My story, wow that's a broad statement. For the most part pretty normal. Great family, great childhood, normal height weight proportion up until the day I got married. Had two kids before I was 22 and everything went south from there. Started to gain a pound or two here and there and the next thing you know 100 pounds later..... Well, you all get the picture. From then on it was one diet after another. Oh I lost a ton of weight but I also gained a ton back. I had a loving husband who loved me for me and a family of the same but the funny thing was I didn't love me. Was my family enablers? Yes but only in a loving concerned way. Funny thing was I have 4 siblings all of whom had no weight issues along with my parents. Why was I the lucky one or should I say unlucky. Oh and did I mention I am 100% Italian?

So let's fast forward a few years because this could get long remember I started gaining the weight around the age of 22 I am now 53.

2012 was the darkest year of my life. My youngest son, my baby (although he was 29) passed away from an industrial accident. He was a commercial diver working a job in the Gulf of Mexico when on a normal routine dive something went tragically wrong. To hear those words that your son was in a fatal accident will always stab me like a knife and to this day I don't like to repeat them. But I did because it is an important part of why I am going through this journey today. The first year after Brad's death was actually the only time I never focused on weight, weight loss or anything even remotely pertaining to weight. After all I lost my son what else mattered? Except for the fact that I still had a husband, another son, a granddaughter and my loving family all,of whom tried to reach out to me. And as the grief got worse the weight did too. Remember I told you a while back I was 100% Italian well anyone who knows what that means knows that our families mean everything especially our children. I did take the advice of my doctor and joined a grief group. Thank God for that because the people I met made me feel I wasn't going through this alone and the more we became bonded through our grief the more I felt the fog start to lift. It saved my life because the tunnel I was going down just kept getting darker but after I joined this wonderful group of lifetime friends I was starting to see the light at the end of that tunnel as the cliche says.

So I don't remember gaining the next 50 pounds (ha ha) but now I was 150 lbs overweight. 165 pounds heavier than the day I said "I do". Although my husband, god bless him, still thought I was the bees knees. Ok time to get back on the diet go round. However this time I didn't have the energy. While watching my favorite soap opera "young and the restless" one day a commercial came on talking about an less invasive procedure called the Lapsleeve that could be performed on an out patient basis. Out came the laptop and the inquires were made. My grief counselor made me promise though I would wait a year just to make sure my emotional well being was healed. I took her advise but didn't wait to long past the one year mark to make my first appt.

Puget Sound Surgical Center in Edmonds, WA was my choice. The minute I met the staff and Dr Billing I knew this was the place for me. Well weighing in at a whopping 301 I figured it wasn't the worst they ever saw. After blood draws, nutrition classes, psych evaluations I was finally approved. June 27 was the day. The two week pre op diet I stuck to like glue. However the day before I was to start it I chowed down on every favorite thing I could get my hands on. Something by the way they highly do not recommend.

June 27, very nervous, very typical but the staff and dr's put me fast at ease. Surgery went well and was very surprised how well I felt those first 48 hrs. Unfortunately, that didn't last long.