ObesityHelp

After doing a lot of research, I made the decision to go forward with pursuing surgery. I have been fighting being overweight since my teens and usually gain 40 pound back for every 20 pounds I'd loose on the many diets I've tried.

It has now gotten to the point that I'm not able to work. I have asthma, pulmonary hypertension, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, depression and degenerative joint disease in both of my knees. This hasn't been an easy decision to make, but I feel like it is the only way that I'll be able to get my life back. Although there are risks to the surgery, hopefully I'll be able to live longer the maybe 5-10 years I'd be lucky to live the way I am now.

I have been married to my wonderful husband for over 8 years and have his full support. I also have great support in both mine and my husbands family. I look forward to being able to return to work, continue to work on my degree in Psychology. Once I get down to a healty weight and get the green light from my doctor, we'd like to try to have a baby. Right now our babies are 2 miniature Dachshunds, Cara & Rusty, and our kitty, Patches.

I had my intial consult with Dr. Nazari's nurse on 2/10/06 and have had my pulmonary consult and my endoscopy so far. I was lucky because I already have a pulmonary specialist & had an appointment already set up. Now I am waiting to find out about the cardiologist, nutritionist & psych consults.

03/29/06

I had my last consult on Monday and all have given me the green light, so I called Dr. Naziri's office to schedule my appointment to meet with him. I had to wait almost a month for my first appointment with the office, so I was very surprised when they said they had an opening this Friday! I am getting excited to be closer to getting a surgery date. I have BCBS of NC and the office is listed as a center of excellence for them so I hope my approval will come through easier. I am going to PA next week to visit my family and am glad to get the insurance process started before I go. Maybe I'll have good news when I get home!

03/31/06

My husband and I met with Dr. Naziri today and he was great. Answered all of our questions and saw another patient first so that he could take more time with us. I was very happy & think that I'll be in good hands. They are going to send in for my insurance approval and my tenative surgery date is May 4th. Now I can go visit my family in PA & don't have to worry about trying to do a low carb diet while I'm there. On the down side, my husband lost his job yesterday so is now trying to find another. Thankfully our insurance is through me but we still have to pay it every month. Hopefully he will find something soon & he's got two interviews scheduled for next week already.

04/30/06

Well, I haven't updated for a while. Things have been a bit crazy lately as my husband started a new job. Now if I can just get used to the schedule! I decided to move my surgery date from 5/4 to 5/18 because of everything going on. Plus, my niece is having a family picnic at work on 5/6 that she wants us to come to and it is also her birthday. She's more like a daughter to me & wants us to meet her co-workers and autistic clients. I'm proud of her hard work & can't wait to go. The rest of our family is in PA, so we watch out for each other here.

We ended up finding a kitten under my father-in-laws truck a few weeks ago. Poor thing was half-starved but came right up to us & started rubbing on my legs. So we took her home with us of course. Took a while to figure out a good name but now she is Ella :-) She keeps Patches on his toes now and Cara is fascinated by her. Now if Rusty would learn to get along with her. GRR! He's a jealous boy.

I have to start my low carb diet this week, so that will be interesting. I have been trying to get in my favorite foods for the last time. It is going to be hard to give stuff up, but the results will be worth it. I've been testing out some sugar free things & so far, so good. Pretty much everything I have read says that your taste will change after surgery, so I haven't gone overboard on it. Guess it will be more trial & error. LOL


So much has happened in the last few months I will have to come back and update. I had my surgery and have done well with it, we've moved to PA and are trying to get settled in now. Will do a better update when time permits.