Cheri Tannlund

I have been battling my weight since I was 2 years old. I have been considering bariatric surgery for 4 to 5 years now. I had my surgery on January 18, 2018.
I found out about a year and a half ago that both my hips we're totally shot. I needed to lose weight to have hip replacement surgery. That made up my mind to have bariatric surgery. I was set to have surgery in November of 2016, but within 6 weeks of my surgery date my insurance, at the time, changed policies they no longer cover bariatric surgeries. My finances changed, do did my health insurance, my new insurance would cover bariatric surgery. I had to start all over, 6 months dieting, visiting my PCP each month. 
I had my bariatric surgery at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, I live an hour away. The director of the bariatric center, Dr Anita Courcoulas was my surgeon. I have been very happy with the results. I have healed very well. I went to Magee Women's Hospital on purpose, they want to track their bariatric patients. I didn't want to go to any surgeon, I wanted to be held accountable. I see them every two months now, since I had my 6 week checkup, for the first year. 
I have my first appointment with an orthopedic surgeon on March 12th, this is a different orthopedic surgeon than my first. I don't care for my first, when I went to see him about my pain in my legs, first thing out of his mouth was, "if you lose weight, you won't have any issues". It took my PCP to find my hip problems, she listens and has been extremely supportive, Dr. Natalee Kontir in Homer City, PA.