Tamee B.
It was a dark and stormy night . . .
39 at this writing - 277 lbs - approximately 4 - 6 weeks from surgery with no expectation that I won't be approved - I meet all criteria and this is a covered benefit on my insurance.
I've got a wildly supportive group of friends, family, practitioners, and colleagues behind me - no naysayers, at least none who have thus far been brave enough to take me on. Most, my parents in particular, wanted a lot of information on safety, outcomes, my surgeon, etc., and seem to be if not confident, than at least comfortable with my decision.
My husband, Jason, has gotten himself so far up on board, someone is going to make him an admiral if he's not careful. Jason is an ICU nurse, and has seen pretty intimately what is in my future if I don't get my healthy body out from under all this fat. I'm sure he'll enjoy having a skinny gorgeous wife, but I really do owe him a debt of gratitude for being my own personal health advocate. He always has the answers I need, and is there with encouragement and support whenever it's needed.
So obesity started for me with puberty - I was a moderately chunky kid, but once the hormones started flowing, I gained an average of 5 lbs a year for the following 28 years (that's 140 extra lbs in case you needed help with the math). There were a few successful diets in there, but no successful maintenance - the gain increased every time.
With the steady weight increase came a gradually increasing posse of obesity related issues, not the least of which were edema, shortness of breath, inability to perform physical tasks or exercise -
Shortly after I married Jason, my genius gyn did the math: no birth control + no pregnancy + fat chick = maybe she has PCOS? That began an 11 year quest for many things - pregnancy, weight control, self-esteem, endocrinology solutions, the same things all of us here have experienced.
Just about the time I realized I could no longer climb a flight of stairs or fit in an airline seat much less fasten the damned seatbelt, my best friend, a 30-32, had four things happen in her life. She was denied surgery, she got monumentally depressed, then she got really mad, then she started walking. Before you could say bobsyeruncle, she was wearing a size 6, finishing her second Portland marathon, and paddling with a competetive Dragon Boat team - did I mention she did this without surgery? In between being ecstatic and proud, I was utterly dismayed at my own inability to replicate her success.
God, fate, and my PCP led me to THE most wonderful endocrinologist on the planet (all due respect to the other wonderful endocrinologists out there). Dr. Purnell began a quest of his own, to offer me every possible nutritional, chemical, social and emotional weight loss option available. All the while, speaking very candidly about the limitations my endocrine system was placing on successful loss and maintenance. Initially I refused to even discuss surgery, just the idea that I, Tamee Blankenship, had become a prime candidate for THAT - it was just too overwhelming and humiliating.
In summer of '06, after another frustrating failure with a medication therapy, Dr. Purnell gently broached the subject of surgery again. When I was done crying, he informed me that OHSU, the hospital where we are both employed, was no longer going to exclude WLS from the insurance policy of their employees - that it would be a covered benefit as of January 1, 2007.
Around this same time, I was triple B'd (blessed beyond belief) to be introduced to my friend Andrea, who was already a year postop from RNY, and halfway to her goal weight. After relentlessly hounding her with five million questions, doing hours and hours of online research, listening to my husband's ICU horror stories, and praying until my knees went numb - I was convinced that this was what I needed to do.
At the required info session in October, what to my wondering eyes did appear . . . no, not a reindeer, but the face of one of my favorite work buddies, Lisa. Another triple B. I can only hope I'm half as much support to her as she is to me.
After a couple of glitches and minor setbacks, we both got through all our pre-submission requirements. She just got her date for April 4 and I'm SO happy for her, and proud to be part of her circle of support.
I'm equal parts thrilled and terrified to be at the edge of this cliff - I'm sure I'll have a schizophrenic blog with all the ups and downs that are to come, but I'm ready!
