HELLOOOOOOOOOO EVERYONE!!! THIS MEANS YOU!! ROLL CALL!!
Hi Krista! Is it too late to answer the roll call? Since going back to work I come and and try to catch up with the reading of posts but really have had time to sit and write. I feel like my little juggling friend here, trying to do it all. I know you have some children as many of you do. At least my baby is grown; he's 25 years old.
Okay, my story. Fat, fat, fat - there - I said the f word. I've always been overweight. I remember my pediatrician giving my mom a mimeographed paper (of course I had to smell it!) with a diet on it. He handed the paper to mom and told me to just follow that. Easier said than done. I was about 12 at the time. I was an overweight teen and middle school and high school were tough. Looking back now I'd give anything to weigh what I did then - a size 16/18. That was the 70's and Twiggy was a hit. Chunky girls just didn't make the cut. I remember going for a prom dress. They had all these very cute and very revealing gowns. I ended up wearing a gown my grandmother liked. It was okay but I certainly didn't look like the other girls.
Life goes on, boyfriends come and go. I meet who is to become my ex-husband. LOL ANyway, we got married, I got pregnant, lost my baby at 5.5 months and gained a bunch of weight. I got pregnant again. THank God for my healthy boy. I gained more weightand the husband started to lose interested, looking elsewhere. When we married I was a size 18. Now I was about a size 24. After 7 years we got divorced. Gained more weight after the divorce. Decided to go to college after being laid off - gained more weight eating bad food at all hours trying to cram.
I just kept expanding and expanding. I went on everything from drinking some stuff that tasted awful but was full of fiber so it bloated you. It gave me awful pains in my stomach and the runs. I was on the Phen-Fen which I LOVED however, it left me with heart valve problems and emotional issues. I still have slight ADD from it. So now I'm 49. My son is serious with his girl. I'm thinking I'm going to be a mother of a groom and a grandma 
some day. I want to be fit, heck, I want to be here. I have bad knees and just feel a mess lately. So, I started looking into the process of WLS. Initially I went to Dr Roye. I had the echiogram (sp?) and then chickened out after that. I had really wanted banding and at the time, Dr Roye did not do that procedure. A year later, my cousin, who was probably close to 600 pounds, had gone to Dr Pohl's seminar. He was so excited about having the procedure. He and my cousin were making wonderful plans for their life. Then, suddenly, BAM, he took a massive heart attack and died. That was it for me. I called Dr Pohl's office that week and went to the seminar in March. I've been on the road to a better life since.
I am a reading specialist and I love, love, love my job. I think I have the best job in the world! I am remarried and it's four years now. He's supportive and loving but I am sabatoging this relationship. That's another chapter. Anyway, I have a wonderful family and many friends all whom support me.
I have gone through all the testing. I finally made it out of Dr Messier's group and she wrote my letter. Now I'm waiting for the doctor to call me to set up an appoint to see Dr Giovanni again. Then they told me it would be about three weeks from then to surgery. So, I've made positive changes in my life. As much as I HATED having to go to Dr Messier's group, I will readily admit what an impact it made on me. With the help of Jesus, and yes I ask him daily to guide me, and the strategies I learned from attending sessions, I am hoping and praying I will be successful. I am going to have a lapband as I think it is the best way to go for me. I so appreciate all the wonderful people I met at group that had such good ideas and awesome stories to share. Krista, Dave, Landa and all the others, thanks!
That's my story - hope it wasn't tooooooooooooo long! Julie
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