- Name: Andrea Thompson
- Age: 47
- Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
- Surgery date: November 23rd, 2017
- Testimonial date: February 8th, 2018
- Surgeon: Dr. Mario Almanza
I spent most of my life being a size 5/7 and after the birth of my third child in 1998 I developed many health issues... weight kept going up, up and up!!! I was discouraged after trying many diet schemes and remedies. I was more discouraged going to the doctor to find I had IBS, Spastic Colon, Gastric Reflux and then the final was that I had Fatty Liver and I am by far not a heavy drinker. Everything I was to eat to help with fatty liver would cause me to have worse Reflux and IBS. With fatty liver it is very hard to lose weight due to the fact my liver was slowly dying. I did very little research... I guess some would say I was too lazy to research but I would say I just do things on a wing and a prayer! I knew something had to happen and it needed to be sooner than later. I googled weight loss in my area and called s few doctors. The prices were extremely high and my insurance was going to be tough to deal with. They wanted me to gain another 50lbs and be that way for at least 2 years before they would pay. So why searching I came across weight loss agents and it was so convenient that my husband was being sent to Ca for work and it would work out perfectly. So I did whatever I needed to do and on the way to California I set up the surgery to take place on Thanksgiving Day. This was the only time my husband would be off and be available to go with me. The few days prior I had severe anxiety. I worried and I was scared!!! I had not read any reviews and didn t want to. I almost changed my mind because every bad thought possible had gone through my head. Then I just went with it!!! It was too late to turn back and I wanted my health back. I wanted to feel good and look good. So that morning we drove to airport, picked up by shuttle driver and still had no clue how things were going to go. He took us straight to hospital and I was checked in and within 2 hours of being there I was being taken back to surgery. The hospital and staff were wonderful. It was clean and my worry quickly disappeared. I was picked up at airport at 8:15am and was out of surgery by 11:45am. Within a couple hours I was up and walking the halls, visiting with the others who had surgery the same day. The experience was different but I would highly recommend it and I would do it again. I am 8 weeks post op and have lost 35 lbs. I won down about 3 sizes and I feel so much better.
