Finally made up my mind...

It took pre-diabetes for me to finally decide to have the surgery. My mother died a year ago from complications of diabetes and I didn't want to go through what she did. What started out as a broken ankle took her in just 3 weeks, and I knew then that I had to make a change. I lived with the pre-diabetes for over a year, then had the surgery in August. I'm no longer PD and my blood pressure has gone down so much I got to go off of my medication that I've been on for over 20 years. In January I'll have blood work to see if I can go off of my cholesterol medication. If I go off of that one, I will no longer be on any meds. It's hard for me to imagine that that will happen, but is a real possibility/probability.

You have made the right decision for you, and you will do great! Congratulations!

Neesie, I'm very sorry you lost your mother from complications from diabetes. It's really great though that you used her passing as motivation to make the changes you needed to make for your health. Diabetes is very scary. My sister is a nurse and works with a lot of diabetic people who have had amputations because their diabetes is not being managed effectively. She has told me these people's stories for years in the hopes that I'll get my health under control and now she's my biggest support when it comes to this surgery. I'm so happy that your health has improved and I'll keep my fingers crossed that soon you can go off your last med. Best of luck!

I met an endocrinologist in a class a few years ago, who told me that, anyone with an immediate family member who has diabetes, and is overweight, has a 50% to 100% chance of also getting diabetes. That scared me!