TheStruggle
Well Hello! My name is Heidi i am 35 years old and live in the MidWest. I am married to the love of my life for almost 17 years. We have two children Bella is 14 years old and R.C. is 15 years old. I work fulltime for a large organization and as of July 2016 i took on a part time job as well. I completed my bachlors degree in Liberal Arts majoring in Business Management and Communication as well as Human Resource Management. I am currently 3 class away from my MBA in Business Management.
With all that being said, our life is a bit unique. Unique in the sence that our daughter Bella has Cystic Fibrosis. CF is terminal illness that affects the lungs liver and digestive system. She is on a routine regimin of medications as well as doctor visists and study visits.
I have pretty much been over weight my entire life. When my husband and i married i weighed 222 lbs. I was 19 years old. By 22 i had gained an astonishing 100 lbs after have my 2 children whom are 11 months apart! Yes, for two weeks out of the year our children are the same age. Crazy i know. The pregnencys were rough i was bed ridden for the last few months with my son and pretty much the entire time with my daughter. I ate and slept thats it. Hence the weight gain.
Well after the weight gain imagine being told your child has a terminal illness when she was only 2 weeks old! Devistating, depression set in and well food made me forget my troubles only for the moment.
How did i come to WLS? I come from a large hispanic family. Food is a happy time, a gathering time a stress realif if you will. For many years i escaped the health sentence of high cholestorl , diabeties and the like. Every physical the only thing the doctor could say was i was obese. Not that i had high blood pressure, or high cholesterol or diabeties. SO i figured whatever at least i don't have any of those allments. Stupid right? No need to tell me. See i grew up in a family of diabetics, I have witnessed first hand what it is like to take insulin, to have body parts amputated to be sick and have to go through dyalisis.
In 2013 my mother who has been a diabetic since she was 25 fell ill. She was in the hospital and had to have a couple toes amputated. She almost passed on my brother, sister and I a couple times during this stay. Well several months later she was admitted again and had a couple more toes amputated.
I had my routine physical October 2014 and guess what ? At this visit the doctor told me i have high blood pressure and put me on medication. I remember thinking this is how it starts! No way will i become a diabetic!
I remember telling my husband, i cannot put him or our children through this! I have to change and i have to change right now! That is when i went to see Dr. Reagan.
March 28, 2015 was my first visit. I received all the information and decided to follow through with the process. By my second visit May 5 i had lost 15 lbs from cutting only soda from my diet. Well at that visit they had everything they needed to submit to my insurance. Before i knew it June 25, 2015 was a date that would forever change the way i thought about food and my life!
