ican_rachel

All my life I have been the "bigger" kid, teenager, and adult. I have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. It didn't help that my parents owned various restaurants as a child. On May 2, 2010, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She showed me the value of unconditional love and the desire to be there for her as long as God allows me to be. I was an unhealthy, emotional wreck when I had her. I was not taking care of myself like I should be if I wanted to be around for her. I finally got the courage to have a physical exam in August of 2011 and was at a whopping 320lbs. I was ashamed of my weight and embarrassed. Never in my life did I think I would weight that much and when I did look in the mirror I really didn't see that much weight on me, but it was a fact that I weighed 320lbs. I decided I better do something before it was too late, if I wanted to be there for my daughter and not leave her parentless (her father has never seen her or has had the desire to). I thought I could lose the weight on my own and never even thought of surgery, so I started "tweeking" my diet and swimming 3 days a week and walking 3-5 miles the rest of the days. I was losing really slowly, so I tried Alli which helped a little but I didn't want to take the pills for more than 6 weeks. I admit at times I did cheat a little on my diet, snacked a little to much or over ate, but all in all my new lifestyle was pretty healthy. A year passed and it was time for my annual physical check-up. My weight came in at 297lbs. I was down a whole 23lbs but in my mind it should have been more with my weight being so high. That day my Dr. out of the blue, asked if i have ever thought of having Lap-Band surgery. I honestly never did. I mean my mom had gastric bypass surgery 5 years ago but I never thought I would need something like that. Not me, but then if my Dr. was suggesting this maybe I should look more into it, after all my cholesterol and diabetes was all borderline so what would it hurt? A week later my Lap-Band journey began. I called Janet, the bariatric coordinator, and started setting up my appointments. I had to meet with the dietician once a month for 6 months, visit with a psychiatrist, meet with a physical therapist, have two consults with the surgeon, and have two other consults with the other surgeon/fill adjuster. Finally March 11, 2013 came, the time for me to have my Lap-Band surgery. It all seemed like a dream the last few months but it was finally here, the next tool for my weight loss success! The recovery was not at all like I expected, NOTHING like a C-section! On March 26th, I had my first fill of 2cc. It's only been about a month since I have had the surgery but so far I feel AMAZING and am really excited to see and meet the new me!