What made you decide it was time?

To have surgery, I mean? Was there some kind of turning point? An epiphany? Something that finally made you say "now is the time?"

For me it was this little guy. His name is Cash, my grandson (I'm only 43, hush). This picture was taken when he was born in August of '09. He was three months too early but came out fighting. They were worried about his lungs but the first thing he did was give a big ol' scream.



I had been debating WLS for while but, when he was born, I knew I had to do something. I was on a fast track for a heart attack or stroke, an early death. I wanted to see him grow up. I knew I just had to do something. It finally gave me the strength to make that appointment and attend a seminar. One month after he was born, I had my first pre-op appointment. 

This is Cash now:



As you can see, he was okay. :) The best part is the time I get to spend with him. Having lost over 100 pounds, I can do so much more with him, even get down on the floor to play with him without needing help to get back up again. I can carry him around, rough house (while carrying him even), swing him around, lift him up in the air, all the things that would be so much harder to do if I had never had my surgery.

Oh he is so beautiful,  you should be so proud of him and of you.   My main reason for having wls was so that i would be around for the grandchildren i am hoping my daughter will give me.   She wants me around for a while lol.  When i found out i had arthritis in my hip,  added to the high bp, elevated triglycerides and borderline diabetes i knew if i wanted any kind of enjoyable future something had to be done.  And the rest,  as they say,  is history.  Best thing i ever did :o) Jeani

 AHH he's adorable Jeanette!!!!

I kept telling myself I could do it on my own and that I didn't want to "resort" to surgery, but after looking into again and finally making the decision I realized all the possibilities I had in front of me that would come from loosing weight. 

- not developing.. diabetes, high bp, etc... I was a healthy person beside being MO. 

- being able to be active with my niece (now I have a step niece and nephew and another niece on the way) and not being the "fat" auntie

- having "the guy" find me (not that it wouldn't happen before, but honestly my weight wasn't helping me)... I'm not going hunting for one.. that's too much work! lol 

I didn't really have that "ah ha" moment that made me finally decide... I just had to take a look at my past failed attempts at weight loss and realize that I needed some help to do it! 

He is SO CUTE!.. I have a 15 1/2 year old son, and being around for him, when he graduates high school and college and gets married and has kids, that was my moment.  Also, for the health reasons..

I too like Kelby, I am healthy except for my MO.. As it gets closer it is scary to me.. I have never had surgery before, so a little scary for me, afraid something might happen,and I might not get that chance with my son..


Susan

 I worked in an ER in 05-06.  I would see women come in by ambulance that were DOA. They were what doctors referred to a a "triple threat".  They all had high bp, high cholesterol, and diabetes. None of them were over the age of 50. I can remember thinking, "Well, I only have one of those things and I"m only 35/36".

5 years later, I still have high cholesterol.  I now am pre-diabetic and have high bp.(I now know that is "Metabolic syndrome").  Last October, I turned 40 and became a great aunt in the same month.

I have 2 teen daughters.  I want to see them graduate high school and college.  I want to be at their weddings and I want to see them have babies (later...much, much later!).

I have tried this on my own all my adult life and never thought I would "resort" to surgery, but the clock is ticking.  I just hope it doesn't run out before I have a chance to fix this.

I lost my mother to complications related to diabetes 11 years ago and my dad to the same disease 3 years ago.  It hit me like a ton of bricks that my chances of developing diabetes were very good and the fact that I was grossly overweight didn't help.  A few years ago I had surgery for a meniscal tear in my knee, and as a result it uncovered a ton of arthritis.  I now have bone on bone arthritis and can't walk without a cane and even that is painful.  Last Summer I stayed home a lot because it wasn't worth going out with such a painful knee.  My husband came home early and said, too bad we can't take a walk on the beach like we used to.  I became so depressed after that that I gave it one more try to lose weight and it finally dawned on me that I needed help.  I called my PCP who set me up with the Weight Loss Center at the hospital and 6 months later, I had surgery.  

I love life too much and don't want to die.  I was borderline diabetic, have sleep apnea, incontinent, hypothryoid, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and while I sucked down all my pills, I remembered my mother.

Today my blood pressure is normal, my cholesterol is normal and I'm no longer incontinent.  I will always be hypothyroid, but my chances of no longer having sleep apnea and walking without pain are very good, and I can't wait!

