dariasjourney

My 50th birthday was an epiphany, a wake up call to this woman, having gone through so much emotionally over the last decade.  I went through a messy divorce, relocated to Florida, then lost my father to cancer, then within 5 years, lost my sister to a traumatic brain injury which was caused by an ecoli infection when she was trying to recover from a 20+ history of anorexia.  My mother suffered a stroke also.  My ex-husband suffered multiple pulmonary emboli, and then I really had to evaluate how my life was going, and think ahead for my daughter, who is 11.  I knew that if I did not change and iumporve my health, that would be a certain early death for me, then what would happen to her.  I have been at my same job for about a decade, but my employer removed the bariatric surgery clause from our insurance after half a dozen employees used it, so, I tried every diet known to mankind, without success.  I work in the medical field, so I had a bit of an edge in seeking surgeons.  The next step was to get financing.  Strax Rejuvenation in Hialeah was the place I went.  I made my initial consultation, not really expecting to be approved.  I met with Dr. Choi, the psychologist, the dietician, the financial counsellor, then after q quick application for financing, I was approved for $7000 of the $9999 cost.  I had to put down $1000 that day.  I was then excorted to the lab/ekg area where blood was drawn.  I was weighed; what a shock.  I was at my highest ever!  I did not know whether to cry or resolve to have the surgery asap.  I was scared of the number I saw on the scale.  I saw Dr. Choi again, and he told me that I must lose 40lobs to have surgery as this was not safe in an outpatient setting to operate on somebody with such a large liver due to obesity.  In my favor, I did not have hypoertnsion, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc; I am hypothyroid and have asthma.  The first visit with Steve, the dietician, was a shock.  He put meon this super strict diet and gave me supplements which I had to take, and then also had been advised to not lift weight until after cleared post-op and start doing more cardio.  This was hard since I always lifted weights for so many years.  The worst was the diet.  It was so hard the first week.  2 protein shakes a day, and one small meal at night, 8 glasses of water and stopping the soda, even though it was diet.  In summary, within 5 weeks I lost 44 lbs on this diet.  I went to weekly weigh ins and counselling with the dietician.  Very uplifting.  Last Friday, March 5, 2010, I had surgery.  It went very well.  I was back to work on Monday.  I go to see Dr. Choi this Tuesday March 16.  My  weight has not changed, but I thinki it isi because I have not been able to excercise as per the instructions post-op.  I am sure it will drop rapidly since I am consuming little.  I am still in recovery.  I would recommend this surgery and Strax to anyone who is desperate tp change thier lives and health.  This is a rebirth.  Life is getting good!