NurseKasey
I was born March 6, 1971 in Des Moines, Iowa. I weighed 10 pounds 11 ounces. I was chunky from day one. I was always the "big girl" in class. I was always taller and larger than the other kids in my classes.
I was born with congenital hip and leg deformities that made it difficult for me to participate in physical activities. When I was 9 years old I had my first hip operation, a derotation osteotomy. The following year I had the other hip done. The next year they took out the metal screws and rods that held my hip bones together. I spent that three years in and out of Shriners Hospital for Chrippled Children in Minneapolis, MN. An entire state away from my family.
For the next several years I continued to gain weight. My mother scolded me and tried to warn me "not to become like her". She also has struggled with her weight her entire life. I understood what she was saying but for some reason, no matter what I did, I still gained weight.
Then came high school and all it's cruelty. Then college and again I was an outcast. I left college after my second year and moved in with my first husband. I had my first child a year and a half later. At that time I had ballooned to over 300 pounds. I remember getting on the scale at the Dr.'s office and my ex-husband would "moo" over my shoulder. How humiliating. I gained 23 pounds with her. I never lost it.
I gained only 11 pounds with my second child. But never lost that either. Soon I was pushing 350.
6 years ago I left my ex-husband and began the up/down roller coaster of divorce and the single life. I lost around 50 pounds. Mainly because all I did was drink and smoke. He was my addiction for 13 years, all the sudden he was gone and I replaced him with alcohol and ciggarettes. I began to feel pretty good about the way I was looking and found the confidence to date again. That was a nightmare!
Soon I found my current husband. We dated for 3 years before we got married and have now been married a year and a half.
I began thinking about WLS about 10 years ago. My mother had the "old" gastric stapling surgery. She actually had it 3 times. The first time she "blew" out her staples. The second time they had to do a reversal due to infection. The third time she ended up with a wound infection again but the surgery held and she did lose quiet a lot of weight. She kept it off for a year or two but is now just a large as she ever was before.
That concerns me. I want to make the most of this opportunity. I do not want to go through all of this and end up back where I started. I look at WLS as a tool, not a "fix". I'll get where I want to be, and that is healthy. I don't care what size pants I end up in. I just want to be healthy. Lower my blood pressure, prevent diabetes, alleviate the pain in my back, legs and hips, ease my breathing......and make me FEEL better.
I stand here, ready. Ready to embark on this journey.
