Anna E.
How to begin...I was an active, healthy child, always involved in sports, swimming and riding my bike all over town. In high school I developed Osgood-Schlatters disease (a fairly common adolescent disorder that affects the knees), so I had to quit most of my athletic pursuits. My senior year in high school I shattered my right ankle and had to have surgery to fix it. From that point on (1988), I began to struggle with my weight.
It began slow and I would diet to remove the weight and then gain it back plus some. I was a workaholic with a long commute for the next 15 years and I didn't take care of myself. Constantly eating on-the-go, no real excercise on a consistent basis, it began to take a toll. Now understand my weight was a constant in my mind, and I was constantly dieting one way or another (yes I bought the fried chicken sandwhiches with the extra large Diet Coke). I wasn't really a binge eater, more of a grazer. My weight was over 225-250lbs when I met my former husband in 1993. He was chubby as well and so we tried to work together to drop some weight. We worked next door to each other and brought our lunches from home and ate together. We also started to swim laps at the local pool. We looked great!
Then he moved away and we had a long distance relationship. We would diet during the week and then gorge when we met on the weekends.By the time we got married in 1997 I was hovering around 280lbs. In 1999 I had a hysterectomy and then I entered into a very horrible, traumatic period. I could care less about dieting, eating, excercising, etc. I gave up. My marriage was officially declared over in February 2004. Right about that same time I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder. Shortly thereafter came the diagnosis of Diabetes and then COPD.
I have been thinking about doing this surgery for a couple of years, now it's time for me to take back my life. Thanks for listening. Anna
