Patient Story - Paige and Juliette Gyurindak
Mother and Daughter Juliette Gyurindak and Paige Gyurindak discuss their respective Bariatric surgery journeys and how it has impacted their lives.
Featuring:
Paige Gyurindak | Juliette Gyurindak
Juliette (mother) and Paige (daughter) are a mother/daughter duo who both had bariatric surgery. Transcription:
Caitlin Whyte: Juliette Gyurindak and her daughter, Paige Gyurindak, call each other their best friend. And you can hear it in the lovingly brash way they interact with each other. So it's no surprise they both had duodenal switch surgery in 2019. Juliet was first getting her procedure done in March. She said before, she really didn't have much of a life.
Juliette Gyurindak: The honest truth, you know, I was 358 pounds and I couldn't move and I couldn't walk and my health was failing and I didn't know what else to do. So, no, I didn't have much of a life before and I was fearful of the short time that I had. So it was really a last-ditch effort and it was something that my husband and I had talked about. And I said to him, I was like, "Well, you know what, I'm glad that you're making all these fabulous plans for when we retire, but you know, I'm telling you, I'm not going to be here."
Caitlin Whyte: Paige was next getting hers in August. Part of the deal was that her mom would go first. So she could watch the recovery process for a few months. She was only 22 years old when she had her surgery, but she had been obese all her life, struggling to lose weight with some success, but not the kind that lasted very long.
Paige Gyurindak: I hate to say it, but unfortunately the way that society is, you're very judged. And I had a hard time growing up. I got made fun of all the time. I was called things that I didn't even think people could even say to someone's face because I'm just so not like that. And I have yo-yo dieted basically my entire life. Like I remember going to Weight Watchers with my mom like in second grade.
Caitlin Whyte: Juliette says by the time she was getting her surgery, she had completely surrendered to the process, doing whatever doctors told her to do since nothing she tried on her own had ever worked.
Juliette Gyurindak: At my one year anniversary, I was down a hundred pounds or more. I don't even know. And I'm down 158 now, you know, and it's two years.
Caitlin Whyte: But for Paige, the recovery process was a bit more cerebral. When she had her surgery, she was living in the city, working a toxic job that made her miserable, realizing not only her physical health, but her mental health needed to be dealt with as well.
Paige Gyurindak: And because I decided to get the surgery, I said, "I'm doing the surgery to make my life better for me." And at that point, I started putting myself first, rather than putting everyone else what they wanted from me first, which is something that I had always done my entire life, because when you're overweight, I just wanted to please anyone, because if I was pleasing them, I wasn't going to get made fun of or judged for my weight. And I just kind of wanted to comply with everyone and kind of blend in.
Caitlin Whyte: Now, she's vocal on social media about both. She posts her workouts and recipes and talks openly about her mental health as well, the importance of keeping her routines and staying motivated.
It's not often you get to share this kind of life-changing moment with your mom, having parallel experiences. It was exciting, Paige says, to see her mom have the surgery first because she knew how unhappy she was and she knew exactly what that unhappiness felt like.
Paige Gyurindak: And I just felt horrible, because like my mom is my best friend. I'd do anything to help her. And I would do anything to help her succeed and just seeing her finally be happy and doing things that she not used to not do, or like seeing her like get dressed up and we share clothes now.
Caitlin Whyte: Juliette says she is so proud of her daughter and the progress she has made in the last year and a half since her own surgery. And she attributes most of her own success to her daughter who kept her in line and didn't let her slip up all those times she wanted to,
Juliette Gyurindak: When we did this, I said to her, I said, "You know what? If I had this opportunity when I was 22 years old, I would have been all over it, but it just wasn't today. So. I don't want you to live the life that I have lived if there's an answer. So like let's do this together." And yes, she has taken it and run with it and I couldn't be more proud of her.
Caitlin Whyte: Juliette Gyurindak and her daughter, Paige Gyurindak, call each other their best friend. And you can hear it in the lovingly brash way they interact with each other. So it's no surprise they both had duodenal switch surgery in 2019. Juliet was first getting her procedure done in March. She said before, she really didn't have much of a life.
Juliette Gyurindak: The honest truth, you know, I was 358 pounds and I couldn't move and I couldn't walk and my health was failing and I didn't know what else to do. So, no, I didn't have much of a life before and I was fearful of the short time that I had. So it was really a last-ditch effort and it was something that my husband and I had talked about. And I said to him, I was like, "Well, you know what, I'm glad that you're making all these fabulous plans for when we retire, but you know, I'm telling you, I'm not going to be here."
Caitlin Whyte: Paige was next getting hers in August. Part of the deal was that her mom would go first. So she could watch the recovery process for a few months. She was only 22 years old when she had her surgery, but she had been obese all her life, struggling to lose weight with some success, but not the kind that lasted very long.
Paige Gyurindak: I hate to say it, but unfortunately the way that society is, you're very judged. And I had a hard time growing up. I got made fun of all the time. I was called things that I didn't even think people could even say to someone's face because I'm just so not like that. And I have yo-yo dieted basically my entire life. Like I remember going to Weight Watchers with my mom like in second grade.
Caitlin Whyte: Juliette says by the time she was getting her surgery, she had completely surrendered to the process, doing whatever doctors told her to do since nothing she tried on her own had ever worked.
Juliette Gyurindak: At my one year anniversary, I was down a hundred pounds or more. I don't even know. And I'm down 158 now, you know, and it's two years.
Caitlin Whyte: But for Paige, the recovery process was a bit more cerebral. When she had her surgery, she was living in the city, working a toxic job that made her miserable, realizing not only her physical health, but her mental health needed to be dealt with as well.
Paige Gyurindak: And because I decided to get the surgery, I said, "I'm doing the surgery to make my life better for me." And at that point, I started putting myself first, rather than putting everyone else what they wanted from me first, which is something that I had always done my entire life, because when you're overweight, I just wanted to please anyone, because if I was pleasing them, I wasn't going to get made fun of or judged for my weight. And I just kind of wanted to comply with everyone and kind of blend in.
Caitlin Whyte: Now, she's vocal on social media about both. She posts her workouts and recipes and talks openly about her mental health as well, the importance of keeping her routines and staying motivated.
It's not often you get to share this kind of life-changing moment with your mom, having parallel experiences. It was exciting, Paige says, to see her mom have the surgery first because she knew how unhappy she was and she knew exactly what that unhappiness felt like.
Paige Gyurindak: And I just felt horrible, because like my mom is my best friend. I'd do anything to help her. And I would do anything to help her succeed and just seeing her finally be happy and doing things that she not used to not do, or like seeing her like get dressed up and we share clothes now.
Caitlin Whyte: Juliette says she is so proud of her daughter and the progress she has made in the last year and a half since her own surgery. And she attributes most of her own success to her daughter who kept her in line and didn't let her slip up all those times she wanted to,
Juliette Gyurindak: When we did this, I said to her, I said, "You know what? If I had this opportunity when I was 22 years old, I would have been all over it, but it just wasn't today. So. I don't want you to live the life that I have lived if there's an answer. So like let's do this together." And yes, she has taken it and run with it and I couldn't be more proud of her.