chelle429
I've been overweight since puberty. For many years it really didn't bother me or seem to affect me in any negative way. It' s only been over the last couple of years that I've been struggling to lose weight and over this last year my struggle has become painful. I've started having a lot of health problems such as exercise induced asthma and multiple ankle problems. I suffered from a stress fracture and have sprained both more times than I can count. Simple tasks exhaust me and doing any type of work makes me sweat like I've just ran a marathon. I graduate from school in December and cannot fathom working as a nurse doing 12 hour shifts at this weight. I currently work as a student worker and it is so hard on my body. I also really want to have a baby, but the risks at this weight are extremely high.
I went through my 6 month "diet" follow up starting in July of 2006. I weighed in at 326lbs. Knowing that I was going to have the surgery, I ate whatever, however and whenever I wanted to. By the time I met with the surgeon in April of 2007, I weighed 346lbs. I completed all of my pre-op tests and by the end of June I was ready to schedule. I was not made to go on a pre-op liquid diet as so many others were. My original surgeon was David Lourie, but due to a back injury he was out on medical leave and wasn't scheduled to be back until July 19th!!!! I was devastated, I had my heart set on having this surgery immediately after my semester was over so the prospect of waiting longer almost destroyed me. Plus I was set to start my 4th and final semester of nursing school on 8/13/07 and needed as much time as possible to recover. After much begging and many many tears, the office agreed to move me over to one of Dr. Lourie's associates, Dr. David Martin. OMG, love him, love him, love him!!! He agreed to do the surgery and it was scheduled for 7/11/07. I met with him once the week before and weighed in at a whopping 354lbs, highest weight ever.
