BarbaraW
My story, as far as weight issues go, begins when we moved back to Virginia from Connecticut when I was in the first grade. My parents were both from VA, but when my dad's employer closed, he transferred with several friends to the Danbury location. My parents had a good time in CT; I remember parties and dancing and falling down trying to show off doing the twist (me, not them!). My dad didn't like it up there though and came home one day and announced he had given notice and we were "going back to Virginia where we belong." My mother was not at all happy; she was finally far enough away from her mother to cut loose and have a good time!
So, she and I returned to VA six weeks ahead of my dad and lived with my grandmother. That is where i learned to love hot bread with every meal, southern cooking (which means sugar in everything that isn't fried), and ice cream.
I was never out and out fat as a child or teenager, but I wasn't thin either. I'm sure that only the exercise we naturally got as children playing kept me down to a reasonable size. As soon as I was in high school and didn't have to take p.e. anymore, my weight started climbing. When I graduated high school in 1975, I weighed 152. Don't I wish I weighed that now!!! But in those days, that seemed too heavy and my mom talked me into going to Weight Watchers. I lost down to 128 fairly quickly, and almost as quickly, gained everything back. Thus began my up and down journey on the scale.
Over the years, I lost and gained weight with pregnancies, divorces, health issues and so on. I would plateau at a new point for a few years, and then bump that plateau up 30 pounds and linger there for awhile. By the time i moved to Michigan in 2003, i was at my highest weight ever, 272 pounds. i told myself that i was just destined to be this way and my health was relatively good, so why worry?
I noticed a few years ago that i had lost some range of motion in my right knee. I've had arthritis since I was a child, but this was starting to affect my ability to walk any distance at all. i saw an orthopedic doc and he confirmed that the knee replacement I'd been hoping to put off indefinitely wouldn't wait much longer. I tried physical therapy for awhile and noticed people at the facility trying to rehab a new knee. It sure didn't look like much fun and I knew that it would definitely be much easier were I not 130 pounds overweight.
i had talked about my weight problems with my family physician back in VA and she always sort of laughed it off. I had just begun seeing a new doc in MI and when i broached the subject of WLS with her, she stunned me by agreeing immediately that I was a good candidate. So, back in February 2006, I began the process of qualifying. I went to the seminar required by the surgical practice and then had my initial consultation. I was very disappointed to learn I was not a candidate for RNY because of the arthritis. Seems if you have a regular need for anti-inflammatory drugs, RNY is not for you. After I read more about the lapband surgery and did some research on the results, I was somewhat relieved. I think this will be the best procedure for me.
The pre-op diagnostics that are required take so long to get through! I had a pulmonary test, 2 sleep studies (yes, I now sleep with a CPAP machine), a chest xray, a ton of blood work, an endoscopy (go demerol), my pap and mammo, and the thing I saved for last, the psych eval. I was starting to believe I was single handedly keeping the medical profession in Traverse City profitable. So here it is, six months later and next week I should have a surgery date.
This may be the adventure of my life.... or maybe it's the adventure FOR my life.
October 20, 2006
