Newbies & Oldbies - check in here please!

CHEERLEADING NATIONALS...POWER? ARE YOU WITH EMERALDS? MY DAUGHTER CHEERS WITH OREGON ELITE...LET ME KNOW, AND LET US KNOW HOW THE COMPETITION WENT!! I AM HOPING TO HAVE SURGERY AT THE END OF OCTOBER...WITH KAISER PERMANENTE IT IS A LONG PROCESS, BUT WILL MAKE IT MUCH EASIER TO KEEP UP WITH MY FAMILY AND ALL THE ACTIVITIES I LOVE TO WATCH THEM DO! PEACE AND LOVE, HEATHER IN ALBANY

Hi Heather, Yes, we were at the Power Nationals. My daughter is on the PeeWee team at Emerald and took lst place last weekend. Our Mini's and JP received 3rd place. We had at least one individual in every catergory place. All in all, it was a good weekend. Not as large a turnout as last year. I believe you were there in 2004? Very hot! No air conditioning in the building, but you could set your watch by the schedule which was great! We certainly enjoyed the competition that you hosted. Very well done. I'm sure we will be running into each other next year. If you have surgery in October you should be feeling great by comp. season next year! October seems like a long way off but in retrospect the waiting period was very profitable for me. I felt really prepared by the time I actually had surgery. Keep us updated. This will be an exciting time of life for you! ~Della

My name is Brianna, 25 years old, I'm pre-op. I have 2 wonderful boys, my oldest will be 2 on St Patty's day and my youngest is almost 5 months!!! I'm morbidly obese, and I attended the WLS seminar at OHSU in Jan 24th, it was great, I'ms till getting one of my medical records together and need to see a PCP, I don't have one yet because we just moved a MONTH ago lol and I'm STILL fighting with medicaid so I can get my DAMNED card, looong story

Welcome Brianna! I hope you are able to get through the paperwork hell you'll no doubt have to go through! I know how that goes....that's why I had to go to Mexico....no amount of paperwork would do it for me! Dina

Hi Dina, It's been exciting watching your journey since last year - who knows, I might just have to think about Mexico myself. About me: I'm 44 years old and live in Beaverton. Divorced for 8 years, I have 2 boys ages 10 and 15. I started Kaiser's bariatrics program last January, was sailing along and by June I had lost 55 lbs. (still waiting for surgery.) A close relative died and I fell of the deep end, stopped exercising, bad food choices and by December I had gained 40 of the pounds back. This past January I got myself back on track with the food, exercise, (joined Bally's gym) and am now down just over 30 lbs. Kaiser refuses to give an exact number of pounds you need to lose before surgery, but this puts me at a 10% loss. I'm still plugging along with Kaiser's program, but no end seems to be in sight, when I can even see a surgeon. Trying to stay positive though, and just keep doing what I'm doing.....

Anne - Good luck on the Kaiser program. I would check with other's who have had surgery with Kaiser and see if they have more insight. I would stick it out for awhile though because it's a great thing to get it paid!!! If you do end up looking for an alternative and want to try Mexico, there is a huge Oregon following for my doctor in Ensenada. Dina

Hello Ladies, My name is Pam, 38, well 39 in a couple of days. I live in Medford and my surgery date for Lap RNY is April 12th with Dr. Street. I am divorced and single about three years now. I have a 16 year old son James and 3.5 year old twins, Wesley and Caroline. I work full time for a bank and needless to say life is very full for me and now with upcoming WLS, I'm beyond excited. And to add in along with the rest of you, I can say my drivers license was correct at issue which was 300. I'm 5'9 and currently weigh 361, clothing size 32/34. My highest weight: 420 in 1999. April of 99 I set out to lose weight because as most of you know it's miserable to carry so much weight around. Through exercise and watching my fat intake, I was down to 245 by July of 00. I was walking every other day at least 2 miles and working out at the gym three times a week within the 6 months of reaching 245. What changed? Unplanned pregnancy and a disaterous relationship....my life became not my own, but everyone elses it seemed and am where I'm at now. I'm happy to say though, I'm glad it's not the 420 again, but I'm sure I was heading there had it not been for WLS!!! Thank you to all who share their experience's and suggestions! I would be lost without them. I have seen many profiles of before and after's and I have to admit, I sit and cry at such an accomplishment and to think I'm next, wow! I look forward to meeting some of you on the 13th I believe dina said at the smullin center? Take care. Pam

Pam - you really did a wonderful job of working off those pounds on your own. It's just too bad after all that hard work that we still have to struggle, isn't it? That's why I finally came to the conclusion that wls was for me. I didn't want to do all that work only to struggle keeping it off. I am just not that strong....few are. It takes an iron will, that's for sure! Dina

Hello!! I'm fairly new to this site, i've made a couple relpy's here and there, nuttin big. Anyway, I'm 23 years old, 5'4 and weigh 277 lbs. I've just made my pre-op appt. with Dr. Hong for the 30th of this month!!! I'm excited and also nervous, scared etc. it's coming real fast, faster than I thought it would! But I guess those are normal emotions. Well I just wanted to check in!! See you all Later!!!

Nice to meet you! Do you mind sharing your name or a nickname at all? How exciting for you with the pre-op appointment coming up! What type of surgery are you leaning toward? I so very much wish I had had surgery back when I was your age....good for you to go for this while you are young! At your age I was deluding myself into thinking I would have control of it and get it off on my own. Dina