Mystik
I've been overweight pretty much my whole life and was raised by my grandmother who was a single working parent and she didn't have a lot of free time for making meals & such so we lived largely off of McDonald's & other fast food restaurants.
I think the weight began to appear noticeably back when I was about 7 years old & in grade 3. I remember kids not wanting to play with me because of it and as the years went on I just became heavier & heavier. My last day of grade 12 I remember being called a "Beluga Whale" by a fellow classmate.
Now at 27 years old I'm married with 2 adopted children & am at the heaviest I've ever been (and I haven't even had to experience pregnancy!). I waddle when I walk, can barely make it up a flight of stairs without loosing my breath, barely fit in an airline seat or amusement park ride. I can't get on the floor to play with my kids and my back is in constant agony from degenerative disk disease. I've never been able to hold my kids for an extended period of time and can't take the pain in my body to carry them when they need me to. They're now starting to become faster when they run and want more play time with mommy but I just don't have the energy to keep up with them. We're also brand new to Florida & the humidity here is killing me! I think my weight makes it 100 times harder to bare. Exercise in my life is pretty much none existent. I'm embarrassed to be in any photo's and feel guilty that when my children reflect back on the photos taken during this point in their lives they will hardly find one of me with them. When I do see a photo of myself I can hardly believe that's me and typically delete it immediately, although I have decided to share a few of the ones I've chosen to keep in my "Before" album here.
About a year ago I finally realized it was time for serious changes and I spoke with my doctor who recommended (yet again) that maybe I should consider Gastric Bypass. I had always been opposed in the past feeling like Gastric Bypass was far too drastic and surely I hadn't tried hard enough in other areas, but the more I held off in hopes of doing better at another method, the more weight I inevitably continued to gain. So finally in late October of 2008 I made the decision to pursue Gastric Bypass surgery. My doctor put in my referral to a surgeon and I began the process of seminars, consults, testings etc.... but then my husband received Military orders sending us clear across the country and I wasn't going to be able to get the surgery done in time for me to have enough time to heal prior to such a big move and things with the surgeons office I had been referred to were going all but smoothly. It was a battle every step of the way and I was seriously beginning to feel like some divine intervention was going on telling me not to have this surgery so because of this all I held off deciding to wait till after our move.
Around mid August 2009, I went and saw my new doctor to re-request the surgery. He walked in and (without even asking me any questions so I could justify why I wanted the surgery) told me I was eligible. I was a little hurt that it was so obvious, but I know I’m way beyond being able to hide my “pudge”.
Within a week I had my referral in hand and an appointment scheduled with my new surgeons office for September 1st. It was a very pleasant group orientation followed up by individual consults and since I already had the majority of the prerequisite testing done within the last few months they said I could be looking at having surgery as early as the last week of September.
This is a little fast for me as I need to coordinate things with my husband so he can stay with the kids and also be close by to drop me off & pick me up from surgery. He may not be able to get all the time off needed until November but for now we're aiming for the 2nd week of October if at all possible.
We'll see how it goes!
About Me
Before & After
rollover to see after photo
