OK Washingtonians let's introduce ourselves....

My name is Kathy I had surgery on 10/29/03 so far I have lost 101 lbs, I had my surgery at Capital Medical Center by Dr. Tollefson and Dr. Deitz, I had no complications and feel that this is the best thing I have ever done for me. I have worked for Wal-Mart for 9 years and my insurance company through them is PacificCare they approved on first try and within 3 days. Kathy -101lbs

Hi Kathy, My name is Cindy and I will be having surgery as soon as possible. I have no idea when yet, but if I had my way it would be today or tomorrow... Congratulations on your success.....

My name is Renee, my surgery date is 01 SEP with Dr. Carter at Madigan Army Medical Center. My insurance is TriCare Prime. I am married to a Army guy, Mark. 01 SEP will be our "4 years together" anniversary. We have 1 daughter, her name is KayLee. She is 2 1/2, and she is 99.9% of the reason why I am doing this. I never knew love like I knew it when I had my baby girl, and I know I would forever be lost without her. I am a stay home mom, so I am with her 24-7, and now since poddy training, that includes even in the bathroom. I want to be there to see her grow up and to get married and have babies after she turns 35 lol and I want to be able to keep up with her when she is running from me when I try to spank her and she goes to hide under the bed when she's 8 because she did something really bad lol I want to be a great mother to her, and I want to be there every step of the way, and right now, carrying this weight, I am about 2 steps behind where I would like to be, and I know this surgery is right for me. Okay, I am done babbling for now.... lol nice to meet you Kathy!!

I'm Tracey, age 45 and had my distal rny on 6/3/04. I'm down 19 lbs. I work at Multicare, am an RN. I live East of Tacoma in Gig Harbor area. I mostly lurk and read, learning all the time of new ideas, and I don't usually have much to add since Im new to this. Occasionally I can answer some medical question, but I don't often. I'll post more as I have more experiences and ideas. Tracey

Hi, I am Jamie. I was banded in TJ, Mexico by Dr. Kuri on Dec. 13th along w/ my twin sister. I live near Southcenter shopping mall and have 3 children. We chose the Mexico self-pay route because both of our insurance companies have a specific exclusion for WLS of any king. I have had no complications. My loss has been slow and steady (a bit on the slower side) but I am please and I know that the 37.5 pounds I have lost so far won't be returning. That alone makes me happy that we did this. Jamie Dr. Kuri 262.5/225/150ish

Hi All, My name is Deana and I had RNY on 5/28. I live in Spokane with my 4 boys-a 15 year old and triplets who are 13, along with my hubby of 17 years. Doing pretty well until I ate too fast yesterday and ended up in the ER because I was dehydrated and couldn't stop vomiting! Feeling much better today and am happy to say have lost 23#! Nice to meet you all-let's keep in touch for support! Deana

I am Suzie and I live just outside of Spokane. My surgeon is Dr. Pennings in Coeur d'Alene. I have completed my initial consult, my psych and nutrition consults and have attended several post/pre op meetings. My preop consult is on July 8th and I hope to get a date early in August. I'm self-pay. I work full time and have a husband, five kids, five grandchildren and a daughter still living at home, also a lot of extended family and friends to help me through this process. I am very excited! I am a member of the over 50 board too. Suzie

Hello Kathy. My name is Eileen. I live in Central Washington and have open RnY scheduled with Dr. Aguirre Wallace in Ensenada, Baja, MX August 13th, 2004. I never thought I'd be going out of the country for surgery, but my insurance has a written exclusion for wls. A friend of mine directed me to this doctor's patient forum and he sounds like a great surgeon and the total cost is $8,500. Being self pay, this price meets my budget. My friend and I are going down together with my husband and two other support friends. We are very excited and can hardly wait!

Hi. I am HatBox, but you can call me Hat. I am the mother of four boys ages ranging from 3 to 10. I thought about the surgery for a year before acting on it. It also took a year before DH could decide to agree even though I never pushed him until I decided. My kids aren't hung up on looks like so many others are. I have taught them from the beginning to look within a person. Even so, outside sources have made it clear that I am not within the norm. One big turning point for me was one night when my son hugged me. He proclaimed that he could get his arms around me so I must have lost weight. I hadn't. But, with the big deal that he made about it, I realized how much my weight affected him and, probably, my other boys. I want them to be proud of me or, at least, not want to hide me. Not like I would ever let that happen. lol I have always laughed at my butt size. And, never let on how much my weight really does bother me. Ok, got off there for a minute. My husband is in the Air Force. I may be the only one from this area with an AF husband. But, I am enjoying my new army wife friends. I am very active with my kids. I team parent for almost all of their teams. And, I am in the class with them every week. (Here I go again.) Most of the last 11 years, I have devoted my time and my body to raising them. I spent most of that time either breast feeding or pregnant with them. My youngest stopped breastfeeding last year. And, there are no plans to have any more kids. You might say I "snipped" that issue. So, now it is time to regain at least control of my body. Sadly, I will get back my time all too soon as they grow up too fast. I was healthy when I started the appointments to have WLS. But, during the tests, I found I have asthma and arthriis. Good for qualifying but not much else. My PCP is of the attitude that if I would just stop eating, I wouldn't need surgery. I had to work around him to get a referral in the first place. Now he has given up and gives me what I want for the most part. But, mostly it is his wonderful nurse that has helped me the most. She is very supportive. She even wants to know my surgery date. I need to send her flowers. OK, summing it up here....I am not telling anyone in my family except my boys and DH. Only a very few people know. I am a private person and don't think it is anyone's business what I do. Plus, I guess in some small way, having the surgery makes me feel like a failure. I can admit to failing private, but I don't want the world to know. Thus, I don't use my real name. Insurance...Tricare Dr...Dr. Weber Surgery...Open Statues...Waiting on the results from one lab work. Then we can file. Current weight...251 Where I want to go...Who knows. Sure I want to be model thin. But, that won't happen. I guess if I could get to 150, I would be really pleased. But, I think 160 is more likely.

Hi, When my daughter was a few years younger, as we were at the airport for her to fly back home, I wanted to hug her and she said "You're too big to hug." I don't know if anyone else heard it. Then a couple Christmases ago, my husband's nephew, around 7, said the same thing, when his parents told him to hug me he said, in front of everybody "She's too big to hug." The dad, a doctor, made excuses for him, after all, he was a kid. Sorry, but I would have known way before age 7 or my daughter's age, even older, that this was rude. That's why I love my Jim and cats--they don't talk or think like that.