Century Club

I come from a family of obese people. I was always a chubby kid, and then thinned out when I was a teenager but once I hit my mid-30's something happened and I put on 100 lbs within an 8 month period of time! I was completely out of control and had basically given up. I did the yo-yo diets, tried the pills, tried starving myself, and would lose a little but would always put it all back on plus more. By the time I scheduled my surgery I was a whopping 354 lbs! I was at a BMI of 54, which put me at a very high risk of co-morbidities, and with cancer, heart disease, diabetes (you name it) running in my family, I was desperate. I did about 6 months worth of research online and found a local Lap Band seminar here in the states. I felt I had hope for the very first time in a long time, but that hope was soon dashed when I found out that the procedure was a whopping $18,500 dollars. There was no way I could afford to have it done. Once again, I went back online and saw Dr. Kuri's name everywhere I looked. I researched his practice, researched his patients success stories, and even tried to find negative blogging regarding him and never found any, which is unheard of these days, so I chose him as my surgeon. His prices made it affordable for me to get the Lap Band. I decided to contact his office and before I knew it, their friendly staff had scheduled me for surgery Sept. 2, 2005! I couldn't believe it, I was finally going to start a newer, healthier life! The flight out was the usual embarrassing ordeal. The tray wouldn't unfold all the way so I could sit my drink down. I needed a seatbelt extender, everyone looking at me as I huffed & puffed, sweating all the way through the airports. I even had one gentleman on the plane get up & move out of the seat next to me to give me more room. I was mortified, and even though he meant it as a polite gesture, I was still embarrassed. I was so unhappy, unhealthy and depressed, and only by the grace of God did I not have any co-morbidities other than slight apnea and very swollen feet & ankles. I was in a size 28 (probably could have done a 30), and almost couldn't find clothes in the big woman's shops anymore. But as soon as I stepped outside of the airport in San Diego, something inside me told me I was getting my life back! Miguel the driver met us and was so courteous and friendly. I got to meet others just like me, and didn't feel out of place at all. My surgery went off without a hitch. No complications, no problems (other than my own stubbornness to refuse to let go of old eating habits!), but with my band, I have been trained to enforce portion control, as well as quality control on all the food I eat. And I've discovered I'm NOT allergic to exercise after all!!! I am down just about 100 lbs now, and feel fantastic! I'm in a size 18, and my scales are starting to dip just a little more. No feet swelling, no seatbelt extensions, no stares, I can shop in regular stores, no snoring/apnea, no huffing & puffing and sweating when I walk, no embarrassment at all thanks to my band! I've even gotten whistled at a few times this last couple of months!!! Even if I didn't lose another ounce, I wouldn't trade my band for anything in this world! Thank you, Dr. Kuri for giving me my LIFE back!!!

