rixgirl80
I am a 49 year old woman and I have been struggling to manage my weight since my early twenties. I had gastric bypass surgery in 2002 in an effort to get myself in better physical condition, so that I could be prepared to care for my disabled husband should his degenerative disc disease progress to the point that he is wheelchair bound. Fortunately, we are not at that point yet, and I still have time to get control of my weight. I experienced tremendous success with my initial surgery. I was 280 pounds when I had the surgery and was down to 140 within 2 years. I never really used any of the support groups or other tools available to get there. The weight just sort of melted away. I really didn't have to do much at all. Unfortunately, that all meant that I didn't really develop any healthy habits and didn't have anywhere to turn when the weight started to come back little by little.
Finally, in May of last year, I mustered up the courage to go back to my surgeon and face up to my failure. Much to my amazement, neither my doctor nor any of his staff treated me at all like a failure in any way. They were all very happy to see me and wanted to help me get back on track in any way they could. We ultimately decided that a Band over Bypass revision was the best approach. My pre-op appointment is scheduled for April 29, and my surgery will likely be sometime before the end of May.
My commitment this time around is so very different than it was nine years ago. I feel like I have been blessed to have been given this second chance, and I intend to make the most of every lesson learned to see it through this time. One huge lesson I learned is that I cannot do this alone. I need the support of others who truly understand what I am going through - both as an obese person and also as someone who is not obese and has to deal with struggling not to be each and every day of her life.
Thank you for a taking a few minutes to read my story.