Spangadora
My journey to OH
Sep 20, 2022
I have been overweight pretty much my whole life. Of course, as I aged and stresses got heavier, so did I. From plump to pleasantly round up to balloon by my mid-twenties. I was bouncing around the 300lb mark at age 30 and went well above before finally taking a drastic step and getting a LapBand. 12 years with the band proved something an old weightloss doctor told me when I started his medically supervised shake program and talked about the band: "It won't help you. You don't have the will power." I was so angry back then and didn't go back to see him after I was done that program. His attitude felt so defeatist and insulting. But here I was; pouch stretched out, sleeping sitting up but still 'drowning' when I slept. It was a tool I wasn't using and it came out in 2017.
I moved to NYC from Kingston, ON in the Fall of 2016. A year of working with a weightloss surgeon here before he agreed to take the band out. It was such a relief. No more drowning overnight! But then the weight started to pile on. I was about 285 when I met my husband and moved here. By 2019 when I started the journey with my current WL surgeon, I was 346, pretty much back where I'd started 18 years ago.
I wasn't actually keen to get another surgery and wasn't excited about changing my insides. I hoped beyond hope I wouldn't need more than the sleeving. I know how losing some intestines can cause more challenges by way of nutrient deficiency. What got me to the decision was my orthopedic surgeon.
My body had started to really break down. I have had scoliosis since childhood, a defined S curve and my neck was full of arthritis and didn't have that normal curve before hitting the scull. For years I dealt with so much pain throughout my body until in my 30's I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I know full well that losing weight would help me and my pain but it wasn't the sole thing that could magically fix all my issues. Occipital Nueralgia was diagnosed a few years later and solved what I'd been told by a long time doc was sinus issues I'd just have to live with. Nope, that pain came from the base of my scull... So now I had a body full of increasing arthritis, fibro inflammation and increasingly worsening spine and joint issues in general. Cue a torn meniscus... Well within a year of the arthroscopy to 'fix' that, I was at a new ortho surgeon who said my knees were now bone on bone and needed replacing. Only he needed me to lose weight to do it.
This left me with no choice. Time for weightloss surgery again. Dr Merola at NYP in Queens is such a lovely man. His staff in the front office and support team are all fantastic! I started the 6 month long work on getting insurance approval. Doing therapy and losing some weight to prove to insurance I was serious. The info Dr. Merola's office provided was great, I felt educated. I felt supported and come April 2021 my surgery went without a hitch!
This past year was all about my knees. Because of the pain I was in, walking was difficult at best. Both knees were failing. I wasn't moving but I was eating better. When my first knee was replaced in November of 2021 the recovery went quick and well. I was already seeing a BIG difference from before. Now both knees are done and while I still get inflammation pain and my back is sometimes horrible, I can walk without pain in my knees at all! It's like night and day and I'm so pleased.
But... in July 2022 we started a full kitchen renovation. This hampered my weightloss as well. Cooking went out the window... 2 and a half months of no functioning kitchen. Trying to eat better. Full, hot summer. I wasn't walking I wasn't eating right at all. I was starting to gain weight again.
Here I am, September 2022 and I'm walking more now and ready to get back on track with a new kitchen and good, healthy, balanced meals! Protein first! Fibre from veg as much as I can then whole grain products if I have room.
I've Got This!