Pam211
This is my story that I posted on my blog on April 6th, 2010.
My Story
Today is Tuesday, April 6, 2010. I am 6 days away from gastric bypass surgery. My weight has been an issue for almost as long as I can remember. I was born weighing 9 lbs. 3oz., 24 inches long, and from what I am told, I was a very "skinny" baby. I can remember as a young child being thin until I got in second grade. I'm not sure what happened, but during that second grade year I started "ballooning". For the most of my years through school I remained overweight. In my Sophomore year of high school we had a medical fair one day and when they took my blood pressure it was elevated. My mother took me to see our family doctor, and he informed me that he was not about to put a 15 year old on blood pressure medication when all I needed to do was loose weight. He sat down and told me that my thoughts about food were going to change and he was not putting me on a diet, but he was going to make me change my eating habits. He told me I had to write down everything I ate and bring it back to him in 3 weeks. Much to my surprise when I went back in three weeks I had lost 9 lbs. He continued to see me monthly until I had lost over 40 lbs. For the first time since my childhood I was actually normal sized and I felt wonderful. My self-esteem was restored.
I continued to keep the weight off until I went off to college and even then I only gained 5 lbs. I came home after that year and started eating my mother's wonderful cooking and ended up gaining another 10 lbs. by the time I got married in 1982. I stayed at that weight until I got pregnant with my first son and gained 50 lbs. during my pregnancy. Afterwards I got to within 20 lbs. of my pre-pregnancy weight. I stayed there for over a year and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't lose those extra 20 lbs. Eventually I gave up and said "to heck with it". I ended up gaining another 50 lbs. When I started talking to my husband about having another baby he refused to let me get pregnant until I lost weight because of my blood pressure. At that time I decided to go to Form U 3, and in four months I had lost over 60 lbs, and was 6 lbs. from my goal weight when I got pregnant with my second son. I again gained 50 lbs., and I got down to within 30 lbs. after giving birth.
However, while I was pregnant with my second son my mother had passed away. Then when my son was three months old my husband got a job where he was working nights and here I was with a newborn, a six year old, no mother and now what seemed like no husband; I would put my children to bed at night and then I would raid the Little Debbie's from the cupboard. I would buy three to four boxes of Little Debbie's every week and I would have a "package" from each box every night. As time went on I continued to gain weight and eventually I reached a place where I would maintain for a while and then each year I would just add another 10 lbs. or so, till I finally reached my highest weight earlier this year. I am now 175 lbs. overweight.
After years of Weight Watchers and fighting the idea of bariatric surgery, I have finally given up and decided to do it. My boys are both adults now and I have finally decided it's time to do something for myself. I have four older sisters that are between 16-23 years older than me and of the four, one has always been able to maintain her weight, while the other three have struggled just like myself. When I look at the three who've struggled like myself, two have had heart attacks, one has had a stroke, and one has diabetes. The one sister who has always maintained her weight gets around great. My mother passed away at the age of 67 with atrial fibulation, which was brought on by her many health problems as a result of her obesity. My mother did not have the opportunity in her lifetime to have gastric bypass, but I am sure if she had had this opportunity she would have taken it. SOOOOO....that being said I am going to proceed with this procedure in memory of my mother and in honor of my children and future grandchildren I hope to be able to spend quality time with.
