"For the last 40 years, all I did was protect myself from being hurt behind a facade of living normally." Carolyn found that every decision in her life was dictated by the embarrassment and physical limitations of weighing 280 pounds. "There is no way I would walk across campus where I work. My legs and joints would hurt so badly. Besides, I was worried that someone might ridicule me."

Getting her weight down permanently seemed impossible. "I'd try a new diet or health club, lose some weight and gain it all back, plus some more. I was perpetually depressed." Every year at the company picnic at an amusement park, Carolyn would ask other children to ride with her little ones while she watched from a park bench. She feared that the safety bars wouldn't fit across her stomach, or there wouldn't be enough room on the seat.

Carolyn called Barix Clinics in time to change that memory. "I had little hope left. But the more people I spoke to at Barix and the more I learned about their surgical weight loss program, the more hopeful I became. Now I'm living proof that life is good, and my doctor is good."

Now 148 pounds lighter, Carolyn has a completely new life. She golfs, bowls, goes out with the people from work, and loves shopping for clothes. "I haven't needed blood pressure medicine for over a year," she announced. "At this year's picnic, I sat next to my son on the ferris wheel."