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Patient Perspective: Losing Weight, Gaining Self-Confidence

"My biggest joy is the fact that I'm not afraid anymore."  That's how Marsha Friedberg sums up her transformation that began with an early afternoon surgery on June 20, 2001.  Marsha weighed in at over 300 pounds and suffered from shortness of breath, high cholesterol and back and joint problems caused by her excess weight.  She was afraid these problems would never go away, afraid of developing type II diabetes that loomed unavoidable in the not-too-distant future.  She was afraid of social interaction, of how people judged her.  Most of all she was afraid of a fate like her sister's who had recently passed away from complications related to obesity.  Afraid to the point that she had spent 10 years in psychological therapy prior to the 2001 surgery date, grasping for a handle on her fear and anxiety.

"It's Not About Diet, It's About a Lifestyle Change"

Marsha 3 1/2 Years
after surgery

The surgery that Marsha had is called a duodenal switch, a form of bariatric surgery, in which about 75% of her stomach was removed and her small intestines were rearranged, limiting the amount of food that her body could ingest and absorb.  It was a drastic step with great risks, even the possibility of death, but Marsha was determined.  "The risk was higher for me to be fat," she says.  So there she was, June 20^th, getting prepped for a 5-hour surgery at the USC University Medical Center.  And as a surprising change from the norm, Marsha said, that as she lay there in her hospital bed waiting to be rolled away, she wasn't scared at all: she couldn't stop smiling.

But the duodenal switch isn't the entirety of her transformation.  Three years after surgery she underwent a tummy tuck and breast lift with augmentation to remove the hanging skin left after her 185 pound weight change.  "I hate to be cliché," says Marsha of her new affect after her surgeries, "but it gave me a new lease on life."  She's not embarrassed or humiliated anymore, and, she says, "my self-confidence is stable and soaring, if that's possible."  Of course the path to where she is now wasn't an easy one, filled with heftier challenges than any scale could gauge.

Facing Challenges

When Marsha decided to have bariatric surgery it wasn't easy convincing a family in the wake of the death of a loved one that this was her only chance at getting healthy and feeling better.  "They were not happy," she said, "especially my mother and my niece" (the daughter of Marsha's recently deceased sister).  So she spent about 80 hours making copies of information she had obtained through research, compiling a packet of material for the two to read through.  She gave it to them and told them that she had made up her mind and wanted their support.  By surgery day they had changed their opinion.

And then came the recovery.  Marsha experienced a lot of pain: "you do it and you thank god for drugs."  Luckily, she had the luxury of being able to take 4 weeks off from work, and while she encountered no serious complications, she certainly had her share of hurdles.  For a short period of time she had a dip in potassium levels, she developed a hernia that needed surgical repair, and continues to take vitamin supplements to make up for diet limitations (this is quite common). 

Showing Off Her Accomplishments

As for the weight, it kept coming off: about 185 pounds in 18 months.  She has a regular exercise program including 30 minutes of hydraulic weights 3-4 times week.  But she always viewed the excess skin that she had hanging around as anti-climactic.  So then came step two: plastic surgery to help shape her new form.  "I am very happy with my body now," she says.  "I see that I can be attractive to men."

In fact it was a date with one man that got her back into one of her favorite hobbies: roller-skating.  It had been more than twenty years and she had forgotten how much she liked it.  So she started taking lessons and eventually got good enough to take part in a show at the roller-skating championships.  An impressive feat considering that just four years earlier the simple task of climbing a flight of stairs would have posed a significant challenge. 

Marsha Before Surgery 2001	Marsha at the Roller-skating Championships

Winning the Battle

Sure she has scars still on her body, but that doesn't bother her.  "I look at them as my battle scars," she says.  A battle that she won.  A battle in which she got her life back.  She is now healthier, she can live longer, and the regular psychologist visits have stopped.  And, oh yeah, that skeptical niece that was fearful of Marsha entering in to surgery; she has since undergone a bariatric procedure herself.

Gastric Banding Surgery Surgery Information Guide

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