013 A Post-Op & a Doc (APOD) Interview

by reeger on December 2, 2013

ADDENDUM: Since posting the episode, Cari and Connie have separated their business. They remain friends but found working between two coasts was too challenging for their personal lives. I am keeping this episode up however because there is still very valuable content here.

A Post-Op & A Doc (APOD)imageAPOD_Poloroid

An Interview with Cari De La Cruz (A Post-Op) and Dr Connie Stapleton (A Doc) are a surprisingly obvious synergistic pairing of a bariatric post-op (Cari De La Cruz) and an expert psychologist (Dr. Connie Stapleton), specializing in recovery and weight management. Together, they help patients find life beyond the scale in in recovery from obesity….because they believe it’s good to know, and even better to understand.

Cari De La Cruz is a longterm gastric bypass post-op.
Connie Stapleton, Ph.D. is a licensed counseling psychologist with 20+ years of experience.

Wonderful individually but even better together! APOD helps the WLS community to:
Learn to live a life in Recovery from the disease of Obesity.

Their method is “Firm and Fair.” They want to know, “What are you going to do to take ownership of your life and your recovery? Whatever has happened to you might not be your fault, but it is your responsibility to take ownership of your recovery.”

“My health. My responsibility.”

Replace your “Stinkin’ Thinkin’” with an “Attitude of Gratitude” and one way to do that is to “make a commitment to yourself that you will no longer think or speak any more harshly or critically to yourself than you would to someone you love.”

Together they have created the APOD Helping Hand Recipe for Recovery:
Goal: More Quantity of Life and Better Quality of Life by fully living life on Life’s terms, one day at a time, by making the next right choice, and doing the next right thing.

The Helping Hand Recipe for Recovery:
Awareness, Acceptance, Commitment, Attitude, Accountability, and Effort

Concluding thoughts from Dr Stapleton: be courageous enough to reach out for the help you need and find out what it means to live a life in recovery.
Concluding thoughts from Cari: This takes work, but it does not have to be scary, and you can do it! You have to believe you can do it. You can do this! You need to do this! It takes work but it is so rewarding, once you get to the point of living! Because we are on this earth to live! We are not on this earth to lose weight, we are hear to LIVE! Look at LIVING as your goal!

In Peace and with Connection,

Reeger Cortell, FNP-C

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