Wow! This website is a Godsend! So many lives forever changed. I call everyone here blessed by God.

 I have been in the process since March '07 of gathering the necessary info through Dr. Lane's office to submit to my insurance co. I am with Medical Mutual Super Med Plus. I have talked with reps from Med Mut and they have assured me there should be no problems getting approved if the correct info is submitted. The paperwork is being submitted by Oct 1. I should possibly know something 2 weeks from then. We'll see...Looking at the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy procedure but thinking more and more that the Duodenal Switch could be the best choice for me - Dr. Lane hasn't had the final say.    We'll see what he prescribes and I will trust and accept his decision.

I almost made my handle "blessedbeyondmeasurements" ha ha...I have been lurking all summer at this website gathering information and inspiration. Thank you to all.

I am a 49 yr old mother of 4 children ages 22, 21, 19 & 16. Three boys and a girl. I have been very happily married for 24 years to a Godly man and lead a charmed, abundantly blessed and Spirit-filled life in Northwest Ohio. We are a very close knit family and of course, I am the designated grand COOK of the family and we love to get together and we love to entertain! We are all very active in our church-which is a non-denominational affiliation. I am on the praise and worship team and love to sing. We have homeschooled our children for the past 11 years and I just have my daughter left to prepare for graduation!  Also about me, I have held positions in management - mainly in the grocery/retail industry since my college days. Our family is a hunting family. We all like to hunt (& eat!) deer, pheasant, duck, goose & rabbit.  I hope to be a better hunter after weight loss surgery. We make a yearly trip to Iowa during pheasant season. We have 2 labrador dogs that are brothers, Gunnar & Vashon. They are 2 yrs old and a wonderful addition to our family.

Currently, I am going through the channels to open a Christian music, books & gifts shop by next Easter. It's an adventure jumping through all the necessary hoops of lovely state & federal codes and filling out mounds of paperwork. Another great happening in my life is that my oldest son has been happily married for 2 years to a lovely girl that we adore and they are expecting our first GRANDCHILD - a girl, in November. We are so excited that Elora Belle is on her way!

My weight history is typical of so many that are here needing surgery. I am large-framed, standing at 5'9" and currently I weigh in the 290's.  I can say that I carry my massive amount of weight very well on my frame - my height does help! I wear size 20-22W and 2x's.  I was overweight as a child. My school pictures document me as a chubby kid and I was only "thin" in 5th grade because I grew 7 inches in 7 months that particular year.  A couple years out of high school, I weighed close to 290 and went on a crash diet.
I bought a bunch of supplements from GNC and worked out feverishly 5 days a week at a gym and ate nearly nothing. I got down to 178 within a year. I got married at that weight and within a year I gained back 40 lbs and soon thereafter became pregnant.  I was now 25 years old. During most of the 80's I could keep my weight down to the lower end of 200 between pregnancies by jogging, walking or jumping rope. After the birth of my daughter in 1991, my health took a turn and within a couple of years I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia & chronic myofacial pain.  I discovered this because I was working out 3-4 times a week and losing weight - 30lbs within 6 weeks - and I felt just awful. I ached all over.  I went to the Dr and told her that I feel like I am headed for the remainder of my life to be spent in a wheelchair.  I got the diagnosis after long tests and using the process of elimination. My Dr took me off my vigorous exercise program and told me to just walk and stretch. Over the years I had tried Weight Watchers, slim-fast, Nutri-system and other fad diets to only lose the weight and gain it back plus with additional weight! I have dieted UP to my current weight. Not fair. I just can't seem to diet any longer for more than 1 or 2 weeks. I think I am mentally traumatized - that I will just gain more weight back anyway and get ever-so-much bigger than I already am.
 I have also had other weird problems when attempting to lose weight - like having to be life-flighted to a hospital after swimming laps at my local high school's indoor pool because I starting spitting up blood and got short of breath - only to find out after 4 days in the hospital on oxygen and tons of tests later that I merely had a severe reaction to the chlorine in the pool. Or how about after walking daily for nearly 2 weeks - a couple miles a day, mind you -  that I ended up in a orthopedic boot because I got Morton's neuroma and 2 hammer toes-one on each foot? (Steroid shots in the middle toe joint is more horrible than labor pains) I still have the foot problems and orthopedic inserts have not entirely helped.  In 2001 I started using a C-Pap machine - it is set at 12. I have been attending my local Curves for over a year - 3 times a week and the only good thing that has changed is I haven't gained any weight and stayed the same and gained  better flexibility. (geesh!....can one really wildly celebrate NOT breaking the 300 mark? I suppose I do...) It doesn't help that every time I work out it feels like the first time I have worked out in months. It's just a fact of life. I take no Rx for the fibromyalgia-never have. I started taking Lisinopril this year due to an elevation in my blood pressure and my blood work just this summer met the low end of mark to be put on Glucophage!  
Despite everything working against me, God's grace just always gets me through every situation in my life. I am a firm believer in Divine healing and trust that I shall see the manifestation of healing in my life - even through surgical means.
Can I also mention here that my beloved father who passed away in 2004 on Father's Day weighed an average of 325 most of his life. My beautiful mother, who is now 71 and doesn't look her age at all, struggles  between 200 & 220 on the scale and has weighed even higher. Is obesity hereditary? I say yes! YES! My one and only brother has weighed as high as 390 and struggles between 230 & 250.
That about covers where I am. I am so hopeful and pray about all the positive changes this surgery will bring me. Thanks to all who take time to read my novella! I chose to write it in large print so you won't have to use your glasses!