Let Us All Get to Know Each Other :-)

Hi, I am Kiki and I am very much in love with my husband of 12years as well as my high school sweetheart  I lived all over the country as I am an Army brat and married to a military man now.   I reside in Southern California and work in Property Management.  I had my VSG done back in October and I am down 78lbs.  I absolutely love my sleeve, I am only 1 lb from having a normal BMI and I am so EXCITED  


Blessings,
Kiki

Sherri, I just love your ideas!!! First off I wanna say that it was really great reading all your posts and you saved me from cheating and getting a 3am apple snack lol. You all are such an inspiration! I just love it!! Well about me, My name is Kendra, I'm from Ohio (around Dayton) I'm single no kids but I'm the worlds proudest Auntie! I just turned 26 years old last month on the 20th and it was one of my most special birthdays to date because its a birthday that I didn't think I would ever see.  I was in very bad health and I have a very high BMI, I was a type 2 diabetic and HBP. I wasn't able to do the things I use to after an accident I had and then everything went down hill from that point. My A1c was 11...yes 11. I was taking so much medication everyday.   I finally said that's it! I'm a 25 year old girl I shouldn't be living like this and I went in and had the sleeve done on October 15th, 2007 (My new birthday lol) since I started down the loser road hehehe, I have lost 160lbs I haven't been a Diabetic in over 5 months, My A1C was 5.4 one month after my surgery and I no longer have HBP (now I have LBP lol) and I feel great...I still have one more average size person to lose lol but I know that I will get there!!! I am really into cars and going to car shows, I just went to a big car shows and showed mine off and I was able to walk the whole thing! I haven't been able to do that the last 5 years that I have been going to it. Oh what a great ride this has been. I would have never thought I would be here if you would have asked me a year ago...I would have asked you how hard you hit that rock lol. Thank you to ALL the great people I have met and ALL the wonderful friendships I have made on here. You all mean so much to me! I wish you nothing but the best of luck in EVERYTHING you do in your life!

Great idea Sherri!!!!!! Of course coming from you! My name is Jennifer and I am 33 years old ( I will be 34 on the 23rd of this month ). I have a wonderful son who is 13 ( will be 14 in July, already!!! ) and my little fur daughter Maddie Mae ( as others said my story and my pics of me and family are on profile ). Maddie is 2 ( will be 3 in July as well ). I have been with my high school sweetheart for going on 11 years and he is so wonderful to me. I had surgery on 4/21/08 and have lost a total of 33 lbs, whi*****ludes my 16lb. pre - op weight loss. I have always struggled to stay thin, and succeeded up until about 4 years ago when I just simply quit caring. Thought I could lose it easy on my own ( even though my mother warned me the older I got the harder it would be...... She was right! ) Then 2007 was the worst year of my life. I lost my best friend since childhood to suicide, both my grandmothers, including the one who helped raise me, and had a good friend lose his legs! Terrible year to say the least. Then my mother told me one of my granny's dying wishes ( she had cancer ) was to give me the money for wls!!! I was so happy. What a beautiful women and such a meaningful gift...... So that brought me here. Found my Dr., whom I love!!!!!!! And get so much support and great advice from this wonderful group of people!!!!! That's pretty much it and I'm still getting to know my new tummy so we'll see!                                 Jenn

