BEFORE
Mark and I began dating and later married in 1996. We had both fought obesity most of our lives. Dating was great because without fears and insecurities related to being over weight, we quickly fell into a comfortable pattern of living that always involved food. Everything we did for entertainment centered on what would be served to eat. We both gained even more weight rapidly.

Mark has severe pain to both of his legs from a previous motor vehicle accident. This left him in constant, terrible pain. He always dealt with the pain with such amazing strength and rarely complained. Unfortunately, the increased weight only made things worse. I did all I could do to “save his steps.” As I gained weight, I too became less and less mobile. In the fall of 2000, I began having serious back pain, and it was discovered that I had degenerative disk disease, which included ruptured disks. I tried many treatments for this condition with no positive results because of my enormous size. Basically, I worked, and then did nothing the remainder of the day as a result of the pain.

The situation of our health problems sent us into a lifestyle of watching television and eating huge amounts of food. We had nothing else to be excited about. We couldn’t do anything that involved physical activity, and soon things became almost unbearable. My pain level was at an all time high when I finally went to a surgeon to discuss back surgery. He simply told me that there was no way in the world he would do surgery on someone so big, and to go home and to lose weight. I was devastated, not at the thoughts of being unable to have surgery, but that I truly had no hope. Mark and I had both tried every diet created before we were married, and we had tried countless diets together after we had married. To tell a 350-pound woman to just go home and lose weight was completely demoralizing, and needless to say, impossible.

We left the doctor’s office and headed straight for my family doctor that had sent me to the surgeon. I cried all the way. Mark and I told Dr. Riley about the advice, and we also told her that we had been researching weight loss surgery on the Internet for years. Weight loss surgery was something that Mark and I really wanted to do, but I was always so scared that we never did more than just read about it. Dr. Riley knew that I was at the end of my rope and agreed that it was an option that we should discuss. She told us to continue our research, and let her know when we were ready to move forward with our decision.

Immediately, Mark and I were overcome with peace. We knew this was something that we had to do, and we decided that very day that we would do everything in our power to go through with the surgery, be successful, and lose weight. Our intense research began as soon as we got home. We read articles and profiles of as many surgeons and patients as we could find. Mark called a surgeon in Birmingham and asked his receptionist about laproscopic RNY gastric bypass surgery. She told Mark that the surgeon was not doing the surgeon laproscopically, but that she gave him the name of the best surgeon in Birmingham. His name was Dr. Ronald Clements. Our family doctor gave us the referral, and within two weeks, we had an appointment for our first visit. Thing were moving fast!

In November of 2001, we anxiously consulted with Dr. Clements and knew immediately he was the right doctor for us. He gave us hope after so many years of hopelessness. He told us that he could help us, and we were excellent candidates for laproscopic RNY. We left that appointment with a surgery date less than one month away.

Mark and I spent the next three weeks preparing us for surgery. We traveled to Birmingham the day before the surgery to have our pre-surgery visit and to the dreaded “cleaning out.” [This ended up being the worst part of the entire experience.] With three amazing family members, Mark and I were at the hospital early on the morning of December 11, 2001. Within hours, I was headed to surgery. Mark’s surgery followed mine, and we were all done by the evening. Neither of us had any complications during or after surgery. We spent two nights in the hospital. The hospital stay was interesting, as we were Dr. Clements’ first couple. I don’t think UAB was used to seeing a man and a woman in the same hospital room. We felt like quite the celebrities.

Mark and I traveled three hours back home after two days in the hospital. We rarely had to take pain medicine and immediately began re-learning how to eat and live after WLS. We were ideal patients. We slowly began adding new foods and quickly learned to take our new “pouches” very seriously, and it became quite funny how we tried to protect them and only put in them what was good for them. Needless to say, weight started falling off. We gradually added exercise and continued learning how to eat healthy. At every follow-up visit, we were always thrilled with our results. Dr. Clements seemed pleased too.

Doing remarkably well, we were over seven months out of surgery. Mark went from 387 pounds to under 260, which took him from a size 5X to a 2X. I went from 343 pounds to under 230 pounds - from a waist size of 32-24 to a waist size of 18-20. We felt great, active, and more energetic than we have ever been.

We have quite a bit more weight to lose but continue to work on exercising and eating healthy foods. We have absolutely no doubts that we will meet and exceed our own personal goals.

Having taken this huge step together has made it so much easier. The support we have been able to give each other has made the whole process much easier. I know exactly what he is going through vice versa. We continue to deal with food issues, but always realize that the rewards that have come with losing this weight are far greater than what little we have to do without. We have no regrets, and we give Dr. Clements so much credit. He gave us hope. Hope was something we had completely lost. We thought we would live the rest of our days lying in the bed, watching television, and being in horrible pain.

The future is awesome. We are both off blood pressure medication. We both can shop in “normal” stores. We can fit in booths and lawn chairs. We can do all the things we dreamed about and know it is only going to continue to get better.

Mark and Martha Coleman
July 24, 2002