leslieg
Hi Everyone! My name is Leslie and so happy that I have this wonderful support tool at my fingertips! A little about me...I'm 37 and have two great kids, a 17 YO son and 11 YO daughter, and a spoiled dog who thinks she is human. I am a systems analyst, so needless to say I sit on my ass all day and don't get much exercise (Hmmm...can I somehow blame the company for being obese? LOL) I love my job. I work for a huge health system and we are in the process of installing a totally electronic health record...no more paper charts...everything from xrays to nursing notes all documented and displayed electronically. We are on the cutting edge of technology. I am currently leading the installations of the Emergency Room software and also the Pharmacy application at one of our sites...so I am pretty busy with work.
Outside of that, my kids keep me hopping. Both are talented swimmers so I spend a lot of free time at swimming pools. Since I was there so much, it made sense for me to sit on the board of directors for the aquatic club. YES I am insane! Why is it that it is always the busiest people like myself who step up into these situations?? My son is also an avid outdoorsman, and my daughter is a pretty good softball player.
A little history on what brought me here...3 1/2 years ago I had a pretty bad fall and broke my right ankle and left foot. Since then, I had surgery on the heel of the right foot, and I am now in a brace because I need a tendon replacement which I don't have time to schedule until the fall of 2005 (work work work!!) My foot and ankle specialist told me that there is a 50% chance that I could have the same problem with the other foot, but weight loss would help prevent that from happening. He recommended that I see Dr. Quinlin at Pittsburgh Bariatrics. I was a little apprehensive about that, because I had heard some horror stories about WLS. I told him I would think about it.
But really it was a no brainer. At 37, there is no way I wanted to continue going through joint surgeries. Besides the feet, I am very lucky to be as healthy as I am considering my weight, but I know that risk of developing serious health problem is so high, and quite frankly it scares me! I have been overweight all of my life, and been up and down on the diet roller coaster. Probably like most of you, I've tried and failed at Weight Watchers, Optifast, Atkins, the list goes on and on. I have lost and regained hundreds of pounds. I can honestly say though that socially, I didn't really suffer because of my weight. I am very outgoing and do not have low self-esteem. I don't have a bunch of regrets of things that I wished I had done. I am very thankful for that.
On 02/19/05 my Mom and I went to the Pgh Bariatrics WLS informational seminar. (she is overweight also with more foot problems than I could ever imagine...must run in the family! She said if this was something that I pursued and it worked for me then she may consider it for herself) The info was great! Dr. Q was very knowledgable, and reviewed the pros and cons of the surgery. He was very direct, and did not try to sugar coat anything, which I really liked. A week later they called me and said that I was a candidate for surgery. I scheduled an appointment for March 1, but had to cancel and could not get in again until the beginning of April.
I am so looking forward to a healthier lifestyle. I am ready to begin down the path of this lifelong journey! It is exciting and scary all at the same time.
