When you choose to live a healthier lifestyle, your choice affects not only you but also those around you. Tina Galuski discovered this when she made the decision to start taking care of her health.
“I took a look at myself. I was middle-aged, more than 100 pounds overweight, with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and shortness of breath doing simple tasks, as well as sciatic and knee pain,” says Tina. “I realized that my bad habits not only negatively impacted me but were also impacting my husband and son.”
Tina researched surgical weight loss for more than a year before she attended a seminar at Mercy Health – Springfield Weight Management. There she decided it was finally time to make a change. Tina underwent bariatric surgery and has nothing but compliments for her care team.
“In addition to the care and follow-up from Dr. Khouzam, the nurses and staff with Springfield Weight Management have been incredible. Everyone is very kind, caring and accommodating,” she says.
Inspired by her success, Tina’s husband, Joe, and son, Joseph Jr., have also gone through their own weight loss journeys.
Joseph Jr. was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at 21 years old but wasn’t yet insulin dependent. Seeing this as his chance at change, he decided to follow his mom’s example and begin a medical weight loss program.
“I saw the negative effects diabetes had on my dad’s health, not to mention the finger pricking and insulin shots,” shares Joseph Jr. “Did I mention that I hate needles?”
Joe started a medical weight loss program as well to support his son. When it began, Joe had a BMI of 35 and struggled to control his diabetes. He was insulin dependent, had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He also had two stents that had been placed in his heart.
Right off the bat, Joe was impressed with how accommodating the staff members were. Despite his job taking him out of state for months at a time, the Springfield Weight Management team worked to fit Joe in for appointments on just a few days’ notice. This extra assistance helped both Joe and Joseph Jr. stay on track and change their lives for the better.
Overall, Tina lost 97 pounds, Joseph Jr. lost 102 pounds and Joe lost 35 pounds. The blood pressure of all three family members is now in the normal range. Tina was able to get off her blood pressure medication and her cholesterol is now in the normal range. Joseph Jr.’s risk of needing insulin has been much reduced and his cholesterol is also in the normal range.
While everyone in the family had their reservations about medical weight loss, in the end they found they had support not only from their care teams but from each other. Ultimately, as Tina put it, “what myself, my family and friends have found is the lifestyle changes are incomparable to the increase in quality of life.”
While bariatric surgery was the best option for Tina and her family, medical weight loss doesn’t always mean a procedure is involved. Sometimes, help from professionals is all a patient needs to reach his or her weight loss goals and achieve better health.
Learn more about the weight loss services we provide at Mercy Health.
