Pamela Walters never grew up overweight or thought twice about the number on the scale. It wasn’t until after she gave birth to her son in 1990 and gained a lot of weight, that she began to have tremendous health issues.
During the years following the birth of her son, she bounced back and forth with her weight.
“When I was going through hard times in life, I became an emotional eater because I got that instant gratification from eating something,” Walters said. “I felt worse and worse over the years and next thing I knew, I was in my early 30s having to take blood pressure medicine and dealing with high cholesterol. It was one thing after another.”
In the summer of 2009, she received the news from her doctor that she was diabetic. This led to having more doctors’ appointments, medication and ultimately becoming insulin-dependent.
“I started developing a lot of weakness in my arms and hands and neuropathy in my legs and feet to the point of not being able to sleep,” she said.
Walters started getting injections in her knees to help with her pain as well as taking medication to bring her A1C down.
She began to look into gastric surgery because her insurance would cover it. After doing some research, Walters decided Bailey Bariatrics at Bailey Medical Center was the best fit for her.
After attending a seminar at Bailey Bariatrics, beginning the process toward surgery, she was scheduled for RNY surgery on March 14, 2018 with Christopher Cole, D.O.
“My weight was 333 going in, and now I’m at 189,” Walters said. “We decided on the RNY surgery because there was a large chance I would no longer be diabetic. And all of the years I’ve been battling diabetes, for me not to be diabetic would be amazing.” After her surgery, Pamela returned home and started following the nutrition plan and continued walking every day and doing yoga three times a week.
“I found some yoga videos that I could do through YouTube and I would get up 30 minutes earlier in the morning and stream my yoga videos in the living room then get ready for work,” she said. “I kept doing it and the weight just kept coming off.”
Since having the surgery, she no longer has sleep apnea or diabetes, and has gone from wearing a size 28 to a 12.
“I can walk up and down hills now; my knees don’t hurt anymore,” Walters said.
While visiting family in California, Walters was able to take a long walk to the beach and chase her niece and nephews.
Now that her life has changed completely, Walters has inspired those around her to take the same steps toward their own health and hopes to continue inspiring others with her story.
And one of the best parts? Walters is now able to spend more time with her granddaughter.
“I’ve been able to keep up with my granddaughter and sit on the floor crisscross apple sauce with her. It’s just a completely different life.”