This is my normal size. I became diabetic and I had pretty severe diabetic insulin resistance that caused a lot of weight gain.

Once I was diagnosed and put on medication the weight dropped off. But the medication stopped working and the weight again came back along with fatigue and all the other symptoms associated with that. We tried a lot of different medications, but they didn’t work on the insulin resistance. They had a lot of side effects that were very unpleasant and uncomfortable. And I eventually reached the point where surgery to reverse diabetes was the option that was available.

I was referred to Dr. Ganta by my endocrinologist who said he’s the only doctor that they refer to. He’s the top guy and he’s the person that you need to see. I then went online and saw all of the accolades assigned to him and decided to go with Dr. Ganta.

Any major surgery is something you want to take a step back and think about before you make a decision like that. For me I went online and I got a list of all of the risk factors associated with diabetes and all of the risk factors associated with morbid obesity. It was a long and scary list and once I looked at that my choice became pretty clear. I can choose life and health. Or I can stay sick and think about the scary things that I don’t want to happen to me. So it was the right choice for me, and Dr. Ganta was definitely the right doctor for me. The surgery is kind of a pivotal point – when you’re coming into it to see Dr. Ganta you’re looking forward to the surgery but that’s actually just the beginning.

Dr. Ganta and his staff have been really good about support and education. After the surgery and what to expect now – not just immediately after surgery but long term. When I looked at that list of risk factors I didn’t see a good quality of life there and I can see health there. So for me it was sort of choosing to live my life. Life is short – it’s precious. And I want to live it and I want to live it to the best of my ability. And I want to have a good quality of life.