Let me start by telling y'all a little about myself and this wonderful journey I've been on for the past 3.4 years. My name is Sassy (S. Lavergne) I'm better known as the “Banded Bandit”. I'm a 53 year old married mother of 2 great sons. A bonafide, pasteurized, notified, homogenized, diva, queen. I am a true southern belle (in every sense of the word) from a very small town in Louisiana. I use to weigh over 400 lbs. I chose to become healthier and thinner with the help of the band, Dr. Pedro Kuri and his team. I've made that choice a reality. Three years ago I awakened in a strange room in a small hospital in Tijuana Mexico with an IV in my arm. I had finally gone ahead and done it, I'd had Dr. Pedro Kuri put a lap band in me! I went on my own without telling any body (not even my husband). I was never a fat person until after marriage and children (I weighed 115 lbs. in high school and was trying to gain weight I did and finally I weighed 130 -35 when I got married and I'm 5'7. I was so thin they called me spaghetti). My weight was never something I worried about (that's why I weighed over 400 lbs). I have 3 seamstresses who sew for me (without a pattern). I could always get good fitting and great looking clothes (I design a lot of my own clothes). I never had low self esteem or felt bad about being morbidly obese. I didn't have the typical problems or anxieties people my size had. I was and still am very happy with the kind of person I am inside as well as outside. I knew I needed to lose weight and I’d tried just about everything on the market from diet pills, diet plans, cabbage soup diet, the water diet, fasting, slim fast, to mention only a few. I tried several instruments of torture they choose to call exercise machines. (Oh by the way Richard Simmons will pitch a hissy fit if you mention my name to him, Jenny Craig is not taking my calls, Weight watchers refuses to watch me, they said they were not even trying to see me let alone watch me do anything! The mail-a-meal people won't take my address and Nutra System has threatened me with a restraining order if I bothered them again). Whatever little success I achieved from diets and weight loss programs I quickly gained back more. I was active but not active enough I ate everything in sight and the wrong foods to much fat, fast, fried, and carbo filled foods. I was a (5 x queen size) that is until I decided to get banded. I had just about given up and resigned to eat myself into oblivion and be the fat diva Queen size that I was until one day I was waiting for a download and saw this popup about weight loss. I decided to look into it but knew it was somebody with another (miracle pill) that again wouldn't work instead it was about the gastric bypass and other weight loss surgery including the band. I had researched the band about 6 months earlier but I needed to speak with someone who had it and I didn’t know anyone. I knew I didn't want the bypass (that was to scary for me) so I looked into the band and Dr. Kuri's site came up I did my research on him and was very impressed with what I read so I called the # and lordy me I got to talk to a real person. (I bothered that woman like a sweaty hog on a hot July day in Louisiana that just found a new cool, wet, mud hole to wallar in). I must have called her 30 times that week at least 6 or 7 times that day. She answered all of my questions. I made up my mind this band thing was for me but I had a 4 or 5 weddings to attend (and the FOOD) at least 3 graduation parties coming up to perform at (and the FOOD), also my family reunion (and the FOOD) in July. Oh did I mention (the FOOD) and this was the first week of May 05. I was coming up with every excuse not to have it done until after July. I must admit (I was kindda fishing on both sides of the creek wanting to lose the weight but not wanting to really commit myself to the responsibilities of what it would take). What did it for me was she said do you know that by July you could gain 40 more pounds? Let me tell y'all I got a mental picture of me 40 lbs heavier and it was not pretty that was all it took. (I jumped on it Like two starving, skinny ticks that just found a fat dog that’s too lazy to scratch). I asked her when was the earliest I could get it done. Now she asked me some questions and told me I had to go on this Liver Shrinking diet (LSD). Oh No I thought not another diet). I told her diets didn't work for me but she said this one was different, I had to do it for the surgery and I would only have to do it for 3 weeks. I reluctantly gave in and she emailed me a date and the diet. I sent in my down payment and made my flight reservation after doing the LSD for 3 weeks I lost about 26 lbs. got on a plane and was off to TJ. Mexico. I was banded in Mexico 6-3-05 by Dr. Pedro Kuri and his team. I was there for 5 days came home and followed the instructions they gave me for the next 10/11 weeks then I went back for my first fill. I stayed 3 days this trip (still no one knew). My journey has not been without the regular problems we bandsters have. I've also had other problems (not band related). Remember I weighed in at over 400 lbs before banding. Three months after banding (the week after my 1st fill) I had a heart attack and open heart surgery the day after hurricane Katrina hit us. When the Drs. told me they had to operate (I was as nervous as an old gator that was blind in one eye, couldn't see out the other, with only one good ear and that one was infected, have arthritis in it's good leg and it was broke also gator hunting season had just started). That's when I gave in and told my husband, 2 sons and daughter- my oldest son wife. So no one knew until about 3 months after I was banded, that I was banded (That’s why I call my band the banded bandit). Dr. Kuri was so sweet he called several times while I was in the hospital and when I returned home. After the surgery the Drs. said I had to lose the weight or die I knew I would lose it because I was banded.