Gina M Mears

I live in beautiful Washington State and I am 48 years old. I am 5 ft 4 and right now I weigh 235 pounds, this is a week after having the gastric sleeve. My surgery was performed on 4-23-2015. I have struggled with my weight since I was about 16 years old and have looked into having weight loss surgery for the past 10 years. I was going to have the Lap Band done when I was living in California and went as far through the process that I actually had a surgery date set before I changed my mind and decided that it was not the right one for me. My fear was that I would have this device inside of my body which meant that if I lost my job and health insurance or had any major issue with it I would have a mess on my hands financially.
Since moving to Washington my weight continued to rise even though I have to walk at least 5 miles a day at work. I had to undergo my second knee surgery which was unsuccessful and I am having major problems with my achilles tendon. I decided to have the gastric sleeve surgery because it made the most sense for me. I am diabetic and on insulin which is just another roadblock in the world of weightloss. At the start of this process I was faced with being on a supervised diet for 6 months before my insurance would refer me for surgery. At the start of this I weighed 278 pounds. I was successful through this process and was referred to Puget Sound Bariatrics. I was put in the very capable hands of Doctor Landerholm. Who performed my surgery. I can't say enough how kind and caring Dr. Landerholm is and feel like I am so lucky to be his patient. Right now I am exactly one week out from my surgery and feel like things are really going great.