Debbie D.
Hello, my name is Debbie. I have been married to the same wonderful man, David, for 17 years. Have 2 stepchildren: Josh (25), Erin (23) and our sons: Luke (16), Jake (12) and we have a beautiful 20 month old grandson, Kameron, whose Mother is Erin. We also have two dogs. Ginger is around 9 years old. She's a half German Shepherd and half Golden Retriever. She weighs around 90 lbs. We also have a black toy poodle. Her name is Precious. She weighs around 5.5 lbs. It truly is like the lion and the lamb! lol
I started looking into wls in December of 2005. I can't believe it's been over a year now! I have been battling my weight since I was around 5 years old. I can remember being in sixth grade and being on a diet with a classmate as well as our teacher. It was a calorie diet. I think we had 1200 calories per day and exercised almost every day. My Mom and Dad did the exercising with me. I lost 70 lbs! When I entered 7th grade (a new school district) I wore like a size 10. I also got very sick that year with mono and actually missed 126 days of school. I was actually in the hospital for 2 weeks and then had some kind of sleeping sickeness. When I did return to school I could only go from until Noon. Mr. Oyer, the principal, actually drove me home. My home was about 8 miles from the school and at that time my parents only had one car and Dad had to drive it to work. I always liked Mr. Oyer and always told him Thank you. About 10 years ago we joined a local church and Mr. Oyer was a member of that church. I went up and told him how much my parents and I appreciated his willingness to drive me home every day from school. He smiled and said "Well, I enjoyed the break from school too!" We all had a good laugh. Mr. Oyer went to be with our Heavenly Father a few years ago. I know I will see him again someday.
Back to the weight problem. I started gaining weight in 9th grade and slowly gained back the 70 pounds plus more. I joined weight watchers several times during those 4 years of high school and would lose then gain back more than I had lost in the first place. After High School I went to our local community college. I was probably in my middle twenties before I actually lost the weight. When I married my husband 17 years ago I wore a size 12. I gained 50 lbs with our first son and another 50 lbs with our second son. I have never been able to get the weight off since then. Our youngest son is 12 years old. The last diet I tried was in January 2005 at Slim4 Life. I lost 30 lbs but then ended up gaining the 30 lbs plus about 20 more.
In the past 10 years I have the developed the following: Hypothyroidism, Diebeties II, High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure and Sleep Apena. This is on top of the Chronic Fatique Syndrome and Chronic Lyme Disease. I was diag. with CFS back in 1985 and Lyme Disease in 1995. I had a tick bite with a bullseye rash back in 1987, however, no one knew about lyme disease at that time. So I went untreated for almost 10 years. After many years of antibotic treatments, the last lyme test showed negative. I hope it's right! Seems like the tests change every time I turn around. There really is no CFS treatment but I have tried numerous double blinded studies thru my doctor's office. Seems like the treatment would help for a few months then it would be just like it was before I started treatment. I feel that although there is really nothing I can do about the CFS that I can reduce and/or elimnate most of the other health problems I have thru wls.
My husband and boys are very supportive of my decision. My parents are really afraid and are worried about me. I assured them that I have done over a year of studing lap rny and have talked to my Cardiologist, Infectious Disease Doctor, my Sleep Doctor and my PCP and all of these doctors agree that this surgery is a good option for me. My Mom and I go to the same Cardiologist and we usually go at the same time. We went to see her last November and she even sat down and talked to my Mom about the benefits I would receive from the lap rny. I told my parents that once I truly had decided to do this that I didn't want them badgering me and trying to talk me out of it. That I want their support. They agreed they would support whatever decision I made.
I have been a member of the Missouri Board since July 17, 2006. Sadly to say this is the first time I've actually typed up my story! I'll have to start the blog soon!
Thanks to everyone for always being so caring and willing to help whenever they can!
