Hello, my name is Katelyn Jackson and this is my story on why I chose to have the Duodenal Switch surgery. At 13 I was diagnosed with a Hypothyroid. I was the biggest kid in my grade and was wearing adult clothing. My weight kept going up the older I got and due to being bullied my depression kicked in and I turned to food for help.
By 16 I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Only way we found out about this is due to having a cyst burst and being in the ER in a large amount of pain. This also caused me to gain weight that I couldn’t control even working out. My senior year of high school I was ahead in everything and planned to graduate mid-year until I was told I had a mass growing inside me that looked cancerous. I was pulled out of school for 4 months. When they went in they found 2 masses. One was smaller but it was inside the large cyst that ended up being 8 pounds. They took my right ovary and fallopian tube. They wanted to do a hysterectomy but I was only 18 and wanted kids and not go through menopause so young. They did warn me that my chances of having children were slim due to removing my ovary.
By the time I graduated in 2015 I was over 300 pounds. I was depressed and always settled for what I got due to feeling like I would never have better. I finally sat my parents down when I was 19 and told them if something didn’t change with my weight, I was going to die. I could feel my body was giving up and my heart always hurt.
I started talking to my mom’s friend who had the same surgery and she was a great influence. So, I started going to classes and all the seminars so I could have the surgery as soon as possible. Seventeen days before my 21st birthday, I had weight loss surgery. It was the most emotional and crazy thing I have ever done. I weighed in the day of surgery at 345 pounds. The surgery went fast and recovery was hard. I wanted everything I couldn’t have, but I stayed strong.
By the end of my first year, I lost 100 pounds. I am now 2 years out and weigh 155. The smallest I’ve ever been since elementary. Within this last year I had fallen into some bad eating habits again due to my grandmother being ill. She encouraged me to go back to my diet because she was so happy to see me bettering my life.
Come February, 2019, I was really sick so I decided to take a pregnancy test. I didn’t think it would be positive but it was. I was pregnant with my beautiful baby girl. Little did I know that weight loss surgery makes you more fertile. This was the last thing I told my grandma due to her passing the day after. I’m happy that she was able to experience me changing my life and finding out I was going to be a mom after being told it would never happen due to PCOS and weight.
If it wasn’t for Dr. Steven Simper and my mom’s friend, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. So, thank you Rocky Mountain Associated Physicians. You saved my life and made me a mom.
–Katelyn J.
Surgeon: Dr. Steven C. Simper
Surgery Date: 12/01/2017
SW: 345 lbs.
CW: 155 lbs.
TWL: 190
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Rocky Mountain Associated Physicians
801-268-3800
1160 East 3900 South, Suite 4100
SLC, UT 84124