RachelSA
8/31/06
Hello. My name is Rachel. I weigh 236 lbs. and wear a size 20. This is by far the biggest I’ve ever been in my life. I’m very excited to say, however, that I am about to embark on the most exciting journey of my life. I’m planning on having gastric bypass surgery in October or November.
Its hard to explain how I got to this point in my life. When I was a child, I was not overweight per say. I matured very early and was very strong. At the time, however, I did believe myself to be fat. I got teased frequently; called names like “elephant” because of my last name, which sounds slightly similar. It really took a toll on my self-esteem at an early age. I never, never have felt comfortable in my body. In elementary school all the way through high school, I was an athlete. I was a very good athlete at that. I excelled at every sport I played. I remember that I weighed around 175 lbs. my junior and senior years. That to me was HUGE. I look back at photos, however, and I looked good. I was very strong and had a lot of muscle mass. I would be very happy to have that body now.
Later, in college, I herniated a disc in my back. I was in extreme pain for several months. I became very depressed, both about my back, and about being alone in a new place. I didn’t know it at the time, but I do believe that I may have turned to food to comfort myself at that time. By the end of my freshman year, I weighed around 200 lbs. I was miserable. The following year, a doctor prescribed me Fen-Phen at my request. My friend’s father had experienced great success with the drug. Within 3 months, I was down to 155! I was thrilled. I felt good about how I looked for the first time in my life. I still wanted to be a bit thinner, but not enough to really work at it. I felt good. I started to gain the weight back once I hit my all time low of 155, but it came back very slowly. So I felt good about how I looked for a few years. However, it has now been about 10 years since I was on Fen-Phen and now I’ve hit my all time high of 236; at least that is what I weighed the last time I went to the doctor. I am afraid I’ve gained a bit more even and don’t want to know.
The last time I went to the doctor happens to be when I went to have a consultation with a weight loss surgeon; Dr. Steggeman. It is strange how I ended up looking at the possibility of surgery. My sister is a psychologist who works with surgical weight loss patients. A year or two ago, she started asking me if I had looked into the possibility for myself. I must admit that I was a bit offended. I did not consider myself big enough for surgery. That is what people who weigh over 300 lbs. do. At the time, I probably weighed around 210. At that time, I still had the energy to try one more diet; one more exercise program. And I did. And I gained it all back plus more…again.
I took a trip to Costa Rica in June. I wanted to lose weight before the trip, however, this time it was different. I was unable to muster up the motivation to try to lose weight once more. I finally felt defeated. It only took 20 years of dieting to finally feel this way. I realized that my body did not want to cooperate with my weight loss efforts, and that I needed help. I looked on the internet for local surgical weight loss centers here in San Antonio. This is when I found New Dimensions. I liked the web site a lot and felt very comfortable with the center from the beginning. I signed up for one of their seminars, still thinking that there was only a slight chance that I would actually qualify for the surgery. I didn’t know if I was indeed “fat” enough for gastric bypass.
I was lucky that my mother happened to be in town from Minnesota when the seminar was held and she accompanied me. After the seminar both of us felt even more comfortable with the center and with the surgeon who presented. Also, I found out that I did qualify for surgery and that my insurance company would probably even cover it. I was so excited!
About two days later I called my insurance company thinking I was just calling to see how many months diet they required before they would approve. I was shocked and horrified to find out that my insurance has a exclusion for WLS. I cried.
The I did the math and found out that in order to pay for the surgery myself I would need to make an extra $100/week. So I got up, went to the first restaurant that I could think of where I would like to work and got the job on the spot. I am a full time teacher at an urban high school which is exhausting by itself, but I want this badly enough that I am willing to do what it takes.
8/20/06
Hello again. Update. Waitressing is going fine. I can't imagine doing this for 5 more years, but I'm managing. I'll come up with another plan. I'm thinking about getting my real estate license and doing that part time. Anyway, great news! Last week I was approved for my surgery loan. I thought I would but there is always doubt since I think I am stretched pretty thin by this point. And I got a decent rate on top of that. The paperwork is on my surgeon's desk. His signature is all I need and we then schedule a date! I am shooting for October 5th. That is when my mother can fly down to help me.
