Success Stories

My name is Stephanie Godwin Lachney, I am 40 years old, happily married, mother of 3 daughters and 1 grandson and I was morbidly obese. I have not been obese my entire life, obesity seemed to happen-without me looking and by the time I realized I was overweight I had been overweight for 10 + years. Prior to my weight loss surgery I suffered from depression, hypertension, diabetes, joint disease, sleep apnea and extreme unexplained exhaustion. My journey to my weight loss surgery began 2 years ago when I attended a seminar at Cabrini Hospital with Dr. Parrish and Dr. Bledsoe, I enjoyed the seminar and realized this would be a life changing experience, for the good, but still could not bring myself to have any of the procedures done. I began having problems with my legs swelling, mainly my ankles, made an appointment with my orthopedic Dr., Dr. Drury, he saw the swelling and decided to do an MRI. The results of the MRI was edema, nothing more, brought on by my weight. His recommendation was to urgently lose weight, he advised me to consider weight loss surgery. So again, I attended another seminar and again I left there thinking this would be so beneficial to me and again, I did nothing.

I woke one morning feeling as if I had never gone to sleep, I had my 2 year old grandson that weekend and I realized I can not do the things that I want to do with him or with my youngest daughter because I am overweight, unhealthy and down right tired from packing this weight around everyday. I made an appointment with Dr. Parrish, and we talked at length about the benefits of weight loss surgery and the type of procedure that I would have, the sleeve. Dr. Parrish assured me that post-operatively, if I followed the diet as instructed that I would no longer need my blood pressure medicines or my insulin, I was leery to say the least. 10 years of 2 blood pressure pills a day and 20 years of insulin and this could all be cured by 1 surgical procedure - I was not very confident that this could happen. 1 month later I had my procedure at Cabrini Hospital and 2 ½ months later I am 50 pounds lighter and I have not been this happy or confident in 10 + years. My surgery was on November 1, 2012, I have not had, or needed a blood pressure pill or insulin shot since November 2-AMAZING!! Never in my life did I ever believe this could happen, but it did. I would have this procedure again without hesitation and I strongly urge anyone living with obesity to attend a seminar, talk to people that has had weight loss surgery and ask questions. My only regret is that it took me 2 years to decide to have my weight loss surgery and that I was hesitant to believe Dr. Parrish when he told me all of the wonderful benefits from weight loss surgery.

I am still new on this journey, but I am happy, healthier and excited to see what the future holds for me.

- Stephanie Godwin Lachney