( So far I've had 2 heart attacks, 1 heart surgery, a body lift and tummy tuck-in Mexico, a breast reduction in the states-removal of 8 lbs off my breast. I am now down from a 5 x to 18-20 and want to be at least size 14 W. My Drs. want me to lose 50-60 more lbs. and I will with the help of the band. The only regrets I have is that I didn't do this years earlier. I thank GOD I found Dr. Pedro Kuri and his team. Getting banded was the best thing I could have done for myself, family, friends, and all the people whose life I've touched and also touched mine and been a part of. I must say Dr. Pedro Kuri and his team really did save my life and the band changed my life, or should I say helped me start a new healthier, thinner life. I have never regretted getting the band. I occasionally miss some foods and pigging out but as someone once said "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels". It has been interesting as I have learned to deal with food no longer being a great pleasure as well as a deadly enemy (morbid obesity anyone?) We have a saying in Louisiana "we live to eat" and I believed it, that was one of my biggest Problems. Since banding all that kind of thinking has changed. I’ve not only lost weight but have learned how to eat the right foods to continue to be healthier. I have tried some new stuff and had some successes as well as failures. I‘ve had seven or eight fills since I got my band; my last one was at bash. At that time I weighed about 245-47 pounds. Since then and after two weeks with a sinus attack I've went down to 232-35 pounds. It is very nice to be able to fit into clothes off the rack instead of having to have all my clothes made don't get me wrong I still have clothes made but now they are a much, much smaller size and I look very, very good in them. It is very nice to be able to fit in a chair without fat hanging over the side and seeping out from under the space in the back, my waist is much smaller than my hips and not fighting for the extra space in my pants. It has been somewhat sad to ose some clothing and some people who I thought was “friends" (losing weight will do that) but I have been able to find replacements generally. I have gotten rid of almost all of my big girl clothes although so far I have kept a piece or two to show off where I once was. I enjoy being able to wear a size 16 and 18 again. When I run errands or go shopping I get strange looks from guys (the kind all us girls like to get). I figure at age 53 I can dress as I want as long as my hb isn’t unhappy with it. Would I do it again? You darn tooting I would --- (I would be on it like popcorn I wouldn't stop until the last one was popped). Now after 3.4 years banded, 191 #s down , healthier, (smaller than I was when I got HITCHED), and looking very good, fine, and sexy for an over 50 year old woman as y’all can tell I am very pleased, happy and elated about banding and the benefits it has brought to my life. I truly am living the banded life and loving it. I can’t thank Dr. Kuri and his great team enough. I plan not only to continue learning about my band and eating healthier but to be a support for others who are banded and those who are thinking about it. If you have a weight problem there’s only one thing I have to say IF YOU FIT THE PROFILE “CALL Dr. Pedro Kuri get yourself down to Mexico and get banded NOW!!” "DR KURI AND HIS TEAM IS THE BEST"

I had been over weight all of my life. When I was in my 30's and again in my 50's I was able to loose around 80 lbs the conventional way. When I got heavy again in my 60's I found it very difficult to do the exercise piece of loosing weight and I felt like there wasn't much I could do to loose the weight. I found my health issue piling up, as I got older. At 64 I found my self with blood pressure, cholesterol, heart arrhythmia, thyroid, asthma, I had one knee replaced and was look at a 2nd knee replacement, sleep apnea, and the final straw was when my doctor told me I has borderline diabetic and we needed to start treating that as well. Well that was not going to happen, I was too cowardly to stick a needle in myself for the rest of my life and I knew I needed to do something about my life. I was worried about the impact that my weight would have on me, as I got older. I was afraid the folks at the care center would have to take me to the car wash to give me a shower. I had even wondered if I was going to have to be cremated because there weren't going to be enough relatives to carry my body to my grave. So I talked to some folks in our town that had been banded. I called a surgeon friend of mine and also go advice and he supported my desire to do the band. I talked to five of them; it had works for four of the five. Some had been banded in Mexico and a couple in Utah. My first plan was to have the operation in Utah. I