So...my one year has come and past and as I look at the last year of my life I reflect... Having the surgery was definately one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life. I don't regret it at all. My life has changed more in this last year then it had ever done-through all aspects of life in my entire life. I have experienced more this last year then ever before. I have learned more about myself, my limits, my abilities, my feelings, my tendancies, my friends, the way that I think...everything. I look back at the year and there were definately hard times, many in fact, losing the weight didn't solve all of my problems like I initially thought that it would. I learned that I was blaming too many of the bad things that were going on in my life on my weight and after losing the weight now, I have had to learn how to deal with those things and how to deal with the feelings that came from learning that it wasn't just the weight, but that the weight was just the easiest scapegoat. I look back at the last year and I concede that college is a time for experimentation, college is a time about learning about yourself, college is a time of change, college is a time of personal growth, but when you add the fact that I was also undergoing a time of drastic physical change, a time of drastic change in social oppertunities, a time of drastic change in available oppertunities, a time of drastic change in personality (with a new sense of confidence), it is just so much bigger. There were a lot of times that I look back on that I just think, "What the hell were you thinking?" or "I can't believe that happend!" or "Why did I let that happen?" or "Who is that person?" I think that with my weight change all of these other oppertunities came into my life: guys, partying more, new friends, challenges with the old friends, spending too much money on clothes, family challenges, feelings of jealousy from others, my own desire to be in the "middle of everything," my inability to say no (which comes from never being able to say yes before), my lack of trust in what God has planned for myself...there is just so much that I learned about myself when I lost my weight and just kind of let myself live not thinking too hard about anything else but what was directly ahead of me-and sometimes not even that. After all of these challenges came though, they went. I grounded myself and reflected on my life. I took the experiences that I had and appreciated that I had them because if I hadn't I would never have learned from them. I took the challenges that I had undergone and remembered the things that I liked about myself before and took what I liked about myself now and created a person that is a mixture. Hopefully it is the right mix, probably not perfect yet, but a mix none-the-less. I now realize that I have been given the best oppertunity of my life, I have been given the oppertunity to re-create myself. Over the course of a year I have tried out a lot of different types of people...I have done a lot of different things, some good, some bad, some indifferent. And I realized that I don't need to be any one catagory of person, I can be whomever I want. And I think that I know now what I want. I want to be a girl that is focused. I want to be motivated, I want to be committed, I want to be diligent, I want to be a good listener, I want to be a follower sometimes and a leader other times, I want to be fun, I want to be able to party when the time is right and go to bed early when the time is right, I don't want to feel guilty about my choices, I don't want to hurt the people around me, I don't want to be a conformist, I don't want to be a Monday through Friday Christian, I don't want to be obsessed with what others think of me, I want to be confident, I want to be reassured that there is only one love that I am striving for everyday-God's, I want to be uplifting to others, I want to be satisfied, I want to be healthy, I want to enjoy what I have and be happy for others who are enjoying what I want and they have. I want to love myself the way that I am and I want others to love me for the way that I am. Without this surgery and the experiences that followed it I would have never learned all of this. I thank God everyday for the oppertunity to not only get healthier from this surgery, but for the oppertunity to get to know the real Jennifer that I knew was there, but just couldn't find on my own. A good Christian song that just gets it: Something Beautiful-Newsboys I wanna start it over I wanna start again I wanna new beginning One without any end I feel it inside Calling out to me Chorus: It's a voice that whispers my name It's a kiss without any shame Something Beautiful Like a song that sirs in my head Singing love will take us where Something's Beautiful I've heard it in the silence Seen in on a face I've felt in in a long hour Like a sweet embrace I know this is true It's calling out to me Chorus It's the child on her wedding day It's the daddy that gives her away Something Beautiful When we laugh so hard we cry It's the love between you and I Something Beautiful

To the girl wanting to ask her parents: I feel sure if they know and understand how unhappy a person is being overweight, they will support you. Even though they are not overweight, they see you and should know you enough to realize you're not completely happy with your self right now. I am fortunate to have the support of my mother. She had the surgery 2+ years ago and has done wonderful! I did not need to seek my parents for insurance purposes because I am 33, however, it was just as vitally important that they support me. I wish you the best of luck! and like one of the previous replies stated, research it all you can so you will have more to answer their questions. They're sure to have some. Jennifer, I am from Lenoir, NC also. I have been trying to locate individuals  from around here who have had or plan to have the surgery. Have you already had the surgery? I am still on the journey of all the pre-op visits. Hopefully it will go by fast. I liked your scripture verses posted under your reply. My spiritual walk is what gets me through each day. Hope to hear more from you and updates as your surgery approaches and as you lose. Something else, who will be doing your surgery?? I will be seeing Dr. Leland Cook and/or Dr. Monty Cox at Frye Regional. I have heard their team is wonderful! Best of Luck to you, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers. Stephanie

There aren't really that many WLS teens out there. We are looking at living a long time with this modification.

I was bored, and I just wanted to pop in to say hello. lol So...Hi.

Ok, sorry I am so late on posting. I didn't really have this problem. Me and my Mom have been talking about WLS for about 4 years now. We didn't really get into the process until one of my actual doctors recommended it. I was only 16 at the time so that never did work out. Now that I am 18 I am on the road again with it all. My Mom is all for me having the surgery, and my dad is just worried about something bad happening which is normal. Let see, before you tell them just make sure that you have all the information you can get about it. That way if they ask questions you can answer them. Tell them why you want to get it done. I know I have had many people tell me they don't really want me to have it done because they like me the way I am. BUT they don't understand how hard it is to have health problems, knee problems, surgeries and all that fun stuff. Its hard for people to understand if they are not going through it themselves. Like you were saying that your parents are very fit, they have no way of understanding about being over weight. Give them this site so they can do some of their own research if they want to. I am not sure now to bring it up to them. I guess you can just tell them you want to be healthy if your not, or not wanting to get all these health problems. You can tell them, I don't want to end up like some overweight people. Goodness tell them about me, 3 knee surgeries, diabetes, messed up knees, back problems, you can name it. But thats all I got right now..lol. I hope it helped some. Let us know what happens Have a blessed day!! Jennifer