ChristiMNB

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Be Happy for the Challenges YOU have placed in YOUR own way so that you could again experience how DIVINE you really are!

Wow, my birthday is today and I'm 40...  I can't believe it!  Ok, I don't think I feel it either....  LOL!  Not that I am the picture of health....  has some issues this year directly related to my DS surgery and MY OWN lack of caring for myself, supplementing properly, etc but I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better off than I was six years ago before my WLS!  

My blog today is of gratitude...  thanks to all the people that were here and members and were sharing their journey with us six and seven years ago when I was researching and made me motivated and gave me HOPE and excitement for the next phase of my life that I was choosing!!

Thank you as well to my peers that encouraged me to give back by helping them have SAFE access to SKILLED and AFFORDABLE plastic reconstruction on their journey as I was blessed to be able to find.

Thank you to those of you that literally put your lives (and hopes and dreams for new bodies that matched the "inside!") in MedNetBrazil's hands and trusted me that everything would be fine and came to Brazil to finish their Journey.  

Thank you to the many many, too many to mention, that didn't let me give up, didn't let me fight back, didn't let me give in, and reminded me of my vision and the "Serendipitous Coincidences"  that have definitely led me to what I do today and what I am now creating with what I have learned and earned these last five years.  =)

A Thank You In Advance to those who will continue to encourage and trust me and what MNB stands for as we enter 2008.

Thank you... Thank You...  THANK YOU and BLESSINGS always, to ALL.

From my Weight Loss Surgery research beginnings here on ObesityHelp.com, from my Brazilian mother-in-law's laptop in Vitoria, Brazil while on vacation with my family, I knew that I would give back to others like me who were desperately needing procedures that would not or could not be paid for in the USA or other places.  

At the time, I weighed almost 300lbs and had just returned home from a weekend getaway to the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro with my then Brazilian husband.  I was horrified that I could not get thru the spindels on the buses there...  horrified I had to huff and puff to get up the stairs to see the Christ...  scared I would pass out from the heat and the sheer weight my small frame was attempting to carry around... embarrassed that I seemed to be the only overweight person around...  =(

I got back from that trip, typed in "Carnie Wilson" in a search engine and hit the OH.com website.  For the next few weeks I devoured all I could here.  Poured over the B&A pics and journals of everyone, learned about the different procedures, decided I wanted the DS and decided I wanted to change my life right then and there.  Seeing I might have an insurance battle to cover the DS, I began researching DS surgeons IN BRAZIL already before I returned to the USA.  I was ready to return to Brazil for my DS surgery if it had not (luckily) ended up being covered by my insurance in the USA!!  

Four months later,  at 298lbs, I was "switched" by Dr Clark Warden in Mississippi.  And 11 and a half months later and 160 pounds lighter, I was back in Brazil, moving there permanently with our two toddlers (then 5 and 2.5 years old) and already researching my Plastic Surgery journey to begin!  What luck, to be in the PLASTIC SURGERY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!  LOL!!  =)

By mid-July 2002, I had had my first round of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery.  As I shared my Plastic Surgery journey, from my laptop in Brazil, with online support groups, and others like myself, just trying to get to "normal" after weight loss surgery, being told by insurance companies what was "medically necessary" or not, shocked by prices for needed procedures in the USA, horrified at some results and just being frustrated, I realized that I could help others like myself by giving them the opportunity I had by coming to Brazil, the Plastic Surgery Capital of the World, and having these Life Altering and Transformational procedures done for a fraction of the price by various skilled surgeons that had earned their local and international reputations.

I would be their liaison, their support structure, their bilingual guide and most importantly, a trusted confidant as I personally inquired about a particular surgeon's local reputation, skill, bedside manner, checked out the hospital, negotiated fair fees, assembled doctors and medical providers of other specialties to accompany us and support us medically for what we would be going through and the unique nutritional and recovery needs we would have undergoing such procedures.  Let's face it, my peers were coming half way around the world almost, (for most of them, it was the FIRST time leaving the country!) and putting not only their new bodies but essentially their lives in MY hands and the hands of those I chose to work with MNB that had the same mentality and integrity.  to be continued....