Jamison M.
The first thing you need to know about me: I don't take myself too seriously; frankly, I'm pretty fucking ridiculous most of the time.
The decision to have WLS was the biggest of life and once I made my decision it took 3 long years for me to finally make it happen. I remember first realizing I had a weight problem in the 2nd grade and have dealt with it ever since. Various diets dotted my adolescence; some worked for periods of time but never permanently.
I never let my weight stand in my way of having fun in every part of my life but it definitely has always given my self confidence a beating. To top it off I was put on blood pressure medicine at the age of 20! Then major back problems at 21 that required therapy 3 times a week. Ridiculous! I shouldn't be dealing with this at 21! After seeing my mother's success (she's 10+ years post op) and the success of various friends and family member with RNY I finally made the decision that I wanted to change my life in 2009.
Unfortunately, my insurance policy with my employer included a written exclusion for any type of WLS! What? Seriously!?! What kind of crack heads write these policies?? They'd rather pay to temporarily treat my problems than cure them?? Ok, that makes sense... Smh. I then started researching surgical tourism and contacted a surgeon in Tijuana. I calculated it would cost me around $10k, a fraction of the price of cash paying locally. I started saving every penny I could spare but it wasn't adding up fast enough. Finally, 2 years later with the implication of ObamaCare (thank you, Mr. President) I found I was eligible to be put back on my dad's insurance until I'm 26! I knew those contributions to the DNC were good for something :)
So after jumping through the hoops I finally get a surgery date of 3/13/12!!! But alas, on 3/7/12 I got the devastating call... my surgeon called it quits leaving me high and dry. Devastated doesn't even begin to describe the feeling! I cried, I screamed, I cursed, I left work early that day and considered driving off a bridge on the way home.
After a couple hard nights of drinking I managed to pull myself together and began researching other surgeons in my area. After being rejected by one because my BMI was too high and being told I would have to jump through all the hoops over again with a couple others I called the surgeon's office whom my original doc had referred me to. It turned out being a blessing in disguise. I would recommend Dr. Pennington and the staff at Advanced Surgical Weight Loss to anyone! They fit me in incredibly quick and I had a very pleasant surgical experience, minus the hour long ride home the next day. I'm now 3 weeks post-op and have had great experience so far and looking forward to the coming months!
