Within a year of diagnosis, she was gone.
The condition has a high rate of inheritance and makes gastric cancer incidence more likelyand typicallymore aggressive.
She thought about her daughter, Paige, who was only a few years old at the time.
Kristin Sabot Photography
That convinced me I had to do the test, she says.
When the test came back positive for the gene mutation, she actually felt relief.
If it had been inconclusive, I think I would have stayed worried my entire life, she says.
Instead, testing positive let me know where I stood in terms of the odds.
And that I had to do something.
Nobody can live without a stomach, right?
Now Im living proof that you absolutely can.
With her stomach gone, the fears were gone, too.
Maybe it sounds weird to say my life is better without a stomach, she says.
But its like a weight lifted.
Getting a total gastrectomy eliminates the risk of stomach cancer in the majority of cases, says Dr. Kendrick.
After the surgery, the stomach is biopsied to determine whether the latter has occurred.
Dr. Kendrick didnt give her any specific directives about what to eat pre-surgery.
So much cheesecake, she says, with a wistful tone.
By the time her surgery date arrived, she had gained about 60 pounds.
And they did, fairly rapidly.
The day of surgery she was a size 24.
Six months after her surgery, shed lost about 125 pounds and come down to a size 4.
For example, he says, some people who are lean might only lose 10 pounds.
Everyones body tends to have a set point in terms of weight, he says.
It just depends on what you have to lose.
She also never feels full.
That necessitates eating much smaller portions, chewed very thoroughly, throughout the day.
Instead, she has to rely on other warning signs, like extreme fatigue and shakiness.
These days, a piece of cheesecake would cause Huus to feel drunkshe literally gets double vision.
Charmingly named,dumping syndromecan develop in people who have had all or part of their stomach removed.
This also causes the body to shuttle fat out of your system more quickly, often resulting in diarrhea.
Sugar is probably the most common question I get from gastrectomy patients, says Dr. Kendrick.
Except that most people want to have that jot down of diet, and I have to.
When you cant afford to lose even a few pounds, fitness becomes tricky, Huus says.
Thats not typical, but it can happen with nutritional deficiencies, Dr. Kendrick says.
Lets just say I stay away from cardio, Huus says.
Her sister tested positive but is waiting to have a gastrectomy until after shes done having children.
With something like this, your mind-set matters.
