SassyMcClassy
I was a normal weight for most of my life.
Sure, I had a few ups and downs...
The freshman 15 and lost it without much effort...
My first pregnancy and lost it with a little more effort, but still not hard
My second pregnancy. Well, here's where my troubles began...
My second daughter was born in August of 2000 on my 30th birthday. She's the best birthday present I've ever gotten! I had gained 70 pounds. So, when she was born I weighed 195 pounds. I gained just about the same amount with my first daughter. So, I thought...no big deal, I'll lose it again.
Well, the weight started coming off slowly. I got down to about 165 pounds by August of 2001, but I noticed that I was feeling very tired along with a plethora of other symptoms. Come to find out I had/have Graves' Disease. I had radioactive iodine ablation therapy to destroy my thyroid on April 1, 2002. Well, it was quite the April Fool's joke.
One: My doctor didn't inform me that RAI can exasperate Thyroid Eye Disease and I already had symptoms with swollen upper eyelids. After RAI my eyes looked like that of a bug-eyed cartoon character. I've since endured orbital decompression and upper/lower eyelid debulking to return my eyes to normal appearance, and other eye/orbital/muscle surgeries related to Thyroid Eye Disease. If you didn't know me before you'd think they looked normal, but they will never look the same and I'm very self-conscious about my eyes because they still look big to me.
Two: My doctor didn't put me on thyroid replacement hormones. He told me that I wouldn't need them for several months. In the meantime I went from 165 pounds to 210 pounds. I went to another doctor who was shocked at my thyroid hormone levels and immediately placed me on a high dose of thyroid hormones.
It took me a while and it was a hard battle but I got down to about 165 pounds again with the help of phentermine. However, as soon as I was off of it, I went right back up to 185 pounds....then 190...then 195. So, I went back to my primary physician and got back on the phentermine. Again, I got down to 165 pounds. I got off the phentermine again. I went back up to 180 pounds...then 185...then 190...then 198...then 201...then 207...then 212.
My weight started affecting more than me. Because I was so self-conscious I didn't want to go to my daughters' school events, I didn't want to go in public without someone with me, I didn't even want to put on shorts to go in my own back yard. I feel like a fat, ugly freak because of my weight and my eyes.
My surgery is scheduled for September 9th. I'm gonna lose this weight once and for all. I resigned from my teaching job so that I could make my weight loss, my health, my husband, and my children my job. I'm excited, so excited! I'm a little scared too. It's gonna be a new journey for me...and I'm ready!
I started at 212 pounds and I'm 5'2"
