* Amanda *.
I can honestly say that I have not always been big. As I think about how old I am now though it seems like I have been overweight half of my life. I have always had a huge appetite. Before surgery I could eat and eat and eat. That is how I got to where I am today. I never noticed that my appetite was too big when I was younger because I was so active and athletic that I could easily burn those extra calories off. Of course with age and responsibility I have found less and less time to be active. I also had a foot injury from a previous job that greatly reduced my ability to be active. Walking is now an everyday pain for me. I am hopeful that with this surgery I will decrease the amount of foot pain that I have with the decrease in weight. I am a single parent, have been for all of my son's life. I recently put myself through college and received my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Information Systems. As hard as it was to do this while being a single parent and working full time, I know that this degree allowed me to get my current job which had the excellent insurance to cover this surgery. That being said, I hate my job so much right now. There is no security and jobs are going overseas everyday. While I was out recovering from Lap Band surgery 5 of my very good friends at work were laid off. Ever since then I have been expected to put in anywhere from 10-12 hours a day with no extra pay, and this is right after returning to work from having this surgery. I am convinced that my employer is not concerned about me or my health or they would not place such demands on my time. Therefore I am actively seeking new employment. Anyway, back to WLS, this has been one of the best decisions of my life. I chose not to tell many people of my decision initially. I told my mother, my son, my ex-boyfriend(we are still close), and a co-worker from my former job. I didn't tell anyone else. I know how judgemental people can be, especially my family and I didn't want to hear anyone's opinion. I gave a lot of thought to this and my mind was made up. Now, after my surgery, I have slowly told more people, my father, my brother, a couple of aunts and uncles and one person at my new job. At this point I don't really care what anyone thinks of my decision because it was just that, my decision. My doctor had me on the 2 week liquid diet. I remember them saying it gets better after the first few days, NOT. This was definitely not the case for me, the entire 2 weeks was torture and I was so happy when the day of surgery finally arrived. I knew that I would be on liquids for another week but at least I would not be so hungry. Before my 2 week diet I weighed 328lbs, on the day of surgery I was 315lbs, the last time I weighed myself I was 297.8. So, I am making lots of progress right now. I am careful not to weigh myself too often. I am not feeling much restriction at this point since I am still unfilled. First fill is 4/16/07 and I can't weight. I feel like I can eat anything in any quantity. I am careful not to eat as much as I want to but I think I am still eating more than I should. My doctor progressed me very quickly. One day clear liquids, one week full liquids, one week mushies, one week soft foods, and by week four I was slowly introducing regular foods in small bites and chewed very well. The only thing that I don't tolerate too well as of right now is rice. I don't have any problems with bread or pasta although I try to limit consumption of these as much as possible. This is really hard though because I love bread and pasta. So far this process has been great, I have not had any complications, nothing has gotten stuck, no PB'ing or anything. I love OH and how supportive everyone is.
Epiphany
By Chrisette Michele
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