Naida

Many people say their journey began during the pre op orpost op period. Some may even say their journey began the day they had surgery. My journey; however, began many years ago. It has been a very long and difficult journey to get to where I am today.

Like most of you, I've struggled with weight my entire life. When I was 10 years old, I was molested by a close family member. By the time was 19 years old, I had been molested by a total of four different men. I had no self-esteem and felt that I had no value. During my childhood, I learned to cope with food and it became my source of comfort and in a way, my protection as well.

This was an ongoing pattern until the day that I could no longer do the simple things in life. My mobility was severely limited, I had obstructive sleep apnea, I was prediabetic and I had suffered from severe depression most of my life. Luckily, God loved me so much that He allowed me to hit rock bottom so that I could seek treatment for my depression. This was the day my journey began. It was during those counseling sessions that I came to the realization that from a very young age, I had learned to turn to food to help me cope with things in life.

In April 2011, I entered into the Bariatric Program at Kaiser Permanente in Honolulu, Hawaii. I had my gastric sleeve done on October 5, 2011. I am very thankful that Kaiser has such a strong bariatric program. I learned so much from my classes and Dr. Brian Wong was great!

Let’s chat and share our journey as we continue our focus to becoming healthier and more confident!