Kate Helms

Posted this in what seemed to be the logical place ... and which was the wrong folder. Moving it! Sorry for the blonde move. Hello. I'm Kate and I just got my surgery date last week (July 5). I am a 51 year old mother of five. My son died in 1999. I still have one daughter at home, the other three are married and have their own families -- I have four grandchildren so far. Like probably just about everyone else here, my weight-loss successes — and backslidings — were always less than impressive: I’d lose 50 pounds, gain back 55. Lose 40, gain back 60. Drop 20, find 30. Back and forth, up and down, two steps forward and three steps back. My biggest success was in 1984 when I managed to lose 111 pounds while taking physician prescribed amphetamines. I kept the bulk of it off for almost two solid years after stopping the drugs, but it (of course!) all came back with a little more to spare. Although I wasn't what you'd call "happy" about being overweight, I had finally come to terms with it, and I had learned to live with being fat. I was very active, and other than being an insulin dependent type 2 diabetic, I wasn't experiencing any negative impact from my weight, so it was easy to overlook. My weight generally hovered in the mid-200 range and I was okay with that. Then in late 2009 and early 2010, all hell started breaking loose. First my diabetes medications stopped working -- this happened every couple of years, I'd build up a tolerance or something and I'd have to switch things around -- and my weight suddenly (and without any discernible reason) ballooned to 317 in January of 2010. I began looking into weight loss surgery because I had *never* weighed 300 pounds and I was by God not going to stay there. I was an exercising fool all summer long and I managed to hold my weight between 298 and 317 until mid-September. In mid-September I had an "event" where I blacked out due to extremely high blood sugar and wound up in the ER. My weight at that point was 311. My doctor sent me to an endocrinologist, who promptly switched me to a concentrated insulin (u500). The diabetes is now under control, but as a result of the heavy duty insulin, I am retaining massive amounts of Water and my weight began ballooning. (And I do mean ballooning: less than a month after I started taking the new insulin, I had packed on 36 pounds.) This Fluid is not just in my extremities, it's also collecting around my heart and lungs. The cardiologist says it's a testament to the strength of my heart that I haven't yet had a heart attack. My endocrinologist broached the subject of weight loss surgery with me in October. She told me that if I didn't get off the u500 insulin, my life expectancy could be measured in months rather than the decades I should be contemplating. With my diabetes being as bad as it is, the only way they're going to be able to get me off it quickly and immediately without causing more problems in the process, is thru bariatric surgery. In November she gave me a referral to Premier Bariatrics and in December I began the (seemingly endless) compliance efforts required by the insurance company to consider the surgery. I have been following a very strict diet since January, and yet my weight keeps going up. I haven't been on a scale since March (ours is broken here at home and I've not gone out of my way to get on one elsewhere) but in March I was at 379. I would not be surprised to find I had lost a little, but I would also not be surprised to learn I've gained more too. I'll guess I'm somewhere between 375 and 420. (I'll find out for sure on the 17th when I have my next appointment with the endocrinologist.) In late March, I began a weight-loss blog ( http://www.naebunny.net/fatnomo/ ) and here I am. And, finally, last week, the call I'd been waiting for: the insurance approved of the procedure and I was given the next available surgery date. I go in June 13 to meet with the surgeon again and get my pre-op diet plan, then on June 20 I have a half day of pre-admission testing, and then the surgery itself on July 5. And, that's my how I got from there to here. The next chapter in this story will be how I get rid of the equivalent of two people and get on with the rest of my life!

Sorry, posted this in the wrong folder and moved it where it belongs. Can't figure out how to completely delete the post though. <---- Blonde