Mags W.
Important Dates for Me
4/30/2009 - Consultation with first surgeon
7/30/2009 - After total frustration wiith first surgeon's financial offices, gave up hope :(
12/1/2010 - Finally got insurance through PCIP Program
2/19/2011 - Seminar at New Hope Bariatrics
3/2/2011 - Consultation with Dr Stephen Malley
3/3/2011 - Request mailed to Insurance
3/14/2011 - APPROVED by Insurance!!!
3/22/2011 - Surgery date set!
4/28/2011 - Surgery
I've battled my weight, in one form or another, for my entire life. I remember ballooning to twice my size in 3rd grade and my mother (also overweight) kept telling me I was healthy. I was picked on and excluded for most of my schooling due to my size and the lack of self-esteem. My mother, after battling weight issues most of her adult life, made the decision to have open gastric bypass in 2000. Two emergency surgeries and three weeks in a coma, she was able to come home from what was supposedly a weekend prodedure. I ruled out surgical options completely at that point.
Through my late teens and early 20s, I dieted in every possible way, including vegetarian and veganism for a number of years. By 2009 I'd simply had enough. Enough of the clothes that didn't quite fit, enough of settling for jerks that didn't deserve me because I couldn't do any better, and enough of "fat me". I spoke to the first surgeon in April 2009, after my best friend had surgery with another surgeon and was very successful. Why I didn't speak with her surgeon, I don't know, but that's another story. Because I was self-pay, his financial department was very helpful.. to a point. But after multiple calls from multiple counselors and explaining to each of them I simply couldn't make it work financially, they just kept calling and made me feel even worse. I gave up hope.
August 2009 was a major turning point in my life. My biological father, whom I'd not seen since I was 3, was killed by a drunk driver. I found out about it on the news, and made the decision to find my family and be with them. The realization that my father didn't care about me and never looked for me sent me spiraling into a deep depression, and my weight gain began again. I gained approximately 45 pounds, and have yet to get it off.
My band journey stalled for well over a year, but began again in November 2010 when a late night search for insurance coverage led me to the newly created PCIP Program, a part of the Affordable Care Act. Through PCIP I was able to gain real health insurance for the first time in my adult life. It's through this program I'm able to make the greatest step in my journey.
I was called a loser often in High School, but now I can't wait to prove them right! 
