KenA
I've been on the board for a long time, I guess it's about time I set up a profile. My journey to becoming a big loser started in late 2005. I've had weight problems since I was about 7 years old. I have yo-yoed around all of my life with my average weight continually increasing. In 2002 I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. That prompted a drastic diet that seemed to be working great, I was eating only about 600 calories a day. I lost around 100 lbs. in just over 6 months. Problem started around August, I was diagnosed with coronary artery disease, over the next 9 months I was doing everything I was told to do but ended up having ~ 9 surgeries in that time for multiple stents, angioplasties and radiation therapy. Part of what I was supposed to do was physical rehab and classes with nutritionist and the like and increasing my daily calorie intake was one of their musts. So I did and so the weight loss stopped. While I was still in the medically directed physical rehab my weight at least remained stable. I was working my tail off! Well when the insurance ran out on the rehab, I went home (stupidly) and start putting on the pounds, even though I was still following the diet. 1000 - 1200 cal, low fat and low carb. To finally get to the point my weight continued its steady increase until at around 340 lb. I start looking into WLS on the internet. I was having so many problems with my legs and every other part of my life was being effected by my weight. Of course this is nothing new i've let it effect everything about me even before it should have been an issue. Anyway when I asked my GP, he referred me to Dr. Bour. I went to one of their open meetings, I was tempted by the success stories and the possibility at succeeding where I had failed the rest of my life. But the enrollment fee made this solution seem unreachable. I had been warned by one of the office staff at my doctor’s office about this fee, it had already dissuaded her from getting help there. I put the matter on the back burner for about 3 months and asked around a bit about other doctors. I heard too many stories about people with poor weight loss results due to being poorly prepared or worse, being misinformed about what they needed to do, and the changes they would have to make after their surgery. I finally decided that this was something I couldn't do half way. Because of the heart issues I started by going to my cardiologist for cardiac clearance. With that done I went back to Bariatric Solutions and started discussing payment options and taking care of the necessary paperwork tests and appointments. Unfortunately a short ways into the process I found out my insurance company was one that require a six-month history in a regulated weight loss program. Fortunately they could take care of that here, it was only going to delay that which I was increasingly placing more and more hope in. At about 5 1/2 months Aetna sent me notification that on my plan they were no longer going to cover WLS. Ok panic was starting to set in. Finally I had some small amount of hope and I was sure it was about to be snatched away from me again. Finally this time I had someone on my side. Right at the 6 month point they put in the paperwork and made the calls to get my approval. I got my surgery date 2 days before the insurance was to cut me off. I am so glad that I have followed this path. Where I have failed all of my life now I am succeeding. I can't stress enough how important the education and the support have been to me in this process. I encourage you to continue what you are doing now in educating yourself and finding support from others on the journey. Prior to the 4 weeks of Opti-fast before my surgery (04/26/06) I weighed 372 Lbs. As of 02/19/07 my weight was 222.6 Lbs. I still have a lot of work to do. But now I know I can do it. Life is still a battle fought one day at a time, but continuing each new day is so much easier when the victories start out-numbering the losses. If you get knocked down, get right back up there. You’re not alone. There are multitudes of us who are right there with you. We will help you up, help you fight this war and cheer you on in your personal battles. Good luck and God bless you in your weight loss journey.