Okay....I read every single one of these (over the last 2 days)  So now I will tell my story! My name is Jodie and I am 41 (ouch) years old.   I live in the southeast corner of Iowa.  I am single (*hoping that will change*...SOON :] ) and have no children (I am VERY close to my 2 nieces and 2 nephews though and I am a fur baby mama to my shih tzu Kata .... :) pics on profile!!!   I became overweight at the age of 5.  I continued gaining all thru elementary school then my weight started to stabilize in jr. high and in high school I got skinny!  (mostly cuz I was a jock but also because of BOYS!! ) After high school I started gaining weight again (about 30 pounds between the ages of 19 - 23).  But at 23 I had a hysterectomy (went into hospital expecting to have an ovary removed and woke up to a full hyst.)Needless to say I was devastated!   I had no idea how to be post menopausal at the age of 23.   I hated the fact that I now had more things in common with my friend's mothers than I did my friends!  I went into a deep depression that I felt could only be helped by food!   I gained 150 pounds within the first year after my surgery.  I pretty much stopped living!  While my friends went on w/ their lives (marriage and children)  I felt more and more like an outcast and ate my way into super morbid obesity!   About 12 years ago I started looking into WLS and even went so far as to check into the hospital for RNY!   I went to dinner (at the hosp) w/ my family and something just didn't feel right so I left!   Thank God!   Over the next 10 years and even more diet attempts I tried 3 times to get my ins. to pay for the lap band.  There was always some reason for them not to pay!   Finally in March of 2007 I went to a surgeon and spoke to him about the band thinking this was gonna be it!   He called me the next day and said ins. would not pay (they would but I had not met all the requirements)!  I  had been reading OH for quite some time and started thinking about self pay/Mexico.  It was my plan to go to Mex. for the band and then drive 3.5 hours to Des Moines (the nearest place available at the time)  to get fills etc.  I had never even heard of the sleeve until I spoke w/ Susan! (Dr. Alvarez' patient coordinator).  But the more I heard the more convinced I was that it was THE wls for me!  And like so many other people, I absolutely believe that this is the best thing I have ever done for myself!    I'm down 140 lbs!  My confidence has soared (still some issues there but I'm working on them)!  I can look in the mirror and not be repulsed by what I see.  My sleeve has given me my life back!  OH has given me so many wonderful friends and so much support!   I am greatful for you all!!!

Aloha, I'm Sandra Kainoa, 37 years old.  My husband and I have 9 kids.  I am normally busy busy busy being a mommy and wife.  I finally did something that was for me "vsg" and I am soooooooooo happy that I did it. I'm all done having kids, so as I look toward my healthy future, I'm excited and I give GOD all the glory and want to share with you all that "He is Faithful!"

I enjoy reading through all the words here on OH.

Take Care and God Bless you all.

Hi. My name is Leisa and I live in North Queensland, Australia. Love it here and can't see myself leaving anytime soon. Couldn't resist had to put a link to our beautiful recreation area- The Strand. It is so much easier to walk when you can do it in this sort of environment.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strand,_Townsville Anyway back to my story. I've been a nurse since 1989. Have done a midwifery course but most of my career has been spent working in the ICU. Have decreased the number of shifts I do in the ICU over the last few years and taken on another job managing the hospitals equipment store. The night duty was just getting too much for this particular 40+ year old. Live with my partner of 10 years and one of his son's. I am addicted to the sport of dog agility. That's my little mate "Murphy" as my avatar. Planning on adding to my doggy family later in the year. Also have a cat and chooks. I can't remember ever being a normal weight and always said I wouldn't go down the pills or surgery road to lose weight. Well welcome sleep apnoea, increasing breathlessness and pre-diabetic blood test results. Met someone who'd had a band and decided their life didn't look too bad so was set to go and get myself one. With a bit of research pretty quickly changed my preference to the sleeve and am overjoyed at my results so far. Been great to read everyone's introductions. Cheers Leisa

