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Patient Perspective on Weight Loss Surgery

Summary & Participants

Making the decision to have weight loss surgery is not easy. One woman shares why she decided to have weight loss surgery and the ways this decision has impacted her life.

Medically Reviewed On: July 16, 2008

Webcast Transcript

CARMEN MORFE: I tried everything. And I would lose weight; I was successful at losing weight. I was never able to maintain a weight loss for any given amount of time. At my heaviest weight, I was 287.5 pounds. It was very difficult for me to go out into public. I didn't want to get the stares and the glares from people.

LAUREN MORFE: She wouldn't really come to my softball tournaments, because she was very nervous about how people would react.

CARMEN MORFE: And I always thought that they were judging me by, "Can't you control yourself? Don't you have the discipline? Why can't you do something about how big you are? Why can't you just stop eating?"

MICHAEL MORFE: You could tell her self-esteem level was low. She'd wear a lot of things that were, you know, not particularly flattering.

CARMEN MORFE: I was very depressed, and I was tired of fighting the battle and losing. I was having trouble walking down the street. I was getting lower back pains, excruciating lower back pains. I was getting pains in my chest, and I was always winded; I was 42 years of age at the time. I thought, "God, for thirty years I've done this, and I don't want to be this person. I want to be the other person. I want to be able to enjoy my life and live my life."

I did some research, went on the Internet, and when I found this one surgeon, I saw that they had a lot of experience and had many procedures that they had done. The doctor gave me many options, not just one, many surgical options.

The night before my surgery, I weighed 267 pounds. I was very excited. I thought, "My life is going to change forever."

I stayed in the hospital overnight and I came home. I wasn't in a lot of pain. And I was on a liquid diet for about two weeks and gradually introduced foods into my diet.

Six months after my surgery, I had lost 96 pounds. After a year, I had already reached my goal weight. I was at a healthy, normal weight.

We have made some changes. I try not to cook more than the food that we need for that one meal.

I'm feel like I'm living my life now, where before I was really afraid to venture out. I'm not afraid to explore new things, to go new places, to meet new people.

LAUREN MORFE: We go out and have fun. We go shopping a lot more. We cook a lot more together. We're much more bonded now.

MICHAEL MORFE: Carmen is completely different now. She's very outgoing, she has a great new wardrobe; she has a great look. She's more interested in being out and athletic, doing things. It's really been a complete kind of turn of events.

CARMEN MORFE: I definitely feel empowered, where I feel like I can go anywhere. I can do anything. I don't have any high blood pressure. I don't have any pains in my back or in my legs. I don't have any asthmatic problems any more

If someone's considering a surgical option, it's a difficult decision to make. I know it is. And it's good to let the people who care about you know that you want to make this decision, and they'll hopefully support you and be there for you.

I do think that there's a misconception that if you have a surgical procedure for your weight that you will be a thin person and that everything's taken care of for you. The surgery's really a tool for you to lose the weight. If you do follow your nutritionist's and your doctor's advice, and you choose your foods wisely, and you eat the way you're supposed to eat and you exercise, over time you will find that you will lose the weight, and you'll be a much happier person.

Some people ask me, "Would you do it again? If you had to make this decision again, would you do it again, would you make that choice?" And I would say, "Yes, absolutely, in a heartbeat, I would make the same choice over and over again." It was definitely the right decision for me.