had letters from my GP and my orthopedic Surgeon telling my insurance company that I needed the operation. They would not pay for it. We appealed the rejection and they would not pay for it in Utah. They were willing to pay $40 thousand for another knee and a lifetime of prescription, but not a lap band. So I knew I would need to go to Mexico. I set up an appointment to have the band done and was a bit frightened about going "to Mexico" to have surgery. One of our local doctors went to Dr. Kuri's and actually went into the surgery with a patient of his that was being banded. When they returned to Utah he called me and told me about his experience and he lay to rest any concerns I might have had. He said, don't worry about a thing, the surgical team is like watching a ballet, they have done it so many time they all know what they are doing. The hospital is wonderful, the surgery suit is modern, the equipment excellent, everything is appropriate, state of the art, and equal to standards in the USA. When I headed to Mexico I was comfortable with my decision. I had an excellent experience with the band. I lost 120 lbs. in less than a year. I have been able to keep that weight at that place for nearly two years. I weighted 293 when Contacted Dr. Kuri, I lost 13 lbs on the liver shrinking diet before I went down there. I now weigh 170. The best part of this is the health benefits. I am still taking thyroid and a reduced dose of cholesterol. Every other health issue had disappeared. No more drugs, no Cpap masks, no knee surgery, no leg or feet problems, and best of all, no needles. The only thing that has not gotten better is my golf game. Well actually it has. I love being able to move, I am happier and healthier than I have ever been. Two of my doctor friend here in Vernal went down after I did and have had the procedure done on them selves. They both spend a couple of days in Mexico and spend several hours in the operating room watching the Kuri team in action. They were trained and now I can get Kuri approved fill in my hometown. The one doctor took members of her family don there as well. I don't think money was an issue for a doctor like it was for me, they have the greatest respect for Dr. Kuri and the work he does. I have followed to protocols that I received for the lap band. I do the diet as out lined. I have found great joy in exercise. I work out at the gym three times a week; I walk every morning and afternoon. I love how I feel after I have worked out. I am so happy I make with decision and that the band gave me a tool to do the work and find freedom and health. I appreciate the health and support I got from my facilitator JoAnn Jackson. I liked Dr. Kuri the minute I met him and felt he really cared about helping people find a healthy way to live.

Oh my gosh! I received the gift of a life time last year at the TJ Bash. Words just can't tell you how much I think of both Dr. Kuri and JoAnn Jackson and the wonderful staff at Dr. Kuri's office and at the TJ hospital. They helped me get my life back and I will be forever grateful to all of them. Dr Kuri is and angel sent from Heaven with this wonderful gift to perform this surgery to help us get back on track. Without this gift I have no idea where I would be today (closer to death I'm sure). I look at my before photo and cry. I was so very, very unhappy and depressed and now I'm much happier and healthier. I shoveled my own snowy driveway for the 1st time in years. I'm mowing my own lawns and working in my own yard that I love and had been very limited in doing because of the weight I had on this old body .Being that overweight took over my life a little at a time and robbed me of the things I enjoyed. The more depressed I got, the more it took over. I had been on every diet plan known to mankind. I would lose a little weight and then it would come back double. Being banded has been the only thing that has worked for me. I was so very, very ready to get this weight off. Dr Kuri told me he was giving me a tool and I had to work with the tool. This is so very true if you stick to the game plan it works. As you can see I still have a long way to go, but I now have hope that if I keep doing what I should be doing this will work. I do fall off the wagon every once in a while but I look at my before photo and get right back on. I never want to look and feel like that again and I never want to take this gift for granted. Dr. Kuri you mean the world to me and I really do love you for what you have done and helped me do for myself. JoAnn Jackson has been a wonderful gift, an angel in my life also. Without the help from both of them and this team effort I really don't feel I would be here today or be in the health I'm in today. I'm now off all medication, my blood pressure is back to normal and so is all my blood work. I did this in 8 months what a ride!. This is like being reborn again, getting to do all the things I've missed out on for so long. I can walk the mall again without having to sit down once. I can now workout in the gym again. I even go dancing every Friday night. I am happy about life again. If anyone is on the fence out there about having this surgery, do your research. This worked for me and I'm sure it will work for you if your head and heart are in the right place. It was the best thing I ever did for myself. Much love to both of you Dr. Kuri and JoAnn and all your great staff.

