Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery.
Growing up I was always the biggest girl in all of my classes. I don't mean big as in weighing the most but big as in being proportional all over and a tall sort of way. I believe that in 4th grade I was already 5 feet, 8 inches tall. I wasn't petite by any means and I was not thin. I had meat on my bones and I carried it well. I was active all throughout my time in middle school and high school. I played volleyball and basketball almost every year. I remained about the same size from the time I was 15 years old until I was 20 years of age, only gaining and/or losing 5 pounds here and there but things would soon change.
I celebrated my 21st birthday 3 months pregnant. During my pregnancy I craved some pretty weird things but the one thing I craved the most was bacon. I ate it everyday up until the day my son was born. Pregnancy was a roller coaster ride for me, the day I found out I was pregnant I quit smoking cigarettes. I was sick for the first 4 months, vomitting all day and night. My doctor gave me nausea medication which helped me tremendously, I was finally able to keep food down and boy did I eat and eat and EAT. In one week I gained 12 pounds. I was so naive when I was pregnant, I thought that I could get away with eating whatever I wanted to because when I have my baby all of the weight will just fall off of me and I'll be back into my pre-pregnancy clothes in no time. I gained a total of 90 pounds when I was pregnant. Yes, I said 90, 9-0, as in 10 pounds away from 100 pounds. My son was born weighing 8lbs 6 oz. I lost a total of 13 pounds the day my son was born. Now what was I going to do with the other 77 pounds that was attached to me and holding on for dear life? Thank God for being tall because overall I still didn't look that bad and I was a Mom; something I'd always dreamed of being. My boyfriend/sons father and now husband of 7 years has always been very supportive and has loved me through it all.
I could write a book filled with all of our trials and tribulations but I'm going to stick with the important facts, my weight loss and my many weight gains.
Most of my weight was gained with my pregnancy as stated above. I quit smoking the day I found out I was pregnant and I started back up again when my son was about a month old. Bad, bad, bad decision.....
I joined my local YMCA when my son was about 6 months old; I worked out really hard, 5 days a week and lost about 30 pounds in 7-8 months.
When my son was about a year and a half old I decided that I really needed to quit smoking for good this time because I didn't want him following in my footsteps when he got older. So I quit smoking and during those first few months I gained about 30 pounds.
A few months later my Grandpa passed away due to a massive heart attack, his 9th one. Him and I were very, very close. When he passed I began having panic attacks, they would come on at least 3-5 times per week and each time they would come on I would immediately go to the ER. At the time I didn't know what a panic attack was, I didn't know I was suffering from severe anxiety and PTSD. I just knew that these episodes kept happening to me and that they were very scary and paralyzing me with fear. After meeting with many different specialists and having numerous tests ran I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. My doctor at the time put me on a medication called Paxil or Paroxetine. Back in 2005 & 2006 Paxil was a Class A medication, it is now a Class D medication which means DANGER and if at all possible please do not ever start taking this medication. Paxil is known to cause serious heart defects in unborn children. Had I known what I know now about Paxil and the risks associated with taking this medication I would've never started taking it to begin with. I will say that this medication completely helped me with my panic attacks, however, over the first year of taking this medication I gained over 50 pounds and the weight gain is a very common side effect.
I also started smoking again. Doesn't make any sense, right? My Grandpa dies of a heart attack, his 9th one and I start smoking again. I don't know what I was thinking...
Fast Forward a few years or five and there I was in 2010 with a lot of motivation to get my life on track. I was going to lose weight by eating healthy and working out. I had a great job, my husband and son were happy and healthy. We were all just enjoying life. I joined 24 Hour Fitness and I was getting up every morning before work for the last 3 months to hit the gym and get my day started right. It was March 13th, 2010 I decided to go out with a friend, I was in a cheap pair of sandals, we're in Washington so of course it was pouring out, it was dark, it was the first time I had been to my girlfriends new house and she took me through her backyard underneath a trellis, we were running to avoid the rain and myself being almost 6 feet tall had to duck while running to make it under the trellis and BAM..... I stepped in two holes which just happened to be side by side and then SNAP, both of my ankels were instantly broken. I didn't even need to go to the ER, the noise and the pain that I was in was enough, I knew what had just happened. I crawled into my friends house on all fours and all I could say was "Call my husband." To make another very long story short, we went to the ER that evening, both ankles were broken and I left the next day in two leg braces and a lot of pain. For the next 3 months I layed in a bed on the floor waiting for my ankels to heal. My right ankle wasn't healing properly so I eventually ended up needing surgery on it. My doctor went in, cleaned up my ankle, put a plate in there and some screws and now it seems to be holding up okay. A few months after that I needed surgery on my right knee because it to had been injured in the fall but to this day I swear it hurts more now than it ever did before my doctor opened it up. The left ankle ended up healing nicely on it's own. During this time I put on another 10-15 pounds.
