Gastric Sleeve Surgery Success Story by Amanda Snelling of Corpus Christi

Read about this Gastric Sleeve Surgery Success Story by Amanda Snelling of Corpus Christi. She didn’t have to worry about gaining a lot of weight as a teenager, but after she had her daughter at age 19, Amanda took a Medroxyprogesterone or a “depo” shot and the results were not what she expected.  Read more below…

“My surgery was totally a life changing experience, definitely for the good, and I don’t regret it ever.”

Highest weight : 243 lbs

Current & Goal Weight: 147 lbs

Procedure: Gastric Sleeve Surgery on 11/14/2011

As a teenager, Amanda Snelling didn’t have to worry about gaining a lot of weight, but after she had her daughter at age 19, Amanda took a Medroxyprogesterone or a “depo” shot and the results were not what she expected. After taking the shot, she gained 80 lbs. within the year so she decided to discontinue the shot in hopes of shedding the weight quickly, but the 80 extra pounds stuck. After trying numerous diets, she spoke with a dietician in Katy and was prescribed multiple medications and vitamins to control her weight and help her begin losing it, but that also was not what she expected because it wasn’t a quick fix, she’d have to take this high regiment of pills indefinitely. “It made me feel bad taking all these pills because my body wasn’t used to that,” Amanda said. “I lost 40 pounds taking them, but when I stopped the weight came back within a few months.”

Desperate for another way to lose weight, Amanda looked into bariatric surgery. She knew a few people who had a bariatric procedure yielding success and decided to look for a surgeon close to her home in Corpus Christi and quickly found Dr. Patel. Upon meeting with Dr. Patel, she learned her insurance did not cover bariatric surgery, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel; she would be able to get her surgery much quicker, and without any insurance requirements like a strict monthly diet! She knew she would be able to fly through Dr. Patel’s clinical criteria and be ready for surgery within a few months.

Sitting down with Dr. Patel later the same day at her seminar, they discussed which procedure would work the best for her. “When I initially went in, I wanted the gastric bypass,” Amanda said, but remembers what Dr. Patel told her when she said she wanted the bypass. “He said, ‘for your age, a gastric sleeve surgery would be best because it won’t alter your lifestyle so drastically that if you want to go eat with your friends, go! You can still eat what they do, just not as much.” Amanda instantly researched the gastric sleeve and her husband agreed that it may be a better option for her. “For me, it did make more sense so I chose the sleeve.”

Having completed all pre-surgery requirements, Amanda quickly had her surgery following her initial consultation with Dr. Patel. “Surgery went great! I never got sick afterward, not once!” she said. After her procedure, her body developed a type of trigger that helped her realize when it was time to stop eating so she wouldn’t get sick. “To this day, when I eat and burp then I know I’m done,” she said. She had never burped before in her life and realized it was her cue to stop eating. She was also excited to find she could fit into her daughter’s clothes now. “My daughter is in middle-school, so I’m fine with fitting into her clothes!”

“Looking back, I hardly ever let anyone take pictures of me. I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin and when I’d look in the mirror, I wasn’t the person I knew,” Amanda recalled about life before her gastric sleeve surgery. “My surgery was totally a life changing experience, definitely for the good, and I don’t regret it ever. For the few scars you end up with, it’s nothing compared to the greater good that comes from it. You not only feel physically better, but better mentally too. I’ve always been a loud person, but I’ve come to this point where people pay attention to me more and it’s ok, I don’t mind the attention as much. In one day, I got told I looked like Demi Moore and Danika McKellar and I was like, ‘I’ll take those!’”