PHILADELPHIA — Debbi Cook decided to have weight-loss surgery when her doctor told her she needed five shots a day for her diabetes instead of four.
She was 5-foot-8 and 349 pounds, and she’d already had diabetes for 37 years. She just couldn’t face one more shot. “I really honestly would have rather died,” the Norristown, Pa., woman said.
Cook, 57, chose to have gastric bypass surgery at Mercy Suburban Hospital in East Norriton, Pa., 11 months ago. The most complex of the three common weight-loss procedures, it also has the best record of alleviating or even reversing diabetes.
Cook knew, though, that she’d have to drastically change her behavior. Worried that she’d blow it later if she couldn’t eat right, she began the restrictive postsurgery diet before her doctor reduced the size of her stomach and bypassed part of her intestine.