Cheryl M.
Well, I guess it's time to tell my story. I'm a 41 year old, married mother of three beautiful girls. My Husband Harold is the best man on the planet. He loves me unconditionally and is so supportive of everything I do. Becky(my stepdaughter) is 22 and lives in Florida with her mom. Leigh(my daughter from my first marriage, more on that later!) is 18 and lives at home. Raychel(my daughter with Harold) is 8. I am the senior biller for a large university hospital here in NJ.
I was always overweight growing up but did not become morbidly obese until I was in my 20's. I always played sports (varsity track and soccer) and snow skied. I was very athletic and healthy. Then I met my first husband at the end of senior year of high school. He was a very jealous, controlling guy. My parents hated him. I think that I was just happy that someone showed me some attention and I settled. We moved in together and my spiral to morbid obesity began. The more weight I gained, the more distant he became. Then I became pregnant with Leigh. I was 22. When Leigh was 2 we got married. Of course I continued to gain, and he made it quite clear that my weight embarrased him. Two years after we got married, I showed him the door and moved back into my parent's house with Leigh. By now I weighed around 300lbs.
I met Harold in 1997. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. We got married and had Raychel and started our new life together with our 3 girls (Becky lived with us until she was 19). It was a struggle at times but soooo worth it!
Up until 8 months ago I was always quite healthy and then it all went down the toilet. I now have high blood pressure, hypothyroid, high cholesterol and arthritis all over my body. I am literally falling apart. My body is finally rebelling against all of the weight it's been hauling around for so long. I had been thinking about surgery for about 4 years but could never make a descision. Well, now my mind was made up. It was time for drastic measures. I made a couple of appts with surgeons and decided on Dr JB. I was impressed with his credentials and the best part, he was in my insurance! All of the hoops have been jumped through and now I am 36 hours away from my surgery. See ya'll on the loser's bench. Make sure to save me a spot!
