From Stressed Out and Sitting Down to Walking On the Beach – Another Success Story From Northwest Medical Center’s Bariatric and Foregut Surgery
7/14/2025
“I never expected to be in the normal range,” Melissa says on a clear summer day 18 months after her weight loss surgery with Stephen Burpee, M.D.
And Melissa doesn’t only mean a normal weight range, she means a normal health range – with the cholesterol numbers, energy levels, and a C-PAP machine gathering dust to prove it.
Back when Melissa weighed 341 pounds at 5’5” tall, one of her co-workers underwent successful weight loss surgery. This was the catalyst Melissa needed to begin researching for herself – and, after meeting with the team at Northwest Bariatric and Foregut Surgery, she opted for a SADI-S procedure.
“All of the options were explained to me, and the insurance liaison was great,” she says.
SADI-S, a combination of sleeve gastrectomy and bypass surgery, is quickly becoming known for helping patients lose significant amounts of excess weight – and to improve or even cure obesity-related health conditions, like the kind of sleep apnea Melissa was struggling with.
Today, Melissa is maintaining a reasonable weight of about 180 pounds on a balanced, protein-rich diet, and feels free of the “food noise” – a term referring to persistent, unwanted thoughts about hunger – that had been intruding on her life. There’s nothing she can’t eat, but her emotions surrounding food are much different.
“Also, I can walk now,” she says. “I was literally having everything delivered before, but now I can walk into a grocery store. And I can stand up for meetings, instead of being stuck in a chair. I don’t even have to think about it. In fact, I just spent a week walking on the beach in Mexico. I couldn’t have done that before.”
Well done to Melissa on opening her new chapter of health and well-being!
To learn more about surgical weight loss at Northwest Healthcare, or to request an appointment, please visit https://www.healthiertucson.com/why-choose-us-bariatrics.
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