I can't remember a time when I wasn't overweight. I was actually quite thin as a child, but I don't remember much about those years. When I hit puberty at around 12, that is when I started to put on the weight. I managed it okay between that age and around 16...started to put the weight on between 16 and 20, and dropped quite a bit between 20 and 23. However, at 23 I got pregnant with my first child, and then I started to gain the weight back. By the time I had my last child, I was hovering around 280-300 pounds. I started to have medical complications...I developed type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, had to have my gallbladder removed, developed a pressure ulcer, high blood pressure, edema in the legs and arms, anxiety disorder, depression...I was a train wreck.

Married to a man I didn't love and didn't get along with, who was verbally and mentally abusing to me as well as our children, and extremely controlling, I didn't know how to get out, and I had given up hope. I played a MMO obsessively, because that was my only escape from the harsh reality of my life that I didn't know how to cope with. That is where I met the love of my life, my husband David.

David and I were just friends, he was a shoulder to lean on, to tell my problems to, he was an amazing listener, he understood me. He gave me courage and strength, simply by being there for me, and encouraging me to make my own happiness, which was something I had never done. I was able to walk away from my abusive controlling husband, to get a divorce, go to cosmetology school, stand on my own two feet and raise my children.

A year later, I moved to Canada to marry David, and we have been together ever since. We currently live in Cary, North Carolina, which is where he was transferred to for work. Even though I was happy and safe, I still continued to make bad health choices, and continued to gain weight. By the time I had been here in Cary for almost a year...I was really sick. I started to try to find an answer for what was going on with my body. I started with a general physician, then was referred to a gastroenterologist as well as a rheumatologist. I was finally diagnosed with gastroparesis in February of this year, 2015. My gastroenterologist, as well as my general practitioner and my pulmonologist, urged me to consider weight loss surgery, and all made referrals to my bariatric surgeon. I went to see them for the first time in April of this year, and imagine my shock and surprise when I learned that I was not only able to have surgery and needed the surgery...I could have it in as soon as 4-6 weeks! I jumped right in with both feet to the process, without a doubt in my mind that I wanted it...I wanted to be healthy, I wanted to LIVE. I was advised to have the roux-n-y gastric bypass, since it would deal with my most pressing issues, such as my type 2 diabetes, and my gastroparesis.

I had my surgery on July 23rd, 2015. I don't regret it for a single moment. I have already lost 60 pounds since a month pre-op...I am not longer taking blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetic or gastroparesis medications! I am able to walk, I am not sweating profusely, I can play with my kids, I can be a person again. Life is good...and I am happy to be living it!

About Me
Cary, NC
Location
44.1
BMI
Aug 12, 2015
Member Since

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