Summary
Shannon Spear, a 43-year-old from Oklahoma, chose Elias Ortiz & Company (EOC) for weight loss surgery based on positive experiences from people in her community who had used EOC and their doctors. She had been following EOC on TikTok and had gathered information from others who had undergone surgery. Shannon advises not to wait if you have done your research and know it’s the right choice for you. She had the vertical gastric sleeve surgery performed by Dr. Ortiz on December 9th, 2022. Shannon regrets not doing it sooner and emphasizes the importance of not delaying. Her experience in Mexico was enjoyable even though it involved pre-op preparations and surgery. The surgery has brought positive changes to Shannon’s life. It helped her regain her energy levels and confidence, enabling her to be more productive with her multiple businesses. She feels like her old self again as she continues to lose weight and has lost a total of 101 pounds since the surgery in December 2022.
Transcript
Hello, I’m Shannon Spear. I am 43 and I am from Oklahoma. I chose EOC because I knew several people in my community who had already been to EOC, used the doctors and had amazing experiences. I actually watched more than 20 people in my community go to Mexico and back and have nothing but great outcomes over the course of two years before I finally decided to bite the bullet and just schedule my appointment. I actually first saw EOC on TikTok and then when I started hearing of some friends going, that is who they used for their doctors. And so I started following both EOC’s TikTok as well as all of the people who had been. And then over the course of two years time, I had all the information I needed to very confidently schedule and book. I chose Dr. Ortiz and I had the vertical gastric sleeve and I was sleeved on December 9th, 2022. My advice would be to not wait. I wish I had done it sooner. I was fairly healthy before. I didn’t have any comorbidities. I wasn’t on a ton of medication. So I felt very comfortable in the doctor’s ability to successfully perform the surgery itself. There were a lot of women there who were much larger than myself, who were on a slew of medications. They had done their research, but they too had kind of waited to get the support of their doctors, their families. If you’ve done your research and you know that it’s what you want to do and that it’s going to be a good fit for you, there is absolutely no reason to put it off and wait. That is my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. My experience in Mexico was great. We were there in December. The weather was amazing. We were picked up right away at the airport, taken straight to the resort. It was a lot of fun considering it was a lot of pre-op and class time and then surgery time. But overall, it was a great trip. We got to go out and about. We got our nails done. We were able to eat numerous plethoras of broth in various locations. It was a lot of fun. Surgery has changed my life in a couple of ways. I grew up thin and actually didn’t put on weight until after my kids were born and kind of later in my adult life. So for me, it’s just got me back to myself. I recognize myself again. I feel like myself again. I feel like I’m acting like myself again. The amount of energy that I have has really kind of upped my game professionally. I’m self-employed. I run several different businesses. And the amount of energy that I’ve had since surgery has really helped me to take everything to the next level because I’ve just been able to hyper-focus and get quite a bit of things done. My confidence is kind of back where it had been back in the day. I just kind of lost a little bit of myself with each pound that I gained. And so with each pound that I lose, I just feel more and more like my old self. I’m officially down 101 pounds since I was sleeved in December of 2022. I did lose most of that by May of 2023. And I kind of tapered off for a while. But as of August 27th, I was able to kind of break out of that plateau. And we are now officially at 101 pounds down.
