VintageQueen
Same old story... Been chubby my whole life, but it started spiraling out of control after my daughter was born, and then I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2000. Lots of diets, hundreds of pounds lost -- and gained. I even worked part-time at Lane Bryant for several years (imagine the horror at the Weight Watchers meetings I was going to at the time when I shared that the boxes of freight we got in at the store often contained a surprise - a huge box of candy. Job security?). During the summer of 2006, my husband Chuck and I started talking about weight loss surgery. I went to my primary care physician, Dr. Roach, prepared for her to recommend another diet, but she really just gave me more info on all the options so that I could make an educated decision. Chuck and I went to Dr. Snyder's seminar in the fall of 2006, but after the full 2 hours there I have to say we didn't really learn anything new, we had both already read so much! I had a consult with Dr. Snyder, who was plenty nice, but received a fair amount of misinformation from one member of his staff, and then I experienced great difficulty getting some of his staff members to respond to my queries, so I decided to hold off for a few months to get everything straightened out.
Meanwhile, the week of Thanksgiving 2006, we moved so that our daughter, Morgan, would be in a school better suited to her needs. Things went along as usual, and in June 2007 I started Weight Watchers (again, duh) to lose a few pounds for my cousin's wedding, plus I wanted to get started on the route to surgery by losing a few pounds. Dr. Roach monitored my diet and I saw a dietitian, and I had already lost almost 30lbs by late summer. Lo and behold, a few weeks later I ran into one of my new neighbors, who had been a customer at Lane Bryant. I barely recognized her! I knew she had had gastric bypass a few years back, and she is so skinny-mini! We started talking, and she told me she had gone to Dr. Schoen. When I saw that he was covered on my insurance, I scheduled an appointment. Not only did Chuck and I really like him, we absolutely loved his whole staff. Morgan was nervous about the surgery, but she came to an appointment after school one day and got to meet Dr. Schoen, Dr. Rothschild, and all of their support staff. They were so nice to her, I know that eased many of her fears.
So now I had found my surgeon, and everything else was pretty much a formality. My BMI was right at 40, which is the minimum for my insurance to approve the surgery, so I had a sleep study done. Sure enough, I have sleep apnea, which meant that my BMI could go down to 35 and I could still be approved. I was really excited at the prospect of losing more weight before surgery (honestly!), but, try as I might, I could hardly lose anything. Dr. Schoen's nutritionist, Lisa, finally had me drop my caloric intake to 1200 per day, plus I was already working off at least 500 calories at the gym every day, but I barely lost another 10lbs before surgery. I kept working, though, and The Amazing Sara got all my paperwork processed and I was approved in a day!
I finally had my gastric bypass on Monday, February 25, 2008. The first few days just plain sucked, even when I got home on Wednesday and I was still trying to figure out how to eat and how to take my meds, but since Saturday I've felt a tiny bit better every day - almost human! Morgan is a lot more comfortable now (she was quite nervous before surgery and up until this weekend, when she could actually take me for short walks around the neighborhood and I didn't wince in pain), which is the most wonderful part - my baby isn't scared, and I think she'll soon actually feel the excitement we've promised as we start to be able to do much more as a family!
At the risk of sounding overly optimistic, I'm going to say that things can only get better from here. Much better! I can't wait to see how this new chapter of my life unfolds!
