WELCOME TO LEAH'S WEBPAGE!
August 2001: 268.5 lbs.
October 2006: 145 lbs.
On Wednesday, August 15, 2001, I underwent gastric bypass surgery at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, MN. This surgery is performed on patients who have had difficulty losing weight and have struggled with the emotional, psychological, and physical consequences of being morbidly obese. I have battled my weight my whole life and I have finally found the answer to my prayers - surgery! Although some may say that this is "the easy way out," it is not.
Obesity is being 20% or more over the ideal weight for height and build with a BMI of 30 or higher. Obesity is a growing problem in this country. More than 54 million adults (about 26% of the population) are obese. More than 300,000 deaths a year are attributed to obesity. Obesity is NOT a moral problem due to lack of will power; studies have shown that diets, medications, behavioral modification, and exercise have a 95% failure rate due to the underlying physiological, chemical, and genetic factors of obesity.
Roux-En-Y
Gastric Bypass: This is the weight-loss surgery most often recommended by
doctors for morbid
obesity. It
creates a small pouch at the top of your stomach and adds a bypass around part
of your small intestine.
The surgeon staples your stomach all of the way across the top, sealing it off from the rest of your stomach and leaving a tiny pouch that can hold about a half an ounce of food. Then the surgeon cuts the small intestine and sews part of it directly onto the upper pouch. This redirects the food, bypassing most of your stomach and the first section of your small intestine, the duodenum. Food flows directly into the middle section of your small intestine, the jejunum, limiting your body's ability to absorb calories. Even though food never enters the lower part of your stomach, the stomach stays healthy and continues making digestive juices that flow into your small intestine.
Leah's Weight Loss Journal
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