finchgal
I'm a former veterinary technician. I currently live with my American Eskimo Dog, Simone. I write books for a hobby and belong to two writers groups. I had a short story published in a local journal in 2006.
I've been overweight since I was about 8 years old. I was always the "fat kid" in my family, in school, in the work environment. For most of my life I just accepted the hurtful comments and told myself it didn't matter. Even when I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2002, I was still in denial. Besides, what could I do about my weight? Dieting never worked. Besides, even though I was morbidly obese (didn't morbidly mean it was gonna kill me?---naw, never mind) my weight has been stable for several years. And my doctors never said a word, so I must be doing okay.
Last summer, my dear friend Janet died of complications of diabetes. She was in her forties and the last two years of her life were absolutely miserable. Her death preyed heavily on my mind. For the first time I started accepting the truth. I realized that the medical profession had been unable to help Janet, and they were doing da*n little to help me. They were treating symptoms, but not the causes of my medical problems. They'd always be willing to give me another pill and if that was what I wanted, so be it. Shortly after that I realized that the quality of my life was slowly slipping away. I was out walking the dog and literally found myself too exhausted to walk to the end of the street and back. Besides being diabetic, I have arthritis, degenerative disk disease, GERD, and fibromyalgia. Oh, and Bipolar disorder. Can't forget that.
So when an old friend from high school who'd fought obesity all her life...said she was getting lap band surgery, I started investigating the possibilities. My PCP was not terribly supportive. Her attitude was "go ahead, who cares." No discussion of options, risks, benefits, nothing. I got the referral-and first chance I got, a new doctor
On June 14,2006 I went to EMMC's surgical weight loss program's educational meeting and started the process. I was initially disappointed to find that because of my insurance situation, the only procedure available is open RNY. But, in a way this is good. I was not certain lap-band would work for me because I am a sweet lover. I hope I am one of those people who dump on sweets. I'm a firm believer in negative conditioning! The support group meeting afterwards was very encouraging. I plan on going back as often as possible before my surgery.
