JustJo
Hello fellow OH'ers! I am a 57-yr.-old wife, mother, & grandma--these are the roles that give me the greatest happiness! I am also a high school guidance counselor (was a h.s. English teacher for 17 years before that), and I am eagerly awaiting retirement in June of 2007! I had RNY wls in Aug. of 2004, and I continue to thank God for providing the way for me to get healthy and enjoy life in a way that I hadn't for decades!
My husband Ron and I have been married for 35 years and have 3 grown kids. Matt (31) is married, is a loan officer in a bank, and lives in St. Louis; Heidi (28) is single and is a social worker in Chicago; Andrea (26) is married, is a h.s. math teacher, and lives in central IL. Our son & daughter-in-law have given us a most precious gift--two darling grandsons--Luke (4) and Ben (2).
My weight problem began in my early 20's, about a year after I was married. My parents were killed in an airplane crash, and food became my "drug of choice." This devastating event was nearly unbearable. It affected so many areas of my life "inside," which unfortunately showed "outside" in the form of obesity. When I was married, I weighed about 135. My parents died about a year later. Approximately a year after that, I had put on about 50 lbs. This was only the beginning; over the following 3 decades, I gained to my heaviest weight of 295 lbs.
I dieted many, many times. Unlike some people, I NEVER had trouble losing weight. No matter what diet or method I used, I lost weight. However, I NEVER maintained any significant loss; in fact, I re-gained weight at an almost unbelievable rate! I can't count the number of times I lost between 20-40 lbs. Several times I lost more like 50-70 lbs. Twice I lost over 100 lbs.! Each time that I lost a really significant amount, I was POSITIVE that I was "really getting it"; however, all I "got" was an eventually higher weight than I started with.
It was very, very sad to me that all other areas of my life--my family, my career, my Christianity and church family, my extended family, my abundant number of friends, my social life--were everything I'd ever hoped for, but my compulsive overeating cast a darkness over all the rest.
There were 2 things that made me seriously look into wls. My niece had RNY about 2 years before I did, and I knew that my family would be as supportive of me as they were of her. And even more important, I became a grandmother for the first time! That was a real wake-up call! I wanted to be able to play with my grandson better than I had been able to with my own kids, and I wanted to grow old enough to see all future grandchildren!
From the moment I started researching and seeking wls, absolutely everyone was supportive--family, friends, co-workers! I don't know if I could have pursued this if my husband and kids had not been 100% behind me. I received very, very few comments/questions that were somewhat negative; everyone was happy for me and gave me such encouragement.
Of course, I had many emotions before my surgery as I was doing my research, jumping through insurance hoops, and waiting for the actual date! However, I had prayed through every step of the process and trusted that God still had plans for my life! With tears of nervousness but great excitement, I was wheeled into surgery on Aug. 31, 2004!
