I have not always had a weight problem. Up until my 40's, I was tall (that hasn't changed) and thin. I never much thought of weight and never judged anyone because of their weight. I didn't have much use for people who did. In my early 40's, however, I started having problems with my hair turning to straw, not feeling well and I gained 40 lbs in 3 months! It took the doctors months, but they finally narrowed it down to a non-functional thyroid. And the weight continued to grow. Thank God, I had a husband who loved me and continued to make me feel beautiful.

What bothered me more than anything, though, was the effort it took to do normal, everyday activities. Walking up the stairs never used to be this hard! And every step I took to lose the weight failed miserably. I finally just gave up.

But then in June of 2009 I was diagnosed with diabeties. Hello!!!! What a wake-up call. Diabeties is a horrible disease. I didn't want to live like that! So, while talking to my sister one day, she mentioned the lap-band. I started reading about it and talking to my doctors about it. They all thought it would work for me, so I set up a consult with Dr. Wilkenfield's office in The Woodlands. We filed with my insurance and got the approval fairly quick. I scheduled my surgery for Aug 25th.

Believe me when I say, 'It was not an easy decision'. I read the good and the bad about the band and still felt it was the right thing to do. But I was SCARED up to and during the day of surgery. I lay on the operating table still trying to talk myself out of it. What the hell was I about to do! :redface: But all I had to do was think of living with diabeties and I calmed down.

The surgery was pretty uneventful until the moment I woke up in recovery. The nurse wanted me to get up, get dressed and walk to x-ray! Was she freakin' nuts! :confused: I just had surgery! Well, she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so I sat up, got dressed and walked. And you know what? It wasn't too bad. They had me stand in front of an x-ray machine and had me drink a little barrion (?) to see if it would go through. It did and they sent me home. Bam! Done! I am now a band'it'.

I wish I could say that the rest was cake, but I ran into some problems. I'll tell you all about it in my next blog. Stay tuned....:confused: