Fields chooses gastric sleeve surgery to lose the unwanted pounds

LEFT: Sharon Fields at a prayer breakfast in 2017. RIGHT: With a new look and
a new attitude, Sharon Fields wears jeans for the first time in 10 years.

The most that Sharon Fields has weighed was 405 pounds. The weight was a heavy burden that she could no longer carry around on her five-foot frame. So she decided to do something about it.

“I’d made up my mind that it was time for a change. I have grandchildren and I want to be around for them,” said Fields, a community activist and administrative assistant for Agape Child & Family Services.

Fields’ resolve was strengthened when she learned that she could shed the unwanted pounds by undergoing gastric sleeve surgery. But first she had to prove that she could lose weight consistently before a bariatric surgery team in Tijuana, Mexico, would consider her for the weight-loss procedure.

Because Fields had gained an inordinate amount of weight, the doctors explained to her that a liver-shrinking plan was necessary to mitigate the risk of complications after the minimally invasive surgery.

“For 30 days, I could only eat a 4-oz portion of fish, chicken or turkey each day,” she said. “I also had to replace two meals a day with two protein shakes.”

The pre-op was successful. Fields loss the required weight to shrink her liver and was now prepared to head to Tijuana, a cultural mecca bordering San Diego, Calif. She left Memphis on a Tuesday (Sept. 26, 2017), had gastric sleeve surgery performed that Wednesday, and made it home the following Saturday.

Gastric sleeve surgery is a tool to reduce the size of the stomach to help chronically obese patients lose weight. The patient is placed under general anesthesia while a certified bariatric professional makes a small laparoscopic incision into the stomach to remove up to 85 percent of it.

This type of surgery can take less than an hour. Recovery generally takes about 15 days. Results, though not guaranteed, can vary for each patient. Rapid weight loss occurs when patients maintain a regimented diet plan.

 “I started seeing results immediately. My face and neck changed the same day,” said Fields, dropping 15 pounds the first week after the surgery. Before the month was out, she’d loss 45 pounds.

The weight was falling off rather quickly. “After 90 days, I went through a stall,” she noticed. “Then I started losing inches. Then I started losing more pounds. I loss 115 pounds in 10 months.”

Fields weighed in at 288 pounds less than two weeks ago. “I want to be half the size I was,” she said. “I want to be down to 200 pounds. I just want to make sure I’m healthy, though.”

Lugging so much weight around caused Fields’ health to wane. Her knees ached and she tired easily. If she had to walk a short distance, her breathing would become sporadic. She would have trouble catching her breath. She also had all the symptoms of sleep apnea.

“I wasn’t diagnosed with sleep apnea,” she said, “but I couldn’t sleep nonetheless.”

When looking back over the years, Fields recalls picking up weight when she was in her 30s. She said her weight gain was caused by emotional damage that bedeviled her at the onset of adulthood.

“I was in the 350-pound range for the last 10 years,” she said. “And I was close to 400 pounds about six years ago.”

The diet fads didn’t work, she said. She’d tried SlimFast, juicing, and other over-the-counter weight loss products. Still, the weight would come back. “I would lose 10 pounds and gain 15. I wasn’t consistent.”

Fields felt self-conscious, unattractive. Plus-size clothes were available, she said, but too expensive. However, depending on the setting and those close to her, she didn’t worry so much about the weight.

“My church family…my job…they just accepted me,” said Fields, assistant pastor of evangelism at the Pursuit of God Transformation Center. Her immediate family has been supportive too – her three adult sons, two grandsons, and granddaughter.

After the surgery, Fields’ new image started coming into focus. Now this active, single mother can see the results unfolding before her eyes – and she likes what she sees.

“I still have to eat right,” she said. “Gastric sleeve surgery helps you with portion control. If you don’t follow the plan, you can gain the weight back.”

Fields is determined not go down that road again.