snoozing61
WOW, where do I start.........I am 49 years old; newly married (for the third time) to the man of my dreams. The first two times, what can I say I was young and dumb. I was Blessed with three wonderful boys from these marriages. ALso adopted my niece, after my sister died from Breast Cancer. Now they are all adults, and it was time to think of ME!!!! My weight during my teen years was average. The weight started piling on during my pregnancies, this happens to so many of us Mommies, it's just not fair. I was in a bad car acciedent two years before my last baby was born; went thru Phys Therapy; pain meds, etc. Over the next 4 years the back pain slowly got worse; ended up having back surgery at the age of 31, and ended up on Disablility at age 33. The physical activity was pretty just what had to be done as far as being a Homemaker; Mother and Wife. (yes this is alot when you are in constant pain and on medications) My family helped with alot. As the next 10 years came and went, my weight increased by over 100 pounds. In 2003 I went to my nephews wedding, and when I saw some of the pictures I just couldn't believe how FAT I was!!! I went out the Atkins diet and started losing weight, getting more engry and planting a garden. At the end of 8 months I had lost 80 pounds!!!! My husband of 18 years wanted a divorce, so ended up losing another 170 pounds. LOL I moved in with my parents with my 15 year-old son, and started my life over. Started gaining the weight again and put on the 80 pounds that I had fought so hard to lose plus more. when arthritis started bothering more and more. It got so bad I could hardly walk from the bed to the bathroom. My knees were shot!! The Ortho surgeon told me that even if I lost the weight, the damage was already done to my knees. So I had the first one replaced two days after Thanksgiving in 2005, and the second replaced in March 2006 on my birthday. I reached my highest weight of 364, soon after that; started having major health issues including High Blood pressure, and was told since both my parents were Diabitics, I was looking at that right around the corner. My doctor suggested I have Gastric By-pass surgery. His nurse said that my insurance would not cover it, so was told to diet and exercise. That's when I started my research on the computer. I was terrified of By-pass surgery. I know two lasies that had it done. One had no problems at all and to this day is going great. The other one, nothing but problems. Then I find out my brother is going in for surgery........Lap Band. That sent me in the right direction. He has had his Band for a year and a half now, 82 pounds lighter and off ALL of his pre-op medications!! WooHoo. I asked my Primary Care Provider what he thought of it. He didn't really know much about it, but said that anything I decided on, he would back me up 100%, because I needed to do something. By this time I was up to taking 6 pills a day, half of them twice a day for my health problems and pain. I called the Insurance company and found out what I needed to do in order for them to cover the surgery. I went to a surgeon and seminar; had all the tests done, and there is many of them needed by most insurance companies. Then the surgeon took a leave of absence...........that set me back about 3 months finding another surgeon, going to HIS seminar and getting updates on half the tests.
