Well at the time of surgery I was two days shy of my 28th birthday.  The reason I went for WLS surgery is because I wanted to be here for my family, heart disease and diabetes runs in my family, so I figured I was a candidate for WLS and my insurance would cover it so why not. 

 I can remember when I started putting weight on; I was about 11 years old and my parents had moved our family to a new town about 45 minutes away from the only "home" that I had known.  I can't say that, that is why I started putting the weight on, but I bet it is one of the reasons; the other reasons would be that obesity runs in my famiy (yet I am the only fat one out of my brother & sisters) and I like to eat.  I never had any problem making and or keeping friends to our new "home" but the weight kept coming and never stopped; granted I did not do much to help try to make matters any better; aside from being in the swimming pool all summer, every summer.

Onto my late teen years - I began working at the age of 18 and basically stayed at a plateu as far as my weight was concerned, I have no idea what my weight was at that time though.  But I do know that before I got pregnant with my first child in June of 2000 I weighed 240lb's., after I had her, and even before I got pregnant with my second child my weight was still 240 pounds.( this was a span of three years that my weight stayed the same) 

After I had my second daughter I went on to the Depo Provera injection and that is when the weight really started to pile on, everytime I would go to the doctor for my injection I would end up on the scale and the weight would ALWAYS be higher than the last time, and not just a couple of pounds, but by an average of 5 -10 pounds every three months.  So I went to my PCP and she said that WLS would be a great thing for me as a "start" to WL; funny thing is I was there to inquire about it and see what her thoughts about it was.  Well after some time I went to a seminar, come to find out my insurance didn't cover those surgeons.  I was able to find another surgeon where my insurance would cover it and I didn't have to go to another seminar because I had already done one. 

Now with the ball rolling my PCP wanted to do some tests that I was not too happy about because I knew for a fact that my insurance company did not require them; but I went and did them anyway which consisted of a glucose tolorance test, (found out I was hypoglycemic) then I underwent a sleep study. (found out that I had mild sleep apnea)  Once all of this was done I had to go to and have my psych. evaluation done and the guy told me that I was not a good candidate for the surgery because he felt as though I would not do good mentally after the surgery.

Well here I am three months out, I have had some setbacks but I am feeling wonderful, doing well & I haven't even taken my anti-depressant medication in about a month now...so much for me not being able to handle this mentally!