"I can't lose weight or exercise because I have MS." That had been my excuse since my diagnosis in 1988, but let me back up a few years. My weight during my childhood and teen years was “normal”, but I always "felt" that I was overweight. My mom was obese from her childhood and so I was raised watching her struggle with her weight and low self-esteem. After I got married and started having children, I began putting on weight. I tried all of the usual diets; Weight Watchers, Diet Center, "liquid protein," "Atkins”, you name it and I had tried it. I usually lost some weight but eventually ended up putting it back on. When I was diagnosed with MS I thought that would be the end of my trying to lose weight because I could not do "normal" exercises. My weight continued to increase and I finally quit weighing myself. I was so ashamed of how large I had become, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to take care of my personal hygiene properly. In a family where many members have suffered with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, I knew that I had to do something or else I could also end up with one of these conditions. In January of 2005 I made up my mind to try one more time to lose weight. I went on a popular liquid diet but the weight loss was so slow. One day I was surfing the internet about weight loss surgery and Dr. Kuri's website popped up. I was determined not to pursue gastric bypass because I felt it was too drastic for me. I filled out the questionnaire online and was very surprised when two days later I received a phone call asking if I had any questions and would I like to secure a surgery date? I mentioned the surgery in Mexico to my husband, who told me that if I really wanted to do it that we would come up with the money somehow. I really was not put off by the idea of going to Mexico since I had been to Monterrey, Mexico in 1998 for other medical issues. I was a little apprehensive about the surgery itself, but all of the positive posts on the website put my mind at ease. On May 27, 2005, I had lap band surgery and I have not regretted one moment. I began this journey at 270 lbs and have surpassed my initial goal of 100 lbs. I have lost 106 lbs and have never felt better. In the 2 1/2 years since surgery I have had nine fills and three un-fills, but otherwise it has been a pretty smooth road. I really enjoy shopping for clothes now. I have gone from a size 24-26 dress to a size 10. I love that I can now turn over in bed and also get in and out of the bathtub myself. I do not need a seat belt extender in the airplane...in fact I make it a game each time I fly to see how far I can cinch the belt. When we travel down south and rent a car, we can rent a regular car because now my thighs fit underneath the steering wheel. I found an exercise machine so that I can sit in a chair and exercise my legs. My husband and family have been behind me 100% and have played a vital role in my success. I consider Dr. Kuri and his team as my “lifesavers” because that is what they offered me….a tool to help me become healthy and enjoy life to the fullest. If you really want to lose weight, no matter whether you are fairly healthy or have limited mobility, you CAN do it.

I am writing this story because of how the lap band changed my life. As you can see in my first photo it was hard for me to even stand and push my twins on the swings. I was a hermit and never wanted to leave my house. It hurt to walk my feet would ache with every step, and not to mention how people treated me and looked at me. Now I have my life back thanks to Dr. Kuri. I have gone from size 38 to 14!! I have lost 247 pounds and still counting! I am now in school to become a teacher. I ride Harleys and I love life. My journey is not over yet I am still losing and have about 30 pounds to go! I go to the gym now 3 times a week and the weight is still coming off. Slower now but it is still coming off. I owe my life to the lap band and Dr. Kuri. Thanks!! Much love to you Dr. Kuri.