onechunkymonkey
From birth to the age of 8 I was as thin as a rail. I wore the size of clothing that my age was. At 3 years old I wore a 3. At 4 years old I wore a 4. At 5 years old I wore a 5. When I turned 8 I started to gain weight rapidly. I can actually remember having conversations with my mom about Stretch marks at the age of 9. I had shown my mom what I thought was a rash on my thigh and my mom explained to me what a stretch mark was. As 9 years old, I could have cared less that I was gaining weight faster than my skin could handle. When I turned 11 I weighed 130Lbs. When I was 13 I weighed 175 Lbs. I am 25 years old right now and I weigh 227 Lbs. I am not a very tall person at 5 foot 2 inches tall. I carry most of my weight in my stomach. When I got pregnant with my daughter Ashleigh in 2002 I was at 215Lbs. By the time I had her, By Emergency C-Section, I was 236Lbs. Not bad for a full term pregnancy of a Gestational Diabetic mother.
After I had Ashleigh my stomach looked so gross. It was shaped very differently than it was before I got pregnant. All of my stomach hangs now. When I sit, it rests on my legs a little. I have a spare tire for lack of better words. Because of the C-Section, I have very bad nerve damage. I still have not feeling from my belly button down to my Pubic line. With that being said, it has been a very hard uphill struggle to lose any weight. Because I can't feel the lower half of my stomach I get bruises really easy. Most of the time I do not even know how I get them. I am tired of being over weight and un healthy. I want to have the RNY WLS to improve my health while my daughter is still young. My daughter will be 5 in August. It is so hard to play with her without getting short of breath and very tired after 10 minutes. I want to make sure that the last few years I have to spend mommy daughter time with her, I take full advantage of.
My current list of ailments are as follows:
Persistent Heart Burn more than 5 days a week
Asthma with shortness of breath while I am active
Plantar fasciaitis in both feet
Arthritis in my right Ankle - This is because I have had two surgery's on it. I pulled all of the tendons and ligaments off the bone, TWICE! I had to have both surgeries in order to walk. Currently, I am waiting to have the third surgery. My Podiatrist has refused to do the surgery until I lose a large amount of weight. This is so that I have less of a chance of re-injuring it. He also said that I can not exercise on my ankle until I have the surgery. If I do exercise, I run the risk of causing more damage to the part that has already been fixed. WHAT A LOVELY CATCH 22
Numbness in my hands and feet when I am in certain positions
Back, neck, hip, ankle & knee pain that does not stop
MIGRAINES - I am currently taking 3 Methadone a night as a preventative measure. (Yes I said Methadone.) I have tried everything under the sun to get my Migraines under control. After 2 years of telling my PCP that I did not want to do Methadone, she won the battle and wrote me a Rx. Needless to say, she knew what she was doing, like she always does. The side effects I have because of this medication are = Memory loss and lapse, Mood swings, Severe Tiredness, Borderline laziness and loss in sexual drive. But for the most part, my headaches are few and far between! Thank GOD~
My PCP, Orna Hananel, MD@ San Rafael Kaiser, sent my Weight Loss Surgery referral in May 2007. I had the first class on 7/20/07. During this class you learn the difference between Lap-Band and Gastric Bypass. You also complete a 7 page pamphlet and hand it in. I was told that I would have a response from Richmond Bariatrics within two months. The surgery I will choose to have is the RNY Gastric Bypass.
With all of that said - I am anxiously waiting for a response. I have stayed up late every night reading, researching, bloging and communicating with people who are, or have been, in my shoes. I can not get enough information about WLS. So, I am here on obesityhelp.com learning about WLS daily.
THANKS for viewing my page. I will update my status every time something changes. Until next time, I hope that everything is working out for you and that you are happy with the cards you are currently being dealt.