jennibear
So, I have actually been wanting to get the gastric bypass surgery for awhile. In January I hit the highest weight I've been in my life which was 351 ilbs. I had no idea that I weighed this much, until I stepped on a scale...sometimes when you are a larger person you don't see that in the mirror. It took me seeing it on the scale to realize holy shit I'm obese! Looking in the mirror everyday after that day has been rough..because now that I know in my mind how large I am I look for the things you see in obese people..like the chin, and the arm skin bla bla, you know what I mean? I hit rock bottom when I seen the picture to the right, that is me, setting up a tent at the lake, and I'm the size of a whale! This is not who I am..that's not me. I decided after two days of being depressed that I was not going to sit around and feel sorry for myself, I needed to do something. Life is happening everywhere, and I needed to make mine better not only for myself, but for my 4 children.
I've changed my eating habits from what I eat to the number of times I eat. I started this in January and its now almost August and I'm down to 309 ilbs. I also exercise as much as I can, which is hard for me because at this weight I have a lot of pain in my back, knees, ankles and feet when I'm standing for to long. I do what I can and I don't push myself, and I also don't give up.
I have started my Journey this July, 2011. The first step was to find a doctor I liked and was comfortable with..which came easy to me. I had worked in the medical field for some years and knew who the best in my area was. After calling I found that before my first initial consult I needed to go to a seminar where the Gastro doc would be talking about the surgery, different types, complications, etc. I went to the seminar, it was nice to see that I wasn't alone. There where alot of people, in fact the room was full with men and women. I didn't learn or hear anything I didn't already know, but the doctor was excellent, and the patient stories were amazing. They had some patients stand up at the end and talk about their surgery and how their lives have changed. It was very inspiring. So I was lucky enough to have an appt already set up the next day with the doc, I had my initial consult, everything was as I expected. I am MO with a BMI of 48, which is awful, but her I was over 50 in January..so I'm already making progress. We spoke about the conditions that being obese has caused me, which is arthritis, hypertension, and gerd...and about the medications that I take for them. We also talked about diet, and agreed a high protein diet would be good for me at this stage. Also talked about vitamins, which I have started taking a daily multi vitamin, and 5mg of biotin, that helps your hair grow..
Next was to talk to the lady at the doc office to see what my insurance requirements would be. It wasn't so bad. I needed a phy evaluation to make sure I was mental ready for the surgery, which was a piece of cake. Then I needed a dietitian eval to record my dieting and see what my medical conditions where versus my diet..easy also. I finished both of those within the first month. The last thing was that my insurance requires a 6 month medically supervised diet, which I have set up with both my gastro and pcp. Ugh 6 months to wait! In the long run it is better, because in this 6 months I will be working on my arms and legs (cardio) to try to avoid loose skin, as well as work on my eating habits. Gives my body a little time to adjust for the big change. I'm super excited, and I hope you will be for me as well. Peace and love.
