“I am learning to love myself for the first time in my life.”
Dear Dr. Kuri,
Why am I so glad I did the weight loss surgery in Tijuana with Dr. Kuri and his crew? Let me tell you why:
I can’t imagine getting better care anywhere else. There were five doctors in attendance, three surgeons—Dr. Kuri, Dr. Morales and Dr. Espinosa—and the anesthesiologist and I never did figure out who the fifth one was. The first three surgeons visited me daily during my stay there. The hospital was immaculate and I am thoroughly convinced all the staff is dedicated to making absolutely sure that nothing is going to go wrong.
I was 68 at the time I was banded on June 30, 2005 and I have lost over 80 lbs to date. My stats are: 226 high weight, 217 at surgery, 140 presently and goal of 135. My BMI loss went from 40 to 25.6.
When I got home, Dr. Kuri called me to see how I was doing and he called again the second day because I reported I hadn’t slept well the first night. A month later one of his staff checked on me the third time to make sure things were going well. They were. Sure, there were days I did not eat as well as I might have, but the band stayed constant for me. I have never been very hungry and it wasn’t hard for me to resume good control of my eating. What this meant was, that the band worked when everything I had tried before fell through.
What difference has it made in my life? It means I am learning to love myself for the first time in my life. I am happier than I have ever known. I get my exercise with the local parks and rec belly dancing program and I like what I see in the mirror. I firmly believe attitude is everything for dealing with head hunger and emotional eating. I call it my ‘tude and I work at developing a comical ‘tude. I’ve written personal affirmations claiming an energetic, enthusiastic, athletic, exuberant, elegant, and svelte size-eight body; and a creative, inventive, comedic, theatrical mind. My daily reminders are proving to powerfully grow my desired ‘tude and most parts of me measure the size-eight body.
I belong to the Red Hats Society and discovered that wearing a boa on my hat generated a warm reception from the public at large. I toured New York last year and everywhere I heard – ‘I love your hat’ so now I can and do claim I was a hit on Broadway. So far I have proved I am welcome in California, New York and Kansas City, Tijuana and I expect to get the same welcome response in my coming trip to Hawaii. I am having a ball.
Would I do it again? Wouldn’t you, if you were in my shoes?
– Marilyn
