shrinkingeve
My story? Well lets see if I can squeeze it all in here....
My name is Evie I am 40 years old. I live in Ottawa, Ontario Canada with my partner Jay and my two sons.
I have three children a daughter Samantha that is almost 21 and lives on her own, a son Mason that is 15 and a son Gage that is 8. My children continue to amaze me with how individually unique and cool each of them are. They are all so different from one another and yet have so many qualities, gifts and talents I admire.
I am not from Ottawa and in fact not from Canada at all. I am a West coast girl from Cali originally and then from Seattle, Washington.
In my youth I was very active in outdoor adventure, sports and just always having fun. I swam, hiked, skied, camped, surfed, rode horses, rode motor cycles, worked on cars, was in bands etc. My life was full of fun! That is all like a dream to me now...
I have always battled weight and had a major struggle to keep the scale down and myself fit. This lead to obsessive amounts of exercise, dieting and a serious lack of balance in my life. I had always ate healthy and was not really into junk foods, pop or other stuff like that. My body had some strikes against it that made things more difficult for me with regards to weight. My thyroid glad failed me, I have PCOS, have had back injuries and other injuries that just stacked the scale against me. On top of what my doctor calls bad genes lol
With each child I gained even more weight and then after the move to Canada and being in bed for nearly three years here with at the time no medical coverage or care and horrible health problems I found myself at a point where I was sure I would die. I was so sick and so obese that I had zero quality of life. On Feb 23rd 2011 after sorting out my status and OHIP I had a surgery that gave me a chance at getting my health back and got me out of bed. Leading up to that I also was diagnosed with Apnea and got a bipap machine. This machine made all the difference for me. I had not slept properly in years. What a big deal a decent night sleep can make.
Before and after surgery my doctors (GP, GYN and endocrinologist) suggested gastric bypass to me. I went along with the idea and thought I would at least look into it. I was soon referred to Dr. Dent at the Ottawa Hospital Weight Management Clinic.
During this same time I was so excited that I was able to be out of bed and regaining strength that I joined the gym and went to any aquafit class I could. I began going for walks and feeling so so much better. The weight began to fall off... I had a huge huge mountain to climb but was ready to start and so it began...I met the love of my life during the first couple of weeks after my surgery. Jay helped me to really want to live again and us getting out and doing just that was a major catalyst for where I am today.
I was determined and when this lady sets her mind to something there is nothing that can or will stop her.
I managed to get from around 440lbs down to 270 on my own with just exercises and being out of bed and able to move and live. Knowing I still had such a long way to go I decided to keep going with the process of WLS as Dr Dent told me with my success I could cancel at any time and that would be fine. Everyone was very impressed with how hard I was working and how much I had lost. My weight loss slowed as it does and a hurt knee and the back acting up had added to this plateau. It was at a behaviorist appointment early last month (Sept) that it clicked...Between what she said and our discussion of how much harder it seemed to be for me with my genetic make up, the thyroid, PCOS etc and just wanting to do so many things that I was still not able to do even after such a loss and so much success that a light went on....WLS is not a cop out, it is not me failing, it is not me giving up it is a tool. It is a way to level things out and give me some balance in my life and a fighting chance. I decided to press on and go for the surgery I had really thought I would never go through with and once that happened and I had made my mind up that I was 100% on board that the ball really started rolling and rolling fast!
In just three weeks from today I am having RNY gastric bypass (Nov. 15th 2012).
My surgeon is Dr Raiche.
It has been a long road getting to this point...I am hopeful!
"Info Session" March 25th 2011
"Assessment" Dr Dent April 21st 2011
"Follow-up" Dr. Dent August 22nd 2011
"Behaviorist & Dietitian" Jan 16th 2012
"Behaviorist & Dietitian" Sept 2012
"Pre-Op Class" Oct. 3rd 2012
"Consent for Surgery" Dr. Raiche Oct. 16th 2012
