Shannon O.
I was always one of those skinny kids that was always running and playing sports. Until the 4th grade when I was 9, I got my period for the first time. It was also the start of my weight gain that seem to last forever.
The family doc and such just told my parents to cut my portions and make me play more sports. In the spring and fall I was playing soccer and in the summer slow pitch softball, so my parents just didn't know what to do anymore about my activities.
By 7th grade I was pretty much shunned by the popular girls because I was curvy and they were just stick thin. My weight never really bothered me, I knew that I was unique and really didn't care what others thought about what my body looked like. I was still playing soccer and softball, but had added in tennis lessons, running, and anything else that I could do sports wise. By 8th grade I was 125, where other girls were 90 or so pounds. But with only being 5'2" it showed a lot more on me.
By the time high school came around I knew there was something wrong with me. I ate less than every one else, was now playing travel soccer from March to November and softball from March till late August and running in the winter and the weight still came on no matter what I did to try to slow it down.
At the start of my senior year of high school I was a size 11 by the time I graduated I was a size 18. The only thing that changed was that I was working out more and more and nothing was changing but my waist size. By this time I was finally able to get a family doc to believe me that something wasn't right so he did some blood tests but everything came out normal. But I was showing more and more signs that something wasn't right with my body. But, I was off to college so I didn't have time to worry about it any more.
My freshman year of college proved I should of still been worried about what was going on in my life. That first year I gained about 60 pounds. Between all the sugary soda and the fatty food from the dinning commons and not getting enough sleep really did a number on my body. I wasn't working out any more, and after rolling my right ankle I was on crutches for the next 6 months because of it.
By the time I was a senior I was a solid 26/28 and I accepted that this was I was going to be for the rest of my life. I didn't want to waste time on feeling bad for myself, but I was going to try to be healthy. I started teaching myself basic nutrition and made smarter choices. And for about 3 years I didn't gain any weight.
In 1999, it seemed that the weight was starting to creep back on slowly. I had just gotten married, my hubby was still college, and I was stuck working as a retail manager because after a year of job searching after college it was the best I could do job wise. So, I just chucked it up to being stressed and kept trying to make good choices. Most of the time I did, but my biggest issue was drinking soda while I worked.
Well after moving from Indiana to PA later that same year while working for the same company, I noticed some more changes with my body. I then spent the next 4 years trying to get someone to listen to me that there was something wrong with me.
Finally just before my 30th birthday I got the answer. PCOS– PolysCystic Ovarian Syndrome. It took all those years of doing research on my own to convince my family doc to run some different blood tests on me.
From then on out I had switched to a high protein, low carb, high fiber diet. It worked for a while, but after drug treatments that were failures for treating the PCOS I gave up on ever being a mom. The stats were against me since I was over weight and had PCOS. That is when I started to look for a different way of treating my issues with my weight. We already knew that when I lost weight my hormone tests came back better. So it came down to the best way to lose the weight. Diet and exercise didn't work, we already knew that from past attempts such as Curves, Weight Watchers, seeing Nutritionists, etc...
It was about this time that I became aware about weight loss surgeries (WLS). Since most of my problem now as never feeling hungry, and then once I did I would over eat potion wise (but not calorie wise for the day) I did more research on the Lap-Band surgery. I found a place in this area where all they did was WLS, and looked into them. After having a meeting at the Barix Clinic, and meeting with one of the surgeons, my husband and I thought that this was the best way to go to help my weight. What we didn't know was at this point I was pregnant by a few weeks (this was in August of 2005). But, as I was finishing up all that I needed to get done for the surgeon and the insurance company I started not to feel well. It was now the beginning of December and I still didn't feel well. I was tired all the time and all I wanted to do was sleep. To us it just proved that I needed the surgery. It wasn't until the middle of January that we finally figured out I was pregnant. And no it wasn't strange for me to go 6ms or more without my period because of the PCOS. I never had morning sickness, etc... But, we decided that we would keep plugging away for the surgery and just have it after we had the baby. That is when we found out I was 19.5 weeks along and turned down by the insurance company because my BMI was too high for Lap-Band.
I was crushed, but we decided to wait and see what happened after having the baby. Well 6 months (last winter) after having Lorelei (5-30-06) I started to really pack the weight on again. After a long talk with my husband, Jeremy, we knew that it was time to contact Barix again and this time I would go for gastric bypass.
After meeting with my surgeon again in April (the soonest he had an opening) we started all the paperwork up again. But our insurance company took forever on going over the paperwork for the surgery.
I was FINALLY approved July 6th, 2007 and had my surgery September 5th, 2007. I am now down 80 pounds and at 260. My highest weight was 341. My goal weight is 125, but I am aiming for 150 for reconstructive surgery.
