Sanford Weight-loss surgery

Patient testimonials

Before After

After having gastric bypass surgery, Jim Cree of Minot went from a size 60 pants and 5XL shirt to a size 36 pants and large shirt. "I was so overweight that I was having problems with my back, knees and legs and was short-winded," he said. Cree decided to have gastric bypass surgery at Sanford Health in Bismarck in July 2005 after being referred by his chiropractor. "I was going to the chiropractor twice a week and he asked me if I had thought about surgery because he was having trouble manipulating me," Cree said. "He recommended Sanford Health."

Not only does Cree say he had a really good experience. "I recommend it to anybody. Three of my friends have had it done since I did."

The surgery has given him energy and saved him money. "I got rid of my two diabetes pills, two high blood pressure pills and a cholesterol pill," Cree said. He estimates that this cut in medications saves him $400 a month. "Now, all I take is a Flintstones vitamin, Tums and a vitamin B pill."

Before After

Teri Schuh's poor health was killing her physically and emotionally. The cure: loose weight. "I knew I was literally dying," said Schuh, 51, of Dickinson. "I was already dead inside. When I went to bed, I hoped to fall asleep and never wake up. I felt like such a burden to myself and my family." With the encouragement of a friend who had successful weight-loss surgery at Sanford Health in Bismarck, Schuh made an appointment. "My friend who had surgery couldn't even breathe on her own any more when she went to Sanford Health. She told me they saved her life. I knew I had to do it."

Today, Schuh is a new woman. So far, she has lost 205 pounds. She no longer needs oxygen or the multiple prescription medications she once took on a daily basis. Gone are her diabetes-related vision problems and numbness in her feet. Her blood pressure and cholesterol levels are in normal ranges.

"I really appreciated the whole Sanford Health staff. They treated me like a person and didn't talk down to me," Schuh said. "You absolutely understand everything that is going to happen by the time they're done with you. They give you the tools to help you succeed."

Before After

Kay Lewis had been fighting her weight for nearly two decades. She made the decision to turn things around the day she realized her weight made it impossible to be the mom she wanted to be. "I knew it was time for change when I refused to go on the Ferris wheel with my son because I knew I wouldn't fit," said Lewis, who weighed 312 pounds at the time. "It literally broke my heart and I realized that I was not being the mother to my children I wanted to be, or needed to be."

Her newfound determination to find a solution led her to weight-loss surgery at Sanford Health in Bismarck. "I didn't want to fail one more time. I wanted a life-long solution that I could live with and my family didn't need to make exceptions for," she said.

Lewis would go on to lose more than 140 pounds after the November 2005 surgery. What's more, her blood pressure has dropped from an alarming 172/89 to a healthier 132/72 and the chronic pain from carrying too much weight has disappeared.

Lewis, who now eats the foods she enjoys, but in smaller portions, says, "I always felt like I was living to eat, and not eating to live. Eating is not a sport to me anymore."

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