Building a Healthy Life

Aug 1, 2019 | Health, Life

[title subtitle=”words and images courtesy Alicia Agent,
Director Marketing Communications Baptist Health – Fort Smith”][/title]

Mary Washington listed all the tools she’d used over the years to try to build a healthy body.

“Atkins, Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet, Jenny Craig, Keto, low calorie, low carb, low fat…”

“Girl, it’d be easier to tell you what I hadn’t tried.”

The forty-seven-year-old registered nurse at Baptist Health-Fort Smith spent more than twenty years trying to recreate herself and become the kind of wife and mother she’d always wanted to be: a healthy one.

“Maybe I can still do this on my own,”she told herself, taking another shot at the next best diet and exercise plan. At her largest, Washington weighed about two hundred fifty-seven pounds and wore a size twenty in women’s clothing. By the time she was in her forties she was suffering from high blood pressure, tingling in her feet and chronic pain in her joints.

“I have a family history of heart disease and diabetes, so as a nurse, I knew where I was headed,” Washington said.

Washington never had a problem maintaining a healthy weight when she was younger. She played sports in school and spent summers like a lot of kids in the south – running and swimming outdoors with friends. But after losing her mother as a teenager, her health started to take a turn.

“She was always like our ‘healthy barometer,’ but after she died, I didn’t really have the parental guidance and knowledge of how to prepare nutritious meals, even though I knew I should have been eating better,” Mary said.

Later on, an unhealthy marriage led to an unhealthy relationship with food, as Washington coped with her emotions.

“I didn’t get heavy until after my first child,” she said. “I pretty much just ate my feelings. Food was always like my comfort tool. I could depend on it.”

But like a lot of women, Washington put the focus on raising her children in addition to learning to fall in love again with her now husband, Kenny. How to lose the weight for good stayed in the back of her mind. Washington knew she could still do it but needed the support of health care professionals.

It was time to try a different tool like bariatric surgery to lose weight. Countless hours of online research left her feeling informed and confident about surgery, but she struggled finding a physician she felt she could trust.

“Over the years, I went to around four consultations, but could never find anyone I was comfortable with,” Washington said. “I wanted to do it, but I was still scared.”

Michael Gooden, M.D., a surgeon at Baptist Health Surgical Clinic-Lexington Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas, helps patients achieve their weight loss goals through bariatric surgery. As a nurse on a post-surgical floor, Washington saw firsthand the quality of Dr. Gooden’s work as she cared for his bariatric surgery patients.

“I got to see how well they recovered and how he treated his patients; it made me feel more comfortable,” she said.

Washington attended one of the free informational seminars hosted by Dr. Gooden at the hospital and knew she’d finally found a physician and health care team she could trust. She underwent weight loss surgery in August of 2017 and lost more than one hundred pounds.

Dr. Gooden performs two types of bariatric procedures: sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass. Both options offer positive results, and Dr. Gooden and his staff strive to educate patients, so they are able to choose for themselves.

Many requirements for bariatric surgery are set by insurance companies but generally adults over twenty-five with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of thirty-five or greater who suffer from one or more health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnea may also qualify for weight loss surgery. Additionally, those with a BMI greater than forty, even without other medical problems, are candidates.

From genetics to learned behaviors, there are many factors contributing to obesity, and according to Dr. Gooden you have to get to the root cause of weight gain to be successful in long term weight loss. Dr. Gooden’s team of providers including a psychologist and dietitian work with patients ensuring they are prepared for life after surgery. Patients also have a dedicated bariatric coordinator guiding them through each step of the process providing education and support.

Dr. Gooden says weight loss surgery is a tool to help you be successful, but like any tool, if it is not used properly, it is not effective. He points to snacking and sugary drinks as two major hindrances of weight loss after surgery.

“It’s not the easy way out, a quick fix or a decision you take lightly,” Washington said. “It’s a surgery and afterward you have to be willing to follow a meal and exercise plan, as well as adjust to the physical changes to your body and how it mentally affects you and even your loved ones. If you do all that, you’ll see results.”

Now at a healthy weight for her body, Washington is able to try new things like roller derby and has a goal of running a marathon. Instead of turning to food like before, she works her feelings out at Zumba and high intensity interval training (HIIT) classes at the gym.

“Looking back, I realized, I wasn’t living; I wasn’t a participant in life,” Washington said of her health before surgery. “There’s not a single thing I would have changed about my experience at Baptist Health-Fort Smith or with Dr. Gooden’s team. It’s not an easy journey, but oh, so worth it.”

How can you succeed after weight loss surgery? Dr. Gooden suggests staying committed to follow-up appointments with physicians and dietitians as well as joining a support group. The River Valley Bariatric Support Group meets at 6 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at the Fort Smith Public Library main branch on Rogers Avenue and at 10 a.m. the third Friday of each month at Baptist Health Surgical Clinic-Lexington Avenue to share and support each other during the journey.

Baptist Health Surgical Clinic-Lexington Avenue
923 Lexington Avenue, Fort Smith, Arkansas
479.709.7350

Do South Magazine

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