RRuth
I am a 38 year old, soon to be 39, married mother of two absolutely wonderful children. I have battled the bulge most of my life after starting out small and skinny. I was born very early and was small up until about 5th or 6th grade. At that time I started to gain weight and started trying to lose weight. The attempts started small, when I only had a small amount to lose, such as eating less and joining the swim team. That was ok, did not last long. I hated all of the teasing and taunting that goes along with being a chunky girl, teasing from both family and friends. I did not deal with that well and started eating more just to "show them" that I would do what I wanted to. I believe that was my way of being a rebel, I do follow the rules! My first "major" attempt at losing was doing the Atkins diet in the summer before my 10th grade year. It worked for a while, then I gained back more. This was the result that occured with every attempt since. I have done WW, OA, diet doctors in Juarez, one here, Medifast, WW again, First Place, even acupuncture and two other attempts at Atkins. Yes, all of these attempts were successful, for a while. I always gained back my excess poundage and then some. I have probably lost 150 pounds or more at one time or another. I have thought about this surgery for a long time but really never thought that I would qualify (denial, big time) or that I could pay for it. Well, my PCP is the one that recommended that I take a more serious look at this procedure. He has been battling with me for about three years now. So, with his referral I started the process in August of 2006. I did have to have the 6 month supervised diet before my insurance approved me, so I went through that. The next step was insurance approval, done after the package was sent to the insurance. That took about 3 weeks or so. Then I had to do the testing for clearance. That did take a while, but I did get cleared. Now, I have a date for 6/25. I can't wait. I want to be healthy for my kids, I feel that they get so short changed because they have a MO Mom. I want to be able to do things with them, from getting up and down from the floor to riding rides and being able to keep up. I thank God for my family and for the opportunity to receive this tool to help me get healthy. Please keep me in your prayers.
