pjwright
09/11/08 - 275.8 lbs.
Hello,
My story begins at age 34 when I married my third husband. He is 8 years younger than me and has been my best friend for over 20 years. At the time I met him in 1987, I was a heavy smoker. He hated smoking so for him , I quit. By the time we married in 1988, I had put on 20 lbs which wasn't a big deal at that time because I only weighed around 125. We both loved to eat out and try different foods and restaurants. He also loves to cook so he became the head chef at our house. Not good. We both started putting on weight and enjoying every minute of it. In 1993, I had a neurological attack and was told that I have MS. Not good.
I went into deep depression and started eating even more. After five years, around 1998-99, I was up to 200 lbs. I realized then I needed to do something about this problem. So over the next 8 years, I tried every diet in the world, even joining the gym with
my husband. It was yo-yo time. UP and Down, UP and Down, Up and Down, over and over until I just finally gave up and got up to 250 lbs. In 2006, my daughter in law announced that she was having lap band surgery. WHAT???? I said. I had never heard of it. I watched her go thru this and after her surgery she quickly lost 30 lbs and I was amazed at how easy it seemed to be.
Then she got pregnant and had me a beautiful baby boy. My third grandson. While watching her go thru this, I would think that maybe this was my answer. Maybe this was God's way of showing me a tool that would help me to be healthy and happy again and cure my food addiction. So in March of 2007, I called her doctor's office and found out the date of the next seminar and when I left there, all of my questions had been answered and I called the office the very next day and started the process.
On Sept 12, 2007, I had lap band surgery. It went great although my sugar went so high they would not let me go home the same day and started me on insulin. I can home the next day. No pain really, just some discomfort when trying to sleep.
One week later I went back for my post op stiches and staple removal and had lost 10 lbs!! I was elated. I was so very happy I had made this decision and was so ready to begin my NEW LIFE!!! Not good.
The next night at 10pm I was ready for bed when I started having severe stomach pains. I was thinking it might be gas so I started walking. I even took a pain pill. The more I walked, the worse it got. After an hour, I called the doctor's service to page him. He called me back in 10 mins and I described the pain. He was thinking bandage slippage, port slippage, ??? Told me to take another pain pill and if it did not get better in 1/2 to come to the emergency room. Well it only got worse even after 2 pain pills so we headed to the ER. They got my pain under control and admitted me. They could not find the problem. The next day
the Dr came in and ordered a series of test. At 11pm that night, they finally found the problem. LEAKAGE. My abdominal cavity was full of stomach acids and I was being poisoned! There it was. Back in surgery and the lap band came off. It was already eroded. Well of course this sent me spiraling back into depression and back to eating. One year later, I was in therapy and over 270 lbs. My psycologist suggested I give it another try so here I am. A lady I work with had RNY surgery 2 years ago and I watched her shrink. She looks great and feels great. I got her doctors and called the office. They sent me out a packet of docs to complete. I got all my records from the lap band surgery and sent them to the new doctor. It only took him 2 day so agree to take me on as a patient. I say him on 9/4/08 and he suggested VSG. He said RNY was too risky due to the damage the leakage has probably done to me. So I've started the paperwork, appts, etc process and we'll see if my insurance company (BCBS) will pay.
He says due to my circumstances, he does not think it will be a problem They have paid for other VSG surgeries he has done.
So now it's a waiting game but at least I don't feel as sad. I'm very 'caustiously' excited. My psychologists laughed at that expression.
Well that's about it for now. I'm really enjoying this website and it is so very encouraging to read the stories and see the before and after pics. It lifts me up a little more each day and I congratulate everyone!!! 
