Let Us All Get to Know Each Other :-)

Hi All!!
I love this post! I am Devon, I'm 32, I live in Los Angeles...I have been single for a while,  but just met the most amazing man and am over the moon about that!!  It was hard to tell him of my upcoming surgery, but he surprised me by being 100% supportive...so I thought I would be doing it on my own...and now it seems I may have a partner to help me through it...which is such a blessing I never would have hoped for, but feel thrilled for it to have happened...  I have two furry rug-rats...they are little rescue dogs...they are my joy...I do costumes for movies and TV, it is a really demanding career, but it is my dream job.....I have been overweight my whole life and although I am very healthy, I am ready to live the way I have always dreamed...in a smaller body...My surgery is June 24, it is getting close and some days I am nervous and other days I feel so content about it, excited...Thank you to all of you, it really helped me make my decision....I loved reading the thread as it seems we all have such similar outlooks, loving families, love of animals...and a zest to live our best life....Health and Blessings to all of you!!!

     Hello.  I am Susan...age is top secret (if i tell you, i will have to kill you).  I live in Maryland, outside of DC but i was born and raised in NYC, Manhattan.  I have been on a diet my whole life.  I was a thin child and then about the age of 9 or so, something happened and i started to gain weight.  At age 13, my mother took me to the doctor and i was put on amphetamines (they did that then) and weekly shots.  I lost weight but didn't sleep.  I also gained the weight back.  You all know the story...lose some...gain more back.       I have been on almost every diet that was "out there"...weigh****chers (several times), Stillman, Atkins, Optifast, gyms, calorie counting, phenphen, fasting... am forgetting the rest because who can remember?  What i find interesting about this is that i have achieved many things that seemed impossible but could NOT keep weight off.  For instance, i was a high school drop-out who went back to school and wound up earning a PhD.  Most people thought that could NEVER happen.  Why could i do that...have the tenacity to do that...the drive...the focus but not none of those things could help me lose weight?  BTW, i am a clincial/forensic psychologist.  Isn't that the strangest of all?  A psychologist who couldn't "shrink" herself in many ways???      I am married...will be my 34th anniversary on June 2nd.  I had one son who died a number of years ago.  I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (relapsing-remitting) many years ago and am doing fairly well.  I have a great neurologist who absolutely agreed and supported my decision for the VSG.  The MS does slow down my ability to exercise but i do the best i can each day.      I had my surgery on March 21, 2008.  Therefore, i am almost 7 weeks out.  I chose the VSG because, after all my research, the other surgeries frightened me.  They had too many complications associated with them.  I had a BMI of a little below 40 but co-morbidities...high blood pressure, high cholesterol...and pre-diabetic, not to mention the MS.      I am happy with my choice.  At 5.5 weeks i had lost 29.2 pounds.  I only weight myself every two weeks on a Wednesday (don't even ask...psychologists CAN be crazy, too).      Okay, i am talking too much.  Enough is enough.  But, hello my new and dear friends!

I'm Teresa. I just turned 36 on Monday. My sleeve will be a year old on Sunday (may 11th). I have 3 children. My daughter is 15 and my sons are 9 and 7. I do in home child care so I'm able to be here for my kids and still make some money. I live in the Dallas area. 

WOW, what a great idea, Sherri... gosh, I am last in line it seems lol Anyway...  Im Lisa, 40 yrs.. I am married to Larry, 20 yrs now. We have 2 kids.. Joshua, 18, and Jillian who turns 10 next week.  We have furry kids too... our cat, Chance, and dog, Sammie...plus all our fishies...too many to count now! By profession, Im an RN, now disabled due to my obesity. With the help of my VSG, I am praying that someday I can return to Nursing, bc I miss it so much. Larry graduates from college this Sat with his Bachelors in Nursing...so he will begin his RN career in the next few weeks. Josh goes to a Tech college to become a mechanic..if it has anything to do with cars, he Loves it. Jillian is about to end her 4th grade yr. She loves animals and wants to be a Vet...we will see how much longer that will last..lol I have been overweight since shortly after birth... I only weighed 5 lbs at birth, but my mom kept on feeding me everytime I would cry... I guess I learned to cry alot...lol.. Shes got pics of me sitting in the floor with a bottle of sweet tea and cookies...so that should tell ya something right there... But it wasnt her falut, as I got older...learned that food made me happy or so I thought...and I love the taste of certain things...those things being high fat, high calorie, high carb.....everything but healthy foods.. but now.. with my Sleeve, so far Ive lost 49 lbs....and cant be happier with that.. looking forward to adding to that number! I love making friends...love helping others.. and I love OH.. its been so great here!

Once in a great while......neato great ideas pop up into my noggin :-) This is soo cool...I love reading everyones story. A very inspirational thread here...I love it!!

Hello all,

 

My name is Glenn and I will be 43 this July 4^th. … With weighting over 475lbs I feel like I’m 103 years old. I’m in constant pain physically in my back and legs. Due to the back pain I can only stand/walk for just a few minutes. I also suffer from high blood pressure, sleep apnea and I’m borderline diabetic.