Hi, I am RhondaRoo---Rhonda will do just fine. I am a Christian and a 38 year old, stay-at-home mother of two beautiful children; one 6 and one 3 (Proud Mama photos on my profile!) Both of my kiddos were born in Guatemala. Having children was the desire of my wonderful husband of 11 years, Jordan. We live in Southwestern Ohio--where the birds are singing ever so sweetly this morning. I just had the sleeve one month ago. Like most everyone else, I have had a weight problem since childhood, and emotional and binge eating were my culprits. I did not have any other co-morbitities; however, my mother passed at the age of 47 from cancer; and one year ago, my father passed away from heart issues; and a few months later, so did my mother's brother. Both of these gentlemen were only 60 years young. I started doing the math, and my children would not be raised if I left this life at the time my predecessors did. Something drastic had to change, for the sake of me, my hubby and my children. I had considered WLS years ago, but my hubby was so anti as he had heard horror stories of folks who died as a result. He wasn't willing to risk it then. But then again, he never, nor did I, really understand that if something didn't change, I could die. The death of my father and uncle stirred me again to look at WLS. There was an informational seminar being held near our home. I talked with Jordan, my DH, and he was okay with me looking at this---but with the stipulation that we would be looking at LB, NO BYPASS. I was fine with that. Well, at the seminar, there were 3 surgeries being spoken about, and I left there knowing that the VSG was how I wanted to proceed. After that it was such a whirlwind adventure, for only 6 weeks later, I had my surgery done. To date, pre-op diet included, I have lost 35 lbs. I am happy that I made this decision, and my tummy and me are on the "getting to know you" part of our journey.

Hi there - I have just been sleeved on Tuesday.  Feeling better everyday........having a hard time getting enough liquids in but trying my best.  I am 49 years old and have been married for 22 years to my college sweetheart.  I have two boys - Tim is 18 (born with Down syndrome) and Jake is 14 (my athlete).  I have spent the last 18 years making sure that my older son has everything to be the best he can be.  So needless to say I have put my life on hold and the weight just kept coming.  So now that the kids are able to do a lot for themselves I can start focusing on myself.  I want to live a long life and see my kids grow up so I know this was the time for me to get the sleeve.  My husband has been wonderful this week - I am use to taking care of everyone so this has been a real treat for me.  Looking forward to my new life. Thanks for being there for me.........Carol

My name is Dezaray and I am 29 years old. I am having surgery on May 20th and the nerves have really kicked in the last few days.  I work as a Medical Assistant for a very busy clinic.  We have 5 providers that rotate and I am busy running my butt off every day.  I was first told about wls when I was in my early 20's and having a difficult time with conceiving.  Once I was told that the only way that I would conceive would be to have bypass I went home and cried my eyes out.  I have always been overweight.  I did the dieting with no luck and always told myself that I would never let myself get over 300.  That was my stopping point.  Just this year I reached my highest weight of 319. Last year my mother started looking into wls for herself and the both of us started with the research.  Then my grandmother died last March.  My mother had been her caretaker and my grandmother had helped raise me.  It hit my family hard.  Last September I made the decision to have the surgery along with my mom.  Insurance was not covering so I had to find the money.  I found a loan in October but was unable to get the time off of work.  Tried again in January, but only had 1/2 the money and again not able to get time off.  May is my third try.  I have most of the money and the time off of work.  My mom and I were going to have surgery on the same day, but she is now unable to have the surgery due to finances and she is helping me have mine so my journey is very bittersweet. I was originally going to have RNY as I felt I would have better luck with weight loss .  My mom found OH and told me about it and I eventually found VSG.  My surgeon talked me into VSG as he believea it would be healthier for me in the long run.  After researching it, I agreed.  My goal is to have children and I am hoping to do so very soon.  I live in Oregon and am flying to Michigan to have surgery.  I am so thankful that my mom is flying out with me.  My dad isn't able to go, again due to finances, and I am having surgery on his birthday.  I am very close with my parents and am so thankful to have them in my life.  I have been meaning to post to the boards, but I have been rushing around trying to get everything ready that I haven't found the time.  I love reading everyone's story and decided to finally post mine...

Hi, my name is Karen and I live in NYC.  I am a 42 yr old single mom of a 14 yr old daughter.  I was sleeved 6 mos ago with Dr. Alvarez and have lost 50 lbs.  It could be more if I worked harder but I am happy.  Couldnt have done it on my own, and at least I am no longer hungry 24/7 like I used to be!!!