Virginia Maks has been a real estate agent for 15 years. She loves matching buyers to sellers and sellers to buyers. Although times have been tough lately, she's still drawn by the challenge and thrill of helping people as they open new doors in their lives.
It's hard work for her, however in and out of cars, walking around uneven yards, climbing stairs.
"Sometimes, I'm standing with a client in front of a house," Maks says, "and I say, 'So how did you like the house?' The whole time we're talking, I'm looking for a place to sit down."
Maks has multiple medical conditions and a complicated medical history. After decades of battling weight, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, bad knees and a bad back, she's ready for relief. She's decided to have bariatric surgery at the Centegra Weight-Loss Surgery Center. "I'm on insulin shots and take 19 pills a day," says Maks, 67. "I don't really mind taking the medicine, but my health is suffering because of my weight. Losing 120 pounds would really help most of my health conditions."
Deciding On Centegra
Maks began researching weight-loss surgery more than two years ago. At one point, she'd scheduled surgery. Then a heart problem that required surgery delayed her decision for more than a year. By then, her insurance had changed and she had to start over at another weight-loss surgery center.
"I just didn't connect well with that center," she says. "I'm a pretty good patient, and generally I like my doctors. I've had lots of procedures and operations through the years, and I've always taken a positive approach. I just wasn't comfortable there."
Then the insurance issue was resolved and Centegra earned the Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation from the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. "When I heard I had the option to go back to Centegra," she says, "I was thrilled. I just have confidence in Dr. Heydari (Amir J. Heydari, MD, FACS, surgeon at the Centegra Weight-Loss Surgery Center)," she says. "Every time I've gone to Centegra, the entire staff has been supportive and wonderful and compassionate. I know it's the right place for me."
Centegra takes a team approach to weight-loss surgery. Nurses, psychotherapists, exercise physiologists and dietitians are all involved to help patients before, during and after surgery.
Looking Ahead
Maks says the staff at Centegra prepares people well for the lifelong changes that must follow surgery.
"I'm absolutely committed to doing what I need to do," Maks says." It also helps to know I've got support at Centegra when I need it.
"What I'm looking forward to most is feeling better. I'm hoping to cut the number of medications I take in half," she says. "It's time to just get on with living."