'I Had to Stop Living Like This'

After suffering for 11 years with pain and sickness from diverticulitis, Meg Deaton of Red Bay, Alabama, is now back to line dancing with the residents at the nursing home where she serves as administrator and shopping, swimming and seeing movies with her three daughters and six grandchildren.

“I was diagnosed 11 years ago and the flares got worse and worse, up until this year, when I was having flares every three weeks or so,” Meg says. “I tried managing it with medication and diet because I was scared of having surgery for it.”

One of Meg’s employees formerly worked in Tupelo with general surgeon Dr. Stephen McAdory, and she insisted that Meg make an appointment. “She told me she knew a great surgeon and that enough was enough, and I had to stop living like this,” she says.

Reluctantly, she went to her appointment with Dr. McAdory.

“He made me feel very comfortable,” she says. “He went over everything and told me exactly what to expect.”

In June, she had a robotic colon resection, where Dr. McAdory removed about a foot of her colon. “He said he was able to get the worst part of it, and while he couldn’t guarantee I would never have another flare, he thought it would greatly improve my quality of life. And it has.”

Now Meg looks forward to going out to eat with her family. For years she had to be very careful about what she ate, fearful about how it might affect her.

Meg’s surgery has also generated unexpected benefits. At church recently, a friend told Meg she looks 10 years younger.

“My only regret is that I wish I had done it much sooner,” she says.

Meg Deaton of Red Bay, Alabama, is back to doing the things she loves after a robotic colon resection to treat her diverticulitis.