stacybarnett
In the beginning
Aug 18, 2014
I began my incredible journey back in 2004 in the San Francisco Bay Area with Kaiser Northern California. I had the best primary care doctor who told me what to do in order to apply to their Bariatric Board for approval for surgery. the first step was that I needed to take all weight loss or nutritional classed offered by Kaiser. I took all 3 classes they offered including the ones for diabetes. That took me 8 months to complete. After completing these he submitted my case to the Bariatric Board. At that time it took the board up to 3 months to look at your case and make a decision if you would be excepted into the program. I was excepted since at that time my BMI was 45 and I had high blood preassure, Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, lymphedema and neuropathy in my lower extremeties. The first step was to attend the meeting which explained the procedures you could have done and the initial class was half a day long. We were instructed to go home and think about if we wanted this surgery or now. I called and made my appointment with the surgeon the next day. I was ready and prepared to jump through any hoops they presented to me. I got the appointment 1.5 months away. I anxiously waited to meet with the surgeon t see what was my next requirement. When I met with the surgeon the appointments with the psychologist, nutritionist and bariatric nurse were set up. I was also enrolled into the next bariatric weigh loss support class that was beginning. The weight I was trying to lose prior to surgery was 40 pounds. They wanted for you to lose 10% of your body weight before surgery. I weighed in at 385 at that time so he rounded it up to 40 pounds. So my journey began. Well half way through my weight loss as I was going through the medical tests they require they found a growth on one of my kidneys. At that time I dripped out of the Bariatric program as I saw that as a sign that this was not the right time.
I had the kidney removed and there was no cancer. But I would be lying if I said I was not scared even know the surgeon I was working with said based on the MRI, CT Scan and X-rays they took he was positive it was not cancer I was still scared. You never know until they take care of it. They had to remove the whole kidney because the growth was to large to just remove it. Good thing you can live with one kidney. I laid low for a while and gained my weight back again as always in the past. In November of 2007 I met my wonderful husband and married my soul mate in January of 2008. Short courtship partly due to distance as he lived in Southern California and I lived in Northern California. So our courtship was 2 months long. I packed up a 26 foot truck and moved to southern California at the end of January 2008.
I decided to discuss this surgery with my husband since he married a 370 pound woman I wanted for him to be on board with me. I took him to the seminar Dr Douglas Krahn has so he would understand the only reason that I was thinking about doing this was due to my health issues. After the seminar he as on board with me. So my journey began for the second time. I had to go through 6 months of weight loss/management classes again and begin all the testing of my heart, lungs and other things to make sure my body was up for the surgery. I finally had my surgery May 26, 2009 and began dropping the pounds. At first my husband was on board in supporting me by attending support group meetings and doctors appointments with me. That lasted around a year then began having support group meetings in my mobile home part in the clubhouse. He is not attending support group with me. I also have a hard time getting any exercise in when he is home. he has a lot of mobility issues so if I want to get any exercise time in while he is home that takes away from our time together and he somewhat resents that so I respect that and spend time with him while he is home.
I am now a little over 5 years out. I lost 130 pounds with the surgery but have began gaining weight. I gained around 25 pounds back but have lost 20 of that so I have gotten myself back on track.
So that is all for right now. I hope everyone is having a great day on their journey.
