Wanting to Give Myself the Best 30th Birthday Gift I Ever Could: a Second Chance at a Healthy Body - Portland, OR

More about Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Reviews you can trust, from real people like you.      
How it works
  • Our highly-trained Review Moderation team evaluates all reviews before they're published to ensure they're written by people like you and not a member of a doctor's office.
  • This multi-step process takes up to 24 hours from review submission to publication.
  • Doctors can't pay to have reviews removed or hidden.
  • Reviews are only removed at the reviewer's request or if they violate our Terms of Service.

If you have questions or believe we should re-evaluate a published review, let us know.

Sort by:
*Treatment results may vary

Update and some photos

  • 20 Jun 2016
  • 3 months post
Ok. Here we go. The weight is starting to creep off again (thank goodness) and there's definitely a major difference between now and the night before my surgery. A couple things: 1. This is not easy IN THE SLIGHTEST. I repeat: NOT EASY. You have to work out or the weight won't come off. You have to eat right or the weight won't come off. You have to eat the right amounts. You have to drink an insane amount of water. I read it over and over again before I had surgery and hoped it wouldn't be true (because there are always one or two people who seem to have amazing results without doing anything), but SURGERY IS NOT A MAGIC CURE. I also highly recommend you find a group or person who can give you advice and support through all of this. Your family may love and support you, but they can't give you an insider's view into this and they can't know what you're feeling. Someone who's already gone through it can, and they'll be the one(s) to keep you sane when things get tough. And I promise you, they will. You will invent new swear words based on how tough this is. It is worth it. I've found a gym for women that has a ton of different classes, all focused on being sassy and sexy. Turns out, I love dancing this weight off. I love stretching. I still don't love sweating, but I'm working on it. Who doesn't want to go to a workout class called Dance Party Hustle? Or Bendy Babes Yoga, where they play amazing pop hits from the 90's while you bend yourself into awkward positions and wonder why you're putting yourself through this. Turns out, when Destiny's Child is singing "I'm a survivor" you can hold that king Pigeon pose just a little longer. You can actually stay in a plank for more than two seconds. And that's pretty satisfying. Each day is a struggle (some monster brought donuts into work today), but I'm getting there. I'm 82 days out from surgery today. I'm going to keep working and keep logging my food. And I'll get where I need to go. Special shoutout to Melanie who I met on here and has become one of my closest friends. She's been my rock, my advisor, my hard slap in the face of reality when I'm trying to do something I shouldn't do or getting too down on myself, my encouragement and my sassy foul-mouthed therapist. Thank you for all you've done for me over these last few months! <3

Sugar addiction and weight stall

  • 18 May 2016
  • 2 months post
I had my 6 week post-op check up last week. On that day, I weight in at 230lbs, which was a bummer for me because that meant I had only lost about 21 lbs since surgery. My doctor assured me that this was a great start and my weight loss was going well, so I took heart and left the appointment feeling a bit better. Flash forward to a week later, and I haven't lost a pound. My weight drops a bit over the weekend then jumps back up during the week (pattern I've noticed, despite my food patterns not changing very much). I am discouraged and frustrated. And it's starting to show. My cravings are coming back. The evil little whispers in the back of my brain that keep saying "just one bite won't hurt anything" are getting louder...and it really screwed me over yesterday, flooding into today. My office had cake yesterday. An employee of 30 years was retiring, so two giant Costco sheetcakes were brought in. And I was doing great. Avoided the whole thing, had some salad, was hanging out at my desk. And then, I don't know why since I'm not even a sweets fan, I walked in and snuck a bit of frosting. And BLAM- the addiction was back. I was insane. I ate a piece of cake, spent the entire night thinking about it, came back today and ate TWO MORE PIECES OF CAKE. And then I washed it down with A SLICE OF PIZZA! I think it's clear that I have obvious trigger foods, and I need to avoid them. Lesson learned. No more sweets for me, no more office goodies. I need to shop and stick to my groceries and cook food myself. Today was absolutely insane. I'm horrified that I did it, I'm horrified that my stomach let me without a single negative gurgle, and I'm horrified at what my scale will say tomorrow. Obviously I need to start working out, but frankly it scares me. Why? I don't know. I don't like being the fat girl in gym classes, I hate looking like I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm super pale and any time I exert any sort of physical effort I immediately turn bright red. People stare and ask if I'm ok, and it's embarrassing. I hate it. But the weight isn't coming off and I'm wasting precious "active losing" time, and obviously sitting around is just pushing me towards eating poorly like I did before. It's time to get my tush in gear. Man it's been a rough few days.