 

The first time I heard the words and was classified as obese was when I was a cook in the Navy. I was beyond stunned. I knew I was fat… but obese. I loved my life as a submarine cook; it was the first time in my life I felt like an important part of a team.  But with my weight I was unable to reenlist.   I’ve been married for 17 years now. We have the 3 out of the 4 kids still at home. Each of us is obese or super obese. The weight has smothered my soul and my self esteem, most days I only go to work, come home, sit and watch TV, eat and sleep. I hate who I’ve have become. I’ve getting to where I refuse to go anywhere other than to work. I feel like a fat lazy failure as a Husband and as a father. I started researching WLS right before I turned 40, I got approval for the RNY in Oct 2007 but I decided the post lifestyle of the DS would be a better fit for me started the appeals with my Insurance Cigna. Then in February I was hospitalize with pancreatitis and my DS surgeon said he would only do the DS in two parts and we would have to start over with a new two part code to fight Cigna… I don’t have the luxury to wait any longer on Insurance approval.

 

So I decided to go the self pay route with the sleeve.

 

Thanks for starting this Sherri!!  There really are too many new faces lately!  A great way to introduce each other to each other..   LOL! Well here goes nothin... I'm Lauren.  I live in a little town about 15 minutes east of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  I'm 27...  Married to my high school sweetheart now for 8 years in June (together for 10 now).  We have 2 beautiful girls, Genna is 4 and Madison is 3...  Pics on the profile. I got my sleeve on June 5th, 2007 and have lost 174 pounds from my highest.  22 of that was pre-op.  I weighed 425 pounds in Dec of 2006 and realized that I needed to do something about it.  I started going to OA meetings, liked it, but had a tough time finding someone to keep my girls so I could go to the meetings.  Husband is a restaurant manager so he works wonky hours sometimes.  In March of 07, I started researching WLS again (originally went to surgeon for lapband 2 years prior but fell through the cracks due to staffing change)...  found multiple complications and problems coming up with the band so I nixed that idea.  I thought that because I was so big (BMI 77) RNY would be my only option.  Then I found the sleeve.  Researched it like crazy and was sold.  Never looked back. I've been overweight since I was about 6 or 7.  Always been on some kind of diet.  I started taking diet pills in middle school...  I have never known myself to be thin...  unless you count when I was 4 or 5  and competing in beauty pageants.  I let so many of my dreams slip by the wasteside because of my weight.  I used to sing...  used to be pretty good at it.  But never thought that anything would ever come of it because no one could ever get passed what I looked like on the outside.  As a senior in high school, I was 250 pounds and in a TIGHT 26/28...  I feel like I've wasted so much of my life being super morbidly obese.  I don't know how to get it all back.  Or even if I did, what would I do with it? I was a stay at home mom when I had the surgery, but I was more like a stay at home lump.  I couldn't really do "mom" or "wife" things...  This surgery has given back so much to me already...  about 6 weeks post-op, I decided I wanted to go back to work.  I'm an executive administrative assistant for the addictive disorder regulatory authority.  We liscense and certify the addictions counselors for the entire state of Louisiana.  I love it.  It's given me so much perspective into my life and how i want to use it to help others.   So I guess I'd better quit now before this ends up becoming a book...   It's really great to meet all the newbee's!!

yay for sherri!!

I'm kathy (or kate) I used "kate" on this OH forum because when I joined, there seemed to be a lot of "kathy's"  ..but I'll answer to either one :)

I'm 47, mother of 2 ( 3 if you count my husband)
My youngest is my son, who is 18 and FINALLY graduating from high school this month *YAY*
My oldest is my daughter 22, who graduated last year from Loyola.
We live in southern louisiana (cajun country) where EVERYTHING seems to revolve around food! We have many dogs! *arg* I love them all... My husband, Larry and I  will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this coming November and we are still very happy... he has been a wonderful support for me during my weight loss journey.

I actually taught aerobics and worked as a personal fittness trainer for about 11 years ( way back in the 80's) and at that time, I could eat anything I wanted and still stay in great shape! But when I stopped teaching (and exercising) I continued to eat the same way I was when I was doing aerobics 3 times a day and boy did I gain weight fast!! Then came the babies, and that just added to my weight gain.. I was a stay at home mom for the most part and that kept me on the couch more than I'd like to admit... it was just a downhill slide...
I struggled with every diet known to man, and yes, I could take most of the weight OFF...then I'd always gain back that weight PLUS 10 pounds... So, I finally decided to check out WLS options.. I originally went in for a lapband but decided on the sleeve after talking to my doctor... I am SO happy I did this.. I really feel like I'm getting my life back!

It's wonderful to see the VSG board growing so fast, and it's awesome to meet all of you newbies and pre-ops! Best of luck to all of you in your weight loss journey... this OH board is the BEST for any kind of support you seek!

thanks again for this thread ((sherri)) ::edit:: (because I can't spell!!)

Hi,

I am Barbara aka Babs here on the board, although I dont know how I acquired this name since no one in my life other than folks online use it... My secret identity!!

I am married with 2 kids 6 and 12. My husband and I met while I was living and working in the Netherlands for 10 years and we have been together for 14 years now. He met me when I weighed about 270-280 and at my highest weight, I ballooned up to 340 pounds and got a lapband in 2003. Things went well with my band, I lost 90% of my excess weight and started to have band related complication that spanned over a 3 year period. I had a major car accident last year, had a 2 level fusion surgery in November , then started having bigger problems with my esophagus so. I had a revision from lapband to sleeve about 7 weeks ago and I have lost about 25 lbs during this time.

Professionally, I own a franchise for MRI network and recruit engineers in manufacturing. I am on the internet a lot doing research for my business and I am a terrible OH addict. This is a great support resource and I dont know where I would go for support with the sleeve if OH were not around.

Babs

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!!!  I think I'll backpack Europe after the surgery and find me a good man with a SWEET accent!!!!