Dee Doerrier is a past patient of North Fulton Regional Hospital's Bariatric Center.  Following her Gastric Bypass procedure, Dee has experienced dramatic weight loss that she claims has changed her life.  Here is her story...

Growing up I always had a weight problem. When my mother would take me shopping for my Easter dress, we would go to Lane Bryant…in those days they had a children's "chubby" department. Throughout my life I have struggled with my weight trying all kinds of diets...Cabbage Soup, Eggs & Spinach, diet pills, Weight Watchers, Quick Weight Loss Center, Jenny Craig, even Optifast (right after Oprah did it). By the time I was 50 yrs old I was up to 253 lbs. I was still trying all the "diets,” but I was gaining weight instead of losing. My blood pressure was up, my cholesterol was up, and I was very unhappy and depressed.

One morning while getting ready for work, I had the Today Show on the TV. Al Roker had been losing a lot of weight and announced there would be a special on TV that night on how he did it. I found out that night that he had undergone gastric bypass surgery. I had heard about Carnie Wilson and Roseanne Barr before, but this time it clicked with me. I immediately went online to research the pros & cons of the surgery. I have to admit, some of it was pretty gory, but I was so unhealthy and unhappy; I decided that I would rather take the chance of dying trying to improve my health than to do nothing and continue to live obese and depressed.