Welcome back to Our Sleeved Life Podcast. I am Mel, your host, and today we’re gonna get right in it because we have such a great interviewee. You’re gonna be so excited because she is the Bariatric Warrior. She is the Bariatric Advocate of the Year. She is here for all of us. Doesn’t matter what you look like, what you’ve been through. This girl wants to help, and it’s been very apparent through all the years that I’ve known her. You guys know her. It’s Bariatric Warrior from Bariatric Warrior Podcast where you can find her on BariatricWarriorsupport.com. So thank you Stephanie for being on the show.
“Yay! Hi everyone, I’m so excited. I’m so happy like that this is happening. We’ve talked about it for so long. Yup, yup. Yes, excited. Happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Yes.”
Early Struggles and Diagnosis
For years, literally years, we’ve talked about it. And finally we’re like on the books. Well, I know a lot about your background, but not as much as I would like. And I know everybody wants to know what goes on with you because it’s been crazy to say the least. So where do you think your journey actually started before you even became Bariatric Warrior?
“So I had gastroparesis. So the fundus of my stomach was basically paralyzed and my vagus nerve wasn’t working properly. And when that occurred, like it would take me eight to 10 hours to digest one meal. It was like, yeah, it was bad. And I’d be on daily antibiotics, daily steroids. And of course, when you’re on steroids for a very long time, you gain a lot of weight.”
“I gained like 68 pounds or more, which obviously then created its own problems like high blood pressure. I obviously had PCOS and insulin resistance. I was pre-diabetic. I literally couldn’t walk a block without huffing and puffing. So so many things came with it and then the medication stopped working.”
Turning to Bariatric Surgery
Stephanie’s surgeon offered a solution. “I was offered bariatric surgery in the form of basically curing the gastroparesis by cutting the fundus of the stomach out, which is what they cut out when you get a gastric sleeve. And so I went that route.”
Her journey rapidly became more complicated. “Obviously things went way different than we thought.”
“I started not being able to swallow and eat. Every time it would just like come back up. And I lost 74 and a half pounds in a month and a half. That is, mm-hmm. That, no, that is not normal. That is not okay.”
“I had surgery October 5th of 2021 where the height of COVID supply chain issues. You can’t get into the damn hospital or the doctor. And I’m over here like, what do I do? Like my surgeon didn’t understand what was going on.”
They discovered “a very severe stricture which is basically a narrowing of my sleeve. So things were getting stuck they would not go through and that’s why it was coming back up.”
Complications and Medical Challenges
Stephanie explains, “when you lose a lot of weight, that fat padding goes away. So then it just creates a weak spot where your diaphragm is there. And so my stomach with the severe stricture would slide up into my chest repeatedly, which is what they call, uh-huh, which is what they call a sliding hiatal hernia.”
“And so you have that, which then gave me severe GERD, which obviously on top of the stricture as well. And so I literally could not eat or drink anything. I was in and out of the hospital constantly and they couldn’t keep me because they had no beds and nowhere to put me.”
Her surgeon tried an NG tube. “You don’t do this with people who have gastric sleeve or gastric bypass, which would be attempting to put an NG tube in blindly. Yes. Because I couldn’t get it done in the hospital. They couldn’t do it. So this was my choice. So obviously he has the fluoroscopy x-ray. He could check if it was in the right place.”
“But of course, like that is a very traumatic experience if you’ve ever had to have a tube down your nose and throat when you’re way, yeah, you’re like way alert for it. And of course, like an NG tube is significantly bigger than what like a Dobhoff would be, which is a smaller type feeding tube. So of course he’s like putting this down and it like to coil in your throat.”
“It’s either gonna go into your lungs or it’s gonna go where it’s supposed to, down your esophagus into your stomach. Guess where mine went? Yes, yep. So it went into my lungs. I started coughing up blood and blood was coming out of my nose. And so then 911 got called and I ended up going to the hospital.”
She continued, “I haven’t been able to eat. My doctor tried to give me an NG tube. I have a severe stricture. This is what’s going on. You can call him. He’s like, he got on the phone. The ER doctor got on the phone with him and called him and they admitted me and they put me, they put me on the floor that they never use because it was like overflow. I was in the hospital for eight days and I received my first PICC line.”
“I was put on TPN, which is total parenteral nutrition, which is basically this big white bag and it’s all of the nutrients, vitamins, minerals that you need to sustain living, survive. So I had that and then I was taken to endoscopy and they, under anesthesia, put in a Dobhoff feeding tube. So I was both getting 24 hour TPN and 24 hour tube feed.”
Stephanie described the physical toll: “So, bariatric, bariatric patient, tiny stomach, double the amount of food that you would give to a normal person that has not had bariatric surgery.”
