Mendie Thompson
Like most people that end up here, I have battled my weight pretty much my whole life. The times that I wasn't overweight was not accomplished in a healthy manner. At one point, I had lost so much weight in such a short amount of time, and so unhealthy, that one of my friends mothers asked her if I had AIDS...not good. It has always been an emotional problem for me, but no more so than the last 2 years. 3 years ago, I had lost 65 lbs by going to a weight loss center for shots. It worked great, I felt great, but more importantly, for once in my life I LOOKED great! I thought I had finally found a way to beat it. I was eating fairly healthy, dancing more than I EVER had (which was welcomed for an avid country dancer such as myself)...for once in my life I actually liked what I saw when I looked in the mirror.
Then came he cutback at work. Financially, I couldn't afford to continue going to the clinic anymore. It didn't take long for the weight to start creeping back up again. I use 'creeping' lightly...it was more like creeped up behind me, jumped on my back and swallowed me whole. It felt like I went to bed one night gorgeous, and woke up the next morning a humpback whale. With the disappearance of the smaller me also went my pride, my self confidence and my self love. When i was financialy able to go back to the weight loss clinic, I hot footed it straight there and started my routine again. This time though, my body had put up a wall and refused to respond to the shots. 6 months and hundreds of dollars later, i had only lost about 6 lbs. I spiraled into depression. My body was starting to break down physically and emotionally. My ankles and knees started hurting, backaches, headaches, insomnia. The depression kept getting worse. I didn't want to get out of bed. I didn't want to do anything with anybody. I just wanted to lock myself away in my room and be left alone. Along with my own emotional battle, I got to SEE what my future had in store for me by watching my mother if something didn't happen. Knee replacements, arthritis, congenital heart condition...I was watching my future unfold before my eyes, and that wasn't helping my depression any.
When I had lost the weight last time, I met a wonderful man...it wasn't long before I knew this was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. When I started gaining my weight back, I knew that there wouldn't be a lot to the rest of my life at the rate my body was going. So began my investigation into RNY, and my decision that it was the best for me.
To my surprise, my husband was my biggest supporter and advocate. I don't know why it surprised me, I think it was more that I knew he would worry for me. He has definitely been my rock. I could not have done this without him.
