Good Morning. The last straw

Wow - great question!

I had a boss of mine who was looking into it when I lived out here the last time.  She was pretty quiet and secretive about it, but I did know about it.  i didn't kjn9ow anything about WLS....

She had her surgery and was throwing up all the time.  I'm thinking "ugh"... I don't want to do that but was sympathetic for her.

Shortly after I went back to Michigan again and attended my son's graduation from high school - and had a picture taken.  I've always been up/down 20-30 lbs, and at this point I was up.  The picture was awful... but... the turniing point was when I was in NY for work and had a hard time keeping up with my coworker walking.  I've always been active and never really had much of a problem before, but now my back and feet were killing me. 

I had already went to the local bariatric intro meeting, but wasn't really sure I wanted WLS.  I figured I should be able to do it myself, but in NY I emailed my former boss and askied her for her surgeon's info (since the one in michigan was giving me all kinds of problems and obstacles).  I called the office, they had me approved within 2.5 hours!  My surgery was scheduled for 2 weeks after.  I jumped through a bunch of hoops to get all my pre-op testing done, but it was all done in time!  So, from my initial meeting to surgery was 4 weeks...

BEST thing I've every done for myself.  I've kept 85+ lbs off, even though I've put a few back on. 

That is amazing.  I didn't know anyone got through the process that quick.  I didn't have to do any 6 month diet and it still took me almost 6 months.

My revision was 8 days from seeing the surgeon to operating table.  I saw him on a Thursday, got my date the next Monday and I was on the table that Friday.

Family medical history and my OB / GYN stopped asking every year "so what are you doing about your weight??". Then I broke down talking to her NP and that sent me to my PCP asking for help. Best decision ever!!!! No more back pain, high cholesterol, worry about type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol !!!!

I had to pay $5k out of pocket and would have paid 100% if I had to. I also had a 6 month class to attend. Now I realize how important that class was and am thankful for it.

Meg

My elementary aged son pointing me out to a classmate by saying his was the 'fat mom.'

I've been dealing with my weight since puberty.  I tried Weigh****chers at 13, diet pills at 14 and 15 (thanks mom) and pretty much gave up until I was about 21.  I went on a diet and lost about 80 or 90 lbs and became anorexic and bulimic.  I started going to OA and was in recovery for  years.  I started having kids and my weight was yoyoing from normal to obese, normal to obese, many, many times.  Six pregnancies so you can imagine.  It was embarrassing to see people because one time I would be thin, the next pregnant, the next fat, then next thin, then next pregnant, so on.  They would be like "Didn't you have that kid yet?" "Yeah, I had that one, this is another one."
I had my last baby in 1995 and I weighed about 225 when she was born, my highest ever.  A year or so later I weighed 135.  A year or so after that I was on my up again.  I kept going on diets and losing weight, never as much as before, and then regaining, always more then before.  In about 1999 my cousin had WLS and I asked my doctor about it but my insurance didn't cover it so I gave up on that idea.  In 2000 I joined OH and looked into it some more.  In 2001 I got on disability and I got Medicare and found out that it covered WLS but I was getting a handle on my weight again.  This time I think I lost to about 170 lbs and then 9/11 happened and that set me off and I started eating uncontrollably again.  I remember that Thanksgiving my stepfather had just died and my mother had come to visit me and we went to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving and I just decided to eat what I wanted and I never stopped and by May, 2002 I weighed about 230 lbs.  That is when I asked my PCP for a referral for WLS.  I got an appointment for that August, saw the surgeon who told me that Medicare didn't have any prequalifications and scheduled me for that Oct.  I didn't have to do anything other then the normal pre admission testings.  I was going to have a RNY but before the surgery I was going to a support group with some people who had the DS and we would go out to eat and I saw what they could eat and they told me how wonderful the DS was and all the things you could eat that you couldn't eat with the RNY and I could drink with my meals with the DS and I wouldn't dump and I decided to have a DS instead.  They were eating things with bread and dessert and all kinds of goodies.  That was pretty much the extent of my research.  I was told that I would need to take more vitamins with a DS but it wasn't really stressed about how important it would be.  I was told I would need to take a multivitamin, 1500 mg of Calcium Citrate, Iron if it was low and ADEKs since they were fat soluble.  I figured that was doable.
I didn't tell anyone in my family that I was having WLS.  I found out my sister was having WLS in June and she thought the only  reason I was having it was because she was even though I already had an appointment with my surgeon.
I was really naive even though I should have known better.  I kept hearing that it was only a tool but I also remember hearing people saying things like "The RNY is a tool, the DS is a no brainier".  That is what I wanted to hear because that is what I needed.  I figured a tool wouldn't do me any good because I knew I was a die hard compulsive overeater and these people made it seem like you could be a compulsive overeater and still lose weight and keep it off with a DS.  I know it sounds like I am exaggerating but I belonged to a message board at the time (not OH) and there were posts all the time for recipes like Krispy Kreme Bread pudding and things like that.  In fact, we spend a good deal of time talking about all the goodies we were eating.  At that time there didn't seem to be a correlation between the crap we were eating and the intestinal distress that everyone seemed to experience with the diarrhea and noxious gas.  There were a lot of conversation about air fresheners and Flagyl and probiotics, too.  I honestly didn't connect my bathroom issues with my horrible way of eating.  I did know that I was eating massive amounts of food due to my lack of restriction and I figured that what goes in must come out so I attributed that to a good deal of my diarrhea but the rest of it I just figured came with the territory and to me it was a small  price to pay to be thin.  In fact, during my first year I got terribly sick from bacterial overgrowth that caused an autoimmune reaction that caused reactive arthritis and dermatitis and I couldn't get out of my bed for a month and I was advised to have my surgery reversed then and I refused because I was thin and I didn't care what the price was at that time.  Eight years later when I was extremely sick and could barely leave my bed and wasn't thin I begged for a reversal because I had regained most of my weight therefore it wasn't worth it to me suffer with all that and not have any benefits.
Anyway, it has taken a lot for me to figure out what it means to have a tool to help me stick to a healthier way of eating.  Maybe if I had grasped that concept a while ago a lot of stuff could have been spared but there is a saying I've heard that goes "I had to go where I went and do what I did to get where I got.  I am neither proud nor ashamed, I am just me now."

