LtWeight
I grew up in the Southeastern US and was always very thin. In fact, I was teased as a child for being so thin. Around the age of 15 I put on a few extra pounds and considered myself fat. At that time I began a self imposed starvation diet. It worked, I was extra thin again but after a while I realized it wasn't healthy. I married and was well within the healthy weight range until about 8 years down the road. I ended up becoming overweight. It wasn't until I was around 40 years old that I really started packing on the pounds. I tried all kinds of diets along the way and I was successful with a 50# weight loss attending weight ***chers meetings and following their plan. Of course, I ended up regaining almost all of the weight I had lost after about 2 years and even though I continued to attend meetings I was unable to stick with the plan and lose any substantial amount of weight.
I've always had a problem with high cholesterol but over the last couple of years I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and most recently high blood pressure as well as long standing problems with my ankle and knee. This all threw me for a loop! My father had been overweight and some similar problems and died at 69 after having had a stroke and from complications due to diabetes. I thought, wow all I'm waiting for is the diabetes and I'll have it all. His mother and grandmother also had suffered strokes, which were the cause of their deaths.
I began this weight loss journey in January 2013 with a visit to my primary care physician. I discussed my desire to get information on weight loss surgery and told her I wanted this visit to document this. After talking to my ex-sister-in-law who had recently had a revision to her RNY, she told me about a mutual friend who had recently had the Gastric Sleeve surgery. He told me about his surgeon, Dr. Stan Hoehn, and I began researching him. I talked to my friend, my insurance company, and my primary care physician about the surgeon I had selected. I attended a seminar where the surgeon I wanted was the presenter and had my sister attend another seminar with me later to help answer her questions. Thanks to the folks at KC Bariatric Center, including my wonderful surgeon, Dr. Stan Hoehn, and the case manager Lana Lee who went above and beyond in her efficiency and efforts, I found myself having surgery July 29, 2013. (I was hoping for surgery no later than mid August!)
