Brittany1323
My story is one that has been told by thousands of people just them as me =) I am no different than anybody else that has been through this but none the less i will share my own twist of the tale.
I was raised by a bipolar, depressed single mother. she gained so much weight over the years and sadly I followed in her steps. By the age of 10 i was already developing as a woman and was noticed. Then the weight kicked in. I was teased bullied and treated terribly. I was even threatened with my life. all because i was heavy and different. I dropped out of high school my freshman year and went on independent study. There my physical and social activity dropped and I found myself becoming very depressed. Thankfully my mother mad one of the smartest decisions in both our lives. She had gastric bypass (9 years post op as of 5/8/11) I was her only support. At that time, there was only one place to go to learn and have the surgery in California under her insurance. So once she started feeling better post op she started forming support groups in our local town and even got involved with some people at the college she worked for that had the surgery as well and their powers combined, brought a surgery center to our home town. everything from education seminars, to support groups, to the actual surgery and aftercare. She even was able to find a few doctors to move down our way and operate out of this new base.
Once i started high-school again, I was lucky enough to meet my husband and start my amazing life with him. Sadly i had spent enough time alone with nothing but the Internet, video games and food that i had gained a lot of weight. Sadly i also have PCOS so it didn't help in the weight loss area (was unaware of it at that time). 2 years into my relationship with husband (boyfriend then) my mom, myself and my husband moved to Washington state. over the years i found that i fought with 40 lbs. i would diet lose some, gain some, but always found myself in a steady gain.
Finally after 2 years of marriage and not being able to have any children i learn of the PCOS, my doctor is convinced that my weight plays a huge factor in my condition and urged me to diet harder even try a medical supervised diet. Talking it over with my mother one night we were talking about the things she used to do before her surgery and what might work for me. Then it clicked and we both said at the exact same time. I should have the surgery. I was already predisposed to it, i was already well educated and i had a world of support behind me. It also would solve a lot of other medical problems that i was starting to develop and help prevent some other major one that run very high in my family. My family history consists of 90% of my entire family being massively obese along with diabetes, and major heart attacks/bypasses. I wanted a way to avoid this.
I started looking into the surgery and immediately I found my surgeon. Call it fate, call it a sign, call it whatever you want but while on my first website of surgeon reviews I saw Dr. Peter Billing and knew without a shadow of a doubt that this man was going to change my life. what seemed like it took FOREVER to get to that point, well it did 20+ years, once started, things happened so fast because i was ready. I resigned myself to this, i was educated, I was ready to go.
I hit my first roadblock, I learned that our current medical insurance doesn't cover the surgery, so i started looking into the costs and how to fund it personally. While i was in that process, my husband had an open enrollment for his medical and we were lucky enough to change to a coverage that covered the surgery and aftercare.
Once i got that changed i started my medical supervised diet, I was on that for the 3 months needed for my insurance, I lost 10lbs while on it. =) on my very last day of my medical supervised diet, I went in to have my consultation with Dr. Billing. From that point on, it was EXTREMELY fast. I was done and scheduled for surgery within 60 days and that even included a minor issue my insurance tried to give me. (that was resolved very quickly)
All the way up to sitting in the chair getting my IV put in, i wasn't nervous, scared, freaked out nothing!! i thought something must be wrong with me i don't feel anything about this. Then i heard the words "are you ready?" and I knew once again that this was perfect for me. (that sentence means a lot to me, every time i hear it in my life, something HUGE happens, its kinda a big deal to me) However that was also the point where i got scared.
I had the Lap Sleeve done, I was supposed to go home same day however due to an unknown allergy to the anesthesia i had to be put in the hospital for monitoring for 2 days because i wouldn't breath, i wouldn't wake up i was so in and out it was freaky. I made it though and made some really great friends with my nurses =) my husband and mom stayed with me the entire time.
I am now 1 month post op as of 6-7-11 (date this was written) i have lost 28 lbs, i have hit my first plateau and have overcome it. I have had massive head hungers and head crazies (if you have done the research you know what I'm talking about) I have hit every high and almost every low. I even experienced my first gain 2lbs all within my first month.
All I can say at this point is i am looking forward to what the rest of my life has in store for me. I found a life long tool to help me with my food addiction and i will continue to work at it for the rest of my life. I have met and befriended people because of this surgery that will be apart of my life forever. My life has changed completely, For the better i might say. I am so glad i did this.
All the best to those that are looking into or are about to have this surgery and keep at it for those that are post op =)
