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  • Username: LWillowwood
  • Location: TN, USA
  • Member Since: 1/17/2012
  • BMI: 44.8
  • Post Op
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I am 52 and so done with being heavy! I am married to the most supportive man anyone could want who REALLY doesn't care whether I have surgery or not - how great is that? But I want this - I want to look at a family picture and be proud to be in it - not ashamed of how much bigger I am than everyone else in the photo! So - we are on a journey...
    
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My Story

I have battled weight most of my adult life. I gained 150 lbs during two pregnancies that were very close together and even though I lost that weight through exercise and diet - it was a struggle to keep it off. Any little thing seemed to pile the pounds back on. I'd gain 30 or 40 lbs. - lose it again, keep it off for several years but then eventually end up regaining plus a little. So I'd diet all over again.

Then in 1999 I had what everyone thought was a stroke and ended up with permanent weakness on my right side and a few other problems. Turns out we just recently found out that it wasn't a stroke at all - it was the first big flare of MS. After that, with exercise being almost non-existent, I just began gaining. Slowly but steadily, the scale has kept going up. Recently, after reaching 250 (which I hadn't seen since after those two pregnancies), I got fed up and did my strict Atkins induction - no cheating, no nothing! I'd lost 15 lbs during the first two weeks of Atkins last time I did it and lost over 50 lbs overall. It was great for me and I kept the weight off until the "stroke". So I figured the results would be similar this time...WRONG! I lost 4 lbs - that's all. I can lose that in a day due to weight variation!

I had a friend who has had weight loss surgery and it has just worked so well for her. I called her and decided to take the plunge as well. The very next day, I was taking my very talkative mother to the hospital for a test and met a bariatric surgeon in the elevator. Talk about "a sign". So - I started on the surgery journey.

We have had some insurance/Medicare complications and it looks like I am going to have to pay for the surgery myself. The only surgery I can have because of the MS is the sleeve (VGS). Steroids + bypasses cause ulcers. And Medicare won't pay for the sleeve - just bypasses. Don't you hate insurance companies and government regulations that make no sense sometimes? Oh well - Sister Mary Thaddeus was always trying to teach me the "wisdom to know the difference" part of the serenity prayer! Still haven't learned it!

So after switching to a different surgeon to make my insurance company happy and then finding out it didn't make a difference, I'm now going back to the elevator doctor who I wanted in the first place and will hopefully be having surgery in the next month. I'm excited and scared and daunted by the cost but I still believe it is the right thing for me to do for myself. Lugging 250 lbs around on arm crutches is really tiring - plus, even though my hubby's a pretty strong guy, he can't move me at this weight when a paralysis episode strikes. And I'd be so much more comfortable in the stupid MRI machine if I was smaller! And feeling better about myself is so important right now emotionally. I can't stop the MS - but I can stop the weight issue - so I'm going to!

And - change # 23456...I ended up going to Medxico and Dr. Kelly for surgery because of insurance issues here and the fact that a Medicare patient can't be a self pay patient in the states! Oh well - worked out great! Feel great, losing weight, being more active and happy! What more can you ask for?