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Penn State Surgical Weight Loss team helps mother of three transform her life

When Katie Rodriguez of Lebanon took her children to a restaurant, they’d beg to sit in a booth. But Rodriguez, who at her heaviest weighed 423 pounds, couldn’t.

“My belly stuck out too far,” 37-year-old Rodriguez said. “We always had to sit at a table.”

Rodriguez not only battled an expanding waistline but also depression. She learned she had degenerative cervical spinal stenosis and had to go on disability.

“I was always an outgoing person, but I didn’t want to do anything but lie around and eat,” she said.

Today, Rodriguez weighs 169 pounds. She can sit in a booth at a restaurant and shop without using an electric scooter. She cherishes “the little things,” such as being able to wear fashion boots and spending time outside with her children and fiancé.

“I went from a size 32 to a size 12,” she said. “I feel more alive. I have more energy. I’m not ashamed to put on a bathing suit and take my kids to the pool. I love myself. I didn’t always feel that way.”

Rodriguez credits Dr. Ann Rogers, director of the Surgical Weight Loss program at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, for her transformation. Rogers performed Duodenal Switch Bariatric Surgery on Rodriguez four years ago.

“I gave her a tool to be able to make the changes,” Rogers said. “Katie is the one whose lifestyle had to change to make it work.”

The procedure, a combination of the gastric bypass and vertical sleeve gastrectomy, is reserved for severely obese patients, Rogers said.

“I could tell by talking to Katie and by her adherence to the dieticians’ instructions that she was a good candidate,” Rogers said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics have a 50 percent higher death rate from diabetes than whites and 23 percent more obesity.

“Certain populations are more prone to obesity and obesity-related problems.” Rogers said. “Part of it is genetics.”

The average bariatric patient can expect to lose one-third of their weight, Rogers said.

“People are not coming to us because they want to look like Twiggy,” Rogers said. “They are coming to us because they want to be healthy and have a normal lifespan.”

Read the full article in La Voz Latina Central.

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