When Mandy Lovisone continued to have digestive issues, she was referred to a bariatric surgeon. She found Dr. Michael Snyder at the Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery who recommended the gastric sleeve procedure, which has been life-changing for Mandy.
Read Mandy’s story
“My name is Mandy Lovisone. I had a gastric sleeve in February of 2018 at Rose Medical Center. Initially, I came to see Dr. Snyder because I really sick. I couldn’t keep food down. My calorie intake was under 500 calories a day. And I was seeing a nutritionist to see if he could help me with my digestive system, and nothing was working. And so my PCP had suggested that maybe I see a bariatric surgeon.
So I found Dr. Snyder. I came and talked to him and told him what my issues were. And he said that maybe the sleeve would be the perfect thing. I thought long and hard about it. And I went through the whole process of continuing to see the nutritionist and all those little things you have to do, your doctors appointments and stuff. And then I actually waited a couple extra months because I was scared. And then I decided, okay, let’s do it. And then, yeah, I mean, that’s it.
I’d never had a big surgery before, so I didn’t really understand. But I just thought it was awesome that everybody was really good at their communication and explaining everything. And I didn’t feel uncomfortable or nervous at all. Dr. Snyder came in to check on me before surgery, which I thought was really awesome. The anesthesiologist called me the night before to explain everything. I thought that was super cool.
You call in or you walk in, and everybody is friendly. You’re not made to feel uncomfortable in any way at all. There’s other people there that are in there for the same exact reason, so nobody’s looking at you like you shouldn’t be there. Dr. Snyder is super friendly. He’s really personable. I have a lot of anxiety just in general all the time. And so I’m always really nervous to talk to people. But I didn’t feel that with him. He’s with you the whole time. And you can reach out to him whenever you want, which is a big deal because I don’t feel like you can do that with doctors today. You know?
I sleep a lot better. I can walk more easily. Just normal walking is so different. I’m not out of breath. I’m not sweating. I can hike without any problems. Working out is actually really fun for me. And it’s really hard, and it’ll probably always be really hard. I hope that it’s always really hard for that constant challenge. But just everything, being able to go to the swimming pool with my kids, who are much older now. But not feeling super embarrassed to do those things is all a really big deal.”