angelrose
5/12/2008
My name is Angel and I'm 26 years old. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. Most of my family is also overweight. Despite the fact that I had what my parents thought was a generally healthy diet growing up and was active in water polo and the swim team, i was always heavy. This has always been chalked up to "bad genetics" and while this is true, I also discovered as a teen that I suffered from Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) which is a disease that leads to obesity and/or is caused by obesity.
At the time I got married I weighed 240lbs at 5'8. When I became pregnant, against all odds, with my "miracle baby" I was elated. I was also very very sick. I lost forty lbs in the first trimester and was as thin as I was in highschool at 3 months pregnant. I gained 22 lbs back by the time I had delivered, and upon delivery lost it all. I was very happy and hoped that it would last but it did not. I began taking contraceptives to bar the chance of a subsequent pregnancy, as my doctor believed it could end very likely in miscarriage and severe illness on my part, due to the high risk nature of my condition, and how hard my pregnancy was on me physically. After I began taking depo provera, and despite staying active with a new baby, taking daily walks and eating healthy, the weight began to creep back.
An ultrasound last year revealed huges cysts devloping all around my ovaries, labs showed that my hormones are completely abnormal, and seven years later, we still have been unable to conceive another child. I'm now 289 lbs, and am preparing myself for a surgery that I believe will ultimately save my life. Currently I suffer from debilitating ankle and back pain, obstructive sleep apnea, as well as endometriosis and PCOS. My family tree is rampant with diabetes on both sides, heart disease and cancer. I do not want to suffer the same fate. So I am taking control of the situation and doing what I feel necessary to prolong and improve the quality of my life. For the good of myself as well as my family. I want to be able to see my son graduate from college, and get married. I want to live a long and healthy life. I cannot do it without this surgery. After years of dieting, exercising, seeing a nutritionist, and personal trainer, and trying to fight this and work past my physical pain, I have come to this realization.
I began researching bariatric surgery after my best friend had hers done with Dr. Bobby Bhasker-Rao. I began actively persuing the procedure at the end of 2006. Fights with an insurance company that clearly did not understand the process of bariatric surgery have delayed me until now. A year of nutrition counselling later, and after many many obstacles, it looks like I'm finally going to have it, and the date is set for 5/27/08.
Right now I'm a ball of emotion. I'm scared and happy, nervous and excited, anxious and hesitant all at once. Change, whether good or bad is always a scary and daunting prospect no matter how prepared you think you are. But all in all, I welcome this new change with open arms, and look forward to a new life. A life without pain. A life filled with hope, A life I was always meant to live :)
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