jeri_bell

I guess I got sick and tried of being sick and tired. I didn't  want to be left behind anymore. So I decided I needed to make some decisions about my life and how I planned on living out the rest of it.  Last year our daughter was married. I looked at her beautiful wedding pictures and didn't recognize that obese woman in all those pictures. Wearing that size 24 dress. Who was she? She seemed pleasant enough but why did she let herself go that far? My bones started hurting when I walked and I had to take breaks.  My health started going in a downhill spiral.  Diabetes, high blood pressure, to name a few. My husband and I like to travel and my weight became an issue with that.  I couldn't do all that walking off the cruise ship to get to those beautiful ports.  I was too embarrassed to ask for a seat belt extension on a airplane.  At 55 years old I still wanted to feel alive and continue to live my life to the fullest. I'm the wife and mom to some pretty active people.  My daughters training for a triathlon .  I'm very active in the community, always helping out or doing fund raisers for needy causes.  I was a County Commissioner about 12 years ago. So everyone in town pretty much knows our family. My husbands travels and ski's alot.  Plus he loves his Harley and he scheduled a run for both of us this August ....To my horror. Fear, I certainly can't remember being fearful but since I've gained weight I'm petrified. My big rear end on the back of a Harley?  Will I even fit?On April fools day I made a commitment to myself: I would start looking into my options on weight loss.  Should I do just a protein diet? Nah, did that before, didn't work.  How about weight watchers? Did that 3 times before, didn't work.  Okay, how about Atkins? I love big juicy steaks, hamburgers.  I'd loose 10 pounds and then gain 20 back.  How about the tops group? I just gave up!  My doctor prescribed Byeta for my diabetes. It was suppose to help me loose weight and a year later it did...a whole six pounds. Alright, how about gastric bypass surgery?  Wow, that sounded pretty drastic.  Maybe I should look into the lap band.  It's minimally invasive, leaves small scares, and can be adjusted.  So I choose Lap Band then I researched all the Doctors close to my area and Dr Grossbard kept coming up. Went to a psychologist to see if my head was ready.  We had a long talk, took some test, and she said that I was really ready.  We just need to re-arrange some mental furniture.So on July 7th , 2009, a full moon and after 2 weeks of drinking nothing but liquid protein, I was ready. My family, from cousins to friends, stood behind with full support.  As I'm lying on that gurney I said a little prayer and left the rest up to God. I knew I'd be Okay.The surgery took about 40 minutes.  I was an out patient.  So I  had to be out of their in a couple of hours.  Surgery started at around 8:30 walked out the door by 10:30. The Surgical center was the best!!! Very professional and very helpful.I woke up actually feeling no pain. The Anesthesiologist was great! Not even a sore spot on my hand.  My husband took me shopping and we walked around a little before we went back to the Hotel.  I guess the only down side was the gas pains.  Slept pretty good that night. They gave me a liquid pain reliever. My husband and I stopped by the Doctors office to say hello and went back home the next morning.I'm only 4 weeks in this process and I've taken off 28 pounds so far.  WOW...It does have it's ups and downs.  But like the Psycholgist said, you just have to re-arrange your mental furniture.  Start  thinking about you and your goals.  Don't let anyone stand in your way.This is a  chance of your life time, you've been given a second chance,  a gift,  this is your new beginning.....