Patricia S.
I am the fifth of five children and the only girl. In my younger years, I was always known as the thin one - and the only one of my female cousins who didn't wear "husky" sizes. I stayed pretty thin through college and weighed 147 pounds (which wasn't too bad on my 5'8" frame) when I married, 31 years ago. Over the next 10 years, we had four boys of our own, and I continued to work outside the home. I gained some weight with some of the pregnancies, but I lost most of the baby weight after my last child was born by participating in the Optifast program, where I lost 70 pounds.
I don't know whether it was quitting smoking in 1989 or the hysterectomy I had in 1993 (or whether I was just pre-programmed to gain weight in my thirties and forties, but I started to put on about 10 pounds a year every year until suddenly I found myself facing 50 years old about 140 pounds overweight (287 pounds!). Over the years I had tried every diet or medication that came on the market and was successful at losing weight with most of them, but the weight inevitably came back and eventually more.
I first considered having bariatric surgery about four years ago. Unfortunately, at that time, my doctor would not recommend it (she said I wasn't "sick" enough) and my insurance would not cover it. I continued to try to lose weight by attending nutritional programs and beginning numerous exercise initiatives. Despite my attempts to lose weight, I continued to need more medications to control my cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and gastric reflux. So, what was the event that finally pushed me to pursue RNY surgery again?
Two of my older brothers were morbidly obese and both were diabetic. One "big" brother surprised the family by having RNY surgery in 2003 at age 51. What a surprise when he showed up at the family reunion! At 56 years old, he has now lost over 200 pounds and is no longer on any medications for diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, or GERD. Sadly, my other "big" brother had a heart attack at age 53 followed shortly by cardiac bypass surgery. Unfortunately, his eating and exercise habits did not change and he remained morbidly obese. On December 28,2006 while packing for a Flordia vacation, he had a massive heart attack and died. He was only 60 years old.
They say everything happens for a purpose, and my brother's death finally knocked me over the head with the knowledge that 'time's a wasting' and I better get my health issues under control or face a similar fate. So, last February I enrolled in the "I Can Change" program offered by Health Alliance HMO, my health insurance provider. At the time I enrolled I intended to use the nutritional and motivational support it provided to lose my excess weight through diet and exercise. Several months into the program (and not having much luck at losing weight, although I did get my exercise regimen in order), I found out that I was now diabetic. At this point, I realized that either cardiac bypass or gastric bypass surgery was likely in my future and I opted for the choice that I could make proactively and hopefully avoid the other.
The diabetes diagnosis is ultimately what motivated me to return to my doctor and again make the case for bariatric surgery. This time she was enthusiastically supportive of my decision and said she would give me whatever referrals I needed. She had read articles in medical journals that described the positive outcomes many diabetic patients have had after bariatric surgery. This was great news to me, because I knew that both of my brothers' diabetes had progressed rather rapidly after their condition was diagnosed. I really wanted to avoid that.
I got back in touch with Health Alliance and found out that successful completion of the "I Can Change" program is a prerequisite for getting approval for RNY surgery. By this time, I was nearly five months into the six month program and had already met two of the criteria for successful completion of the program: in the opinion of my telephone health counselor, I had made significant changes in my food behaviors and I had established an exercise program. All I needed to do to successfully finish the program was to lose 5% of my original weight. Motivated by the fact that the weight loss would gain me approval for the surgery that I had been contemplating for four years, I was able to lose the weight by the date of my official weigh-in.
I received approval from Health Alliance on August 10th and am now scheduled for RNY on September 24th. I am nervous, but extremely excited about freeing the thin person trapped inside of me! I have never mentally adjusted to being overweight (does anyone?). I am always shocked anew when I see a picture of myself - who is that overweight woman? I have spent years frustrated by the inability to ride roller coasters, go horseback riding and waterski like I used to! All that is about to change!
I turned 54 this summer and am retired (thanks to an early retirement program). My youngest child left for college last week. What an excellent time to concentrate on ME!
Thanks for reading, and joining me on this journey.
