South Bend/Mishawaka people! Where are you at?! :)

Hi! Just looking to meet others in the same area as me. :) I'm 28, married, and living in South Bend!

Hi kayleystar!

I'm five years out with the Duodenal Switch.  My surgeon was Dr. Margaret Inman at Meridian Surgical Group.  She is one of 75 surgeons worldwide who performs this  particular WLS, and the only one in Indiana who does. She also does several of the other weight loss surgeries, too, in fact, I'd lay odds that she knows how to do them all!  Her office is on the second floor at St. Vincent's Bariatric Center of Excellence in Carmel, Indiana.

The DS is the absolute best thing I've ever done for myself.  I was at my highest 405 pounds.  On surgery day 2/25/2009 I was 397.  Today, I maintain my weight between 165 and 175, plus or minus two pounds.  The DS allows me for the first time in my life to eat like a normal person!  My weight loss was nearly effortless!  That said, the vitamin regimen is brutal, that is if you do it right (just Centrum or Flintstones won't cut it!), but it is so worth the effort!  Dr. Inman does other WLS procedures, too, but with my being SMO (super morbidly obese) starting out, I felt the DS was my best hope at losing the weight and keeping it of*****ake a look at the website DS Facts, and even Google it for more information. Also, there is a support group for St. Vincent's patients that meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month at the Mishawaka Public Library on Lincoln Way East.   Unfortunately, if you have surgery locally, then you have to attend that hospital's support group, but if you're going to have bariatric surgery of any kind, St. Vincent's in Carmel, Indiana (just outside Indianapolis)is the place to go.  They've been doing weight loss surgery since the mid 1970's.  I know, because I went to college at Indiana University in Bloomington,(1976-1983) and they were doing the surgeries that were available even then.   I used to hear commercials on the radio.

Whatever you procedure you decide on, and wherever you decide to have it, make sure the decision you make is the right one *for you*.