After years battling weight, Trib writer turns to bariatric surgery - gastric bypass

Waco, TX

Waco Tribune staff writer Terri Jo Ryan has battled weight problems most of her life. After a frightening diagnosis, she weighed pros and cons and opted for bariatric surgery. She shares her story with others who might be fighting obesity and studying their options.

In the final years of her life, my mother had three killers stalking her — chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic heart disease and diabetes. On March 18, 2007, diabetes won.

So I was alarmed when my doctor told me that my mother’s killer had me in its sights, too. In June, I found out I had type 2 diabetes.

After the diagnosis, I was depressed and frightened. I am one of eight siblings, nearly all of us overweight, and I did not want to be the first one to die of obesity.

I spent a weekend re-evaluating my life and made a resolution: I would not continue to commit slow-motion suicide by eating whatever the heck I wanted. I rejoined the YMCA, where I do water aerobics three or four days a week. I gave up sugar, sodas, white potatoes, white bread and ice cream. I cut my portions in half.

Weight-loss surgery had been an option rolling around in my mind for more than a year. I’d been reading up on various procedures, side effects and mandatory lifestyle changes that come from having your innards rerouted for life.

A decade earlier, I would have sneered at the suggestion that I have surgery to correct the consequences of irresponsible consumption. But as someone who had tried numerous diets only to gain it all back and then some, I have come to appreciate the powerful tool that weight-loss surgery can offer in the perpetual battle against the bulge.

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