Alicia28
My story... All of my life I have been slightly overweight to morbidly obeses.. As a child I had a few extra pounds on me. When I started to go through puberty, I started to gain some weight from that. As a teenager when I was 16-18, I was very ill and in a wheel chair for 2 years that made me gain 80 pounds. After I got well from the illness the dieting began starting with weight watchers and so on... When I was 19(1999) I was diagnosed with an over active thyroid, which again I still wasnt really skinny at the time.. The doctor's had to shrink my thyroid because if I had let it remain overactive it could cause heart problems and so on. They decided they wanted to shrink my thyroid and make it a hypo-thyroid. I would start taking medicine to replace that hormone. At that time I weighed about 220 or so, within a year I gained 70lbs and kept gaining and gaining from there on out. Again I started weight watchers and did it for about 20-30 times through the years.. I also tried Jenny Craig. The most I would lose was 20 pounds and gave up because I had such a hard time getting the weight off due to my underactive thyroid.. In 2002 I decided to give weight watchers another try and do curves, ohh yeah I forget to mention I joined many gyms before and had a personal trainer that I got in debt from and still no luck..lol. When I did weight watchers and Curves I lost about 65 pounds and weighed in at about 265 pounds, I felt great. Then I got sick with a cold, stopped going to the gym, and lost my motivation where I had no desire to go back.. All I wanted to do was sleep because I felt horrible. I didnt want to do a thing and of course the weight came back and then some.. In 2005, I decided I would check out the gastric bypass surgery. When I went to the seminar I was scared to death and realized that was not for me. I knew my health was in big trouble and I had to do something. A year or 2 before that my mom was diagnosed with diabeetes and lost part of her foot, diabeetes runs in the family big time as well as heart disease and high blood pressure. I knew I didnt want to get diagnosed with any of these serious diseases. So, AGAIN I started weight watchers and curves and lost 60 pouns which put me at a weight at that time of 280 pounds. I was feeling so great and started going out with friends,etc and having a good time letting my good habits get into bad habits again.. I tried to maintain it barely,and the weight started to creep up again. So, again I failed. I met a new boyfriend and at the time and all we did was go out to eat for breakfast,lunch,dinner,and snacks. Food was much better going out then at home and thats all I wanted from there on. My thyroid functions were out of wack due to weight gain, I also had P.C.O.S. that I was diagnosed a few years ago and that makes you gain weight rapidly too with other symptoms as well that you can develop. I also had insulin resistance due to it, which made me a boarderline diabetic..I had foot problems that prevented me from walking and I was diagnosed with ademia which is fluid retention. My feet would swell so bad, that it hurt to even take a few foot steps. I was a hair dresser and the job was killing me. My doctor wanted me to get a job where I could sit down to avoid being on my feet and making my condition worse. So , I did find a new job.. My health was starting to get worse and worse. A few weeks after I started my new job, I met up with my best friend,her aunt, and mom. My friend told me that her aunt had the Gastric bypass.. I couldnt belive how great she looked. She was telling me all about it and it caught my interest . She swore by this doctor, who was Dr. Dallal. I had this great benefit package with my new job so I decided I would check out the surgery again. I went to one of his seminar's, I was impressed but I wanted to check out more surgeons. One of the staff members, through Dr. Dallal asked if I wanted her to call my insurance to see if my insurance would cover the surgery.. The next day she called me and said they do cover it at 100%. I was thrilled. In the mean time I checked out 5 other surgeons and decided that Dr. Dallal was right for me. I went to one more of his seminar's to be sure with my familythat this is what I wanted and it was. I started my pre op diet right away and 6 months or so later, I was approved.. All in all it was about a 10 month process from checking out all the surgeoons to the surgery date which was February 5, 2008. So we shall see what this new journey in life brings me.. I hope any pray that my decission will be the best thing I can do for my health.
Inital consultation in June - 356 pounds
Starting point for pre op diet( January 21,2008) - 363 punds
9 days into pre op diet(January 30,2008)- 348 pounds
February11, 2008- 336 pounds
February18, 2008- 336.8 pounds
February 25, 2008 - 331 pounds
** A total of 32 punds as of February 25,2008**
