Micheleaner
Well I finally made the decision to have the surgery after several years of ups and downs in my weight with a top weight of 309. I had reached 225 and went down to 170 on my own with meridia and playing tennis daily, however my sister died suddenly at age 30 in October of 2004. I moved from Richmond, VA to be near my parents in Northern VA and the only way I knew to get through the grief and pain was to stuff myself. It is like I wanted to hurt myself for being the one left behind and the only thing that helped me from missing her to the point of physical pain was to eat and eat anything and everything to fill the hole. I didnt leave the house or work or do anything for a year and a half. I finally had to get a job when the money ran out and ended up with a job with an 3 hour + round-trip commute.
Once I reached 275 lbs around April 2006 I went to a seminar on gastric bypass and decided to go ahead and get the process moving. I was working for GEICO and had BC/BS Insurance, however GEICO put a clause into our policies which 1) required that the patient be an employee for at least 5 years and 2) they would only cover Gastric Bypass. The other clause they had is that they would not cover ANY weighloss treatment of any kind except the surgery as aforementioned conditions were met. Ridiculous huh! (GEICO sucked anyway...I am starting a new job with better pay and a 10 minute commute!) Anyway, the cost of self-pay was way too high so I gave up the idea.
When I reached 305 and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, felt like I was going to pass out all of the time and couldnt stand for more than 5 minutes at a time I knew something had to be done. My primary care physician, Dr. Augustine Dolcich (who is the best ever) recommended that I look into the lap-band through Pinnar Surgical. I put it off for a few months and then my father told me about the money he had set aside for me from the sale of my sister's house and that if I wanted to have WLS we could use that and maybe get a loan for the rest. It was a very bittersweet decision to make. I know that my sister would have wanted me to have it and use it for something good, yet it was really sad to me...does that make sense? So, I went online and registered for the seminar. It lasted 3 hours, but I was convinced by the end of the first hour that this was for me. I had the surgery on 6/27/07 by Dr. Robert Pinnar in Reston, VA. I am very excited about the journey ahead of me. I dont want to waste any more of my life being miserable, unhealthy and lacking any self-confidence! I want to be here for my parents and friends, who have taken such good care of me I could never thank them enough.
