And so it begins.....

Jun 21, 2011

Yesterday morning, my husband and I went to orientation to begin the WLS process.  We learned about proper nutrition in general (nothing new there), insurance, and the different types of surgery. 

I was not always overweight.  In high school, I played sports and kept weight off fairly easily.  Even into my sophomore year of college, things were going well.  Then, the weight just started to creep on.  I was no longer running sprints in the high school gym every evening and pizza was my food of choice.

Throughout the years, as I'm sure most of us have, I tried dozens of diets searching for the right one for me.  I have enjoyed a few more than others, but invariably I end up gaining more than I'd lost in the first place.  I'm guessing almost everyone on this site can relate to that. 

The idea of surgery was not something I was interested in until very recently.  My husband has been leaning that way for me for awhile, but I was not on board.  Then a series of odd events happened and my path was laid out for me.  A friend of mine moved back to my city and announced that she is planning to move forward with weight loss surgery as well.  I said I fully support her, but wasn't interested.  Then, I was referred by my doctor to a surgeon to have my gall bladder removed and he turned out to be a bariatric surgeon at a bariatric center of excellence.  I began to wonder if the stars were aligning just so.  The final push came when I spoke to a sister-in-law who had lost a serious amount of weight several years ago and kept it off.  I gently approached the surgery subject and she admitted to having the VSG.  She has never been happier.

I took these things as a sign and began researching myself.  I went through a couple of sad days where I began to realize I was talking about giving up large quantities of food.....forever!  I came to terms with that.  Then I started worrying about dying due to the surgery.  I've spent a lot of time on this forum, checking stats, etc.  And I'm happy to say I've crossed that hurdle too.  So, yesterday, I took the first step towards getting this weight off for good.  I've requested my medical records, scheduled my dietician appt for next Monday and started the diet, scheduled my psych eval for July 6th and I got my blood and other labs drawn today.  From now on, it's just a waiting game,  I really hope insurance approves this and I can move forward towards the new me as soon as possible.  I'm planning on getting the VSG and I couldn't be happier with my decision.  Here's to a new me....and a new you to all of you fellow OH'ers!

4 Comments