jonica21
When I started the process in May of 2006, I never realized what I had ahead of me. I thought it was really simple, boy was I wrong!
When I was little I was of average weight. When I reached middle school I was still average but gaining more weight than I should be. By the end of high school I weighed 220lbs. Even with playing vollyball all year around and working out and being part of weight watchers, I couldn't lose the weight. It was a big problem and my self esteem dropped because of it.
After graduation from high school I continued to gain weight, and topped out at 250lbs. At that point my doctor was telling me I needed to do something because my bloodwork was bad and I was developing arthritis in my knees and ankles. This was shocking only being 20 years old and hearing all of this. I decided that if none of the conventional methods of losing weight were going to work that I would take it into my own hands and do something else about it.
In May I went to the first informational meeting with doctor Glass. I got a whole bunch of information and it was really overwelming at first. But after reading and re-reading over the information I began to understand everything and knew it was truly for me. On the 18th of May I saw my doctor for the first time. He listened to my reasons for wanting the surgery and agreed the the surgery was right for me. So next I would see the nutritionist and go to my psych evalutions. This is where the process got really long. I ended up seeing the pscyhologist 8 times because she was concerned about my age and if I had truly done enough myself before considering the surgery. But finally after a couple months of seeing her and getting my approval from her I felt ready to have this done. I went to see Dr. Glass again and knew it was getting closer. I received a call and they scheduled my date for January 30th 2007. It seemed like forever away. In all actuality it was a great time to have it, everything fell into place and I knew I was ready.
The day of surgery came and I got up at 4am, showered, brushed my teeth, did my hair, and took my pre-op pictures. My family was there by 630am and they made the morning go really smoothly and less nerve wracking. I got to the hospital at 7am and I was ready to roll.
The surgery went really well, I woke up in my hospital room and was out walking within a half hour.. granted I didn't get very far my first time!! I had very very minimal pain and that suprised me, I kept waiting for it to come but it never did. The hardest part for me was the day after surgery I had to start drinking the boost again, and I realized how gross it truly was..yuck!! It was really hard at first getting the little one ounce down, but the nurses were very persistant and eventually I just got used to it.
After 72 hours I was released from the hospital. My first night home was awful, I was by myself and since I had some issues with my bladder waking up after surgery I had a foley in place. I was miserable! At that point I was wishing I had never done anything! The next day got better and I was more stable on my feet. My friends were really supportive and kept me busy throughout the day. Eventually I got the foley out and was able to be more comfortable outside and in public.
As the months went on I had huge amounts of weightloss. I believe I lost 35lbs in the first month and then it has been about 20lbs a month since. I'm really glad I did the surgery, there have been some really hard changes, but I dont know where I would be right now if I were still overweight and unhealthy like I was.
