shelbaj
My story will not sound unique to the members of this website. Like many OH members, I have found a new life that includes health, activity and happiness. I overcame struggles to gain my entrance into the post-op world and learned a great deal about myself and my body in the process.
Below is the very first OH entry in my original profile:
October 2004
I'm 47 years old and have been fighting obesity all of my adult life. I was very active in sports in high school but when I got a desk job after graduating my weight started to climb. To make a long story short - in 2001 I weighed 330 pounds and was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes/Syndrome X and it scared me very badly. I threw myself a pity party that lasted about 8 months before I decided to "get serious" with a diet. I started (again) on Weight Watchers and began walking twice a week. I ended up losing about 65 pounds. After about 10 months I started gaining weight again. I got back to about 290 and decided I better do something else. I started researching WLS and here I am. After I had the first consult with my surgeon in November of 2003 I had high hopes that I would be approved for surgery very quickly. I had a period of "last supper" syndrome and my weight rose again to 310. I then found out that my insurance company required 1 year of physician-supervised diet. I was very sad but now I am glad I've had that year. I've been doing a great deal of research and I feel I am much more prepared and have a better understanding of what "post-op" life will be like. I think my expectations are more realistic now. I'm back down to 295 now and have a couple more months of physician supervised dieting to do. So, I'm hoping now to get insurance approval by January and then we'll see when I can get surgery scheduled.
And the post below is the last entry I made prior to updating my profile into the new format:
October 4, 2006
What changes since April when I wrote last. I am pretty much maintaining my weight at around 150 - it's a little high for the charts but I feel good at this weight and am not going to make myself crazy trying to get to a number on a chart. I continue to feel great and am having so much fun being able to do whatever I want. I tried water skiing this summer - ended up breaking 4 ribs - ouch. It was great to have the energy and strength to try though. Went tubing and played in the water - been lots of years since I've done that :-)
I moved to
It's interesting cooking for two now - my friend doesn't have any weight issues so he's not too concerned about eating healthy. He's finding out though that we can eat healthy and still have good tasting food that fills him up. It's sure more fun cooking for two. When I was by myself I would tend not to cook - so I'm getting more variety now too. Guess it's good for both of us.
In between these two posts are two years and many words about my journey to health. I am so incredibly happy with the results of my weight loss and still revel every day in the ability to experience life fully. Maintaining my weight is still an every day effort but the effort is so far removed from the despair that I fought before surgery. This is certainly not the end of my story but a great place to stop and take a look at where I have been and where I'm going. I keep the full text of my postings saved on my computer and occasionaly read through them when I need encouragement.
