Published: November 07, 2007 05:58 pm            

Woman: Surgery saved life

PIERCE CITY, Mo. — Julie Johnson used to wear blouses and pants that had multiple x’s attached to them. Before she decided to save her life, her clothing size was 5x, sometimes 6x.

Not anymore. She’s down to size 22 pants and blouses in the size 18 to 20 range. And she’s not done yet.

Johnson, who has served as city clerk at Pierce City for several years, was facing an early death because of morbid obesity. That’s what her primary-care doctor told her last year.

“I suffered from sleep apnea, diabetes and an enlarged heart. I was given five years to live,” she said.

Johnson wasn’t sure what she was getting herself into, but she knew she had to do something. Her decision was to seek a surgeon who could do gastric-bypass surgery.

“The surgery was in September of 2006. I weighed 447 pounds. Fourteen months and 14 days later, I now weigh 216 pounds. I have lost 231 pounds,” she said. “When I look at that person in the mirror, I don’t know who it is.”

Johnson said her surgeon does not measure her success by pounds shed.

“It’s my health and how well I have become that is important to him — not the pounds. I no longer sleep with an apnea machine. I no longer take pills for cholesterol. I no longer take pills for diabetes,” she said. “I took four pills a day for high blood pressure. Now I only take two a day and they are half the dosage.”

Johnson’s fight to save her life has not been easy. Her insurance company allegedly would not cover the cost of her surgery. The surgery costs about $25,000. Her surgery, which was done in Tulsa, Okla., was paid for with private donations and through a fund-raising event in Pierce City.

Johnson fought back in June of last year when she testified before a Missouri Senate subcommittee that was considering new legislation that would require medical-insurance providers to cover the surgery. She said the surgery, in her case, was life saving. It had nothing to do with how she looked.

“I’m not blaming anyone for my condition. But, it’s not always because they eat too much. There are reasons — medical reasons — for obesity,” she said. “This surgery saves people’s lives. The procedure should be covered.

“Believe me when I say, you don’t have it done to simply look better. People are having it done because they have severe health problems.”

Johnson sued her insurance company in 2005 because it would not cover the surgery. Her policy initially said her coverage would not pay for weight loss treatment, but it would cover treatment for diabetes and sleep apnea, which she was suffering from because of her weight.

Then the insurance company allegedly changed her policy in mid-term to specifically exclude gastric bypass surgery. A trial for her lawsuit is expected to begin in March of 2008.

Johnson said the surgery was life altering and that the first six months after the surgery were rough.

“If you would have asked me then — during the first six months — I would have told you that I was having second thoughts about it. But not now,” she said. “You don’t realize how much it was needed until a year afterward.

“I don’t snack now. I eat three meals a day. I won’t go back like I was. I like myself now,” she said.

Johnson, like many who are obese, said she is an anxiety eater. “I turned to food for every reason. I was a food addict,” she said.

Because her ability to absorb food has been reduced, she supplements her diet with multi-vitamins, iron, calcium and a monthly shot of B12. She also drinks more water.

As for her old clothes, she has been giving them to women who need them. Large clothes are expensive and hard to find.

Said Johnson: “I want to help them because I have been totally blessed. This has saved my life.”



‘Miracle’

“It’s been a miracle,” Shelly Yonker said of co-worker Julie Johnson, city clerk of Pierce City. “She mowed her lawn for the first time this summer.

“People have come to City Hall and asked for her. They have talked to her behind the counter, but did not recognize it was her they were talking to,” Yonker said.



Wally Kennedy writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.

        

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