My mother who is MO and has DM, asthma, RA, gout, two knee repalcements, HTN, high cholesterol and sleep apnea had a bad fall.  She was watching my children while I went out with my husband to dinner and she could not get up on her own until someone got there to help her.  She has a lot of pain and takes a ton of medication.  I did not want that to be my future.

For me it was my cardiologist. I had my initial meeting with my surgeon but he sent me to the cardiologist for a work up. The cardiologist told me what my future held without some major intervention. It terrified me. My dad had a heart attack at 38. My mom had open heart surgery at 42. I was on alot of heart meds but they weren't holding me. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and my heart would race away for no reason. The lady cardiologist I went to told me that she truly felt I was a wonderful candidate for weight loss surgery. She has seen them have wonderful results all the way around. It has totally changed my life. I am no longer considered a heart patient. I don't have to take anything any more. I still have times when my heart wants to run away but those times are a lot less than before. The cardiologist didn't want to put me back on any meds but has given me a mild seditive to take when my heart runs away. I take a half of one if it doesn't go away I have to go to the hospital but so far it has slowed it down enough. Weight wise I am not where I need to be but I am better than I have been. Maintaining is the hardest part of this whole journey. I wish I could find the secret. I pray everyday that I haven't screwed up my metabolizm. The last thing I want is to throw this train in reverse. Right now I am struggling to stay below 120. Last year this time I was struggling to stay at 110. I am beginning to feel like a failure so want to get those 10lbs back off. I am starting a part time job that requires alot of extra walking maybe that will help. I have kept my walking regimen but seem to have regained anyway. Guess I have to get back to basics and refire my engine.

I have 3 reasons WLS is in my near future. 3 daughters aged 6, 4, and 16m. All of which need a healthy role model and their mother for as long as I can be here. That being said, I had been trying since DD#1 was born. Making better choices such as switching to diet sodas, getting rid of the salt shaker, saying buh-bye to butter, etc. The actual straw though, that broke my camels back, was after the birth of DD#3. As with each previous pregnancy, I actually lost weight and was 30lbs lighter than my prepregnancy weight. I wanted to take that ball and run with it! Starting from my 6 week checkup for 7 months, I worked out at the gym 5x a week. Cardio 2 days, weight training 2 days and then a day of either swimming or a zumba class. I was watching what I ate, cut out the soda completely, taking in more water, etc. I was also playing softball 2x a week AND am a stay at home mom, so had 3 kids to take care of! By the 6th month, I knew something was just out and out wrong, The new jeans I bought, that were a size smaller than pre pregnancy, wouldnt fit any more.  I did not take measurements, but used my clothing as gauges. Everything that fit before pregnancy, fit the same now. How does this happen?!!?!?! I worked sooooo hard! so I gave up. Fell into a depressive rut and stayed there until I got Pneumonia in Feb of this year. I DID NOT EAT FOR 9 DAYS!!!! 9 DAYS!!!! all I had was water, and 2-4 cough drops a day. I gained 4lbs! That I guess was more of my straw than was the 30lbs, but they all contributed to my decicion.  If you were to ask my husband why he is encouraging me on this journey, much like most our husbands, it would be because of the lost libido. LOL
Hopefully, provided when the pulmonogist and cardiologist offices get back to me with appointment dates, I will be having my RNY in October/November-ish. Then no more 22 pants, xxl shirts, and I will not have so much back pain.

My Mother like many others. She died of a massive coronary heart attack followed but 2 brutal strokes. We had a few things medically that were different but for the most part I was headed down the same road. She was only 54.