Kelly B.
I haven't always been overweight, although I always thought I was. In 8th grade I remember weighing 140 lbs and thinking I was fat (I'm 5'3"). But I don't really know how I got here at 260 lbs. I remember working with someone when I was in my early 20s who told me she weighed 200 lbs. I remember thinking "oh my god! Please kill me if I ever weigh that much!" But here I am closer to 300 than 200. And there wasn't really anything standing in the way of me hitting that 300 eventually. I tried to tell myself to just accept it, that I was just who I was and I had to learn to be happy this way. It never worked. Being overweight was something that was always there. I couldn't ever stop thinking about it or being embarrassed about it or worrying about it. It was ALWAYS there. My husband is awesome. He loves me for me and only cares about my weight because I care about it. He has always been supportive through all of the diets and programs and successes and failures and tears I have shed over it all.
I had started looking into bariatric surgery about 2 years ago. I researched bypass surgery and even called my insurance company to get info, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do it. Then I heard about lapband surgery and I started researching that. Lapband sounded like something I would be willing to do. My mom went with me to an info seassion at a local hospital on the topic of bariatric surgery. That's where I met my surgeon, Dr Goldstein. He only does lapband surgery and I made an appt with him for March 2, 2007. At the appt he gave me this list of things I had to do: get tested for sleep apnea (have a sleep study done), get an EKG, have my primary doctor write me a letter in support of my decision to have surgery, blood tests, upper GI (barium swallow), get copies of my medical records showing that I've been overweight for at least 5 years, complete 3-6 months of medically supervised weight loss. This last was accomplished by joining New Beginnings, a program run through the hospital that provides psychological screening, nutrition classes, support groups, and monthly meetings with a nurse. I also would have to stop taking my medication for Rheumatoid Arthritis two weeks before surgery and stay off it until 2 weeks after surgery and I had to get this cleared by my Rheumatologist. It took until early July to get everything on the list completed. The sleep study is what really held things up. I had to get an appt with the pulmonologist (April 11), then get an appt for the sleep study (May 17), wait for the results to come back (June 1) and then get an appt with the pulmonologist again (July 6). I practically cried everytime I found out how long I had to wait for the next step. I asked to be put on every cancellation list and I would call myself to see if anything sooner had openned up, but it never did. I finally got scheduled for surgery on August 9, but on August 7 I found out that everything hadn't gone through correctly with my insurance and I would have to reschedule it. That was a very low day. I finally did have surgery on 8/29/07 and I am now two weeks out and I'm feeling really good. My fear now is will this really work for me? Is it possible for me to really lose weight? Can I really get an after picture? I had my first post-op appt today. I've lost 13 lbs so far. He told me that I can start taking my arthritis meds again (thank god!). I have really started feeling the pain from that. It's amazing how well the meds were working and how easy it is to forget what it was like before I started taking them. But it will all be worth it (I hope!)
