annabellarose77
Starting My New Journey
Mar 18, 2015
I have been overweight since third grade. I turned to food for comfort to deal with trauma that occurred in my childhood. Unfortunately, I continued this pattern all throughout my adult life. It has taken me 30+ years and 300+ pounds to finally start dealing with my issues and emotional eating. I have also realized that my past thinking "if I was just skinny it would solve all my problems" was just helping me cover up the raw feelings trapped deep inside my head. Becoming healthy is now my top priority. My health started rapidly declining several years ago. I have worked very hard this past year and a half to get my life back after digging myself out of a very bad situation. I was able to lose 30 pounds, and I started nursing school. But my bad food habits came back to bite me while trying to deal with the stress of school and life in general. I gained back 15 pounds and started to experience severe edema in my legs and feet. I found out I now have chronic venous insufficiency with stasis dermatitis (basically a rash that is hard to heal) and nothing much can be done until I drop the weight. I had to leave school for awhile because I wasn't fit to participate in clinical. To make a long story short, this sealed my decision to have weight loss surgery.
I had been researching weight loss surgery options for several years, but never had insurance that would cover it, and I couldn't afford it on my own. Now, I'm in the position I can it is time to finally take action. I met with my surgeon March 10th and decided on the DS. Everything has been approved, and my surgery is scheduled for April 29th. I'm working on losing 20 pounds before surgery as my surgeon requested, and also working on my emotional issues. To me this is the hardest part, but I know if I don't work thorough these things now, it lowers my chances of being successful after surgery. I have to be successful. There is no room for error for me this time. My health demands it. Learning to love and accept yourself for who you are on the inside is what I am striving for every day. Like so many others, each day is a different battle with a new set of problems. Learning to deal with our issues in a positive way, and dropping the dependency on food is necessary to make healthy changes. No one said it will be easy, but nothing worth having rarely ever is. I am 100% ready for this new journey and positive change in my life. I am also very grateful in finding online support from others that have been so helpful in their knowledge and concern.