jms68
Hi Everyone!
My name is Joanne and I am 39 years old and on February 5, 2007 I had "Open Gastric Bypass RNY Surgery".
The best decision to help myself I made in my life.
Speaking of life, I struggled my whole life with my weight. I remember 4th grade was my first official diet (weight Watchers).
I grew up feeling different than everyone and there wasn't a day that went by in school someone didn't remind me that I was different. My weight made me different and I felt like a freak! Why couldn't I be like everyone else? I struggled my whole young life feeling like a failure, a looser, an outcast, the list went on and on of how bad people and myself made me feel. Which I carried over into my adult life. I tried lots of times to loose weight and get healthy and failed every single time with a vicious cycle of up and down, up and down and with every failure my self worth diminished even more. My highest weight got up to a whopping 420 pounds!!!
In High School I injured my knee which required 2 knee operations and I soon developed arthritis and with the amount of weight my body was carrying, I soon wore away the cartilage right down to bone on bone. I was so large I could hardly walk without pain and needed a knee replacement, but they wouldn't do it because of my size, I was too high of a risk for surgery. The Dr. soon prescribed me a wheelchair of my very own to help me when I just couldn't "make it" or "it was too far to walk". How devastating!!! But the truth of the matter was I needed it.
Soon I developed pain on my right side and was told I had to get my gallbladder removed. I got it removed and continued to have the pain. After many Dr. visits found out 1 year later it wasn't my gallbladder at all it was a "Fatty Liver" and they didn't have to take my gallbladder but they were hoping it would help. So every time I ate something high in fat my liver would throb; and that was most of the time! The Dr. told me that if I didn't loose weight I soon would develop diabetes or hardening of the liver, like an alcoholic. I was so scared but continued to eat!
I think the breaking point for me was a notice I received for federal jury duty in Boston and knowing it was "federal" if picked for a case it could be for up to 1 month of jury duty. I panicked! How was I going to serve when first of all I can't even walk to the end of my driveway with my knee! Second, how was I going to fit in the seats everyday for hours without cutting off my circulation and thats If I could fit at all! (I've had many embarrassing moments of not fitting in chairs or booths.) So I went to my Dr. to see if I could get out of it and he told me I needed to apply for a handicap tag cause walking was such an issue for me and then said "Joanne I'll just mark off permanently handicapped on the form because its not going to get better for you!". WHAT!!!!! PERMANENTLY HANDICAPPED!!!! Boy, I really am messing up my life I thought, and I'm only 37 years old, where will I be at 47? DEAD????
So my Dr. recommended that I go to Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center in Boston to see a bariatric surgeon for the gastric bypass. I was very reluctant but I felt like this was my last resort and if I didn't do something soon, my body would have just broke down even worse with every passing day. Let's face it, you dont get to 420 pounds by having control of your eating!
My husband worked with a co-worker that his wife just recently had the bypass and kept bragging to my husband about how successful she was doing. He said she was willing to talk to me if I had any questions. So I called and spoke with her. The next day I called Beth Isreal to schedule an appointment but they told me I had to attend 2 informational meetings before they would consider scheduling an appointment. At the meeting the doctor said lots of things but the thing that stood out the most was "if your not willing to dedicate 30 minutes of exercise a day and tonight start to eat healthy and loose some weight before the surgery to shrink your liver then you need to get up now and walk out!" Wow, was I willing? That was a statement that really stuck with me, was I able to do that for myself? I already had a fatty liver, you mean there was hope for me to get better? To not have a fatty liver, loose weight to maybe someday walk with ease? Fit in a chair? The answer was yes! The next day I woke up excited because finally I saw a ray of hope. I started a healthy low fat food plan and went to my doctors office to weight myself on his scale that went up to 450 pounds. I was horrified to get on the scale and scared to death knowing my weight was already at 420. I knew if I didn't weight myself and face the fiddler I was never going to be free from this weight. Wow, I lost some weight only 413 pounds. I was so sure I was over 420!
I had my surgery on feb. 5 2007 and so far have lost 224 pounds Yipppeeeeeeeeeeee! I can now walk with ease, fit in chairs and my liver is normal. Life is now just beginning for me, and I love it.
