CK ~
I have been battling with excess weight all of my life...well you may as well say that. Since the age of 9 the weight has been a major factor for me. At the age of 13 my weight was out of control already at 202. Granted, I could have and should have done something at that time and put a halt to it, but I didn't. It just kept going higher and higher. At 18 my weight was 348, and even at that I thought that in time it would be okay and that I could bring the weight off on my own. In 1988, Department of Rehabilitation Services in Illinois paid for Diet Center and that worked for a short time but just like all of the other times the weight came back to get me. Then in 1990 DORS again paid for another diet program, this time it was Medi-fast. My total weight loss through that one was 26 pounds, after a month of straight liquids. 1991 brought the Opti-fast, again sponsored by DORS. In 1993 DORS sponosored Nutri-System and my weight was the highest it had ever been. I was at 486 at that time and managed to lose 35 pounds before DORS cut me from the program. The caseworker that was assigned to me felt that it wasn't coming off fast enough. I kept on losing on my own and managed to get down to 323. Eventually I quit trying and the weight came back on. I got to a point where I just didn't see any chance of it coming off and staying off for the long haul. I do know that it's possible to bring it off and keep it off even if it does take a surgical method to bring it to completion for me. My first experience with the bariatric surgery was with my mom in 1974. She had it done when it was still experimental and all they did at that time was staple off the majority of your intestine so that you only had 5 working feet of intestine. She didn't experience any problems for 12 years then her body started losing the calcium and potassium electrolytes so she had it reversed at that time. I knew that my weight was out of control considering that I had outweighed my mom by 180 pounds. My mom passed on November 7, 1994, but it wasn't due to anything pertaining to the surgery or reversal of, it was due to a massive heart attack. I have thought long and hard about taking the same steps that my mom took to save and prolong her life and I can't say that it's been easy to deal with but I know that in order for me to live I have to do something and I am okay with what I have to do. :) Life is too short and you only get one go around!!! I want to start this part of my life so that I can do things that I haven't been able to do since I was little. It's amazing how the little things are what we take for granted the most. I actually got the nerve to weigh myself for the first time in years and the weight was 406....NOT GOOD butttttttttt not as bad as what it had been in the years prior. I weighed again a couple of months later and it had gone down to 394. I can't say that I have weighed lately but I do plan to sometime soon. I have to travel close to 20 miles in order to weigh at a hospital. I spend most of my days watching TV or watching my cat, her name is Sadie, act completely stupid!!!! I guess you could say my main hobby "enjoyment" is getting lost in a good book...anything by John Grisham. Anyway....that's pretty much it about me and how long I've been battling the weight... I do know that it didn't go on overnight and that it's not going to go off overnight. It would be nice if we could wiggle our noses and have it happen.....but we can't! :( If anyone has any information they would like to share, the information would be GREATLY appreciated. :)
11/23/05
As of today I am still in search of a surgeon that is CURRENTLY taking Illinois Department of Public Aid medical card...as of yet still no luck in locating one...but, it's not going to get the better of me...I may be down but I'm far from out!! 
You are the mystery woman
Which Ultimate Beautiful Woman are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
2/16/06
Just thought that I would drop in and post the latest on me and what's going on...weighed on the 5th of February and found out that I'm down 35 pounds since October... :) which means that my weight as of that day was 359.
July 10, 2006
Keeping fingers crossed that by the next time I have to go to the doc my weight will have moved under the 350 mark to where I'll be able to weigh on a balance scale for the first time in quite some time!
You Are 44% Vain |
 You're a little vain, but more than anything you have a healthy amount of confidence. Thinking the world of yourself is great. Just don't think less of those who aren't as pretty as you! |
You are a Romantic Realist |
 Okay, so you fall in the middle. You know that love isn't like a greeting card... Yet you can always find a greeting card to describe your feelings. You are the best of both worlds Girly yet independent, dreamy yet serious. Almost any guy can find balance with you. |
August 21,2006 Had a doc appt. today and for the first time in a lonnnnnnnnnnnng time the scale balanced...it may have been right at the 350 mark but it balanced nonetheless :)
August 24, 2006 Got a phone call from my PCP today informing me that they had a date for consultation with Dr. Frantzides on September 1, 2006, which is just a week away!!~ I'm so excited!!~
August 26, 2006 It seems like with every day I get a little more anxious. I laid my cigarettes down yesterday so that my system has time to clear itself of the nicotine....that's a PAIN!!! I feel like I'm going crazy without one in my hand but it's all in my head..lol
August 31, 2006 One day to go and still as nutty as ever...I can't say that I'm scared in any way because I'm not! I'm as excited as ever and can't wait for this journey to begin so that I can start to live my life like I should have been living it all along!!~
September 5, 2006 I had my consultation with Dr. Frantzides on September 1, 1006 and he is a TOTAL character!! He said all looks good for the surgery and he scheduled me for October 4, 2006 which is just a month away!! I'm so excited I could scream!!!!!!!!!
September 15, 2006 I had my pre-op physical on the 12th and am scheduled for the rest of my pre-op testing throughout the rest of this month...the list of those seems to go on FOREVER!!!!!!! LOL but the end result is worth everything that is going on right now!!~
September 27, 2006 Talk about a day!!! I had to be at the hospital at 8:15 to do pre-op testing...what a way to start a day!!..LOL I know...I know....I'm COMPLAINING!!!! Not really though, just getting it all out of my system is all...the END RESULTS are worth everything that I have to go through!!!!
September 28, 2006 Once again, sometime today I have to go to the hospital and get my front and lateral chest x-rays done along with the nasal swab... FUN...FUN...FUN!!! I don't think I'm going to have any fingernails left by the end of the week...I don't think I've ever felt so many mixed emotions all at once!! Afraid of the new because you've become so comfortable with the old, but why be afraid of the new, when the NEW is going to be worth more than the old could possibly even dream of being!!!!!!!
October 3, 2006 It's the day before surgery and my nerves are really kicking in now... my stomach feels like it's bottoming out all the time now... All I'm waiting on now is a phone call from the hospital telling me what time I have to be there in order for them to prep me for surgery...My life is changing so quickly in front of me and I can't wait for the all of the new doors that will be opening to start opening up... :-) and of course I'll let ya know how it went when I get home and feel like being on here for a few!!~ and if for some stupid reason I don't make it back then I want to thank all of you for your support that you gave me and I'll watch over all of you and pray that things go the way that each and every one of you want them to go!!~
October 9, 2006 Surgery had to be cancelled temporarily but everything in its time...there had to be some reason that it didn't come to pass on the 4th like it was supposed to...so my spirits are still up and my decisions that I have made for myself are still as solid as they were the day that I made them!!!! Granted, it means that when it comes time to reschedule that I will have to go through all of the pre-op testing again and that's fine... :-) The only thing that the extra time is doing is allowing me to get a few more pounds off of my frame before surgery... I'm still as excited as ever about the surgery and still can't wait to be back in Dr. F's office with him and his staff again!!!!~
4-8-07 Getting ready for my consultation with Dr. Vitello in Chicago on the 19th of this month and I have my psychiatric evaluation on the 18th which means that I'll have the results from that by the end of April~ So as of right now there is no telling when my surgery date will be but it shouldn't be that far off... If given the chance to choose my surgery date I would pick May 15th if that's possible.. :-)
Member Interests:
Click here to see interests of other ObesityHelp members.
Illinois Department of Public Aid, Medicaid
