Sandra K.
Hi! I want to start this story with the statement that most all of us "overweight" people will say. I have been fat all of my life. Even when I was an infant, I was fat. My sister and I were adopted at 14 days old and I guess my mother thought we would starve if she didn't feed us every single minute.
This weight gain continued into our school years and when I graduated high school, I was about 180 or so. College did not help, because we ate while we studied. I was fortunate enough to find a man who loved me for me and not for my body, ha! ha! We had dated in high school and he was on the heavy side too. ( More about him later).
After I got married and had two beautiful girls, it seemed that it was so difficult to keep the weight off and working night shift did not help my metabolism. After I turned 40, I developed diabetes ( my birth mother, I found out, had diabetes, too) and had some herniated discs from my weight. I was now topping the scales at close to 240 and knew I had to do something.
I was so sure that this surgery would help me get back on track. A few of the girls I work with had the surgery and were doing so well. I told my family doctor that I was going to have the surgery and lined up reports from my doctors to back me up.
I had my surgery on August 4, 2006 and I lost too much blood and had to get two units in the hospital. I also developed a staph infection at my drain site and had to go back into the hospital for IV antibiotics for a couple of days. But even with these "bumps in the road", I would do this again in a heart beat.
I am now 166 pounds and still losing. My goal is 140 and I still have 2 1/2 months to go until my anniversary. I am in a size 8/10 and it amazes me when I look at my body. I have never ever been this thin and able to wear cute and trendy clothes. It makes me want to cry with happiness everytime I do something that I could never do before ( like crossing my legs).
I have been talking to my husband about his weight also. He has all of the signs. Sleep apnea, hypertension, etc. He is probably 350 lbs. I worry about his health and I think he may be inching his way toward gastric surgery. He had talked about the Lap banding procedure so we are trying to line up our insurance to find someone who does this close to us.
This is a wonderful, life changing journey and I want my partner to be able to enjoy the benefits with me. I also want him to be around for me so when our girls are grown, we can go out and have some fun!! Thank you, thank you Dr. Monk, for giving me back my life! I can never thank you enough!