Douglas’s Story – Gastric Sleeve Patient

I’ve always been a bigger person. I was always bigger than everybody else. As I grew up I stopped being able to lose the weight. I stopped being able to exercise as much because I would lose my breath. My weight had gotten to an uncontrolled level. I was the highest I can remember at 357. I had a cardiac scare. I went to a cardiologist. He told me I had a heart attack. My whole family, on my dad’s side, has cardiac issues. Every one of his siblings have had at least one heart attack and my grandparents both died of heart attacks on his side. I’ve got three kids. One of them was 3 when I had the surgery and that was a big leading part up to me wanting to have the surgery is me wanting to be there for him. My brother died of a heart attack at 32 and I had already outlived him and I didn’t want my kids to outlive me at that age. I have a family member that worked at the hospital, and they advised me about Dr. Malladi, that she was a good doctor, that she took pride in her patients, that she was smart, that she was caring. She had also had the gastric sleeve done and had good results and had nothing but good things to say about Dr. Malladi. That’s what led me to come in for the first visit.

In my first meeting with Dr. Malladi, she gave me two options. I could do the gastric sleeve, or I could do the gastric bypass. We both decided that the gastric sleeve was going to be better for me. So I had surgery about a year and a half ago. I have lost 160 pounds. I feel great. I am no longer at risk for my blood pressure, my cholesterol. No longer at risk for diabetes. I am able to play more with my children. We have a lot of fun. I definitely enjoy my life more now. I enjoy doing my job, my profession, more than I did before. It’s not as taxing as it was on me. I am more excited to get there in the mornings because I have the energy to do the things the right way that I needed to do them the first time. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that is in the need for it. I think that it is an excellent tool to help you restart your life and to gain control of yourself again.