HopeR
I wasn't always over weight...I was very active during my school years. Roller skating was the be all to end all for me! :) I didn't start gaining weight until around my second year of college and have just kept on gaining. I remember exercising my ass off any not being able to loose any weight. It was so frustrating, then in 1999 by family doc did some bloodwork and found out I had hypothyroidism. Even getting on thyroid medication didn't help....it only slowed the gain. I tried just about every diet. WeightWatchers, Hilton Head Metabolism Diet, SlimFast, Atkins and nothing worked. I would lose around 10 to 20 lbs and then gain it all back. When I got pregnant in 2000 I weighed in at 205, but did not gain any weight (thank god!) because I was barfing the whole 9 months. It really sucked let me tell you. When I went to the hospital to have my son I weighed in at 197. Between breast feeding and stress (my husband and I seperated right after the baby was born) I managed to get down to 155. Fast forward three months and it started coming back on with a vengance. Again I went throught the endless cycle of dieting and exercise with no long lasting results. In August of 2006 I met with my family doctor again to discuss my weight and a plan of attack. She prescribed for me the diet drug Phentermine. In the first month alone I lost 20lbs. In September I had surgery for something unrelated and had to stop taking the Phentermine two weeks before the surgery date. After surgery I tried to start it back up again and my blood pressure went north so my family doc took me off of it. Around this time I had met this girl at my job who had gastric bypass in March of 06' and she sat down and talked with me about her experiences with it. After talking with her I decided to pursue having WLS. I talked with my family doctor about it and she referred me to the Weight Loss Clinic in Harrisburg. I went to a consult appointment to determine if I was eligible for surgery and was told I qualifed for both LapBand and RNY. Next, I had my consult with the surgeon, Dr. DiMarco, and he discussed with me both surgeries again and really pushed for me to have the LapBand. He believes that it will be the best choice for me and quite frankly I'm glad. I didn't realize how scared I was to make a choice between Lap and RNY. Anyways, Dr. D's office submitted my paperwork to my insurance for approval on 3/7/07 and now it's time to twiddle my thumbs and wait!
