Terrence_CA
Well, my story is probably pretty typical. I have been overweight pretty much my entire life. I have tried tons of diets, but was never able to stick with any on them. After realizing that diets aren't going to work, I started playing around with the idea of weight loss surgery when I was around 18. I went to a Weight Watchers meeting where I got weighed for the first time in years. I weighed in at a whopping 511 pounds! This was at 18! When I was still in high school! I was so embarrassed. After doing research, I was scared to death and decided not to even go through with it. After that, more diets ensued and still none of them worked. During college, I began having pain in my heart. I didn't have insurance at the time, so I had to go to the county hospital. They didn't find anything wrong, and the heart pains have stopped, so I think it was probably anxiety/stress attacks from all of the papers and stuff I had to write. I think during this time, I weighed in at 540 pounds. I thought I was having a heart attack. I finally became a teacher and got some good insurance. I came to the realization that I have either got to get the surgery, or I was gonna die. At age 26 I am over 500 pounds! Where would I be two years from now? My knees were killing me, my back was killing me, I was always miserable. I wasn't living life. I was just sort of existing. Taking up space (and lots of it!). Now that I had good health insurance (BC PPO) I decided to go though with it. I started the procedure when I went to a consultation for Dr. Crookes. They showed us before and after photos of people who have had the surgery. It was amazing! There were also some people who had the surgery who were there that we can talk to. I decided I was definitely going to go through with it. By this time, I was more scared of not getting the surgery, than actually getting it. It took a year to get all my tests done, because I procrastinated and I didn't want to get the surgery during the school year anyway. August 14th 2008 was the day of my surgery. Even while I was laying on the bed in pre-op, I wasn't scared. I was just sort of numb. At this point, whatever happens, happens. The surgery went well, and now I am at a new beginning of life.
