Weight-loss patient learns surgery is a tool, not a cop-out

August 28, 2024

Swedish Weight Loss Team

[5 MIN READ]

Darcy Jayne had done her best to fight weight gain for years. Yet even when she realized she needed help and decided to try medical weight loss through the medical weight management program at Swedish, she was resistant to bariatric surgery.
Finally, when she wasn’t seeing enough success, Jayne talked to her doctor about weight-loss surgery — and quickly learned she’d be a good candidate.
Since joining the weight-loss program at Swedish, Jayne has lost about 60 pounds and regained her quality of life. She’s also realized obesity is a disease that requires treatment.

Weight-loss patient learns surgery is a tool, not a cop-out

Darcy Jayne did not want to take the easy way out.

Ever since she’d hit her 50s, she’d been fighting a slowly creeping weight gain. Although she knew obesity plagued her mom’s side of the family, Jayne had always been active — hiking, exploring with her dogs, horseback riding and West Coast swing dancing. She figured she could get her weight under control the old-fashioned way: with diet and exercise.

“I did my best,” she recalls. “I’d lose some but gain some more. I just couldn’t seem to get (my weight) where I needed it to be.”

In early 2022, when her weight peaked at 229 pounds, Jayne conceded she couldn’t do it by herself and needed help. Still, in her mind, weight-loss surgery meant admitting she was giving up on doing the hard work herself. So she enrolled in the medical weight management program — a nonsurgical weight-loss track — through Swedish Weight Loss Services.

Jayne tried different weight-loss medications: first topiramate (a drug typically prescribed for treating migraine and epilepsy), then Ozempic (a drug commonly used to help lower blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes), then a combination of topiramate and Ozempic.

She was steadily losing weight until October 2023. Then the holidays hit.

“I wasn’t gaining, but I wasn’t losing either,” Jayne says. “And I was still nowhere near where I wanted to be. What I was doing wasn’t working, and I wanted a better quality of life.”

Jayne told her bariatric medicine doctor, Michelle Rappaport, M.D., it might be time to consider weight-loss surgery. Dr. Rappaport readily agreed.

Surgery not a panacea, but an effective tool

“For anyone who fits the criteria, bariatric surgery is the most effective long-term treatment,” Dr. Rappaport says.

The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) recommends weight-loss surgery for people:

Who have a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or more, regardless of whether they have another health condition
Who have Type 2 diabetes and a BMI of 30 or more

The ASMBS also recommends considering surgery for people with a BMI of 30 to 34.9 who haven’t had success using nonsurgical methods.

Jayne’s BMI, although borderline, fit the criteria. She also had several other health conditions, including sleep apnea, fatty liver disease and a diagnosis of prediabetes.

“I realized obesity is a disease process, not just a weight problem, and one I needed treatment to combat,” Jayne says. “I knew surgery wouldn’t be a panacea. But it would make it harder for my body to revert to old habits, like emotional eating.”

Dr. Rappaport notes that, with lifestyle changes alone, fewer than 5% of people are successful at maintaining just a 5% weight loss for five years. The bottom line, she says, is that if you want to make a long-lasting change, you need treatment.

“A lot of people say they don’t want surgery because they feel like it’s the easy way out, but it’s just a tool,” Dr. Rappaport says. “It’s an effective tool when it’s accompanied by lifestyle changes.”

Stacking the deck in her favor

Jayne dove into the surgical program “with both feet.”

“I went online and decided I was going to start consuming the foods and supplements I’d need to be taking lifelong because I needed to know my body could tolerate them,” she says.

Jayne also reached out to a group of friends she knew would be supportive, including a few who had had bariatric surgery themselves. “I live an hour and a half to two hours from Seattle, so I needed help with transportation and someone to stay with me after surgery,” she says. “My ‘surgical support team’ was very important to my success.”

Although she could have chosen to have the surgery closer to her home, Jayne chose to stick with Swedish because of its designation as an accredited comprehensive center for bariatric surgery by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP). The designation means Swedish’s bariatric surgery outcomes are among the best in the country.

“By choosing Swedish, I knew I was stacking the deck in my favor,” she says.

In April 2024, Jayne underwent gastric bypass surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach and changes the way food moves through the digestive system so the body absorbs fewer calories.

After just one night in the hospital, Jayne was allowed to go home — with a special gift from her night nurse.

“I woke up in the middle of the night, and there was a paper crane sitting next to me,” she says. “My nurse said she makes them for all her patients. It was such a touching gift to receive.”

Regaining an active lifestyle

From the time she enrolled in the medical weight management program, Jayne, now 62, has lost around 60 pounds — 32 of them since surgery.

But aside from dropping three clothes sizes (with a goal of dropping three more), Jayne says she notices the biggest difference in her quality of life.

“For the first time in years, I’m sleeping through the night, my feet don’t hurt, my joints don’t hurt, my back doesn’t hurt,” she says. “My executive function is better.”

Jayne’s also learned the so-called “easy way out” has, in fact, led to an easier life: “I can walk my two dogs and hike faster now. When I dance, my balance is better, and I’m more precise and confident. I’m not as out of breath. The best part is that I’m not having to work as hard, but I’m doing more.”

Learn more and find a provider

If you’re interested in learning more about weight-loss services or determining whether you’re a candidate for surgery, schedule a consultation with our experts.

Whether you require an in-person visit or want to consult a doctor virtually, you have options. Contact Swedish Primary Care to schedule an appointment with a primary care provider. You can also connect virtually with your provider to review your symptoms, provide instruction and follow up as needed. And with Swedish ExpressCare Virtual you can receive treatment in minutes for common conditions such as colds, flu, urinary tract infections, and more. You can use our provider directory to find a specialist or primary care physician near you.

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