wigenie40

Hi - I'm Heather. I haven't been on here for awhile. My surgery was on Feb. 21, 2014...today I am down to 201 from 256 in four months! I can shop in my own closet again! Lol I did struggle with a plateau in March/April, but the weight just started to fall off after that. I've recently been sick (unrelated to surgery) but I'm going to start exercising very soon. When I was at my heaviest, I suffered from plantar fasciitis, so my feet hurt and even walking quickly became painful. I also used to have swelling in my lower extremities. All gone!! I'd like to lose 31 more lbs and get a tummy tuck afterwards. I'd love to be 160-165. Thanks for reading! I'll post some before and after pics. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

Yay! I'm glad I posted that. It will absolutely resolve itself.

Great pictures!! Thanks for sharing. Love how you can fit into one leg of your old pants! Not only do you look absolutely beautiful, I bet you FEEL amazing! You should be so proud of yourself. What a lucky daughter you have.

I also have PCOS...facial hair (LOVE laser hair removal!), big belly, acne, irregular periods (the pill helps with that).... Whenever I've been thinner, my symptoms DEFINITELY improve. And being on the birth control pill gives me a predictable period and also helps control the facial hair and acne. For SURE you're going to see improvement with your PCOS after surgery. Exciting!

Hi, I'm Heather. I joined this site last year, but didn't go through with everything. I'm a Kaiser patient and I'm starting the Options program on May 30. I'm excited about this journey and plan on having the surgery in mid-December. I'm a teacher, so I'll have a 3-week winter break in which to recover. I guess this is somewhat "off-topic" but I'm so painfully depressed. I've been divorced for over 2 years now, and I feel like it was the worst mistake of my life. I wish it had never happened. I feel like I "thought" I was unhappy with my husband, but being divorced, I'm MORE unhappy than ever. I miss my ex. We are friends and even though he says "we will NEVER get back together," he loves spending time with me, cooks for me and we hang out more than he does with his current "girlfriend." There's a lot of mixed messages coming from him. I'm so depressed...I feel so low, so "black" like the whole world is a sad place to be. And I feel like I ruined my life and it will never feel good again. The guys I've dated since the divorce have all hurt me in some way or have been "losers" - more proof to me that I really screwed up. I guess I'm just hoping someone can help me in some way. I hate the depressed side of myself. I feel so overwhelmed by it right now. Thanks for reading.

Thanks everyone. I should've said, I am on medication and will be for life and I see a great therapist regularly. I've struggled with clinical depression since age 8, and I know it will always be something I have to manage, like any other chronic illness. I wrote this post at an extremely low moment...a sad, raw moment. And I thank you all for being so respectful and honest with me. That's what I love about this site - people can really be themselves and find an accepting forum. Yes, I struggle with cutting all ties with him. I've lost so many people (my parents, grandparents...so much death) in the past decade, I guess another "loss" just seems so frightening at times. Again, thank you for your responses.

I'm sitting in the waiting room RIGHT NOW waiting for my consult with Dr. Zelada!!! Please cross your fingers for me...I'm nervous about approval and my time frame. As a teacher, my last school day was today (prophetic? Ironic? and we resume school on Aug. 14th - I HAVE to get surgery in this window or not at all. Prayers and good vibes please!!

@slimlady Was 7/30 the first available date or just what worked for you?

One of the reasons I'm pursuing the VS is that I've had pancreatitis twice, the last time being SEVERE...I could have died. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks and had to recuperate for another 3 when I got home. I ended up losing 90 pounds over the next 9 months. My husband was SO RESENTFUL. Couldn't he be happy that his wife didn't DIE and now looked HOT!!?? He told me I was "gloating" when I called to tell him about my first successful trip to the gym. He became more aloof. He couldn't handle it. A lot of messy, bad stuff happened, but I ended up leaving him about a year later. We are now divorced. I've since gained everything back (divorce stress...how terribly ironic) and to this day, he'll say things like, "When u lost all that weight, you didn't look THAT good." I had/have too much self-respect to let myself be treated like that. No matter WHAT my weight is. You only live once. And that wasn't LIVING.

I'm meeting with him right before you guys - on the 19th! I asked the nurse who the "nicest, coolest" surgeon was and she set me up with Dr. Zelada.

I'm a Kaiser patient in Los Angeles. Just went to the Options orientation and at the end they told us one of our "options" lol was an early consult with a surgeon, meaning if you can "convince" the surgeon at your appt, you can get in early and NOT have to take the Options class. Being a teacher, I'm reallllllly hoping I can achieve this, so I can have the surgery this summer. I'm becoming so educated by reading this site - I hope I'm successful in persuading the surgeon to take me. Anyone have any experience with this? Thx!