new and alone

Hi,my name is Gloria,I live in the seacoast NH. I am now over 400lbs..life has truly become unmanagable..I have one more apt. with the nutritionist,and will get my surgery date. At my sleep study I found out I have severe sleep apnea..I am now on Cpap..I am so happy I found out..Ihave really let my self go for a number of years now. I am 32 years old,the mother of 3,I am pretty active..well as active as I can be.I switched jobs recently..to accomadate my weight...I now drive a school bus for special ed children..at a extreme pay cut.. I am so ashamed at my self for becoming thisway,I can't go any where with out nasty looks ,comments..laughter..I have no tears left. I am just happy to finally be doing something about it. please write to me..Iwould love to chat...I am also a great listener, Thank you Gloria

Hi Gloria! I understand how you feel about being ashamed. I still go out and do lots of fun things, but I notice that people look at me with disgust. I can't believe that I let myself get to this point.

Hi Gloria - sorry it's taken so long to get back to you - I was having log in problems with this site! First of all, congratulations on having the courage to write. I did try to email you back when I got your note, but it said you were not an AOL member. I want to tell you that I run a support group for pre-op and post op people of WLS surgery. We are called the NH Seacoasters and we meet on the first Wednesday of every month at: First Parish Church, Congregational 176 West High Street Somersworth, NH The meetings start at 6pm - social hour and free clothing swap. The meeting starts promptly at 7pm and ends at 9pm. We are there for YOU! I started this group a year ago in October with 8 people. We now have about 35 people that come. We have become like family. Please call me if you want to talk. I am in the phonebook on Salmon Falls Road in Rochester. Also, can you email me. As I said the email that you sent did not work. We want to help you. Please get in touch with me. Hugs and Smiles, Linda Breden

Gloria - I completely understand where you are coming from. I have always been heavy and I said to myself that I would "do something about it" when it started affecting my lifestyle since I had always been active. Well slowly, bit by bit you realize that you are not going to play basketball or football with your friends, your not going to Red Sox games because those damn seats are just too damn small. When I hot 400 - it was a huge and I mean huge wakeup call. I had surgery on AUgust 18th, I had wighed 419 when I started the process at New England Medical Center. I lost 35 lbs before surgery and since AUgust I have lost an additional 92. I am now back to the gym regularly - just bought a season pass for skiing at Sunday River, and cant wait for the red sox season. Have faith. The issues / compulsions that brought us to the brink of death will need time to be overwritten. I am seeing a great counselor now who is helping me process "my issues" so I do not put myself back in a bad health position. You will do fine!!! Good Luck