LuckyMama
Hello Guys, My name is Tina and I had RNY, Laparoscopically on 11/23/2009 with the best surgeon in the country - Dr. Frantzides. My road to healthy life was tough as I fough my HMO plan for 13 months. I had to hire legal help and even go to a higher level of authority for help - Department of Insurance. Despite, all this I didnt give up, my life was more important to me and I was gonna fight for it. The HMO did its best to send me to hell back and forth, but as my doctor say: " A great patient is a complient patient"...I did comply with everything my insurance wanted from A to Z and they still kept denying me, they disregarded my doctor but I fought for him with every single thing I had left in me. At the end, it was not the Department of Insurance or my Attorney that broke the case for me, but me. I did it because I was persistent, I did my research and I knew how to defend my case, so at the last push, I helped my attorneys with the last breaking points, which did it for us. And thats how, after long and exhausting 13 months, I concurred my HMO, so for all of you out there that want to give up easily, dont. Insurances have their Achilles Heel and cant be beat, trust me.
My mom and dad where normal size all their lives. The only over weight person in my family was my grandma (my dads mom), to whom I am named after. Little did I know I wont carry only her name but her fat gens as well.
I was always heavy. Not really, really heavy as a little kid, but always the one that was chunkier than the rest of the kids in school. During my teenage years, I was always on diets. My mom was dragging me to all sorts of different doctors to determine why was I getting bigger and bigger. Every doctor had his own oppinion - gens, period, phase of life, eating too much, thyroid...anything that they could tell and get my mom out of the office was pretty much said and done. I was on all sorts of diets, you name it, I have done it. My mom took me to fat camps, bought me every weight loss book out there, any gadget that will make me skinny, took me to have acupuncture...and not to mention telling me what to eat and how much to eat, pretty much my entire life.
In high school, I was always the "thick" friend. I was pretty, I had a great hair, good clothes, not as fat as I have become now..but not as skinny, skinny as my class mates were. I compensated this by being the "cool", "always happy", "making fun of myself" friend. My friends loved being with me, I was really popular, had tons of friends and had a pretty good teenage years.
Then came college and hard core dating began..Well, I starved myself to fit in and I did. I end up having the worst anemia ever and faithing was normal for me. I pretty much lived on cigarrets and coffee..I ate once in a while and I still didnt get skinny, skinny as most of my friends. I always had boys chase after me, but nothing really that serious. They pretty much fell in love or slept with some of my skinny friends, after they met them, and of course I "didnt mind" because I was "the always happy friend".
In 2001, I moved to the US.. Here my curves, I was about 170 pounds then, were a hit. I had all sorts of guys go crazy for me at the bars..I didnt know why. That kinda made me relax a bit and I gained some weight..I was up to about 180.. My mom couldnt believe it, some of friend attacked me and I began the "salad diet"...Yep, my invention..Starve all day at work, work out for 2 hours each day after work and eat only one salad for dinner, with no dressing. Four months of this, made me down to 150.. I loved it. I looked hot, felt hotter and hungrier than I have ever been in my entire life. Then I met Alex.
Alex is the dream man. He loves me for me not for what I look like. We fell in love and married in 2005. He met me at 150 and married me at 235, the heaviest I have ever been at that time. I still remember one new years eve, I couldnt fit into my pants and when I stepped on the scale I saw 200 pounds..I was never that big. I spent new years, crying my eyes out in bed and he laid there, holding me. How could I not love him?
Then I began my endless guest with Weight Watchers..That pretty much sucked. I will spent 6 monts loosing 35 pounds to only gain them and 50 more on top. I did that for like 3 years...loosing, gaining. Till the summer of 2008 when we went to see Ricky Martin concert.. I barely fit into the seat. I couldnt believe it. I have never in my life felt so bad. Instead of enjoying the concert, I just stared and thought of how big I have become. Then couple of weeks later, my friend invited me to her cabin in the woods of Wisconsin. We got there, made a bon fire, pulled out the camping chairs and when I sat down, I broked it. I cant begin to tell you, how embarassing that was. I broked the chair. I came home and told my husband "Baby, I have officially broken my first peace of furniture due to my weight"...We hugged and laughed.. I also noticed that I was asking my husband to help tigh my shoe laces.
Walking was a chore, taking the steps to our 3rd floor condo was a work out. I started getting migraines every day, It got bad.. So, one day..I said to myself, thats it. People say surgery is the easy way out, but I have tried the "not easy" way for 29 years pretty much and has gotten me to 292 pounds, so its time to take the fast train home. My weight has become a prison for me. I find myself trying to come up with an excuse after excuse to not go out and meet people. I have avoided all my husband's work gatherings because I dont want people to make fun of him due to my weight. I have missed the graduation parties of my friends. I have skipped photos of family gatherings, I have avoided seeing my in laws for about 3 years..I became angry, very easily iritated, I am unable to have a baby, I cant walk for more than 10 min...all due to my weight. Lately the situation has become really bad as I thought that I could actually die in my sleep, as I could barely breath. So, I think I am ready to change that and live a healthy, happy life with my amazing husband who stood by me every step of the way. I love you baby and I always will.