It was when the orthopedic doc told me "your knees are perfect candidates for knee replacement, but you are not. I cannot and will not operate on someone as morbidly obese as you are. You are too high risk, and I cannot sacrifice a patient for new knees."

I knew at that moment that I had hit the wall. I was (still am) in constant pain, and realized that NOTHING would change - I would always be in pain unless I could lose a SIGNIFICANT amount of weight, and I had never been able to do that.

My blood pressure was/is usually fine; my cholestrol moderately high, but not sky high; no diabetes...but advanced arthritis.

I'm down 70 pounds since that day; and want to lose at least another 40 before even thinking about starting with the knee replacements. But I'm on my way.....

I have three things that just kind of made me realize that it's what I need to do. I'm one of the "healthy" obese. Meaning I have great blood pressure, no diabetes, no sleep apnea. That had just kept me in denial about the health risks of my obesity. While I had a friend who weighed less than me had RNY and looked wonderful, etc., I couldn't do the RNY thing.

1) About 7 or 8 years ago, I was talking with my sister. She had mentioned that she was worried about my obesity as it put me at a higher risk for cancer. At this time, she was an internal medicine resident. I always remembered this discussion. When my sister was about 1 year into her oncology fellowship, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 44 which is considered young (Stage 1A, she's good and prob won't have recurrence, but it's not impossible). The increased cancer risk was always there, bugging me in the back of my head every time I wasn't able to go the distance with a diet. Now having a first degree relative just made those risks so much larger. The idea of WLS was more acceptable for health instead of looks. I contemplated lap band, read enough about the complications so nixed it.

2) My mom is morbidly obese and her life at 72 is just absolutely horrible. She really started to go downhill from about 67. She has high bp, sleep apnea and now some mental difficulties. I look at how her weight has literally crippled her, especially as she is now elderly. I didn't want that to be me. She had surgery last summer, and my brother who takes care of her, made a point to tell me that one of the things that made her time in the hospital horrible was because of her weight.  My sis and I have had many end of life discussions about my mom.  She has always been very frank about the fact that obese people have horrible deaths when they die.  Knowing this and thinking about my mom, has made me think about what would my children have to deal with when their obese mother is dying.

3) About 2 years ago, my husband started to have horrible joint pain that would last for a couple of days and then move to another joint, especially in his fingers and wrists. Turns out, he has rheumatoid arthritis. It's pretty aggressive, it hit him fast and hard. Fortunately, weekly injections of Enbrel and a low dose of chemo drugs have really helped to slow down the disease. But it hit me, how would I be able to help him when we're older if I'm obese and non-ambulatory like my mom, or even worse, no longer alive from breast cancer.

These three things lead me to start looking at WLS and the lap band again. This time, I clicked over to the Vertical Sleeve Talk board and learned much more about the sleeve. Within 2 days I knew it was what I wanted. 2 weeks later, I was talking with my PCP, who is in charge of the WLS for Kaiser OC, and he got me added into the info meeting right away. I was able to get a spot in the 3 months Options class about 6 weeks early thanks to a cancellation. When things moved quickly and easily like that, I knew that it was the right thing. I'm now 1 month post op and finally beginning to accept this change. When I told my brother about the surgery, he told me he thinks I did the right thing. I think he's thinking about it for himself. But he's freaking ou****ching me at our weekly dinners he comes over for!

My big weight loss goal/wish, is to do an Iron Man, just like MacMadame. When I've read her story, I knew that secret dream I had since I was like 15 could truly be a possibility.

Sorry that was so long, but that was the mental journey I went through to come to this life altering decision.

 What I hear is the #1 regret of wls was that people regret not getting it sooner. Well, I figured I'd be the one to do it sooner, get it while I'm still young and before I have kids or get the family history of heart disease and diabetes. I fought with insurance troubles for 3 years to get here and it will be worth it.

for me i am still young (24) but my main reason was for fertiliy, it would be hard for us to get preggo since i have PCOS and the docs said we would have a better chance if i was to lose weight, plus theres no way i wanted to get preggo and add more weight to my frame. Also for self confidence of course, i was always a chubby kid but then thinned out beginning of high school, then once i got married thats when the weight came. Then it really hit me like a rock when we moved to hawaii and  none of the bases here had housing availabe for 2 months..... nothing like eating out everyday for 2 months to pack weight on you!