddaughters) will never remember the experience, but I will never forget or have a pleasant memory about it.”
Before she underwent gastric bypass surgery in April 2007, Patton said she worked very hard to take off 45 pounds so she would be in the best health to recover from the surgery.
Patton has lost 146 pounds since the surgery. Her goal is to take off 170 pounds. Her BMI (body mass index) has dropped from 50.1 before she began losing weight to the current level of 27.1.
“I can exercise my socks off,” she said. “I can ride a bike 10 miles and, hopefully, this summer further,” she said. “I wear a size 12, down from a 30/32. My triglycerides went from 611 in June 2006 to 118 on my last blood draw. I feel over all fantastic. (not so bad looking either).”
Dr. Michael Felix of HOPE (Helping Obese People Excel) Bariatrics in Sewickley, the surgeon who performed the gastric bypass at St. Clair Hospital in Upper St. Clair, Allegheny County, told Patton recently, “I know 2008 will be a better year for you.”
Patton said she responded to Felix by saying, “2007 has been a fantastic year, and there are no complains on my part.”
“I thank God that I live in a day when things like this surgery are available to people who otherwise would remain a prisoner to themselves… barring getting hit by a bus, my goal is live the second half of my life healthy and trim… And I will work at promoting that to my patients through my job as a nurse and my community with the support group to be started on March 3,” she said.