jaya_renee
My story starts as an overweight child (120 lbs in 2nd grade), who becomes an overweight teen (220 lbs in 9th), who eventually became the morbidly obese adult I am today. People in my life have always been accepting of my size. I might have had the occasional person to tease me, but trust, they were only people who didn’t know me or how I felt about myself. My high self esteem, quick temper, attitude, and intelligence made it quite difficult for anyone to attempt to tease me a second time. (Lol) Although I was considered big, I was always involved in many activities and considered to be in the popular crowd. Again, I did not allow myself to be limited by my size.
I’ve been interested in weight loss surgery since 2004 after my cousin had a RNY performed and I noticed how it changed her life. She is another woman who didn’t let her weight dictate her lifestyle, but did it to better her health. Back then, I had just been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and looking to really make a lifestyle change. I weighed closed to 350 lbs and started on the diabetic diet per doctors orders and lost about 25 lbs. My next plan of action was to incorporate Jenny Craig in the mix. I lost an additional 30 lbs putting my weight under 300 for the first time in many years. In April of 2005 I had to have back surgery, and due to my diabetes becoming more resistant to the meds I was taking, my PCP introduced Actos to my regimen, and this one medication caused me to gain 40 lbs in a matter of 3 ½ months. It also increased my fertility and I became pregnant with my daughter. So although I had the insurance to cover WLS, I could not because I was pregnant. After my daughter was born in 2006, I lost my job because I was unable to return to work after her delivery because of a back disability.
In October of 2007, I began my quest once more for WLS with my current insurance. By now, I have additional co-morbidities such as hypertension, high cholesterol and osteoarthritis. The main qualification of my insurance was to attend 20 of 24 weeks of Weight Watchers. Well, wouldn’t you know that as soon as I finished the program, my insurance added that while on WW, I would have had to be under doctor’s supervision. So, starting in February of 2008, I began my doctor supervised diet and exercise program. I chose not to do WW again because it proved unsuccessful. Also, during this time according to my Endocrinologist, my Type II Diabetes is looking more like Type 1.5 (when pancreases makes only a very small percentage of insulin) meaning I am probably going to have to be on insulin for the rest of my life. So as my daily insulin intake increased we discussed how it can be the cause of me not being able to lose weight.
In July of 2008, I had all of my ducks lined in a row and ready to submit my paperwork for approval. Wouldn’t you know that on the day I went to deliver my paperwork to the one doctor in
Now, my only option it seems is to have this surgery out of town. I chose Dr. David Dyer in
Wish me luck as my journey has just begun to break ground!
