By Morag MacLachlan
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Staff
Joanne Shepard remembers walking down the hall of her high school to the jeers of students yelling “Earthquake!” as they pretended to be “moved” by her size. On diets since the fourth grade, Shepard admits she was more than 420 pounds at her heaviest.
With her health deteriorating and dependent on a wheelchair, Shepard decided to undergo Roux-en Y Gastric Bypass (RYBG) surgery at BIDMC nearly two years ago. Now the 39-year-old wife and mother doesn’t shy away from public places. “I live life now. I feel free,” she said.
Shepard joined 125 patients who attended the third annual Weight Loss Surgery Reunion at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She was one of the speakers who decided to share her story with the crowd, eliciting nods of understanding from many and a round of applause from everyone when she announced she shed 217 pounds.
“I’m just starting to feel like I fit in,” Shepard said. “I’m not an oddity. I’m not the big girl. People no longer look at me in disgust. I blend in when I enter a room and I love it.”
BIDMC’s Weight Loss Surgery Center offers three procedures to eligible patients like Shepard. Eligibility is determined by weight, age and other health factors. About 260 weight loss surgeries were performed during fiscal year 2008, according to Christine Lynch, Administrative Manager, General Surgery. Group meetings and events like the reunion allow patients to post-operatively connect with one another.
“This is not a magic bullet,” said another speaker, Tom Smigliani. “You can overeat with a lap band. You can gain weight with gastric bypass. But you don’t because you have the help and support of BIDMC.”
Smigliani had been battling his weight all his life and then suffered a stroke in 1997. Knowing how lucky he was to survive his stroke, Smigliani decided it was time to take a proactive approach to weight loss. He underwent the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band procedure (LAGB) at BIDMC. Once patients recover, certain foods like those high in sugar or anything fried, are off limits. Smigliani credits his wife, Joanne, for keeping him on the right track.
“She’s the food police,” he said. “She’ll say to me ‘You can eat it, but you ain’t going to live to enjoy it.’”
An addition to this year’s reunion was the “Now I Can” quilt. Patients filled out slips of paper, listing the activities they can now participate in because of having weight loss surgery. Lynch, one the 15 BIDMC staff members who attended the reunion, was moved by the examples people were writing including “Now I can play with my grandchildren.” Benjamin Schneider, MD, Bariatric Surgery, remarked that his weight loss patients serve as his daily dose of inspiration.
“It’s you that gets me up at 5 a.m. every day,” Dr. Schneider told the crowd. “It’s you. Your stories and your successes.”
Above content provided by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. For advice about your medical care, consult your doctor.
Posted January 2010