MY STORY: Staci Wells

I have had my LAP band three years!  Wow! What a a few years and losing a lot of weight can do for an individual. I have come off all my medications.

Prior to surgery I took medication for high blood pressure, asthma, reflux and often for lower back pain and spurs on both heels.  Now, I am medication free and the "skinny lady" inside me has been set free. I battled for my entire life with being "big" and "bigger". I used all the excuses and once those wore out I set back and began to realized that weight was  areal issue in my family.  After all, my mother had already had gastric bypass and gained all of her wight back with numerous health problems due to the surgery not to include those that came with the weight.  I also have two brothers that each weigh 350 and 430 plus pounds so, it only seem to reason that maybe this was real.  So, as I studied more into what was best for me, Palmyra Medical Center began the Bariatric Institute.  This was a new way of life, people who did not frown upon my weight but they encouraged me along the way.  I felt like I had my own cheer group not just one cheerleader the entire squad behind me.  From the moment that I stepped into the seminar up to present I have felt like a part of a great big family. I can now enter a room with pride and know that others now see me for who I am and not what the weight had made me become.  I would strongly urge anyone with "weight issues" to check in to Palmyra's Bariatric Institute and see if this is not the right choice for you or a loved one.

Now that Palmyra along with the Bariatric Institute has received the Center of Excellence accrediation, I look forward to my brother who is currently 430 plus pounds having the same GREAT experience that I have had.

Thank you Palmyra, Bariatric Institute and Dr. Bagnato's staff for seeing me through.