 Hi, my name is Jeanne Zaleski and I had bariatric surgery through Mid-Michigan Medical Center Gratiot in June of 2017. I've always had a problem with my waist since I was young and we tried everything from dieting to cutting back on foods and trying to eat vegetables and fruits and as I got through high school I got bigger and bigger. I would gain a few pounds, I would lose 25 pounds, I'd gain a back, I'd lose it and I did everything. I exercised and did everything I could to try to lose the weight and I knew that weight issue was a problem with my family because my father had weight issues, my mom had, my sister, my brothers and I looked at that and I did not want to end up being heavy and overweight and not being able to change, chase my grandkids, which we do so much together and they're everything. You know, every time I would get up to move, my legs hurt, my knees throbbed, I shorten some breath and I just didn't want to be that way. I work for the Mid-Michigan Physicians Group Cardiology. What really helped me make my decision was I see a lot of patients that are overweight, that are having problems moving around, they're shortness of breath, they're walking with canes and I looked at myself and I seen that and I said, you know, I don't want to be there. I'm 62 years old and I wanted to take charge of my life. And so I went ahead and I seen my doctor and I consulted her and asked her if there's any way that, you know, I could maybe get some help maybe with bariatric surgery or maybe she could refer me to a surgeon. That's where my journey began. After my doctor referred me to Dr. Banachi, I met with him and explained kind of what was going on with my weight issues and he said that I was a perfect candidate for it because I was healthy. He said, you are really a perfect candidate just because of your BMI being so high. So that's kind of where it began and he asked me when do you want the surgery and I said, right now. After I met with Dr. Banachi, I met the support team, great group of people. We talked about different ways of exercise, different types of food to eat where I would be going in the next few months in my, you know, in my journey. I had my surgery, it was June 14th and I was ready to go home right after. I was in surgery for a couple of hours, everything went well. I was ready to go home and they said, you can go home the next day. So I stayed overnight and in the morning they went over everything with me with what I was expected and what I would be going through in these next few weeks and I went home. But once I got home, I had to look at all my brochures that was given to me from my support group to see what I should be eating and what I should not be eating and to be sure that I'm getting all my protein in during the day. I started losing, you know, a couple, two, three pounds a week and there would be one week I'd lose a pound, one week maybe two, one week I wouldn't lose any. But it started coming off and within, you know, six months or so I lost 40 pounds. So for the rest of the day I feel wonderful, I have lost 70 pounds. I feel great, I get around, I chase my grandkids, easy for me to do pretty much anything. I do a lot of walk-in, I try to keep exercise and I go on my treadmill, which I could hardly even do that before. I'm always busy, I'm very energetic but I feel, I feel 100% better, I really do.