crickee

To my recollection I have never been at a normal weight for more than 6 months. I was a heavy child who wore "chubby" clothes, I still can't believe that's what they were called in the '70's! I am a licensed hairdresser who went back to business school in the early '80's to earn more money. I gained 50 lbs in about a year when I started working in an office. I have tried every diet out there, Weight Watchers, TOPS, Nutrisystem, Optifast. I lost 60 lbs on the Optifast program in 12 weeks and only ate 1 green bean and 1 strawberry. I did everything they told me to and gained 80 lbs back over a year and half. After losing both of my parents a few years apart, I ballooned to 270 and almost freaked out at that number. On my own I lost about 40 lbs by substituting a protein shake for one meal per day, I couldn't never lose over the 40 and was extremely frustrated. I started having joint issues and gained about 30 lbs from cortisone shots over a year.

My final breaking point was earlier this year when my thyroid and blood sugar started doing wacky things. The doctors said I was becoming pre-diabetic, my thyroid showed one part was hypo, the other hyper. I panicked and decided, enough was enough! I wanted to be around for my wonderful husband of almost 22 years and my boys, 9 and 13. I found out my insurance covered bariatric surgery in early May. I initially was going to have the lap-band done. By the end of May I had started the medically supervised diet my insurance required. In July, I went to my surgeon's required seminar and learned about the gastric sleeve. I started researching both surgeries and decided that the sleeve was for me and made my decision when I had my surgeon's appointment in late August. I finished the supervised diet in late September and the insurance approved my surgery in late October. I was sleeved November 20, 2012 at 246 lbs. I will never forget this date for the rest of my life!

It has definitely been a whirlwind for me and there were frustrating times as well. The hard times were worth every minute and I was on top of the world once I had my surgery date! I was determined that nothing was going to stop me! I know I am still in the early stages, but this has been the best decision I have made in my life!