Tammy Bishop

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Plastic surgeon Adam Lokeh will be speaking at our meeting this month on reconstructive plastic surgery after massive weight loss.  He will be showing before and after pictures and answering any questions you may have on the subject.  We'd love to have you join us!  Let me know if you have any questions.  [email protected]

Many of you already know that my life has changed tremendously over the past 3.5 years.  Through that transformation, I've become the person that I have always wanted to be.  I’m no longer the person that was always hiding behind one issue or another.  If it wasn't a weight issue it was a lack of self confidence or the constant need to please everyone around me.  As long as I can remember, I've been a people pleaser and as a result, an overachiever.  I think that's one of the reasons for my success post-op.  I wasn't willing to settle for average weight loss.  I wanted 100% excess weight loss and I achieved more than I ever dreamed possible with an excess weight loss of 114%.  Since my weight loss surgery, my marriage has been strained more than usual.  It's never been a good marriage but my husband’s insecurities became more magnified as I got closer to my weight loss goal.  When I became more independent and started my 2 support groups, he felt very threatened by my dwindling dependence on him for all of my social interaction.  For all of the 13 years I’ve been married, I’ve endured domestic abuse of every kind.  I was committed to my marriage but I was also caught up in the power and control cycle that keeps so many women in abusive relationships.  Last fall, I realized that my situation was only getting worse and I needed to make a change for my son and me.  I also realized that for the first time in 13 years, I could make it on my own.  I could finally break free of the man who had been tormenting me for years with threats and intimidation.  I began to make plans for my future and this summer I finally took my son and left him.  It was very difficult initially.  The words he used to keep me in my place (no one will ever want you, you’ll never find anyone else, etc.) played over in my head.  I focused on staying healthy emotionally and physically so I could get past the pain and begin healing.  Now, it’s been a couple of months and my son and I have settled into our new apartment and we are living again.  We are safe and feel secure for the first time in a long time.  Thank you to all of you who have supported us with prayers and positive thoughts.  I truly appreciate each and every one of you.