Jacquii Cooke
Jacquii's Own Personal WLS Journey:
I first became interested in the prospect of weightloss surgery after seeing an intriguing program on the Discovery Health Channel. I believe that was back in 2006 perhaps... Being a procrastinator, it was not until 2008 that I actually considered WLS a viable option and began acting like it mattered profoundly. Generally profound things take on the roll of obsession for me... So after doing an interesting rendition of the obsessed person's dance, I sweated a bit then got on the phone to schedule for one of the WLS Introduction seminars.
I was so thoroughly jazzed after the seminar that I directly scheduled for my first consultation with Dr. Stephen Boyce of then Parkwest Comprehensive Weight Loss Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. My consultation was on April 20, 2008 - at which time Dr. Boyce told me verbatim that at 400+ pounds I was a perfect candidate for weightloss surgery and that in no uncertain terms would he operate on me as a smoker. (I was a 2-pack a day smoker the day of my initial consultation. Apparently Dr. Boyce could smell the cigarette smoke 
) It is with no chagrin and a lot of awe that I call April 20, 2008 the anniversary of my last-smoked cigarette. 
Thus far I have not lit up again.
Moving on... Long-story short: After having successfully jumped through all the hoops put in front of me (and some that were loftily laid behind my big booty -- apparently I'm ambidextrous in the hoop jumping game 
) I was finally able to schedule my own weightloss surgery. Dr. Stephen Boyce of the now New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery performed my laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass on April 28, 2009. I'm happy to say that I have had no complications what-so-ever and have been feeling better these past several months post-op than I have felt in years!
Feel free to visit me at WLS Journey Community Forums!