Not Ready for Raw Vegetables

  • 4 May 2016
  • 2 months post
I tried eating a salad yesterday. It had turkey on it and I definitely made a point to eat that first, but occasionally I would nibble on a piece of spinach, a slice of tomato or a green pepper. Ten minutes later I was having really rough stomach cramps the likes of which I have never experienced before. Not pleasant at all, definitely don't plan on doing that again any time soon. On that note, I've been eating a LOT of refried beans. They're easy, they're quick and they're virtually everywhere, so I never have to worry about missing a meal because I can't find something to eat. I eat between 3-4oz and I'm stuffed. So that's pretty cool. But I'm getting bored and would love any recipe recommendations people have for post-surgery life. I hate cooking and know I need to embrace it, but it's so tough when none of the recipes I've tried have much flavor and are a lot of work to get done. Anyone have any favorites? I haven't lost weight in a couple days. I've found not comparing my journey to that of people who are more successful very difficult. I've lost 26 pounds since surgery. I had a friend lose 22 pounds in the first 9 days after surgery. That's a little rough to handle. I'm really looking forward to being able to work out again. One more week to go!

Provider Review

Bariatric Surgeon, Board Certified in General Surgery
Oregon
Overall rating
Doctor's bedside manner
Answered my questions
After care follow-up
Time spent with me
Phone or email responsiveness
Staff professionalism & courtesy
Payment process
Wait times
  • 24 Sep 2015

Would not recommend. Dr. Patterson herself is very enjoyable to talk to, but I spoke with her for fifteen minutes in one meeting before the surgery, then saw her as she came in to check my file before doing the surgery when she was very rushed. I felt like I was a number instead of a person here, and not a very valued one at that. Appointments were rescheduled without telling me, then I was expected to miss work or cancel other (important) appointments I had to make up for their errors and make up the appointment(s) they screwed up. Or someone would be gone from work on the day my appointments were scheduled and I was expected to have the meeting over the phone instead of getting in-person one-on-one talking time and the paperwork that would have come with that meeting. When I had to re-schedule an appointment four days ahead of time they scolded me and did not work with me in what I feel was an acceptable manner at all, and wouldn't agree to reschedule me until I brought up all the times I have been flexible with THEIR errors. The scheduler was arguing with me and telling me it has to be as close to three weeks out after surgery as possible. After I brought up their errors in the past and expressed my frustration that she would not be flexible with me this time, she rescheduled me for SIX WEEKS AFTER MY SURGERY. Before surgery they called me and asked me questions I already answered and had watched them write down, they called (multiple times) and asked me to go back for a blood draw "because they forgot to have me do it while I was there", and overall I felt like the only person who cared about me in this place was the physical activity doctor who, unfortunately, told me I could expect to lose 30-50 lbs each month for the first few months after surgery. This led to wild disappointment as I adjusted to my new life and the (significantly slower) weight loss I have been experiencing. No one has called to check up and see how I am doing since surgery. Payment information was scattered, they provided the names of establishments checks had to be sent but did not provide addresses. The surgeon's assistant gave me different information about my post-op rules than she gave my family, leading to confusion and frustration. I am happy I had the surgery and am happy(ish) so far with the results (I AM losing weight, just much more slowly than they said I would), I just very much wish that I had gone through a different company. Because this is very clearly run as a business, and I am the commodity they can make money off of. Very disappointed.