Medical necessity led to a life changing decision

Marsha remembers her wake up call well.
It happened one day during a routine doctor's visit. She said she had been on medications for edema brought on by her weight and was in need of a refill.
At the appointment, she said, her doctor explained the medication she was taking - how strong it was - and that there was nothing stronger he could safely prescribe her to manage the swelling in her legs.
And then, Marsha recalls, her doctor said this: "I firmly believe you are too heavy for your veins."
"When he said that I was like... Oh my God. Nobody had ever really put it in that perspective," Marsha said. "He said, you're going to have to lose the weight; that's what's killing you."
She was stunned.
"It wasn't something I came across and said, 'Hey, I want to lose some weight.' It was a medical necessity for me," she said.

Getting Started
The visit led to a consultation with a doctor at Rapid City Regional Hospital's Weight Management Program and she decided it was not only something she wanted to do, but something she had to do.
While Marsha was a candidate for gastric bypass surgery, her concerns about the more invasive surgery led her to opt instead for the lap band.
Laparoscopic gastric band (commonly called "lap band") is a minimally invasive procedure performed by a bariatric surgeon. During the surgery, a ring is placed around the upper part of the stomach that creates a pouch and narrows the passage to the rest of the stomach. To control the amount of food a patient can eat, a surgeon adds or removes saline from the ring, changing the size of the stomach opening.
For Marsha, it was the right decision.
In January 2009 she underwent surgery; 16 months later she had lost 128 pounds.
Today, she eats one cup of food three times a day ("If you can eat more than that they tell you you have to come in for a (saline solution) fill," she said) and she's careful to eat the best foods for her health.
She said she follows some simple eating rules and has enjoyed fairly rapid weight loss.
"I didn't expect how many people would comment," she said. "And now people are like - 'you look wonderful...'"

Sharing the message
Today she's happy to talk about her surgery and how it has changed her life.
"I don't have a vanity thing about it," she said. "It's not the looks. It's the health and I tell everybody my health is wonderful now."
Marsha said she went from taking five drugs a day to one and she can take the steps without exerting herself... something she couldn't always say. And she exercises every day walking three miles on a treadmill or using an elliptical machine.
"It is a very drastic change but it doesn't seem like it's been that hard... I made a commitment to follow the guidelines and I think that was the hardest thing - just making that conscious decision to do it."