We're getting closer to the present day but I'm not quiet there just yet. After breaking my ankles and that huge ordeal my feet have never really been the same. They got better but I don't think they will ever be 100% again. I went back to my Office Manager position in September 2010 only to be laid off in April 2011. My 30th birthday was fast approaching at the end of August and I had gone back to school after being laid off for a few quarters. I woke up one morning in June and was shocked to find that my feet were swollen 3 times their normal size. My ankles, the tops and bottoms of my feet, all the way up to the tips of my toes were enormous. I made a few phone calls and was told that I should go to an urgent care facility right away. When I got there the nurse took me right back and wanted to get started with an ultrasound to check for any blood clots. They took numerous x-rays of my feet and also drew blood to check to see if I possibly had some type of infection. Luckily, I had no blood clot, my x-rays looked good and the only thing that my blood work showed was an elevated level for inflammation. The doctor that was on call that day referred me to go see a specialist the following week. From June 2011-March 2012 I was sent from specialist to specialist and no one could figure out what was causing the swelling and inflammation that was going on within my body. I was steady gaining weight again and the inflammation was spreading from the tips of my toes up to my hips. I was experiencing severe pain in my back, my wrists, elbows, fingers and joints. I met with a few different cardiologists, podiatrists, endocrinologists, rheumatologists, pulmonologists, radiologists and was still not getting any answers. I was put on many different medications from steroids to anti-inflammatory drugs and none of those worked either. I could barely walk let alone stand because the pain was so severe. In April 2012 I went to go see a rheumatologist at Virgina Mason who came highly recommended, he took one look at my feet and my hands and looked in my chart at my past labs and said "You have Rheumatoid Arthritis." I was completely dumbfounded that this man had just met me and was able to diagnose me within 30 seconds but as he went on it was clear that he knew everything about me from the time I fell and broke both of my ankels to the last medication that was tried and failed; this doctor had done his research and I was in good hands, finally...
Since meeting with my new rheumatologist I've tried several different infusion medications, we've even tried a chemotherapy medication which is known to work on rheumatoid arthritis patients but unfortunately nothing has worked well enough on me. I've had a few days of relief after an infusion but by the fifth day I'm in pain again and barely able to walk. My doctor and I both agree that weight loss surgery is the best option for me. My feet can't handle the current weight that I'm at and because my rheumatoid arthritis has been basically "running wild" for the last year and 7 months it's going to take me losing a large amount of weight and then trying another infusion before I'll notice any major improvements. Since the birth of my wonderful baby boy almost 10 years ago this coming March I've gained more weight than I've lost. I have a long road ahead of me but I'm ready and I will succeed. I haven't been able to wear a pair of tennis shoes since July 2011, I've been living in slippers. I can't wait for the day when I can slip a pair of tennis shoes on my feet and go for a brisk walk. That'll be one beautiful day.
I've opted for the Lap Sleeve based upon the fact that there are far less side effects and from what I've read there is also a higher success rate. I've already met with my surgeon and gotten most of my questions answered. I have about 140-160 pounds to lose.
Just remember, one day at a time...
What was (is) the worst thing about being overweight?
The worst thing about being overweight for me is that it makes my Rheumatoid Arthritis so much worse. I haven't been able to wear tennis shoes in over a year and a half. I practically live in my slippers because my feet are 3 X's the size they used to be. I no longer have ankles, I have huge canckles. I have a 9 year old son, we used to go to the park at least 4 X's a week or go to the beach or to the zoo and now I can't do any of that stuff. I'm lucky if I can stand for more than 10 minutes at a time.
If you have had weight loss surgery already, what things do you most enjoy doing now that you weren't able to do before?
No surgery scheduled yet but soon, very soon... It could be by the end of this month, January 2013. Fingers Crossed....
HilaryH8103
