Hello! Welcome! I am new here! My surgery is March 27th. Thank you for sharing your story.

You are going to be fine. I had all the same reservations and I went to MX and 4 weeks later I am running , playing tag football with my grandbabies. I am so happy. I also had to lose almost 100 lbs.

Expect the worst but pray for the best. Always, always only tell your self positive affirmations. You can and will do this.

I decided not to share with anyone either, with the exception of my husband, sister in NY and a boss at work. Best decision I made. I also would rather focus on what I need to get done than be preoccupied with others doubts.

I am so happy for you. I will be praying for a speedy, save and easy recovery(for you also lovelylirpa).

Keep us posted how you do.

I enjoyed reading your story. I can relate on so many things you said except that I had insurance that covered my tests and surgery. I can't even begin to explain how pleased that I am that I finally stepped up to the issue and made the decision to have the surgery. It is the little things that come up every day that make me so thankful that I had the surgery. Just this morning I thought about the fact that when I had jury duty a couple of weeks ago they didn't put me at the end of the row and I was able to sit on the chairs in the middle of the row without any problem. I hadn't even thought of it until this morning. I just couldn't possibly be any happier that I had the surgery. I was 63 years old when I had the surgery and I feel like I have had a new lease on life. It is just amazing. I now eat normally and when we go out to eat I actually take home the rest for another meal. That was unheard of before I had the surgery. Like I said the rewards are wonderful. I know you will be pleased with your decision. Good Luck!!!

I just love ur story ! keep up the updates on ur journey

Dear MrsTeacher,

I loved reading your story! And I can SO relate to just where you are! I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I was the only one in my family who was overweight. My Dad would sometimes get a little heavy, but as a (former) Marine, he always had the dicipline to "make it right". He would "bear down" and adjust his eating habits, and before you knew it, he was slim and trim again! I never had this kind of will power or whatever you want to call it. (At one time, I was engaged to a Naval officer, and he wanted me to join up also. I was a nurse and could go in as an officer. But I couldn't meet weight requirement, and eventually we broke up. I think my being unable to join the Navy was a big factor in our breakup!)

I would go to Weight Watchers (my favorite weight loss solution) and lose 40-50 pounds, and get bored, or lose my motivation, or whatever, and quit. Soon I would have gained 50 or 60 pounds back. Before I knew it, I weighed in at 258!

I started investigating weight loss surgeries several years ago, when my cousin had WLS. He is a surgeon and after his surgery, decided to specialize in Weight Loss Surgery.

(Unfortunately our insurance would not cover $0.01 of the cost of WLS, so I ending up going to Mexico also and having the surgery there and paying for it myself. Steve [my cousin] offered to do the surgery for free, but I would still have to cover the anesthsia and hospital charges myself, which he said would run close to $20,000!!! So I knew Mexico was for me.)

He lost all his excess weight and has been very successful about keeping it off. I finally made a decision to do it myself. (This web site has been a huge encouragement to me, helped me make my decision, choose a surgeon, etc.)

I am now almost 9 months post op. I have lost around 100 pounds (depending on the day, some days it is 98 lbs, others it is 101 lbs). I know I look and feel SO much better.

Yesterday my husband and I decided to take my Mom out for Sunday dinner. She is 91 and still very healthy. She plays the organ every Sunday for church, leads Bible study at the local nursing home each week, holds a sing along for the nursing home residents weekly, etc. Very active. I worked all night Saturday night, so couldn't get to her church until it was over. I went in as they were dismissing to let her know we were there. I stopped to say "hello" to several of the members who I remembered from when I was a teenager and attended church there. I actually had one of them ask me for some ID! He didn't believe I was who I said I was! He told me he "knew Kathleen" and she was much heavier than the person standing in front of him! Wow! What a great feeling! I was so thrilled!

I have to say, my WLS was THE BEST decision I have ever made for my health and well being! I am off of my BP medicine, my blood sugar medicine, my cholesterol meds, my anti-inflammatories and my allergy meds (I don't know what is up with that one! Why being fat made my allergies so bad? Who knows?)

So keep telling yourself you are choosing to be healthier and happier. It was THe BEST decision for me! And keep posting so we all know how you are doing! Best wishes for a successful surgery!!!

Kathy D (alias Helen the Cat)

Thank you everyone for your posts and stories. I'm sorry I haven't posted back sooner but I am just getting the hang of how the blogging on this forum works. I thought I would be emailed notification of responses to the blog so I never checked back to see if I had any reponses!

I thought the blog would be the better way of recording my journey then regular forum posting.

Kathy and nreah - Thank you so much for the pep talk! I love hearing how everything turned out fine despite all the worries going into it. I know I am just being overly mental about the whole thing but I made my decision and I am sticking to it and I try to squelch the Whatifs as soon as they pop into my head.

17 days left to go!