Emotional Isolation and Community Challenges
When asked about her emotional journey during these trying times, she explained, “I was so isolated. I was so alone and these things do need to be talked about. you know, weight loss surgery is not all butterflies and rainbows. Don’t listen to the people who say that.”
She also faced bullying in the community: “At that time when I was in the hospital, I was also being bullied by a group of women in the community who told me that I should feel ashamed for sharing my story, that I should feel ashamed for asking for help, and that they would call me a scammer because they thought that what I was going through was fake. And I’m just like, I’m like, I don’t understand people like that. I’m like, we’re here to uplift and support people and you’re going to prey on someone who’s literally trying to survive.”
Despite the bullying, Stephanie remained steadfast.
“I would say I don’t have any regrets of having bariatric surgery and I say that for a few reasons. I didn’t… this is not my fault. What happened to me is not my fault. It had just happened. I had no control in this happening. It just happened. My surgeon didn’t do anything wrong either. I had bariatric surgery. It cured my gastroparesis but of course it did give me long chronic complications and chronic illness. But I have, you know, turned that into helping other people. And, you know, I am a nurse. I am a natural, like, nurturer wanting to help people and be there.”
She continued, “through obviously social media and talking about everything, I have helped other people come out and have that voice and share these things because it’s important.”
She stressed, “I just wanna tell everyone who’s listening to this, don’t feel ashamed for sharing any part of your story because it does matter. And even if it helps just one person not feel alone. That’s why I do this.”
Medical Mistakes and Resilience
Later Stephanie described a medical misstep. “Unfortunately, I did have what is called a TPN overdose. So my numbers, the nurse like switched them. And so it, yeah, and of course I’m not, I don’t know, I’m just here type of thing. Yeah, but the numbers were switched. And so I was getting too much too fast. And so I like started like feeling very weird. So I took my blood sugar and my blood sugar was in the 500s.”
“I mean, I mean, yes and no, because obviously it was so long ago and I was not fully with it, but I still feel like, especially as a nurse, if you feel that this patient can’t be left alone, you know, they just got out the hospital, et cetera, like do your due diligence and not just like leave them there.”
Finding Purpose and Community
After months of hardship and multiple surgeries, Stephanie shared her evolving purpose: “So cool! So that’s kind of a big reason why I share everything. I share the good, the bad, the ugly, full authentic me because I’ve been there. I was so isolated. I was so alone and these things do need to be talked about.”
After a revision surgery, Stephanie found new hope. “So I had my revision surgery December 7th of 2022. And it was a revision from sleeve to gastric bypass, RNY. He spent another hour and half removing adhesions.” “And I had, yeah, and I had a lot of necrotic tissue as well. So there was actually part of my intestine, and tissue that was dying.”
She gave gratitude to her community. “Again why I’m so grateful to all of you because I’m here because of all of you.”
The SIBO Diagnosis and Aftermath
Stephanie faced SIBO after her surgery. “I was able to eat and drink. I still struggled. So I think I was good until mid-February when I started getting that abdominal swelling. And I was diagnosed with SIBO, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.”
She described the symptoms: “Well, it’s not like your stomach is like your actual pouch is swelling. Yeah, it’s like your actual abdomen like you will look like you’re six months pregnant. It’s very painful and like the you can’t wear a bra because it just digs in and then the pain goes to your back.”
Stephanie’s medical and emotional complexity did not stop her from advocating: “I will say though again preface this my RNY saved my life that it helped my reflex so much and I will take the fucking SIBO. That’s fine. I will live with the damn SIBO.”
After even more complications, “I was still very malnourished and malabsorbed. Yeah. So of course all of that was against me. And so, yeah, that was the decision to get it that again, like I would try and eat. I wanted to eat. Like, so yeah, I was on TPA again. I was on all of these things again and more.”
She advocated for others: “There’s no point in giving up. Like, I don’t wanna do that and I don’t want anyone else to do that.”
Advocating for Others and Closing Thoughts
Stephanie’s story is about not letting medical reality or bullying silence your story. She shows up for herself and her community, no matter the struggle.
“I can’t film my life 24-7, you know? But there’s a lot of shit that you guys haven’t seen that’s ugly. But I will always, you know, I will process it. That’s something I never allowed myself to do until literally like 2024. I will process it. I’ve been therapy. Therapy is good. Everyone should be in therapy. know, medical PTSD is real, but you know.”
“Talking about it and seeing other people go through it and being able to be by their side and then share with you, you guys are making me not feel alone in this. Just as you say that I’m helping you not feel alone, like, it’s right back at me as like, you gotta keep going. You gotta keep showing up, you know, because… even though I am you know chronically ill and I had to accept that as something very real to me you know I just gotta keep going and it’s not just for me. It’s not just for Bambi. It’s not just for Greg. It’s not just for my mom. It’s for all of you. It’s for this community. you know, I’m just gonna keep being the Bariatric Warrior. I’m gonna keep advocating and yeah.”
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